Villa Saverios

Villa Saverios is set in a converted house on Boulevard Sanchez Taboada, at the Escuadron 201 roundabout in Tijuana's Zona Urbana Rio, and has been one of the city's reference restaurants for two decades. It belongs to the Plascencia family, whose restaurants also include Mision 19 and the revived Caesar's, and it predates the Baja Med label while embodying much of what that cooking became: Italian technique applied to Pacific seafood, Baja vegetables and the wines of the Valle de Guadalupe. The setting is the reason many people choose it over the family's glass-tower flagship. The villa keeps its domestic proportions, with several linked rooms, arches, warm lighting and a garden terrace shaded by mature trees that is the best place to sit from spring through autumn. Noise levels stay conversational and the mood is closer to a long dinner than a night out. The kitchen makes its own pasta daily, and the pasta courses are the backbone of the menu, served with seafood, ragu or valley vegetables depending on the season. Grilled octopus is the seafood plate most often ordered, cooked over coals and finished with olive oil from the valley, while the rib eye and other cuts come from the grill for those wanting something plainer. Antipasti, risotto, and a rotating fish of the day round out the carte, and desserts follow the Italian side of the house. The wine list is broad, mixing Valle de Guadalupe producers with Italian and Spanish bottles, and the bar mixes classic cocktails. Prices sit in the upper-middle bracket for Tijuana, with pasta courses roughly 320 to 480 pesos and grilled mains from around 600 pesos. Reservations are recommended, especially for the terrace and for Friday and Saturday evenings, and can be made by telephone a few days ahead. Dress is smart-casual, and the restaurant closes on Mondays with a short Sunday lunch service only.