Nestled in the pedestrian section of Main Street in Downtown Ventura lies Immigrant Son Caffe, an Italian-culture inspired breakfast and lunch restaurant.
Founded in January 2020, a few mere months before the COVID-19 pandemic, Immigrant Son survived the event that closed thousands of restaurants and cafes nationwide through adaptation, commitment, and sheer perseverance.
Owner Alessandro Tromba, who is a first generation American, with family roots in Italy, opened Immigrant Son with the hope of having a business that would reflect his heritage.
Immigrant Son has a unique seating arrangement, with options to sit indoors, outdoors or even in between, in a covered seating area.
As you walk into the cafe for the first time, you cannot help but notice the “homely” vibe the cafe gives off. With the dishware and drinks being made right in front of your eyes, the restaurant makes sure that you feel at home.
“We strive every day to give the best service that we can give, the best food that we can produce,” manager Ronan Corbett said.
All of their hard work seems to have paid off as Immigrant Son was marked as the No. 2 brunch location in the country in 2024.
The cafe prides itself on its extensive, authentic menu, a mix of Italian food that Americans can enjoy. One of the top foods that they serve is their breakfast lasagna.
“[We said to ourselves] ‘everybody loves to have breakfast for dinner, so why not have dinner for breakfast?’” Corbett said.
The breakfast lasagna comes with bacon, béchamel sauce, prosciutto cotto, more bacon, spinach, eggs and mozzarella, and is served with the Tromba family classic marinara sauce, along with a fried egg.
Regular customers may notice that after every visit, they receive a complimentary pizzelle, (pronounced pizz-ell-ee), an Italian wafer cookie, as a way of thanking them for their business.
This tradition came about from a Tromba family tradition that “sprinkles through the menu and the culture of the restaurant.”
Tromba’s grandmother, back in Italy, would make pizzelles every day in her house and give them to guests whenever they came over.
“Anybody that ever came to the house for any reason, good friends, family, somebody coming in to fix the plumbing, everybody that left always got a pizzelle as a thank you,” Corbett said. “[Tromba] wanted to continue that tradition, so, therefore, here at the restaurant, when somebody is done with their meal, as a thank you, we always give everybody a pizzelle.”
From Italian inspired dishes to traditional classics, the goal of Immigrant Son is always to make sure their customers feel at home.
“All the workers are really nice, the food was really good. They treat you well there,” sophomore CJ Rios said. “It’s a must-try spot.”
So if you are interested in an Italian brunch restaurant with great service, good food and amazing staff, then Immigrant Son is the place for you.
“The team does such an amazing job. Everyone works together really, really well [because of] the culture [Tromba] has created and the expectation that we’re a team, we’re a family,” Corbett said.
