Elvira has been open on Point Loma Boulevard in Ocean Beach, San Diego since 2024, and it was good from day one. Wood-fired Roman pizzas, handmade pasta, a wine list heavy on central Lazio bottles served by the carafe. But the space at 4996 W. Point Loma Blvd always had a private room in the back that the owners hadn't fully activated. That changed in early 2026.
Cucina di Nonna is the name. It's a private, five-plus course, family-style Roman supper that starts at $105 per person and accommodates groups up to 14. The experience unfolds inside a newly built greenhouse space and a second private setting at Elvira, and it's meant to feel less like a restaurant and more like showing up at your Italian grandmother's house on a Sunday afternoon.
What Actually Happens at the Table
The team doesn't call themselves servers for this one. They're hosts. The meal opens with Roman "first tastes" passed around the table, followed by the main event: a baked timpano wheeled out on a cart and sliced tableside. There's a wood-fired roast carved for the group. Everything is passed family-style, hand to hand, the way it would be in a Roman apartment with too many relatives and not enough chairs.
After the main courses, zabaglione is whipped by hand at the table, which is a move you don't see in San Diego. Coffee comes from a vintage moka pot, brewed communally. And at the end, complimentary limoncello and digestivi get poured "grandpa style," as the team puts it. No measured pours. Just generosity.
The concept comes from co-owner Niccolo Angius, whose great-grandmother Elvira was the restaurant's namesake. "We're igniting those childhood memories through flavor, environment, emotions and smells," Angius told the San Diego Business Journal.
The Team Behind It
Elvira is the second restaurant from the Cesarina Group, the trio of Italian expats who also run Cesarina on Voltaire Street. Cesarina has earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand designation, landed on OpenTable's Top 100 Restaurants in America, and was ranked the #1 Date Night Restaurant in the country by Yelp in 2025. Chef Cesarina Mezzoni and Angius are married. Giuseppe Capasso rounds out the group. All three live in the OB and Point Loma area.
Elvira itself has been growing at about 17% year-over-year, according to the Business Journal. And the group has a third restaurant in development, Corallino, planned for the Harbor District. So this isn't a one-off experiment. The Cesarina Group is building a genuine Italian restaurant family in San Diego.
OB's Italian Corridor
Elvira and Cesarina don't exist alone on the Ocean Beach dining map. Pazzos Italian on Voltaire has a 4.9 rating across 181 reviews. Pizza Port Ocean Beach runs the wood-fired pizza game with nearly 4,000 reviews. Poma's Italian Deli does sandwiches that people drive across the county for. Ulivo Restaurant fills another niche entirely. For a small beach neighborhood, OB has developed a remarkably deep Italian food scene, and Elvira's Cucina di Nonna adds a layer that didn't exist before.
Reservations for Cucina di Nonna can be made through Elvira's website. The restaurant is at 4996 W. Point Loma Boulevard in Ocean Beach.
