I'm a big sandwich guy, and was craving one while I was in SD for work recently. I had heard a lot of people recommend Mona Lisa for a good sub. This place did not disappoint! It's a classic Italian deli where you can buy an assortment of things. They had a ton of sandwich options at a reasonable price. Service was great! Would highly recommend if you are in SD.

Came for a quick bite, Samantha was fantastic! She was super attentive to everything we needed, kind of needy since we were in a rush. House garlic bread was great! All our food was solid, decently priced for good size portions. Established 1956. Nice family owned restaurant.

We drove down to San Diego for a day and ended up in the city's Little Italy section. It was about 2pm and we were starving mad. A friend recommended Mona Lisa's sandwiches. She was right. The sandwiches here are excellent! I had the eggplant and mozzarella sandwich. The eggplant was grilled with terrific tasting red sauce. The mozzarella cheese was deliciously melted on top of the eggplant and encased in a slightly crunchy sub-bun. At first I was thinking; Wow! A large sandwich. After the first bite, I was truly enjoying the hearty red sauce. All of the sudden my sandwich was gone. Yum! For lunch, we ordered at the counter, took our number to our table, and our order was delivered within ten minutes. The restaurant is large and appears to be an original institution here in San Diego. Think, family owned, mid-century Italian eatery with red-table cloth. The meals here are traditional- style Italian. I will try the pasta dishes next time. Excellent!

Went to the deli section of Mona Lisa and ordered the caprese sandwich and it was so delicious! You'll find a variety of imported goods from Italy and was so tempted to buy so many things. Going back to the sandwich, I give it a solid 4.5/5 - the olive oil and the balsamic tied everything so well, huge pieces of mozzarella and yummy basil. Service was fast and if you get lucky, they have a handful of parking for customers in front of their store!

Enjoyed the grocery store portion. Bought some gelato (there are two freezers, one in the front, right and one in the back, right - back has more options) and it was true gelato. So very, very good. Worth the price. Will be going back and enjoying a deli sandwich with my gelato next time! Update: went back (different day) for a deli sandwich and cannoli. As noted there, you take a number and wait for them to call it out. We didn't wait long, maybe 5 minutes for a Sunday at noon - that was real quick! Behind the deli, they also serve cannolis and tiramisu. We ordered two sandwiches: caprese with roasted chicken and imported prosciutto with 2 cannolis - total was $37. Huge portions. All was yummy. Anything from the deli, you purchase as the counter behind.

We've been to Little Italy in San Diego many times now, and Mona Lisa never happened to be the place that caught our eye or attention the most, though we had stopped in to take a peek once and paw through their selection of T-shirts on the store side. But this time we came for the lunch special in the restaurant. When we walked in, the deli and store side of the building was hopping, as usual. It evokes the feel of what a real Italian store is like. It smells and looks like the real thing because, well, it is. But would the lunch specials on the restaurant side be as good as one reviewer I regularly watch on YouTube said it was? Perhaps the food would be a cut lower than what they serve at dinner? Perhaps it wouldn't be as good as other restaurants in Little Italy at its relatively bargain price? That price was $12.49 for an entree with bread and butter plus a salad or soup. Surely, the portion sizes would be on the smaller side. We walked into the dining section, which has a classic if slightly worn old world Italian feel to it, and stood behind only one other party in a cafeteria-style line to pick out our dishes. When it was our turn, my wife chose the lasagna, and I chose the rigatoni with Italian sausage. Almost immediately, my concerns about how much food we would receive vanished faster than you can say...well..."Mona Lisa." I stood in stunned silence as an enormous piece of lasagna was placed into my wife's bowl and was then smothered in what looked like a gallon of sauce. When the turn came for my dish, the server dug in and piled my bowl with so much rigatoni and sausage that I thought it was the Leaning Tower of Pisa--that is, until she dug down and scraped the sides of the serving dish with another heap to place on top of it. (Trust me; not even the photos I am including here do it all justice.) And according to Mona Lisa's online menu, these are half-portions! I hesitate to think of who could eat a full portion and not sink their gondola. But quantity is one thing. What about quality? We sat down and dug in, and we both smiled. Exquisite. Speaking for my dish, the sauce was absolutely delicious, the rigatoni cooked just right, and the sausage must have been homemade. And I grew up in a half-Sicilian family. I'll go so far as to say it was the best sausage I've had in a long time. My wife was enamored with her lasagna. So much so that, while I could not finish all of my dish because of the sheer size of it all, she pasted off every last bite of hers. And that's on top of the excellent Italian bread and tasty salads that we also had to find room for. On a lower budget or just want to eat casually when you're in Little Italy at lunchtime? Then look no further at all than Mona Lisa. Just be sure you're hungry.

Definitely check it out Mona Lisa, Italian food located at 2061 Indian St., San Diego, CA 92101 this location doubles as a Italian food restaurant and a super awesome convenience store with lots of options of torpedo sandwiches, sodas, cooking oil, ham, meats, wines, and much more. My favorite time to go in lunchtime when they have half lasagna half soup for $12.49 the pastrami sandwiches are amazing as well. I didn't take any pictures, but I took a picture of the receipt. The ambience is very cool very dark. Very nice place to go eat at.. More picture to come

This review is for the Deli. We love to get subs to go. I suggest calling ahead as they get very busy! We got a Caprese and an Imported Prosciutto with Provolone (extra $1.25 for cheese or avocado). The deli also has salads you can get as sides, including pasta, octopus, and seafood, as well as olives, stuffed peppers, mushrooms, and more. You can also buy deli meat cheese and fresh pasta by the lb. The deli is a fully stocked Italian market that sells lots of imported goods. You can also buy their fresh pasta sauce, ricotta, and canolli filling.

I love Italian food and I especially love a good pizza! I got to share a pizza with one of my friends that was with our group. I had a white pizza with garlic, pesto, arugala and mushrooms on my half.....loved it! Others in the group had other dishes...I took some pics. Sometimes we just have to stay in the moment and enjoy the company and conversation. Just know we enjoyed the food. It was freezing in the restaurant and they were willing to turn down the Artic blast! We cruised into the store that was way too crowded for my taste...but nice that they had a place to buy things that are authenticly Italian!