Filippi's Pizza Grotto Imperial Beach — Restaurant in Imperial Beach

I was really happy to hear that they were coming to our little town since the Chula Vista location is so good. I went to opening night which was fun and of course the lines and wait times were huge but that's part of it. I ordered a pizza and lasagna with assorted drinks, bread, and salad but after forty five minutes I started to get impatient and asked how much longer we'd have to wait. The server that was helping us left and never put our order in so we'd been sitting there and waiting on food that wasn't cooking. Opening day, okay you're busy and all your servers aren't going to cut it. We were given bread, drink refills and salads right away but the pizza came out wrong but edible.

The second time I went in was no different. Yeah it was a Friday night but there were empty tables and it took almost two hours to get the wrong pizza yet again.

The only third time wasn't as bad but you wouldn't believe they brought out the wrong pizza again which I finally complained about to the waitress. It's a large thick crust pepperoni and sausage pizza, how hard is that?

Forth time was great, sat right down, drinks came quickly and food came correct. This shouldn't be cause for celebration as most restaurants demonstrate this type of service daily.

Fifth and final time I sat right down, ordered drinks which came quickly, ordered a pizza and waited. It took a while for an almost empty restaurant but hey lets try it, maybe it'll be as good as the last one. Nope, the thick crust was burnt and when I took a bite I tasted raw pizza dough. I was surprised to see that under the toppings the entire pizza was not cooked all the way through. They said they could cook another one for me but I was pressed for time and to be honest I just had no faith in them. The food is awful.

I really wish I could be one of the many people who love this restaurant but I just can't. I truly hope you read this and the other one star reviews and try to improve your customer service but I for one will not be returning.

So update, this place is next level stupid! I'm angry typing so here goes. I online ordered food, walked in and they said 16 more minutes. I walked outside and waited 16 minutes. When I went back in the hostess says we gave your order to someone else. CAN YOU BELIVE WHAT I'M TYPING RIGHT NOW? She even recognized me, I asked if it was someone that met my sons description and she said, no, I think he was Asian. I'm not Asian. If you knew I was waiting and you told me 16 minutes then why would you give it to someone else? Now I have to wait for the manager to come in at 3 to get a refund! NEVER AGAIN!

Don't bother with this place, it's a waste of time and money.

Here are some pictures of the crappy pizza that my wife just ordered. The whole bottom of the pizza is covered in flour. This pizza is awful. I warned her but she wanted to try it again. She finally said she's not ordering from there...

I hail from Orlando, where New York style pizza is as good or better than it is in New York. I've been searching for any pizza in San Diego that can make even a half-way decent New York or thin crust pizza.

Filippi's ruling: Not just a terrible thin crust pizza, a terrible pizza in general.

I ordered a thin-crust pepperoni pizza and some lasagna. The pizza was disgusting. The crust in the middle was so thin is basically wasn't there. About half way from the center the crust then ballooned out so thick it's like there were two layers of outer crust. When I attempted to pick my first two slices up they tore immediately at the point where the crust goes from too thick to too thin. This left me with a mass of plain cooked dough on my hand and a pile of mess in the box. I had to use a fork to scoop the rest of my slices onto a plate. That's when I discovered how non-existent the crust was in the middle. What was there was so soggy with oil it was mush.

The pepperonis were thrown on so carelessly that in some places there were literal piles of pepperonis slices. 4-6 layers deep of pepperonis stuffed under the cheese. A single slice had more pepperonis then I've seen on entire pizzas. Some people might welcome this mistake but this much pepperoni ruins the pizza. It doesn't look like it's correct either. It looks like someone doesn't know what they are doing or didn't care.

Also, pepperonis go on TOP of the cheese. When they are on top they crisp up in the oven and then their oils can run off the top easily. If you put the pepperonis between the cheese and the dough then they don't crisp. They become limp and their oils get trapped in the pizza and soak into the dough.

Lastly the cheese. Some people like lots and lots of cheese on their pizza. That's not appropriate for thin crust. I ordered a thin crust, I should get a thin crust. This was deep dish amount of cheese on a thin crust; all pushed into a huge mass of gross in the middle due to the terrible misshapen crust.

After attempting to re-construct an actual slice of pizza, and eating about a slice's worth, I threw the rest away.

Whatever pizza Filippi's is supposedly good at making, it's not whatever they made for me. What I got was garbage.

The lasagna was bland and watery tasting. It tasted like lasagna pasta was overcooked in unsalted water. The only flavor that really jumped out at me was basil. So it tasted like watery basil. I'm guessing it was shipped in frozen.

The Tiramisu was excellent and the only reason I'm giving this review 2 stars.

This was the second time I've ordered a pizza from Filippi's and I remember my first time was nearly as...

An honest review on a late Wednesday pre- Thanksgiving evening dinner (9pm, they close at 10pm). Walked into a near empty restaurant. Was told to find a place to sit. No problem. Sat at a booth and ordered the "Fit for a King" large pizza and a chicken parmigiana dinner (with the recent news 11/20/18, of a new strain of e. coli in all Romaine, almost decided against getting salad. Fortunately, they use iceberg). So onto the food. We were served minestrone first. Hot and excellent. Then came the garlic bread and salad. We opted to pay the additional $2.50 for the Ceasar dressing. The garlic bread came, unexpectedly, luke warm, and the salad was lacking in flavor (that's the 1 star loss). The large (true large) pizza was hot out the oven and extremely well made. The pizza was packed with toppings and fully smothered in a thick layer of melted mozzarella cheese. I could taste all the flavors on the pizza and the cheese was amazing. This was definitely no Pizza Hut or Domino's styled pizza. No skimping on this baby. The crust was crisp, yet had a nice thickness to it. Not Chicago thick style or New York thin crust, it was just about perfect. I think the crust would be a 10/10 if it was a bit thinner. A solid 9/10 for sure. The chicken parmigiana was amazingly fresh, tender, and hot from the oven. The chicken parmigiana came with your standard, huge serving, of spaghetti and meat sauce. Our server, Jessica, was super friendly and accommodating. She read our mind for more bread, which came out deliciously hot, with a bowl of butter packets. That's service. One of my pet peeves is an unfilled water glass. She kept me topped off. Color me impressed (apparently, doesn't take much to impress me. Lol). Jessica didn't over or under check on our food consumption process. She was juuuusst right. She also packed all our "eyes bigger than our stomach" food to go. It was nice to get this level of service this late, and on a pre-holiday night. Thank you Jessica for making our night...