Square One Pizza Cafe

I’ve been here twice with my family and have had excellent food and service on both occasions. I love the thin crust pizza and the craft beer selection. I get frustrated by people giving restaurants 1 and 2 star reviews based solely on price. If you can’t afford to eat here, then stick with Dominos or Papa John’s.

I really like this place. Delicious thin and crispy crust pizza. Great service, smiling hosts and waiters/​waitresses. Perfect environment, not too noisy not too quiet.

Foodie alert! A former chef from The Hobbitt Restaurant has opened a pizza, pasta, and sandwich café in Irvine. This place is a little hard to notice in the Gelson’s shopping center, but it’s well worth finding. I ordered a spinach salad and their daily special pizza. The salad was so fresh, very simple with a fresh house made herb vinegarette. The daily special pizza had roasted veggies and sausage, with a pesto base, topped with fresh mozzarella. The veggies weren’t cooked to death, they were roasted but not mushy, and the thin crispy crust was perfectly cooked. Everyone was super friendly and the service was fantastic. They have a happy hour I’m definitely going to try with half price wine.

This establishment is located in the Oak Creek shopping plaza. It is in the far corner across from the hardware store.
With a name like «Square One Pizza», all of their pizzas are as advertised: square. (That doesn’t mean they’re 60s-​era slang square, though, the pizzas are fun.) They have two sizes: 10″ and 14″. And since it’s Square One Pizza, I took a lesson from the similarly named PBS show and did the math: 100 square inches of pizza and 196 square inches of pizza for each, respectively. As the prices are $ 10 – 12 and $ 17 – 18, one is receiving more value for the larger pizza per square inch. (It’s also a lot easier than doing the math for a circular pizza, ha ha.)
The procedure here is that of medium speed food: order at the counter and they will bring the pizza to one’s table. It came out pretty quickly during our personal experience. One can request more than one flavor, which comes in handy when people can’t decide on a flavor. There was no line and not a lot of other customers that came in while we were there. It tasted good. :9
They have fountain drinks too.
As of the time of our visit, they had a poster stating there was a $ 30 special for February 12, 13, and 14 which includes a salad, a pizza or pasta (size not specified on the poster), a dessert, and wine. They also have a chef’s special and some specials available during happy hour.

Original, neighborhood, mom and pop pizza place. I love this joint! All the pizzas are spot on and they have a great selection of brews. I’m so thankful to have this establishment in my neighborhood!

I love this place – hidden in the corner next to a vacant space. The prices are reasonable, the portions are generous, and the pizza is better than CPK. I love the flat crust, and whatever they’re doing to the sauce to not make it taste like pizza sauce (no garlic?) they’re doing it right. The staff is always friendly and helpful! I’ve been a few times now for lunch, and both the food quality and service are consistently good.
My only reservation (not a complaint) is that they don’t post nutrition information. I know it’s probably super expensive to have a lab measure calories, and half the time, restaurants aren’t that transparent about portion sizes and calories (I’m looking at you Chipotle,) but ignorance isn’t always bliss – particularly at lunch. I guess I’ll just keep watching my portions, and if I get back to the office and fall asleep at my desk, I’ll know I ate too much.

Pasta was awesome! I had he bolognese sauce with the spaghetti pasta (it usually comes with linguini). It was creamy and delicious with pasta cooked perfectly. I didn’t even have to ask for a spoon like most places around here. I was full pretty quickly but kept eating until I was sick and still had ¹⁄₃ of it left. I will definitely be back.

Located on the end of Oak Creek Shopping Center across from Orchard Hardware, Square One impressed me with some great pizza and dessert when I stopped by for lunch.
You order at the counter and the pizza is brought to your table. There was a list of house pizzas to choose from or you can build your own (10″ or 14″). I chose one of the house pizzas — the McTernan (tomato purée, sweet fennel sausage, pepperoni, fresh basil, and mozzarella).
After about 5 minutes my pizza was brought to my table. The pizza is square and they also cut the pizza into squares. It was an excellent pie with a thin but sturdy crisp crust. The sausage was slightly spicy and finely ground (I prefer a chunky sausage but that’s just a personal quibble; it still tasted delicious).
The service here was beyond superb. The young woman who took my order at the counter was very friendly and she not only delivered my pizza to my table with a smile but checked back on me a couple times. When I asked about dessert options she brought me a menu and took care of billing at the table. Her upbeat demeanor and personal customer service is a huge incentive to draw me back. But more about dessert…
I ordered the Dream Bomb (strongly suggested by Kelley U.) and it was truly an amazing dessert. Peanut butter ice cream with a big glob of caramel in the center all surrounded by a chocolate shell with drizzles of chocolate and caramel over it. Simply astounding and a must-​order for dessert lovers. This is enough dessert for two people or one Timmy S.
4.5 stars for one of the better pizza places in Irvine.

A fellow Unilocaler posted some pics of her pizza from here a few days ago, so of course it looked so good I had to try it. Stopped in and actually it wasn’t crowded at all, and I was there just after noon. The young lady at the counter went over a few of the pizzas with me to help me pick which ones to try. I finally ended up ordering the «Gourmet Meat» and «The McTernan» pizzas, both 10″. It only took about 10 minutes to get the pizzas once I ordered, maybe a little longer, but it wasn’t bad at all. While waiting I was just browsing around the place, they have a nice little bar area serving beer and wine, and there’s even a couple TV’s so you can hang out. The pizzas were really good. The Gourmet meat pizza I was a little nervous because I’m not an onion fan, but the onions on there are Caramelized, and the young lady assured me I’d like them. Well she was right, they were really good, lots of great flavor was added with those. The sausage was good, you could very much taste the fennel in it, and the pizza sauce they use is flavorful. The second pizza was The McTernan pizza basically sausage and pepperoni pizza, lots of good flavor on this one as well. The pizza is very thin crust, like cracker thin, and super crispy. The price was decent as well, about $ 24 bucks for the 2 pizzas. Good price, friendly people, clean place, and a great location, I will definitely be back for more!

I had no idea this place was here in this shopping mall that I frequent for Gelson’s. Kinda tucked away to the side in the parking lot, I don’t think a lot of people know it is here. When you walk in, there is small bar area attached to the counter. There is also a dining area, so you can dine in the restaurant if you prefer not to be in the bar.
Square One Pizza is aptly named because, yes, the pizza is square. You have two options as far as size, the smaller, personal pizza size that is 10″ and the larger 14″ size. The crust here is very thin. There are specialty pizzas to order from or you can create your own pizza. I personally enjoy the Square Deal of the Day, which you can find daily on their website,
This is the 10″ Chef’s Specialty pizza of the day and a drink for $ 11. I really enjoyed the Specialty Pizza of the day I had when I dined here which which had Soppressata, red pepper, green onion, red onion, roasted corn, Provolone and mozzarella.
The combination was delicious. The smaller 10″ was more than enough for me as one person. My first time at Square One, we ate here and I had leftovers to take home. You can also buy pizza by the slice, cheese and pepperoni. The large menu also includes pasta, salads and sandwiches. They have wine, bottled beer and craft beers on tap. They also have some amazing desserts here on the menu.
We ordered the Dream Bomba, which I still think about. OMG. It was sooooo gooood! Peanut butter gelato, caramel center, chocolate drizzle, chocolate shell. I would go back to Square One for this dessert, alone.
Service was friendly and helpful. Our waiter was really sweet in telling us his favorites and making good suggestions. Since they are still pretty new here, it seemed like it was a bit chaotic at times as far as tables being waited on and everyone trying to help out, but it was all good. I have called in a pizza order to go here, also. I look forward to coming back to check out some of the sandwiches, pastas and more of their pizza and desserts ;) at Square One.

I’m surprised this place isn’t busier but maybe the rain deterred people from coming.
The fries were good, nothing special, no added frills but that’s what I liked about it.
The meatball sliders were awesome, the meatballs were so soft and the extra marinara sauce was a nice touch.
The pizza was average, mine had a lot of prosciutto which is good but then it made the pizza very salty. The ingredients were excellent but I think the pizza was too salty for my taste. Bummer because I really love goat cheese… plus, I was full from the fries and sliders.
My friend ate all of his pizza, he had an assortment of meats on his.
Dessert was the big dream bomba! I personally love peanut butter so this to me was delicious.
Service was on fleek, observant, attentive, and all that.

I really like this pizza place. The crust is super thin and airy. I would say the closest thing to it is a water cracker for texture, however, this is way tastier and better crisp than a water cracker. You don’t get that carb crash after eating here, and because the crust is so thin, you can taste their fresh ingredients.
I was able to try:
–Goat cheese and proscuitto: the goat cheese is very sparse on here, I tasted way more of the mozzarella than any goat cheese (thus –1 star). Otherwise, this pie is good.
–Sausage and pesto: YUM! the pesto sauce here is really good, full of fresh tasty basil. The sausage is well flavored also and juicy.
–BBQ chicken pizza: I’m not normally a fan of this kind because of the sweet overpowering BBQ sauce and dry chicken, but I actually quite liked it here. The sauce was just right, not overwhelming at all. Their chicken is fresh and very moist.
–House wine: $ 5 for the glass!
This place was definitely a winner and prices are fair for what you’re getting (more goat cheese though… hint hint). I’ll be coming back!

Great food! We ordered the Sausage Pesto Pizza and Baked Penne. This was our first time at the restaurant and it was delicious! The food all came out hot and fresh.
The service was also great, not only was our waiter attentive but runners and other staff came around to check on us. Great place for a quick bite to eat in an easy retail center with easy parking.

It was my first time visiting here yesterday
I had goat cheese pizza with my friends.
I liked pizza was thin and crunch, but the pizza was kind of too salty.
I just felt too salty and drank much water after bites,
Everything was great exempt that food was salty,

If 10 stars was an option, they would have earned every one of them!
We recently had our son’s 4^th birthday party here. I reached out to Russell, the owner, a couple weeks before and he was completely on board and helpful. He agreed to let us close off the patio at no additional charge and helped us get an idea of what we should order for our guest list of 25 people. He had a personal engagement the day of our party but assured us that Liz (a manager) would be there to make sure everything was seamless… and it was.
I arrived 1 ½ hours early to put up decorations and the patio already had signage up to make sure it was closed off for our party prep. Liz greeted me right away and helped decide the layout for the food. An employee, Jack, came out and helped with the set up. Everyone was friendly and courteous.
The food came out right as guests arrived and they were able to keep a running tab open for me so we could order additional food and beverages as needed.
The food here is spectacular. Everything… really. My personal favorites are the grilled vegetable salad, gourmet veggie pizza, and baked penne with fennel sausage. Our guests all raved about the food!
They even held our cake in the fridge until it was time. (Only professionally baked products are allowed due to health code regulations which is standard in the OC.)
I would highly recommend this place for a private event, date night, or family dinner!
We even returned to enjoy their craft beers later in the day to decompress from the party while my parents babysat.
I love the food, the service, and the ambiance. This is our regular Spot in town for sure!!! Check it out!

No garlic in the sauce?! No way. Seriously? Yup. I’m serious.
Amazing pizza, and the owner is very friendly.
We were in and out within 10 minutes, and the pizza didn’t make it home with us. That’s right. It was all eaten in the car. Absolutely delicious!

I’m on this «try new pizza» kick so i’m literally trying all the pizza places in the area.
I personally like thin crust/​flat bread style pizza. You get the crunch and it’s not super doughy. They let you do half and half which is great… i’m greedy in the sense that I need to try multiple things if at all possible. We ordered the gourmet meat and the fresh basil pesto.
The food came out quick which is always appreciated and the service was awesome. I always had water and my waiter was super nice.
I found the gourmet meat to be way too salty. The caramelized onions helped a little bit… but not enough to where I would order it again. The basil chicken pesto was much better. The toppings are easily spread out and the topping to crust ratio is fair considering you’re getting a thinner crust.
I’m not sure how I feel about the square shape because you end up with slices that don’t have crust. I personally like the crust but I can see how people who don’t would actually prefer the square shape.
Also the waiter told me the 10″ is more of a personal size but it can definitely feed two people without ordering any thing else.
If someone asked me to come here I wouldn’t say no but it’s not on my top list of pizza places in the OC… the saltiness really killed it for me

I’d say this is more like 3.5 stars, but I rounded up to 4 for the quality of the food…
Freshly renovated and newly opened, you can smell the «new» of this restaurant. Square One is located where the old Pasta Pomodoro was and just next door to PDM Café. The space has got enough seating inside for large crowd and comes complete with a bar with cool beers on tap. The patio is also very spacious and equipped with bistro lights and heaters if you’re an outside eater.
There is a pretty good selection of food and I have been back more than once. Here are a few things my husband and I have ordered:
–McTernan (no cheese b/​c the hubby is allergic): Pretty good with a good sprinkling of meat and sauce
–BYO with sausage, bacon and pepperoni: I expected a little bit more meat since it was a BYO and you’re paying per topping, but still a good pizza
–Baked Penne w/​GF Pasta: DELICIOUS! I loved the creamy sauce mixed with the peas. My only gripe would be that the pieces of sausage are tiny.
–Sweet & Spicy: I loved the flavors here. Sweet, salty, creamy… YUM.
While the servers/​hosts are working on figuring out the new configuration and workings of this restaurant, I could appreciate that they were all kind and friendly. I can also appreciate how hot and fresh everything is when it’s dropped on your table, however, this does translate to LONG wait times for food. After our first trip, I decided to use the stop watch function on my phone to time how long the food took… After we ordered, it took ~17 minutes to get our food. I think this could definitely use some work.
Pros:
–Great tasting food
–Great ambiance
–Nice Service
–Great selection of beer/​wine
–GF options available!
Cons:
–Food takes awhile to come up
Tips:
–The Chef’s Special (i.e. 4 slice pizza and a drink) are a great deal and you get a pizza that’s not always on the menu.

Huge square-​shaped, flat-​bread pizza with a variety of choices.
I’m a big fan of thin crusts, so if you like it thick and doughy, you might want to try one of the other pizza places across the street.
Shared a large Charred Steak pizza, and actually felt HEALTHY eating it. Must have something to do with its flat-​breadiness and super fresh ingredients.
I feel like the pizza could have come with a teeny bit more steak and the seasoning had a slight southwestern feel to it (not my thing). Trashcans were nowhere to be seen…
I really liked the booth seating for some reason.
Restroom is super clean, smells amazing and they have the softest TP ever (at least for a pizza place).
Can’t wait to try their other pizzas!

I was really excited to try this place once I saw the sign on Jeffrey said «now open.» The restaurant is kind of hidden in the back of the plaza — the opposite corner away from Jack’s Surfboards.
They have pizzas, salads, sandwiches, pastas, and even beer! For pizzas, you can either create your own or pick from their creations. I chose the 10″ pizza for lunch — half Mcternan and half BBQ chicken, which costed $ 12.96. The crust was super thin and crunchy. kinda reminded me of flatbread. Loved it! Pricing is a little high in my opinion, now that places like Pieology/​Blaze offer unlimited toppings for an ~$ 8 pizza. I like that the pizza comes in a square shape, and they even let you pick a different type of pizza for each quarter of the square.
Lunch hour didn’t seem too busy today and parking was easy to find. I’ll probably come back again when I’m craving carbs :). The sandwiches & pastas look pretty good too!