Volare is this awesome little hole in the wall Italian family restaurant in the Sports Arena/Old Town area. It’s in a strange location, off of Barnett Ave. near the Marine Corps Recruit place with a very large adult store that apparently has an “adult arcade”. But location isn’t everything, and I digress
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If you’re looking for fancy ambiance you won’t really find it here. What you will find is a cozy little place with salmon colored walls, posters of Italy, and a “sit where ever you want” kind of laid back attitude. And the food is totally delicious and affordable. A lot of the pasta dishes are under $7, such as the pesto (with your choice of pasta noodle) or lasagna. The seafood/meaty dishes are a bit more expensive but still totally affordable. They also have awesome calamari appetizer for $5.50 and cannoli’s for $2.50. Garlic bread is also included with most meals and salads can be added on for another $1.50.
I’ve been here a handful of times and the food has always been excellent. Everything is pipping hot and tastes freshly made. The pesto I got was bright green – the jarred stuff does not come this bright unless it’s fresh. It’s simple food that tastes great.
I also personally think the place has its own cozy little charm. I’ve read other reviews of Volare and they all seem to dock it a few points because of the decorating. So, it’s not the fanciest place ever but the food is more important to me than how the place looks. But maybe that’s just me.
Anyway. I highly recommend it. Also – funny little story about the place, which I pull off of my friend’s live journal. She was here in town at a conference and I took her here since the food is yummy. And she lost her hat but I thought she never had it with her. Here, the story begins:
“I have this dark corduroy cap that I love. In cooler weather, I am more or less inseparable from it. I had stuffed it into the front flap of my bag. 
kyten took me to a great Italian restaurant in Old Town called Volare. Fun was had, but as she was driving me back to my hotel, I had the nagging feeling I’d left my hat there. kyten said she didn’t recall me having my hat with me, but sure enough, when I got back to my room, I was hatless. On a lark, I called the restaurant and began babbling about sending money for them to mail my hat back until the guy said, “Well, I’m the delivery guy, I can bring it to your hotel.”
!!!
So, one hour and a tip later, my hat was back in my possession. Volare will forever have a soft spot in my heart for not only being tasty, but nice above and beyond the call of duty.”
So go here. Eat the food. Enjoy it. Yum, yum.
Volare Italian Restaurant
3528 Barnett Ave.
San Diego, CA 92110
(619) 224-0030
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We’ve been here a few times and the food has always been good and quite a bargain. Sad to say the last time we visited we saw several large cockroaches running rampant throughout the restaurant. Won’t be back