Filippis Pizza Grotto

Pizza is delicious. This is amazingly awesome. Some may like this location, some don’t. I on the other hand think it’s the most fabulous place.

They have excellent food, their house salad was amazing with Italian dressing and also their lasagna everything is great besides they provide you with an excellent service in here I don’t about you but I will be back for sure thank you once again thank you Lori for the great amazing service you gave us

This is some of the worst pizza I have ever tasted. I live nearby and thought I would give it a try. The first thing I noticed is that the pizza felt very heavy. Upon opening the boxes at home I realized that it was the cheese that weighed it down. Now, if the cheese were tasty, I could forgive them. But it was the blandest cheese ever. And oh so much of it. Now onto the sauce, tasteless. What about the crust? It was too doughy with not enough crunch for me. The toppings were the best part. But when they’re sandwiched with «bleh» it doesn’t make a difference. Go to «A Brooklyn Pizzeria» nearby for a much better option.

My husband & I went a couple nights ago for a little anniversary dinner. Can’t believe this place has such low stars.
We were greeted promptly and given seats. The place wasn’t super busy, but it wasn’t dead either. Our waiter took our drink order right away and even though he had at least 5 other tables, our drinks with out in two minutes. He came back for our appetizer order and we ordered a pizza as well. He came back a few minutes later, refills and waters in tow, and let us know the oven was a little backed up so it would be a bit of a wait. Not a problem.
The pizza was fantastic, the medium is plenty for two people and we took our three slices. The garlic cheese bread is also delicious, comes with warm marinara sauce. We ordered the works pizza with onion. It was so cheesy and great.
We decided to share a slice on new York cheesecake for dessert. A few minutes later our waiter came out with every dessert they offered telling us they didn’t have any fresh cheesecake.
Fantastic service, thank you Matt. You made our night :)

I come here for lunch and I have been here for dinner many times over the years. The pizza is good, They make it with a lot of cheese. This is kind of their trademark. The lunch torpedo sandwich is good. Good lunch specials, $ 6.95. Easy place to bring a larger party for last-​minute lunch or dinner events

Dispite of my previous experience. Today was amazing, I was greeted, seated, checked on. The staff was in a great mood. The linguine with clamps tasted amazing. I mean it’s my favorite dish. I would definitely come again. Everyone seems to order the pizza so I might need to try that next time! It seems like the bread is fresh, brought out nice and warm.

Waited more than an hour for pepperoni pizza. Be prepared for slow slow slow service – don’t think about calling ahead it doesn’t work!

Great service and food !! Rosemarie was super good to us even though it was busy. Put this on your list !

I’ve been going to Filippi’s since I was a kid. We used to get the pizza dough balls after a long day at the track. The food is always fresh and flavorful. The sausage and mushroom pizza is my favorite. I love the flavors in the sausage and the sauce. Their antipasto salad is great and a great portion. The staff is always friendly and helpful!

Went in for take-​out order at 12:30 PM on 14 November and was ignored by cashier for 15 minutes while I waited for service. He took care of everyone and everything before asking me what I needed. First he insisted I must have called the wrong restaurant because they had no record of the order. Had him talk to my daughter who had called in order. He found it, but the order was only partially completed and I was going to have to wait. Decided to leave without my order and try somewhere else. Very chaotic in the restaurant and they seemed to be understaffed. Guess we won’t be back.

First time there, walked in and was greeted by Jack he was very nice, we ordered to go. He was very patient with are questions regarding the menu, he recommended the lasagna and a couple others And it was amazing. Well worth the drive just on customer service and the food is an A+. Thank you jack, we will be back!

I really like this chain. Their pizza is loaded with cheese and the antipasto is delicious. We stopped in for lunch yesterday. We split the pizza and antipasto. Plenty of food. Lot’s of goodies in the salad. The food was good and the service was great. Not just good but great. The waiter came to us quickly, brought the bread fast as well as the food. Kept our drink glasses full. Could not as for more.

Don’t understand why Filippi’s only has 3 stars! I visit this location weekly and am never ever disappointed.
Skip the pastas and order the Works with anchovies it is thick, cheesy and salty yummmmm
Cannot stress enough about what a delicious pie these guys make!

Awright, I will start by explaining that I’ve been to the Filippi’s in Little Italy and enjoyed it. Good food, relatively quick, no complaints.
Little Italy Filippi’s this location ain’t, though.
Wifey and I show up and we’re both hungry. Hostess tells us 15 minute wait but we see lots of people leaving so we’re like… hey, let’s see if it’s quicker. We end up seated in about 5 minutes. Good start.
Our waitress shows up, gets our drink order (just water) and returns with them quickly. We place our food order next: antipasta salad to split, chix tenders/​fries app to split, half-​serving spaghetti (w/​a meatball!) and half-​serving cheese ravioli to split.
Salad comes out quickly and is fine. Good house dressing and eaten soon enough since we were both so hungry.
Then the waiting begins.
The table behind us, who were seated after we were, have got their drinks, bread, food, a bread refill, and so far we’ve only gotten water and our salad. I’m on the lookout for a refill of my water or our bread so I can dip it in some of that tasty house dressing, but our server is dancing around the section tending to every table but ours. When she finally refills our water and then I flag her down again to ask for bread, I notice she isn’t even making eye contact with us. I’m not looking for some sustained, intimate eye contact or a hand on the shoulder or anything extraordinary, just some general friendliness and that’s becoming a hassle to come by.
Our bread arrives maybe half an hour after the salad and is burnt. Wifey is not happy which means I’m not happy. Also our server still won’t look at us or say more than a few words. We eat the bread pretty quickly since, again, we’re damn hungry, but not before wifey has had to pick off all the burnt crust.
Okay, so the waiting goes on. Other tables are lavished with attention while we’re ignored. Finally our chix tenders/​fries app arrives with, miracle of miracles, an apology for the slow service which she says is on account of how busy the place is, but recall that the other table was served everything well in advance of us and that the evening has been progressing so that more people have been leaving than arriving.
Okay, wifey appreciates the apology, I’m skeptical, but FOOD, so who cares right then.
Fries are nice and crispy. Chix tenders are too. We ask for some BBQ which we get relatively promptly. It’s smoky and delicious. I like this app a lot. Wifey thinks it lacks flavor but that the texture is on point. I might recommend a little more pepper in the chix tender batter but otherwise I’m well satisfied.
It takes another while for our main course to come out, but it finally does. All this while our section has been clearing out and our waitress has been disappearing for chunks of ten and fifteen minutes. At one point I saw her doing some prep for closing which I get, but a little more attention, especially to my continuously empty water glass, would have been hugely appreciated. Not to mention a little warmth or small talk or eye contact or some general acknowledgement that we weren’t sewer trash (I swear we aren’t, guys!).
Okay, so here’s how the main course shakes out: sauces are fine, but they mixed up which sauce to put on which pasta; we requested meat on angel hair and marinara on ravioli which was reversed. The meatball is monstrous and delicious. You won’t often hear me complain about a meatball and, though I’ve had better, this hit the spot for me. The pastas were cooked well enough but we prefer al dente and they were a little past that. The sauces, as I said, were fine, but they didn’t blow me out of the water.
Finally, we’re looking to get the check and some to-​go boxes. We’re all alone in our section now and I can overhear a server in the adjacent section explaining menu items and joking with his table and I’m wounded with jealousy. Our waitress has gone MIA yet again and another waitress steps in to offer us boxes to pack up the food. Then our waitress shows up right after and seems mildly indignant that someone else would offer us this courtesy. This might be the first and last time she makes eye contact during the entire hour and a half we’re there (holy hell, has it really been so long??).
They tag-​team boxing up our food. The other waitress who offered boxes and brought them out immediately has also brought a small cup with extra BBQ for our leftover chix tenders. Ten points to her.
We pay the check and leave with no intent to return. After this, I don’t know that we’ll even go back to the Little Italy location.
Thanks for sticking through the long review folks. Reading this will take you a fraction of the time you might waste by trying to go here.

Toyed with the dismal one-​star rating… The only saving graces were: 1. The personable and dutiful waiters and waitresses we envyingly watched milling around every other section but ours… Good service clearly does exist in this place; it just wasn’t our luck to earn it tonight. And, 2. The spot-​on crispiness of the fries and chicken fingers. (Read: Crispiness = texture/​freshness… ONLY).
We’ve been to the Little Italy location twice before and those experiences have been much better… still, though, I’d probably choose to go elsewhere for a good Italian meal.
Here we go.
Come with me on a journey to the far end of the Mission Gorge/​Friars strip mall parking lot to a hidden location of a well-​known joint. Our story begins with a shorter wait than expected and ends with many long, unnecessary, and unapologetic waits with more-​than-​empty, and then later unsatisfied, stomachs. The crisis begins with a server who can’t stand to make eye contact with either of us, though she seems to be waiting hand-​and-​foot on the couple who was seated after us and directly behind us… They got their carafe of red wine, ample bread, full meals, had a glowing verbal critique amongst themselves, paid the bill, and left, almost before we got our appetizer. I digress. Initially, it seems like it’s going to be a satisfying trip to food baby land, and our shared antipasto salad might have led us to believe it was so easy… (On second thought, it was swimming in dressing (good dressing though!), and was piled high with our olive nemeses…) Moving on… About 35 minutes later, the starving-​to-​death boyfriend asks for some bread please. She returns with a visibly burnt loaf. Much later we finally got our chicken finger and fries appetizer (I told you we were starving!) and our mouths and stomachs are somewhat satiated with fresh-​from-​the-​fryer, perfectly crispy fries and juicy, mouth-​burning, chicken fingers. But wait… THEY HAD NO FLAVOR! Despite the satisfying texture of the guilty pleasures, multiple shakes of salt did nothing to amplify the flavors of what could have been some solid apps… Alas, the strongest flavor during this course was the ketchup and (.75 cent! — oh yes, she charged us…) side of BBQ sauce we ended up asking for. Disappointing. Years later, during the first snowfall in San Diego (seriously… It was a longggg time), we receive our entrée of angel hair and meat sauce and cheese raviolis with marinara and a side meatball plus a normally cooked side of bread (non-​apology NOT accepted!). BUT HOLD ON! It can’t be that easy!!! Of course! The meat sauce and marinara were switched! Ah-​ha! Okay, so it wasn’t that big a deal but it WAS the icing on top of the cake. Sub-​par sub-​par sub-​par.
We had lots of leftovers cause we over-​ordered. I honestly almost gave them to a homeless man outside of Vons after our post-​meal grocery shopping (for homemade sauce and boxed spaghetti mind you — to make up for the disappointment we endured tonight). After staring longingly at the chatty and attentive servers floating all around the sections surrounding us as we sat post-​nosh, a female employee finally came to our rescue, working around our awful waitress once she FINALLY appeared, helping to box our leftovers, give us some extra BBQ to top off our remaining, AND give us our check. Thank you, whoever you are. No thank you Filippi’s. From here on out, at least at this location, HARD pass.

Nice place with great food! Our server Leslie was AWESOME! There were 5 of us in our party. I got a mushroom pizza. I *WISH* it had more mushrooms but no need to order extra cheese! It’s good and cheesy!!! I also wish they had a smaller pizza, like a personal or anything smaller than a 13″ crust!
My friend and I thought an employee was attractive. Turns out he was the manager and his family owned Filippis LOL! We kept telling Lesile that «We’d like to speak to your manager» He finally came over and I told him my friends mom was the one who wanted to speak with him! I think he blushed!
He was super nice and I think embarrassed. I feel like a cougar!
I’ll go back for sure (not just for the eye candy lol) I’ll probably try a sandwich this time or the soup and salad!

This was quite possibly the worst pizza I’ve ever had. It was like Lasagna but without the pasta and on thin bread. I’ll be fighting the indigestion for a week. The cheese so heavy you had to eat each slice with a fork and knife. of course they didn’t provide a fork or knife. So when I grabbed a slice the «crust» just slipped out from underneath the hot mess of cheese — leaving the cheese blanket undisturbed.
Forget about folding the mess. The crust was doughy and spongey more like a bagel than a pizza crust.
Ugh, sick just thinking about it.

Great pizza and lasagna spot, but i would stick to what you know. I would revist for the lasagna for sure.
So I heard rumors that the Filippi’s locations have different menus. That is correct. I was craving a Lillians Special White Pizza and this place does not have it. I grew up in East County San Diego and have had the specality Lillians White Pizza before. Tried the White Pizza (oil) here, and the pizza was bland. I couldn’t taste what a white pizza is supposed to taste like.
+Service was great and friendly
+Lasagna tastes great
–White pizza (oil) was bland, and could not eat it like I
would a regular Filippi’s pizza
If you want to try the Lillian’s white, go to the Filippi’s in Jamul off of Campo 94. I grew up eating the Lillian’s white pizza. Definitely worth the trip to the Jamul location, or if you can find it at another.

One of the few pizza places that I will actually eat my crust!
I’ve been going to Filippi’s pizza grotto for a very long time so it’s time that I write a review…
My friend and I went there with her three kids and we got in right away with a nice big table. The kids love the pizza dough so the waitress was nice enough to bring all three of them a piece of dough to play with which they enjoyed immensely. I thought that was pretty special.
We ordered a large pizza with several toppings, a garden salad, and a few pasta dishes. The only reason I am deducting a star is because the waitress took our order and then returned more than 15 minutes later and asked us what our order was. I was on a tight schedule that night so all that whole time our order wasn’t in was a kind of a big deal to me.
When we got our food the presentation was amazing. Salad looked like it could be photographed for a food magazine.
Our pizza was amazing with tons and tons of cheese. Of course we couldn’t finish it also we even had enough for an entire other meal to take home with us.
The portions were extremely generous.
There is plenty of free parking in the lot and it is easy to find and get in and out of quickly.
There are several locations and each location that I have visited has been equally as good. Fillipi’s is a San Diego classic.

I’ve eaten here several times and I debated going between three and four stars. The food is always amazing. I mean, eat like it’s your last meal on earth amazing. The lasagna. Amazing. The tortelini. Amazing. The pizza. Amazing. Their meatballs… amazing.
But the service is hit or miss. This last time I went, we had to remind the server several times to ask about specific food items and it held up ordering.
This is a great place for larger groups and parking is usually plentiful.