The restaurant that replaced Pernicano’s at 9932 Mercy Rd is Amuri Italian Cuisine, a family-run Sicilian restaurant in Rancho Peñasquitos. Same building, same end of the Canyon Hills Shopping Center, same parking lot half the neighborhood has been pulling into since the seventies. Different family, different menu, and a dining room that was taken apart and rebuilt by hand before it reopened. If you drove over looking for the old sign and found something else, here is what happened.
Forty-Eight Years on Mercy Road
Pernicano’s Ristorante served this address for 48 years. It closed on Thursday, September 26, 2025, and the family thanked guests for “48 wonderful years” on the way out, as SanDiegoVille reported at the time. The El Cajon location on East Main Street is still open and still run by the same family.
The name is older than the building. George and Isabelle Pernicano opened their first restaurant in Hillcrest in 1946, and by the team’s own account the Pernicanos introduced San Diego to pizza by handing out free samples to people who had never eaten it. Casa di Baffi — “Home of the Handlebar” — came later, along with the pizza houses that put the name on signs across the county.
The Handlebar, the Chargers, and Why This Address Matters
George Pernicano was one of the first minority owners of the Chargers and helped bring the team from Los Angeles to San Diego in 1961 alongside Barron Hilton. The Chargers inducted him into their Hall of Fame in 1996, only the third non-player to go in after Sid Gillman and Don Coryell. Players called him the Road Warrior because he traveled with the team and would feed anyone at any hour. He died in 2016 at 98, as Times of San Diego reported.
That is the history attached to this address, and it is worth stating plainly. Three generations of Rancho Peñasquitos families had birthdays here. Little League teams ate here after games. When a room like that goes quiet, the neighborhood notices.
Who Took the Room
Amuri is run by a Sicilian family from Bagheria, a town on the coast just east of Palermo. Marco and Alessandra came to San Diego in 2020. Alessandra’s father, Joe, spent thirty years in construction. Her uncle Raimondo ran restaurants in Sicily. The chef, Simone, grew up with them in Bagheria.
Amuri is the Sicilian word for love. That is why they named it that, and it is the only sentimental thing on this page.
What Changed Inside the Building
Joe rebuilt the room himself. The arches, the murals of the Sicilian coast, the hand-painted lemon tile — that is family work, not a design package. The layout is different from what Pernicano’s had, and the private dining room at the back is now set up for groups of about twenty.
The bones are the same. If you sat here in 1998, you will still recognize where you are. Read more about the family and how the restaurant came together on our About page.
What’s on the Menu Now
This is a Sicilian restaurant, not an Italian-American one, and the difference between Sicilian and Italian food shows up on the plate. Simone rolls pasta every morning — tonnarelli, busiate, the shapes that hold sauce properly. There is cioppino with mussels, clams, shrimp and calamari. There are arancini, fried to order. There is pistachio pasta made with Bronte pistachio from the slopes of Etna, and a cheese wheel that comes to the table and finishes the pasta in front of you.
There is also chicken parmigiana, pizza, and a kids’ menu, because this is a neighborhood restaurant and not a shrine. The full dinner menu is online, and lunch is served every day starting at 11. If you have never eaten Sicilian food before, our guide to what to order at a Sicilian restaurant walks through the dishes worth starting with.
What It Costs
Dinner for two with a shared appetizer, two pastas and a glass of wine each lands in the seventy to ninety dollar range before tip. A table of four with wine and dessert runs closer to a hundred and forty. Pasta is the value on the menu; the seafood and the steak are where the ticket climbs.
The happy hour runs Monday through Thursday, 2 to 5 p.m., and it is the cheapest way to find out whether you like the place. Wine Wednesdays are worth checking too.
Reserve a table — weekends fill up first.
Group Dinners, Banquets and Private Events
Pernicano’s ran on team banquets, graduations and birthday parties for 48 years. That demand did not disappear in September 2025, and we get calls about it every week.
The private room seats about twenty. The full dining room can be bought out for larger groups, and we do set menus for parties where you do not want people ordering off the full card. Sorrento Valley and the Mira Mesa Boulevard business corridor are ten to fifteen minutes away, so corporate dinners work here on a weeknight. Details are on the private events page, and we serve Rancho Peñasquitos, Scripps Ranch, Carmel Mountain Ranch, Poway and Sabre Springs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Pernicano’s coming back to Rancho Peñasquitos?
Not to this address. The Mercy Road location closed permanently in September 2025. The family still operates the El Cajon restaurant on East Main Street.
Is Amuri the same owners as Pernicano’s?
No. Amuri is an unrelated family from Bagheria, Sicily. We took over the space after Pernicano’s closed. We are an Italian restaurant in 92129, but the recipes, the staff and the ownership are entirely different.
How far ahead should I book a large party?
Two to three weeks for a group of ten to twenty. Longer in May and June, when graduation season fills every weekend, and longer again in December. Small tables are usually available same day.
Where exactly is Amuri?
9932 Mercy Rd, Unit 109, San Diego, CA 92129, in the Canyon Hills Shopping Center off Mercy Road. Open seven days a week, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Free parking in the lot.
Ready to Get Started?
If you spent years eating at this address, come see what the room looks like now. If you have never been, this is the easiest Sicilian restaurant in San Diego to get a table at on a Tuesday.
Get in touch or call us at (858) 397-2199.