County inspection records show Officine Buona Forchetta, located at 2865 Sims Road within Liberty Station in Point Loma, was ordered to cease operations on August 5 after inspectors from the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health and Quality’s Food and Housing Division documented multiple violations, including two classified as major. The most serious findings involved improper food cooling and vermin. Inspectors also identified a minor holding-temperature violation and found the restaurant out of compliance in areas involving the premises, personal and cleaning items, exclusion measures, and the condition of floors, walls and ceilings.
No numerical score or letter grade was issued with the closure inspection. As of publication, the publicly available inspection history did not list a subsequent reinspection or approval to reopen.
SanDiegoVille has contacted Buona Forchetta and its attorney seeking comment on the inspection findings, the type of vermin identified, corrective measures underway and when the Liberty Station restaurant expects to resume service.
Officine is one of the group’s largest and most family-oriented restaurants. Buona Forchetta describes the 2,600-square-foot venue as a combination of Neapolitan pizzeria and upscale Northern Italian restaurant, with two patios, a children’s play area and two gilded pizza ovens. It sits beside Liberty Public Market in one of Liberty Station’s busiest dining corridors.
Officine is one of the group’s largest and most family-oriented restaurants. Buona Forchetta describes the 2,600-square-foot venue as a combination of Neapolitan pizzeria and upscale Northern Italian restaurant, with two patios, a children’s play area and two gilded pizza ovens. It sits beside Liberty Public Market in one of Liberty Station’s busiest dining corridors.
The closure is particularly notable because it is not Officine’s first. On April 3, 2024, county inspectors also ordered the Liberty Station restaurant closed after finding a major vermin violation, along with issues involving food-contact surfaces, equipment storage, wiping cloths, cleanliness and the physical condition of the premises. It was approved to reopen following a reinspection the next day.
Subsequent inspections produced passing grades but continued to identify recurring concerns. A July 2024 inspection documented a minor vermin violation and issues involving toxic-substance storage and floors, walls and ceilings. In August 2025, inspectors issued an A grade with a score of 92 despite recording a major holding-temperature violation and additional deficiencies. A reinspection followed the next month.
The August 2026 shutdown therefore represents the second county-ordered closure at Officine in slightly more than two years. It also follows a separate October 2025 closure of Buona Forchetta’s original South Park restaurant, where a routine inspection reportedly identified another major vermin violation, improper handwashing facilities and sanitation deficiencies.
Italian-born restaurateur Matteo Cattaneo launched Buona Forchetta in South Park in the early 2010s, building its identity around Neapolitan pizza, handmade pasta and an informal neighborhood-trattoria atmosphere. The original restaurant became one of San Diego’s most recognizable Italian dining destinations and fueled a rapid expansion. The company’s current website lists restaurants in South Park, Liberty Station, Coronado, Encinitas and San Marcos, along with locations in San Clemente and Newport Beach.
The expanding “Buona famiglia” also grew to include related concepts and partnerships, among them Enoteca Buona Forchetta, Garage Buona Forchetta, Gelati & Peccati and Matteo, a South Park bakery promoted as a wholly charitable restaurant whose profits reportedly benefited community causes.
For years, the group cultivated a warm, family-centered image and became a fixture of San Diego’s restaurant scene. But that public identity was dramatically disrupted on May 30, 2025.
Masked and heavily equipped Homeland Security Investigations agents descended on Buona Forchetta and its neighboring Enoteca in South Park while executing a federal criminal search warrant. Employees were detained and questioned, several workers were taken into custody, and a crowd of residents and supporters gathered outside. As demonstrators surrounded federal vehicles, agents deployed explosive diversion or smoke devices in the street, producing chaotic scenes that quickly circulated across local and national media.
The operation prompted immediate outrage from elected officials and many neighborhood residents, who questioned why federal agents used military-style equipment and conducted the action near a school and during a busy period in the community. California lawmakers later demanded an investigation into the tactics, citing the detention of four employees and the use of flash-bang devices.
Buona Forchetta responded by temporarily shutting down its locations for two days, describing the pause as an opportunity for workers to recover from the traumatic operation. The restaurants later reopened.
The dramatic tactics initially dominated the public discussion, but the subsequent unsealing of the search-warrant affidavit revealed that the operation was tied to a broader, years-long investigation into alleged worksite, immigration and labor violations.
According to the affidavit, federal investigators alleged that numerous employee records contained fraudulent permanent-resident cards and that the company may have knowingly employed workers who lacked authorization. The filing also described tips dating back to 2020 alleging that vulnerable employees were required to work lengthy shifts under improper conditions.
Those claims remain allegations. Public searches by SanDiegoVille have not identified criminal charges announced against Cattaneo or the restaurant group, and no publicly disclosed final resolution of the federal investigation has emerged.
Subsequent inspections produced passing grades but continued to identify recurring concerns. A July 2024 inspection documented a minor vermin violation and issues involving toxic-substance storage and floors, walls and ceilings. In August 2025, inspectors issued an A grade with a score of 92 despite recording a major holding-temperature violation and additional deficiencies. A reinspection followed the next month.
The August 2026 shutdown therefore represents the second county-ordered closure at Officine in slightly more than two years. It also follows a separate October 2025 closure of Buona Forchetta’s original South Park restaurant, where a routine inspection reportedly identified another major vermin violation, improper handwashing facilities and sanitation deficiencies.
Italian-born restaurateur Matteo Cattaneo launched Buona Forchetta in South Park in the early 2010s, building its identity around Neapolitan pizza, handmade pasta and an informal neighborhood-trattoria atmosphere. The original restaurant became one of San Diego’s most recognizable Italian dining destinations and fueled a rapid expansion. The company’s current website lists restaurants in South Park, Liberty Station, Coronado, Encinitas and San Marcos, along with locations in San Clemente and Newport Beach.
The expanding “Buona famiglia” also grew to include related concepts and partnerships, among them Enoteca Buona Forchetta, Garage Buona Forchetta, Gelati & Peccati and Matteo, a South Park bakery promoted as a wholly charitable restaurant whose profits reportedly benefited community causes.
For years, the group cultivated a warm, family-centered image and became a fixture of San Diego’s restaurant scene. But that public identity was dramatically disrupted on May 30, 2025.
Masked and heavily equipped Homeland Security Investigations agents descended on Buona Forchetta and its neighboring Enoteca in South Park while executing a federal criminal search warrant. Employees were detained and questioned, several workers were taken into custody, and a crowd of residents and supporters gathered outside. As demonstrators surrounded federal vehicles, agents deployed explosive diversion or smoke devices in the street, producing chaotic scenes that quickly circulated across local and national media.
The operation prompted immediate outrage from elected officials and many neighborhood residents, who questioned why federal agents used military-style equipment and conducted the action near a school and during a busy period in the community. California lawmakers later demanded an investigation into the tactics, citing the detention of four employees and the use of flash-bang devices.
Buona Forchetta responded by temporarily shutting down its locations for two days, describing the pause as an opportunity for workers to recover from the traumatic operation. The restaurants later reopened.
The dramatic tactics initially dominated the public discussion, but the subsequent unsealing of the search-warrant affidavit revealed that the operation was tied to a broader, years-long investigation into alleged worksite, immigration and labor violations.
According to the affidavit, federal investigators alleged that numerous employee records contained fraudulent permanent-resident cards and that the company may have knowingly employed workers who lacked authorization. The filing also described tips dating back to 2020 alleging that vulnerable employees were required to work lengthy shifts under improper conditions.
Those claims remain allegations. Public searches by SanDiegoVille have not identified criminal charges announced against Cattaneo or the restaurant group, and no publicly disclosed final resolution of the federal investigation has emerged.
The company is also facing separate civil litigation. In June 2026, a former employee filed a proposed class action lawsuit in San Diego County Superior Court alleging Buona Forchetta violated numerous California labor laws, including claims involving unpaid minimum and overtime wages, missed meal and rest breaks, inaccurate wage statements, unreimbursed business expenses, untimely payment of final wages and unfair business practices. The lawsuit remains pending, the allegations have not been proven in court, and Buona Forchetta has not yet publicly responded to the claims.
The raid and its aftermath have ultimately transformed Buona Forchetta from a beloved local restaurant company into the focal point of a national dispute over immigration enforcement, workers’ rights and the treatment of undocumented restaurant employees. Community members responded to the raid by raising nearly $130,000 through an online campaign intended to support the detained workers and their families. Questions later surfaced about how quickly the money was being distributed and who controlled the campaign, especially after the wife of one worker created a separate fundraiser describing continued financial hardship.
Later that year, another significant chapter of the Buona Forchetta story came to an end. Matteo, the South Park bakery and café promoted as a nonprofit, charitable extension of the restaurant group, permanently closed in December 2025. The business had opened in early 2020 with a stated mission of directing its profits to schools and community organizations.
The closure announcement characterized the decision as the natural conclusion of a chapter and revealed that restaurateur Angela Catania, a longtime associate and former employee of Cattaneo, would take over the Juniper Street property. Public corporate filings later reflected a formal change in control of the entity associated with the space, from Cattaneo to Catania. She subsequently opened Bedda, a Sicilian-inspired all-day restaurant, in the former bakery. Catania had also previously assumed control of Carbon Angela’s Kitchen, another concept once affiliated with the broader Buona Forchetta organization, and now operates it independently.
The transfer of Matteo did not establish wrongdoing and may have reflected ordinary restructuring. Symbolically, however, it marked the disappearance of the concept most explicitly associated with Buona Forchetta’s charitable and community-focused public identity.
Against that complicated background, the Officine closure is less dramatic than a federal raid but potentially more immediate for diners. Improper cooling can allow food to remain within temperature ranges where bacteria multiply rapidly. Vermin findings can indicate the presence or evidence of rodents, cockroaches, flies or other pests, although the abbreviated public inspection record reviewed by SanDiegoVille does not identify the specific type found at Officine. A county-ordered closure generally remains in effect until the operator corrects the conditions and inspectors determine the restaurant is safe to reopen.
Buona Forchetta remains one of Southern California’s best-known independent Italian restaurant brands, and the company continues to promote Officine online as open seven days a week. For now, however, the Liberty Station restaurant cannot legally resume normal operations until it receives county authorization.
SanDiegoVille will update this story if Buona Forchetta responds with additional information.
Officine Buona Forchetta is located at 2865 Sims Road in San Diego’s Liberty Station. For more information, visit buonaforchettasd.com.
Originally published on August 6, 2026.
The raid and its aftermath have ultimately transformed Buona Forchetta from a beloved local restaurant company into the focal point of a national dispute over immigration enforcement, workers’ rights and the treatment of undocumented restaurant employees. Community members responded to the raid by raising nearly $130,000 through an online campaign intended to support the detained workers and their families. Questions later surfaced about how quickly the money was being distributed and who controlled the campaign, especially after the wife of one worker created a separate fundraiser describing continued financial hardship.
Later that year, another significant chapter of the Buona Forchetta story came to an end. Matteo, the South Park bakery and café promoted as a nonprofit, charitable extension of the restaurant group, permanently closed in December 2025. The business had opened in early 2020 with a stated mission of directing its profits to schools and community organizations.
The closure announcement characterized the decision as the natural conclusion of a chapter and revealed that restaurateur Angela Catania, a longtime associate and former employee of Cattaneo, would take over the Juniper Street property. Public corporate filings later reflected a formal change in control of the entity associated with the space, from Cattaneo to Catania. She subsequently opened Bedda, a Sicilian-inspired all-day restaurant, in the former bakery. Catania had also previously assumed control of Carbon Angela’s Kitchen, another concept once affiliated with the broader Buona Forchetta organization, and now operates it independently.
The transfer of Matteo did not establish wrongdoing and may have reflected ordinary restructuring. Symbolically, however, it marked the disappearance of the concept most explicitly associated with Buona Forchetta’s charitable and community-focused public identity.
Against that complicated background, the Officine closure is less dramatic than a federal raid but potentially more immediate for diners. Improper cooling can allow food to remain within temperature ranges where bacteria multiply rapidly. Vermin findings can indicate the presence or evidence of rodents, cockroaches, flies or other pests, although the abbreviated public inspection record reviewed by SanDiegoVille does not identify the specific type found at Officine. A county-ordered closure generally remains in effect until the operator corrects the conditions and inspectors determine the restaurant is safe to reopen.
Buona Forchetta remains one of Southern California’s best-known independent Italian restaurant brands, and the company continues to promote Officine online as open seven days a week. For now, however, the Liberty Station restaurant cannot legally resume normal operations until it receives county authorization.
SanDiegoVille will update this story if Buona Forchetta responds with additional information.
Officine Buona Forchetta is located at 2865 Sims Road in San Diego’s Liberty Station. For more information, visit buonaforchettasd.com.
Originally published on August 6, 2026.
