Filippi's Pizza Grotto Escondido — Restaurant in Escondido

Ordered a large Fit for a King. Among its various toppings it has onions and mushrooms. I don't like mushrooms and my wife doesn't care for onions, so we requested to have them put all the onions on one side and all the mushrooms on the other side. So basically it would have double onions on one side with no mushrooms and the other side would have double mushrooms and no onions. They would be using the same amount of onions and mushrooms as they would if we didn't make any chane to where they put the onions and mushrooms.

But when I went to pick up the pizza they just left off half of the onions and half of the mushrooms and then said that they can't make substitutions.... What??? It's not a substitution, nothing is being replaced with something else. I simply want the all onions that you would normally put on the whole pizza instead put just one side and all the mushrooms that you would normally put on the pizza put on the other half. The only thing that has changed is the location of some of two ingredients. So they ask if I want them to make a new pizza. I stated no they didn't need to make a new one but basically I've been shorted one entire topping (1/2 of the onions and 1/2 of the mushrooms), then before they can go any further they decide that they need a manager because they don't have the authority to make any changes at all. The manager comes over and after explaining everything again and her telling me that they don't make any pizzas with a change to the location of where the customer whould like the toppings placed on the pizza. That they can remove toppings and give you less but you can't have what you paid for, just placed differently on the pizza. I was told this one time they will do it and they would remake the pizza but they will not do it again.

When I stated they didn't need to remake it but I have been shorted the equivalent of one topping so to make it easier all the way around why don't they just discount the pizza the amount that they charge for 1 item on a large pizza (the amount that I had been shorted). I was told by the manager that she is not allowed to discount the pizza and if she did that she would have to explain why it was discounted, but she could make a new one?

I believe that she was telling me was the truth and if it is, this is wrong in so many ways and I feel sorry for any manager that is put in a position that they are not able to make such simple decisions. A manager should be in that position to make decisions that are both good for the customers and the owners. This policy makes absolutely no sense and in this case instead of allowing a manager to make a $2.25 price adjustment for the price of one topping and appease the customer (it's actually just good business because the order was written down incorrect and the customer gave the business an easy way out), they instead make an entirely new pizza because they are not allowed to make price adjustments to correct a wrong and instead make the customer wait while they make an entirely new pizza.

My question is... why even have a manager? If you have removed all abilities to make any decisions, that are good for the business and should be good for customer relations, all you have is someone that holds the title and that has to deal with situations that are less than ideal, but you tie their hands and don't allow them to have any ability to do anything about it. Unless the definition of "manager" is much different then most people define it as and much different then Mr. Webster defines it in his old but popular book, The dictionary. To the manager I am truly sorry for the position that you are put...

ESCONDIDO LOCATION - Worst experience ever! I have been eating at Filippi's for years and this is the first time going to the Escondido location and IT WAS TERRIBLE! I will never go back! Our 1 large and 1 small salad were packed in 3 separate containers and there was a ton of water in each container and the poor quality iceberg lettuce was sopping wet, partially rotten and wilty. The picture below shows 1/8 of a cup of water from just one small container in addition to the remaining super wet lettuce. Gross and inedible! Also, the usual large salad I've been getting for years at Little Italy, Kearny Mesa, Scripps, etc. is not what I got tonight and NO WHERE on the menu did it say it was different from other locations. The large salad is typically lettuce, tomato, olives, pepperoncini's, garbanzo beans, broccoli and a nice Italian dressing - very good! We got poor quality wet iceberg, 3 tomato slices that we had to cut the bad parts of off, 2 olives and a few pepperoncini's - no garbanzo beans, broccoli - just a lot of water and poor quality! The dressing looked way different and I said something at the restaurant. It looks like a tomato sauce - maybe heavy on the red wine vinegar ?? - but it was not the usual good dressing. Doesn't matter - we did not end up having any good salad to use it on. The garlic bread was awful, just awful! The lasagna was just noodles and cheese, no meat. My husband always orders the lasagna and it has meat - not this time! The manager said their lasagna does not have meat. That is different and should be listed on the menu (no meat is called vegetarian folks). I called the restaurant twice to inquire about the different salad & lasagna recipe and tell them about all of the salad water and poor quality. The Managers, Kyle & Anna, said all of the restaurants make their dishes in different ways. I have had the same large salad at Kearny, Scripps, Little Italy, Poway that included garbanzo beans, broccoli, etc and were good and not sopping wet! Escondido had the exact same looking menu those locations did and did not make any mention that the menu items were made differently or what the ingredients were. If your items are different, have different menus that specify you should not expect to get the same thing that you have gotten at other locations. When I told him about the incredibly wet and bad salads, he clearly did not care. I asked if they were prepackaged and just sitting and he said the lettuce was likely not rinsed and drained and dried well enough. 1/8 of a cup of water, wet and rotted lettuce and he did not even apologize or care! Those salads were not made to order - thus why all separated in small containers - and were just sitting in water, rotting everything. Gross! $50 and we only could eat the ravioli, meatball (neither was as good as regular). Most disappointing was the complete lack of care or concern for the quality of their product or satisfaction of their customer. I have been going to Filippi's for years and know many of the family members who have worked there. They have pride in what they make and satisfaction of their customers and Escondido DOES NOT! We were craving a good Filippi's meal and drove from Carlsbad to the closest location for to go food - we will drive to Scripp's or Kearny if we ever decide to eat at Filippi's again. Oh, and I will let everyone I know to beware and don't expect the same quality from one location to the next, as even their manager told me. What a waste and...

I've been a Filippi's Escondido customer for more than forty years. I love their food. I enjoy the casual atmosphere. I appreciate the reasonable prices.

So when my daughter was visiting from Florida and I wanted to take her for Italian, of course, we went to Filippi's. I even brought along my octogenarian parents as well.

Sure, it's Friday, but we're not in a hurry. Surprisingly we walk in at 5:30 and get seated right away. And that's when it all started to go sideways. I've been a server in the past. I get how you rotate tables when you're busy. Do it right and you can deal with any overloading. Do it wrong and you ignore a few of your tables while helping a few. That's what we got.

Our server was awful, slow and inattentive. The ubiquitous Filippis bread, which my mother kept waiting for, came, once. Two half loaves. Then, while we waited for the food, nothing else. We ordered a big salad to share, it was a disappointing pile of lettuce with not much else. Again, all items we've ordered before with much different results.

Drinks were slow. She did not bring enough plates for the bread. All the while, I'm watching, she's visiting the other tables in the section multiple times.

When she dumped the food on the table and yes, dumped is the right verb, the pizza, literally, had ounces of greasy oil on top. Cheese and pepperoni. I've order the same large pizza at Filippi's I don't know how many times. So I soaked up the oil in four napkins and when I asked the server about it she said, "You ordered a pepperoni and cheese, that's what you get." and walked away.

Really? Two weeks ago I ordered the same thing and it was perfect (as it has been in the past). We never got refills on the drinks. She never checked. We did get a check but she took her time in processing it when another server came over and apologized.

So, while I am sure I will go back, this was strike one Filippi's. I won't eat bad food and deal with awful service out of nostalgia. You ruined what should have been a fun and special dinner with my visiting daughter and my parents. I can never get that back. I seriously we had gone to Pizza Port instead.

Does this mean you should not go to Filippi's?

That's up to you. I'll go there again but I'll be honest, it will be awhile and I'll, undoubtedly, visit other places in the interim other places that have decent service and food that isn't disgusting...