Filippi's Pizza Grotto Little Italy — Restaurant in San Diego

We visited San Diego for the first time and asked one of the hotel team members for a go to spot. She recommended Fillippi's so we went for lunch after visiting the San Diego Zoo. I wish we just ate at the zoo.

We arrive and honestly the best thing about this restaurant is they own their own parking lot and parking is free. There is a nice gentleman that guards the lot to ensure only patrons are parking in the lot but this was the best thing of our visit.

We get seated right next to the station where the servers ring up the orders, we will come back to this.

Our server comes over we get the kids water and we are looking over the menu, she came back to take the order and there was no conversation like welcome or small talk it was just what can I get for you. We said a large pizza and in a negative tone she said our pizzas are only medium. We said ok well get two to ensure we have enough and well take the rest to the hotel for snack later. We get an antipasto salad. It comes out in like 30 seconds which makes me think someone else ordered it or it was sitting on the window for a while. I know its just a salad but I never received a salad that fast. It was ok, the dressing was the best part. The meat was sparce. My wife and I only ate the salad, as we were eating we asked the waitress that the pizzas are thin crust as we heard their normal pizza is doughy. she said sorry their in the oven already I cant change that. She continues to say this but then asks anyways and of course comes back and says yes they are in the oven already and walks away. If you do multiple crusts would you not ask would you like thin or normal? We were never asked have you been here before so we have no idea.

The pizzas come out and she slides them on top of the used antipasto salad plate, I am rearranging items on the table to fit them. I had to ask for two clean plates and she doesn't hand them to my wife and I she just plops them on the table. My wife and I are thinking "Are you kidding?" The pizzas look like a frozen pizza I get at the food store. I pick up a piece to give to my kids and there are no crisp to it. I mean a Costco pizza has more crisp and coloring of the cheese than these did. It just looked like white Elmer's glue was dumped on the dough. I am sorry but if this is San Diego Pizza I am never eating pizza again in this city, I am used to New York Pizza with a crust or at least give me a Costco pizza I could live with.

We get the bill and the little machine and she hovers over me until I complete the transaction.

When we saw the hotel team member the next day she asked oh how was it and did you get a bottle of wine to drink and decorate then the staff hangs it to the ceiling? We told her it was ok and no our server never mentioned that.

Back to our seating, since we were next to the server order station we heard multiple servers just complain to each other about specific tables and certain guests. It made my wife and I very uncomfortable to hear that multiple servers were having issues with guests. I get it, if you have an issue talk in the back when no one can hear but not on the floor. Someone even joked hey if you leave her please hire me at your new restaurant.

If you do not expect a New York Style Pizza, mediocre service but FREE parking then give this place a try, maybe their other food is good but we will not be...

THE GOOD: FELIPE'S ON INDIA STREET, ( THERE ARE MULTIPLE FELIPE'S, NOT ALL THE SAME.) FELIPE'S ON INDIA STREET IS BY FAR THE BEST ONE! Authentic Italian, you get a lot, Felipe's is a must go to restaurant if you are visiting San Diego! I highly recommend the veal scallopini dinner, (SEE PHOTO) it is served with so much. A large oval plate half covered with a heaping portion of the tenderest lightly breaded veal, you can cut it with your fork, marinated in wine, onions, shallots, garlic, mushrooms, tomato sauce, and more. Comes free with your choice of pasta covering the other half of the plate, I like the cheese lasagna or beef ravioli. Also comes with a full loaf of French bread split down the middle and your choice of garlic sauce, I highly recommend the Red bread. It's like a fresh baked Parmesan pizza bread free. Comes with one soup, and one salad, feeds two to three, approximately $24. Note, I usually share one soup and one salad with the other person. If three people; spring for one more soup or salad. Other dishes include meatball and pasta, meatball is the size of your fist. Shrimp Felipe, and more. But the veal scallopini dinner is my go-to. Shrimp Philippe would be my second choice, but not as good of value as the veal scallopini. THE BAD: nothing horrible to report here, but a few things to keep in mind. This restaurant gets extremely busy, arrive before 5:30 p.m. or be prepared to wait in a long line from approximately 5:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. varied in relation to the day of the week. If you are eating alone, be aware of: outside I got up to use the restroom once and came back and there was a homeless man eating my food which I had only started to eat myself, the server made it right. I moved indoors with a fresh meal. The portions are so large I like to separate what I'm going to eat there, and I put aside what I will take home. On more than one occasion my food has been thrown away by the bus people who are overly eager, to do their job so watch out for that. I regret not making more of a fuss when I told the waitress about it and she just said I'll talk to the busboys. That didn't do me any good, I still lost my midnight snack. As mentioned above not all Felipe's are the same, similar but certainly not the same. What your meal comes with, is not the same. The next best Felipe's is in Pacific Beach, third-best would be Mira Mesa boulevard, and by far the worst one is in Temecula or Vista, I think it's Temecula. I would avoid the last one, the rest are good but not as good in perspective descending order. In Pacific Beach you generally don't have a line, but parking...

Deleted my previous review since I got a response with wrong facts.

we were DENIED service to eat at the outside patio with our service dog, the name of the server was Dina, she stated that out of her experience with other dogs barking she couldn’t allow us to eat at the restaurant,

at this time I pointed out to her that my dog was as calm as calm could be and that he does not bark at other dogs, he is a registered service dog and not a pet!!!! tried to show her my legal paperwork and service dog registration and she denied to even look at it stating that it was ilegal for her to look at it, I said hey i’m voluntarily showing it to you to prove I am not lying to you about Max being a service dog, she denied to even look at it!!!!

so I wrote this review about it, not about the food, but about the employee’s arrogance, honestly her racism and condescending attitude towards us.

worst part is she is hispanic and we are also hispanic!!!!

the cherry on the pie was that two hours later we walk by and there is a customer with his dog, without a leash in the same area we where asking to be seated, the difference was he was caucasian, how about that…

I approach the gentleman and ask what was his experience when requesting to eat here with his dog, his response was he did not encounter any resistance or denial and nothing was asked about his dog or his lack of leash, and guess who the server was…. yes Dina, the same server that denied me service.

it was at that moment that I decided to write another review about my experience.

long story short my review was answered that same night around midnight, stating that the reason for them denying service to us was because my dog was barking at other dogs…. that’s kinda weird that someone answered at midnight after the event, could it be that they were covering their mistake…???

Congratulations Dina, your not only condescending and racist towards your own race, but your are also a liar. and i got pictures to prove it.

so to the Filippi family owned business, you lost $150 dls of income plus 20% tip to server because of your...