Pizzeria Luigi
1137 25th St.
San Diego, Ca. 92102
(619)233-3309
We first saw this place on TV Food Network's "Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives".
We made it down there (I used to live in the neighborhood back in the early 70's) early one Saturday afternoon, well before any dinner rush, at least hypothetically...
When we got there, they were lined up out the door, on the sidewalk and down the street. As I'm not fully recovered physically, we stood in line as long as I could and then left, grabbing a pizza back here in El Cajon.
Later in the week, I called and talked to Chris and he said it was because of the TV feature and that it'd quiet down soon, please come by again.
Tonight, we literally stood in line for only a few minutes, placed our order and then grabbed a table...
When our pizza came, it looked wonderful but it's fairly large (18") and with the pepperoni calzone (hold the ricotta), side salad and 2 Cokes, table real estate was at a premium.
Our total was $27.50 and I threw another $2.50 in the tip jar.
The calzone was burn-your-mouth-blazing-hot and the Boy did exactly that, our half of the pepperoni pizza was wonderful (the wife's half was vegetarian, hold the cheese) but the side salad was mediocre.
I heard one of the guests at the next table tell someone there that he'd also seen the segment on "Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives" and when he saw our calzone come up, he asked what it was so I gave him a bite (he loved it but I suspect he burned his mouth too).
I really liked the pizza's crust (we all agreed on that) but the sauce was too mild for the wife's taste and she wouldn't order it again. The Boy especially liked the calzone and said it was probably the best one he'd ever had. It was a lot of food and we tossed half of the salad and a couple of slices of the wife's vegetarian pizza before we left.
On the way out, they served an order of pasta to one of the outside tables and the wife and the Boy both commented on how good it looked.
Finally, we didn't get to meet Luigi as it was his night off...
Their web site: http://pizzerialuigi.com/
Luigi's pepperoni calzone with marinara sauce for dipping
UPDATE: 31 July 2009
Now there's a second location, this time on El Cajon Blvd, approximately 10 miles from here and parking is pretty hard to find in that neighborhood.
We stopped by to check it out and we have to say it's way too loud (all reflective surfaces with nothing to dampen the ambient noise). And they should lower the volume of the music too (OK, I'm a geezer but in my defense, I've also antagonized a neighbor or two over the years with our stereo)...
The Boy and I split a pepperoni and mushroom pizza (one size only), we had a couple of sodas from the machine (the wife had water) and she ordered the Pasta Putanesca. We love their crust but our pizza had way too much sauce and the wife says the pasta was great.
Our total was $25 exactly (I tossed a couple of bucks in the tip jar).
