Filippis Pizza Grotto Pacific Beach — Restaurant in San Diego

I just moved to PB a few months ago and live one block from the ocean and two blocks from Garnett which has a lot of restaurants, shops, etc. I've been trying to go to as many of the restaurants near me as I can to get a feel for what's good or not in my neighborhood. My daughter and her boyfriend came into to town for the 4th and we decided we wanted to do Pizza so we went to Filippis as it is literally a 2 minute walk away. I wish I could review the food but we never got that far. After sitting at our table for about 10 minutes a visibly shaken waitress approached our table and asked us if we would like something to drink. We ordered drinks and after a bit a gentlemen brought them to us. So far, so good. The waitress then came back and ask us if we were ready to order. We didn't even have a chance to look at each other when she started saying we needed to hurry because she was server a very large table and their food was out and it was going to get cold if we didn't hurry up. Like it would be our fault somehow. My daughter said, well you can come back and I said, or maybe you can asked someone to help you out. I guess she didn't like that and said "well she said (my daughter) I can come back and I don't have anybody else!" She was very defensive yet aggressive at the same time. At this point I said, I can help your situation, we'll just leave. No problem. She acted like I just called her baby ugly. I walked outside to separate myself from the situation and my daughter stayed for the check. The manager came over and apologized profusely and the waitress came back are started complaining about me like it was all my fault. She was rude to my daughter and her boyfriend as well and was obviously not concerned for the lady up front. She handed her a bill for just under $20. It was for an Arnold Palmer they made wrong as it was lemonade only, a Sprite, and a Coors draft beer. Really? It was so obvious that they thought we were tourist so they didn't care thinking they would probably never see us again. Well they are correct. They will never see me or any of my guest again unless we are walking past and if you're smart, they won't ever see you. Stay away from the drama this...

We have been coming here for 15 years. Our favorite waitress has always been Beau. She is amazing. We come back over and over for her.

However, we came on Sunday 2/25. There were tons of open tables. We were still asked to wait to be seated. We understand if there needs to be a wait to let a waitress the time to handle all tables or to prepare the tables but that wasn’t the case in this situation.

Then after we were seated, we continued to wait for our waitress to greet us. Our waitress seemed annoyed not only to serve us but that we asked for utensils and napkins. The most frustrating part was that she was friendly, engaging and kind to the tables around us but was clearly frustrated that we were seated in her section.

We went at 7pm it was not closing time and we were not the last ones in the restaurant either.

Then, there was a non service dog in the restaurant barking the entire time we were eating. As someone who has worked with trained service animals, it absolutely was not a service animal. It was frustrating to hear a dog barking inside constantly throughout the meal. It should not have been allowed. There are numerous tables outside that dogs can be at.

Lastly, it was awkward getting 1 water refill after the meal was over. Followed by the cup being slammed down.

I am glad they have new additions to the menu but this experience and a few others leading up to this with the current staff is frustrating to say the least.

We were a simple table but you would’ve thought our party of 2 was asking for her to serve us on her day off.

No thank you for coming, zero hospitality and ultimately would make me not come back to this...

Before saying anything else I would like to say that the waitresses and front desk staff were all incredibly nice, great service and very personable- the only reason why I'm not giving 1 star. That being said the food was awful. I've never had the nerve to ask for food to be sent back at any restaurant but it was legitimately terrible. The only reason I didnt was my girlfriend didnt want to make a scene. The antipasto was basically a bag of the mixed cauliflower and broccoli florets from the grocery store with pickles (what in the world), bitter cheese cubes youd find in a lunchables container (not mozzarella shreds like you would expect in a decent antipasto), then the usual lettuce and tomato /olives. The italian dressing was all vinegar next to no olive oil and way too much salt, nauseating. Garlic bread was lower quality than a 2 day old loaf from the grocery store. The fettuccini alfredo was completely bland, the pasta undercooked and the chicken overcooked til dry as dust. I can't comment on the quality of their pizza, but can firmly say that if you want decent italian this is NOT the place to get it. I know this is more of a family restaurant, none of these comments are directed and if my expectations were for fancy cuisine. But the food legitimately tasted horrible. No other...