Food Hall in the Heart of Little Italy Celebrates its Grand Opening

The Little Italy Food Hall celebrated its grand opening this Thursday, giving food lovers in San Diego an array of meal options to explore in a city already bursting with diverse food experiences.

Located in the heart of Little Italy, the Piazza della Famiglia – a central gathering for weekly farmers’ markets and events – the food hall has six food stations, a bar and and outdoor bar cart.

La Prensa San Diego enjoyed a sneak peek on Tuesday of the different restaurant options at the Little Italy Food Hall, here were some of the favorites.

The Single Fin Kitchen, a Japanese and ocean inspired cuisine, prepared a chef-crafted rice bowl – known as a Japanese Donburi – with fish, meat, vegetables and more. The bowl presented was the Al Pastor with rice, radish, pineapple and achiote marinated seared white fish.

The marinated white fish with the mix of pineapples and radish offered an interesting take on the traditional Mexican Al Pastor meat that is slow cooked in a vertical rotisserie with onion and pineapple on top. The Al Pastor bowl goes from $8 to $13.

Next stop and one of the best stops was Wicked Maine Lobster where they prepared a Maine Lobster roll with a side of New England chowder. The station, brought by two brothers raised in the Atlantic coast, aims to bring an authentic maine lobster experience to the Little Italy Food Hall.

The fresh maine lobster chilled with mayonnaise sat on a toasted bread roll, offering a delicious combination of warm and cold.

Wicked Maine Lobster will offer a chilled mayonnaise lobster roll or warm with butter with a side of fries and a drink for $20. The roll can be purchased alone for $17.99.

Following the flavors of the ocean, La Prensa San Diego staffed moved on to land with Roast Meat & Sandwich Shop, the perfect place in the food hall to grab a quick lunch or a healthy salad.

The Roast Meat & Sandwich Shop, which also has a location in Liberty Station, prepared a beef and rotisserie chicken bowl with a side of kale caesar salad. One bowl was filled with lemon rice, delicious rotisserie chicken, and a piece of chicharon – fried pork belly.

The beef bowl had lemon rice, vegetables, chicharon, topped with a green salsa and a slice of lemon. The bowls range from $12 to $18.

One of the other favorites, of course, was Not Not Tacos, by the hospitality group Grain & Grit Collective and TV personality Sam Zien also known as “The Cooking Guy.”

The creative Not Not Tacos station served a Sunday Dinner taco which consisted of chicken, sour cream, stuffing gravy, crispy onions, and parsley, and Sam’s Meatloaf which consisted of chipotle apricot glaze, green onion, lettuce, monterey jack, sour cream and crispy onions.

The tacos range from $4.50 to $6.50.

The other locations include: Ambrogio15, which presented a Salamino Piccante pizza; Mein St. Asian Kitchen that prepared Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings and Zen wings.

The Little Italy Food Hall also offers a bar and outside bar cart for guest to explore unique drinks. The food hall with be open Sunday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.