ZIGZAG Pizza — Restaurant in Oceanside

Oceanside's pizza culture doesn't rival other North County coastal communities with most places being more about the beer they serve alongside or the italian-ness, but with places like Privateer and now Zig Zag's who both add unique takes on our doughy or "less doughy" adventures.

It's not fair to compare to places like Carmine's, Breakwater, Privateer, Santinos, Venetos, or Fratelli's. All downtown staples, but all to me slightly different customer bases. The way I look at it is if you are a teenager whose parents dropped you off at the beach you are most likely not going to walk to Wrench, Rat & Seabastropub or Fish Joint for lunch, cost and distance prohibitive. You want fast, close, on the go food. You and your friend can't finish a large pizza elsewhere so the personal sized pizza's here are perfect. It's the only option they offer. Fried fish or 333 and Ruby's don't interest you.

For the Cohn group it's a nice change of pace from their indulgent and high-class 333 offerings. The space nextdoor is open, bright, almost industrial. Love the glass door coolers similar to convenience stores and gas stations where they house local, craft beers and wine and a dozen varieties of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream pints. I mean after all that sounds like a lovely beach day, pizza, soda and ice cream. Anyone's dream really. The beers are a little pricey and no draught with 50 offerings. Apparently they are doing so well my last visit they were out of spoons and knives.

Menu is small, but well thought out. Only offering less than a dozen pizza's on the menu they cover all the bases, veggie, marg, combo, meat loving, chicken . 2 cool things is their BBQ sauce pizza uses it as the base and not a topping and they offer a thai peanut base which is great with shrimp and chicken. A suggestion to anyone getting a vegetarian pizza is to ask for fresh cilantro to be put on after cooking. It's quite refreshing. Though I haven't tried it I'm thinking BBQ thai base would be amazing. Whoever named things has a love for rock and folk with names like ZZ top, Stairway to Heaven, House of the Rising Sun. Some interesting toppings most aren't offering is cotija and gorgonzola cheese and green olives. Gluten free offerings upon request and at a slight upcharge. Dough is thin and crispy, usually too crispy, but I prefer the gluten free offering. They don't oversauce or overtopping their pizzas.

This is where it gets interesting is the salads.I'm not a huge fan of salads, I find them better when home made, but here they are fresh, sized right built the way any foodie wants. Base greens, crunch for texture, protein like most vegetarians are congnicent of. Veggies and dressing. My suggestions are to build your own because the fried garlic is bold, chili lime flank steak adds zing and their dressings are on point. Chili, sesame, ginger vinaigrette tastes like a fresh stir fry. Acai yogurt has creaminess and adicity along with sweetness, really unique.

Service isn't bad, it just could run smoother. They are new and new to the game seeing as it's the only zig zag. Pizza's this small and salads build should come quicker. Slightly understaffed and not busy yet. Imagine weekends and summertime, me thinks they'll need a 2nd oven. Which shouldn't be hard to do considering they don't have a wood burning or brick oven. Bathroom is down the hall and no appetizers. Condiments station could be better stocked. They are very much going for the smashburger model if you think about design and set up. Pizza's and salads under $10 and with the variety and freshness they are worth it.

Overall it's a refreshing pizza joint with different takes on beer, desserts, pizza size, toppings and strong salad menu. Decent value, service is maturing with room to grow. My only gripe was beer prices with most being 12oz bottles versus pints and local craft charging a dollar or two...

DO NOT COME TO THIS PLACE

I was recently recommended this place by my friends who’ve went to oceanside, coming all the way from England, i decided to try it because of the “positive” recommendations.

Biggest mistake. this place is run by a bunch of racist and rude children where the managing staff is made up of unexperienced teenagers all under 20. they have no idea how running a restaurant works and rather prioritize their pettiness over customer service. My simple pizzas came an hour late and had all the wrong toppings, when i let the staff know, they were annoyed and left me to work with other customers. i was standing there waiting for them to finish with the whole line until she decided to do something about it.

When the 18 year old “general manager” came to me (rolling her eyes at least 7 times) , she offered a refund along with making a new pizza. i didn’t want the refund, i just wanted a new pizza but i accepted it anyways.

one entire hour later, i was still sat waiting for my pizza to come. i went up to ask where it was, because i was obviously hungry. i went to the same manager and talking with a half-assed tone she told me that they NEVER MADE THE PIZZA. obviously me and my mother were questioning them on why they didn’t make the pizza, WITHOUT any unnecessary aggression. Then, some tables of white racist hippies went up to my mother, yelling at her to calm down and laughing and ridiculing her accent. they came up to me and told us that she and i were a mess and we need “serious help”. For what?? This restaurant is filled with racist and close minded kids just like the staff that work there. The staff were ignoring us and turning their heads at us for no reason and until now i am embarrassed of how the staff ridiculed us in every way. When a new general manager offered to make us a pizza and told us to ignore the other staff, the white staff kept yelling, so everyone could hear, to not make us the pizza. we were laughed at by everyone and it was a disgusting experience.

The people who work here do not know what they’re doing. It’s a shame that this potentially successful pizza place is ran by dickheads who only service to people...

I was trying to think of a reason why this place doesn't deserve a five star and I couldn't think of one based on my experience.

Customer Service - check Wait Time Less than 5 min - check Great Food - check Great Drinks - check

This place is conveniently located just below the Wyndham Resort (accesible from resort). Zig Zag pizza has a cool modern feel to it. One of the walls serves as the refrigeration to all their delicious drinks, like milk for the kids, Gatorade for the teens, beer for the men, and exotic drinks for the ladies. The variety of drinks is enormous! Make sure and grab your drink before making your way to the line. You don't want to jump out of line while you ponder what drink to get.

When we got in line to order there was only one other couple in front of us. We weren't there 3 minutes and the line quickly went out the door. What was even more surprising was how calm and collective the staff was and how quickly they served everyone. They were super cool and patient with the kids.

I ordered one of their specialty pizzas which was their version of the meat lovers. It was called the "ZZ Top." No complaints here, the pizza was delicious. I even got to pick at my friend's pizza and it was also bomb. Left overs... bomb!

I'm not a big fan of these build your own pizza places that are popping up all over So Cal, but I think Zig Zag pizza...