Red Oven Artisanal Pizza

I ran into these guys at the Solana Beach Farmer’s Market. The smells coming from their wood fire mobile oven were quit enticing. I asked them to make me be the small Affumicata Neapolitan pizza with fennel sausage, crimini mushrooms, and smoked mozzarella.
The Neapolitan pizza was good, but it missed on a few points. First of all, I loved the soft moist texture of the crust. It almost was fluffy like, but I could not help noticed that it could of benefited from a touch of salt. I enjoyed the toppings of the pizza. The mushrooms were exceptionally good and and the sausage piece were tender, but I could not taste the fennel in the sausage what so ever, which was a bummer, given I am a big fan of fennel sausage, and the main reason I order this particular pizza.
The cheese was smoked mozzarella was very tasty, however I would appreciated more of it. Also, I did not like the way it and the rest of the ingredients were mostly at the center of the pizza. They need to better evenly spread ingredients about the crust, so that the majority of the bites insure those great ingredients’ flavors.
With a few tweaks, this Neapolitan pizza will be a winner in my book. Don’t get me wrong, I liked it, but there’s always room to make things better.

The entire team at Red Oven is awesome… so accommodating, amazing pizzas, and overall great experience! I highly recommend Red Oven to cater your next event… I will be using therm all the time for my client lunches in the area… phenomenal service!

One word… YuM!!! I was stoked that they were able to make a vegan pizza for us!!! No cheese but lots of veggies. There dough kind of brings me back to my childhood where my mom would make freshly made flour tortillas and I would scarf them down as fast as I could. Yep… Even their dough was delicious.
Staff was friendly and their menu accommodates a wide variety of palates! Definitely go with the 11″. The 6″ seemed way to small and I was able to finish an 11″ by myself while my hubby went for seconds.
All their veggies were fresh and I savored every bite!
It was actually kinda cool to wait in line. It allowed me to gawk at the penny covered oven and the penny covered tip jar. The artist must have been patient! It definitely was an eye catching setup.
They take cash and cards– which is nice for when you happen to forget one or the other.
Overall, great pizza with friendly service.

«Delicious Artisan Pizza «
My wife and I went to the San Diego Opera’s opening night play «Great Scott «at the San Diego Civic Theater last week and had a great time. Before the play started, outside in front of the Theater, the area was set up with many different food vendors, cocktail bars, and entertainment. One of the food vendors set up under in a portable canopy was Red Oven Artisanal Pizza. This was a very unusual type food vendor to me, than your normal hot dogs and hamburger type, and we were very interested in what Red Oven was making for people in there portable little Pizza Oven. I went over and asked the chef who was making the different type of Pizza’s, who happened to be Justin Burlingame, the founder of the Red Oven Pizza, Catering, and Food Truck business, based in Carlsbad California. Justin and his 3 person crew were so nice, as they worked so hard and fast to prepare the many types of Artisan Pizza’s for the patrons standing in line. The Pizza came in two different sizes of 6 and 11 inch, and could easily be split between two people. Oh yeah, the Pizza with all the fresh ingredients, and yummy healthy crispy crust, was very DELICIOUS ! After our experience at the theater, we will definitely be checking out the Red Oven when we see them at other venues around San Diego, for another yummy meal.

I wish I could review Red Oven for the
Pizza, but since they cancelled on the event they were supposed to cater, I won’t have that opportunity. Very disappointed that we had booked them for an event several months ago and I received an email two weeks before our event that they are not able to cater because they double booked and don’t have the staff to support both events. Not a way to run a business.

Red oven is quickly gaining popularity up and down the coast of San Diego’s North County. Their success is no surprise, who doesn’t love fresh wood fired pizza made to order?
I have had two opportunities to try their pizza and I appreciate the fact that they love their vegetarian clients. The vegetarian pizzas are one of the heroes on their menu and I decided on the Capricciosa flavor. If I was more observant I would have realized that this pizza is served sans sauce and opted for the margherita style. Red sauce is my favorite part of the pizza, you can never go wrong with tradition!
The fresh dough has the distinctive shape of hand formed crust, slightly irregular with pockets of air and crusty bits that give this pizza character. I appreciated their upgrade to flavorful crimini mushrooms instead of the white counterparts, and the tomato and artichokes were great.
Each piping hot pizza is garnished with fresh grated cheese, basil, and extra virgin olive oil, adding a nice touch to the pies.
Keep your eyes out for Red Oven, they are likely to turn up at farmer’s markets, private parties and events near you.

I got to try Red Oven’s Margherita Pizza at Unilocal Brewventure: Culture Brewing event (
).
I personally think a Margherita Pizza is the best one to try to determine if it’s good or not. There’s no hiding if a certain ingredient or pizza dough is too salty or not flavorful enough.
I’m pleased to announce that it was delicious! Simple, quality ingredients, with just the right flavors. Noted on the menu with the following ingredients:
— San Marzano red sauce,
— Olio Piccante (Spicy Oil)
— Fior di Latte (Mozzarella)
— Basil
— Parmigiano
Cheers to Artisanal Pizza. YUMMY! ENJOY!

Red Oven was a my kid’s school family night and catering to a big crowd. I had low expectations, for a pizza place that’s towed from place to place. Boy ‘oh boy was I blown away. This was the best pizza I’ve had in a long time. The dough is pure bliss. Chewy with a great crisp to it, from the insanely hot wood fire.
I ordered two pizzas, and one had a little more char on it then the chef would like. I explained that that was totally fine with me, since I like the charred flavor. The chef insisted on making me another one, and then searched for me on the school playground. Incredible service and pride in their product. Well placed pride, their product is incredible.

Pizza is pretty good but I prefer more sauce. I ordered the affumicata personal 6″ pizza with sausage. It smelled amazing and was pretty good. The Nutella cookies were also quite good. It had sausage and some green leafy thing I think was basil. It was also a very nice touch that they give you a cookie for free if you just simply check in. Some of the cookies however are quite small so try and nana good one. Unfortunately the cookies were not warm but are still quite good. I’m sure they’re much better warm. Their thing here is pennies it seems. The entire oven was covered in penned on the outside. The tip jar too. It looked really cool. The employees service was very fast and everyone was very friendly. They were certainly there to fulfill the needs of any and all customers and seemed genuinely interested and engaged when you ask them questions.

Love their pizza! Especially the diavola. That spicy calabrese salami they have on there is so good. I love that the crust on this pizza is thin.
I first had them at the Solana Beach Farmer’s Market. They also made a yummy hot chocolate during the garden of lights. The people who work here are cool.
Yes the pizza is somewhat pricey, it’s worth it though. I guess I should try the calzones as well. I guess I just love the pizza too much.

Amazing experience at Societe Brewing tonight with this food truck pizza. I am vegan and usually have no choices when it comes to these locations. I took a chance and asked about vegan options and they had a wonderful arugula mushroom creation that was delicious. Thank you for having such an incredible vegan pizza!

Going to the Red Oven pizza stand at the farmers market in Solana Beach is generally a mission (due to limited parking or the small window of hours), but so worth it! Sometimes I’m craving their red sauce, other times I crave the texture of the gluten-​free crust or the fire-​roasted taste of the crust.
The pizzas all have a thick crust, and the slices are delicate. Next day leftovers taste great too!

I simply cannot overstate how wonderful our experience with Red Oven has been. After living in Naples Italy for a few years, we are kind of pizza snobs. The team at Red Oven are the real deal. Amazing pizzaolo, and great customer service to boot. We hired them to cater a party and it was spectacular! The night was simply magical and due in no small part to Red Oven.

They actually came to my work place yesterday. I have ordered FILETTO which cost me 13 bucks. I was ready to pay for it even though it was a bit expensive. but I got burnt pizza, I couldn’t even take bite. it was horrible. and the worst part was the person who served me pizza was aware of it. People are friendly but this just sucks. I never write reviews .ever. but I feel so cheated. couldn’t find a bite of the pizza which was burnt.

This is by far my favorite pizza place! The owner is so kind and the food is AMAZING! Not to mention that he uses organic ingredients and that makes crunchy moms like me, have a great choice when it comes to eating out a delicious treat! Do not hesitate on trying them, truly amazing, one pizza is enough for one person because they are thin and so flavorful, you will NOT want to share! Also the my kids loved the pizza!

«The pizzas 11inches. The size of this tray» uh, Becky, that’s like 7 ½ and we spent $ 15 on that. Booooo.

Not only was the food delicious and super fresh but the customer service here is well above and beyond the call of duty. The ingredients and the wood burning oven flavor is much better than any I have had. You will not regret trying it I promise. And they are so friendly and care about their customers. Is so refreshing to have that now a days. Thank you for feeding us.

Our apartment complex hosts different food trucks every month. Tonight was Red Oven Artisanal Pizza Truck night!
I ordered the Margherita Pizza! It was fantastic! A true pizza made with real quality ingredients. It was cooked just right. Crust was just the right amount of crispy, the sauce and mozzarella were quality and spot on!
Price was also fair at $ 10 for small to medium pizza. One person could easily crush it! It’s that good!
Lastly, customer service was great. Very friendly and pizza was ready in under 5 minutes. Oh, and totally cool set up with the oven! You can watch your pizza being cooked!
I would definitely recommend giving it a try! Delicious!

I was so excited to try Red Oven and looked at the online menu before ordering. Everything looked AMAZING! I’m serious. Look on their website. I ordered the Margherita ($ 10) and the Affumicata for my family to try. I’m partial to the Margherita and will order it if it’s on a menu… compared to the other Margherita pizzas I have tried, I’m sorry to say that I was seriously disappointed.
First, I opened the box and everyone’s expression fell. Then, they asked how much I paid and I knew I was in trouble… I was so bummed that the pizza looked like a soupy mess. I thought maybe it would taste better than it looked… nope. The sauce had a tinny flavor to it and the flavor of the basil didn’t come through. It was also salty as heck.
We tried the Affumicata ($ 13) hoping for better results. The flavor was pretty good. I think the thing that killed it for me was the friggin’ salt that was sprinkled on there. I was biting into big granules of salt and that was not enjoyable for me. The sauce and toppings were pretty underwhelming but the crust had a pretty decent flavor.
I’m glad I at least tried a slice of each pizza. In the end, cold cereal became my dinner-​SIGH!

I stopped by Lost Abbey yesterday and the aroma from Red Oven was so enchanting, I couldn’t stop from ordering a pizza… I got the one with smoked gouda, sausage and mushrooms, basil and other goodies, and WOW, it was absolutely AWSOME! I shared a few slices with a couple of folks and they were equally pleased!
Well-​priced wood-​fired deliciousness… life is good!

Had some of this pizza for the first time at a party. I tried many different kinds. The ones with meat didn’t blow me away but the margherita was good! The employees didn’t speak much but I just assume it’s because they were cranking out pizzas. Cool concept but not sure I’d get again.

I’ve had Red Oven once before at the Flower Festival for Unilocal Elites. I wasn’t too impressed then either, finding their crust flavorless and undercooked. The story was about the same here, though I did like their toppings a bit more this second time around. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.
It’s an impressive setup. A large oven in the back of a truck, a small tent, broad workstation, and one guy making pies before scooping them into the fire with impressive timing. He always had more ready to go, none waiting on the table for long, as he cycled them around the heat, pulled some out to cool, and replaced them to keep the oven stocked. There were long lines, but the wait wasn’t bad.
We split our pie, half Diavola and half pepperoni. Looking at the whole, it seemed poorly crafted. It’s funny to note, especially considering how impressed I was by the lone guy working, but, looking at the finished product, you can see where the sauce wasn’t spread evenly, some slices barely having any toppings, and the Mozzarella clumped in only three small spots. The Olio Piccante was tasty, but overpowering, even burying the saltiness of the Salame Calabrese underneath. Yet, the salami had a nice chew, giving the pizza a crispy texture that the crust lacked when normally advertised from a wood or coal fired oven.
All of this on 6 small slices for $ 13. Now, I know you’re going to pay more for «quality toppings» and I admit they cook them well, if not in the right amounts. And being at a festival for a good cause might warrant a few extra dollars added on. Still, that doesn’t change the fact that the menu is untouched by markup, betraying that these are their typical costs to eat at Red Oven. Underwhelming, overpriced, and ultimately subpar food, it could be worse, and it may have been the day, but it certainly isn’t better than just alright.
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EDIT: In response to the owner of Red Oven.
First, I honestly appreciate the jovial sarcastic tone of your comment. I try to inject the same in my prose and to see someone come at me with it is fun. Typically whenever anyone mocks a Unilocal reviewer for self-​importance, it comes from the bartender of a sports bar. To see the owner of an artisan pizza place do the same is refreshing, sort of a «we are alike deep down» thing.
I’m sorry the tips weren’t to your liking at the Flower Fields event. Most of my own tips went to getting a group of friends come with me to Hungry Bear Deli; those sandwiches were amazing. We followed it by having a few Yummy Cupcakes the following week. I know a number of other attendees followed suit. I apologize you didn’t get the same response.
And, if that was you under the tent at Jefferson, let me say again you did a fantastic job keeping up with the lines. That was a high stress environment and whoever the chef was kept it together and the pizza rotating in and out of the oven beautifully. Seriously…
I want to note, you argued that you deserve special consideration due to the quality of your ingredients, both in cost and region; I agree that can boost a dish. When I reviewed Craft Pizza, their owner also came back with this point, despite him taking those ingredients, precooking their pizzas, and leaving the pies out for hours before finishing them to order. You don’t do this, thankfully, but you were trying to convey that you take a grand extra step.
But, then you chastised me for not giving 5 stars to Yogurtland, a shop that chemically mixes their product off site and ships them packaged in bulk. Forget that you invalidate the value of fresh ingredients with this comparison, but instead focus on the fact that you really should have pointed out my review for That Pizza Place; it’s a 5-​star rife with personal preference and childhood clinging you could have used for evidence against my tastes. Plus, it would be an actual pizza vs. pizza contrast. It may not be artisan, as you pointed out I might not be familiar with the wide variety available, but still an example of west coast style.
Which reminds me, the Diavola at Quei Bravi Ragazzi is fantastic.
I’ll end by saying that I’m not trying to ‘bring down’ your business with a scathing review. It’s just my personal experience the few times I have gone. Many Unilocal Elite love your cuisine (despite your apparent disdain for Unilocalers as a whole) and I’m not trying to sway hearts and minds, just share what I thought.
But, in the spirit of your list of the type of people who Unilocal (sick burn, brah; it must have taken you a good 20 seconds to google that), let me point out that you stated one of the reasons your pizza may have suffered was because we had a custom order of a split pie. Might I suggest you inquire with the master chefs at Domino’s and Pizza Hut; I hear they teach their craftsmen how to actually apply two different styles of toppings (and even differing sauces) on the same pizza and still manage to keep everything separate. It’s amazing.
I jest, trying to give as good as was got.

Has the potential to be really good. But, the pie we just had at Bates Nut farm was woefully underdone. If they had taken their time and allowed the pizza to stay in their oven long enough to brown and crisp up, it might have been really good, but as it was delivered to us, really pretty ordinary. And, these 4 slice pies are not inexpensive.
A little more consistency in how these are cooked would have made all the difference.

I eat pizza on a weekly basis and was not in the mood to have any since I had it twice this week already… Being one of the vendors at an event, I was able to try a veggie slice and it was actually really good. Thin, fresh, hot, and just the right amount of toppings. I prefer to have some kind of protein on my pizzas, but this tasted fine without any. The tomato sauce was tangy and the crust was chewy, yet crunchy. The staff was also wonderful and friendly. They let me take close ups of the pizza going in their mobile wood oven. :) I’ll need to try their storefront when I’m in North County.

This crust is my favorite.
Red Oven Pizza Truck came to my work’s parking lot.
Two guys making pizzas, fast! It was fun to watch.
I ordered a basic mushroom and arugula pizza. They even put on real, fresh mozzarella which you don’t see all of the time. The oven is so hot, the pizza cooks in less than two minutes. It’s personal/​sharable size, I definitely ate the whole pizza to myself.
The reason for 4 instead of 5 stars is the sauce. The sauce is one of my favorite ingredients. The sauce was bland and really needed something to spice it up. I think maybe they forgot to add garlic that day.

When the mobile pizza oven pulled up I was stunned to see my dream pizza oven high atop the back pedestal. Red Oven pizza was so, so, so good it took me right back to our time in Bella Napoli. The fresh cheese and vegetables and just artistic blending of flavors was simply amazing. Great for birthday parties and parties where you want to be the host and not have to worry about cooking. Phenomenal!!!

So, so, so good! Pizza was amazing! I ordered the Alsatian pizza (crème fraîche, bacon, onions, gruyère, thyme) for $ 10 and the quality was awesome. The dough was so good my husband asked the guy who helped us (great customer service btw) the recipe for the dough. He gave us the info on where to purchase the flour to make the dough that’s imported from Italy.
I also had the bacon wrapped jalepenos. They were a little too spicy for me since there wasn’t that much cream cheese.
Overall– definitely 5 star pizza and service!

Red Oven happened to be outside of Societe Brewery while i was there. I had to try it, what goes better with beer than pizza?! Their pizzas are the fancy artisanal type, as their name states. Similar to Pizzaria Bruno, Buona Forchetta, or Caffe Calibria.
The pizzas were good thin crust and not too filling 3 pizzas fed 5 people. I’m not sure which was my favorite, they were all good. There where things i liked about each one, maybe next time i’ll combine what i liked about each one into one pizza.
Alsatian — Crème Fraiche, Bacon, onions, gruyère, thyme. ($ 10) What i liked about it was the bacon and the crème fraîche. Maybe more bacon would be better too.
Diavola — red sauce, fior di latte, basil, salame calabrese, olio piccante, parmigiano. ($ 13) What i liked about this was the red sauce, and the cheese, which i assume is «Fior di latte.» With these fancy pizzas, I’m not sure what all the ingredients are, i just see a few things i like and go for it.
Bufalina — Marinated cherry tomatoes, mozzerella di bufala, basil, parmigiano, with proscuitto added ($ 13) What really stood out were the cherry tomatoes, they really added a lot to it.
So heres my creation for next time. Red sauce, fior di latte, bacon, marinated cherry tomatoes, maybe add some mushrooms or onions.

Red Oven has come to the apartment community I live at a couple of times and I feel like the pizza just gets better and better! Even just a plain ol’ pepperoni pizza is just delicious. Some places have a crust that’s too thick (sorry, Chicago) and some too thin. This pizza is just the perfect combination of crispy and chewy. You can truly taste the freshness of the ingredients they are using.
So I think I have made the point that the pizza alone is reason enough to give Red Oven a try, but I can’t leave a review for them and not make mention of the wonderful people who are putting out these mouthwatering creations! The guys who work the ovens are just amazing. They have the ability to make you feel like you’ve known them forever. You’re just there chatting it up and before you know it, your dinner is ready. That genuine charm and charisma is not something that is learned, it comes naturally and boy do they have it!
I can’t wait for their return to our community this month! If you ever spot one of their awesome mobile ovens, do yourself a favor and give them a try. :)

Awesome pies from these guys. Two visits in two weeks and both were great. I find that many of the artisan places with wood fired ovens tend to char/​burn the crust. These guys have it nailed down.
Quite possibly the perfect pie.

You could say I’m addicted to Giuseppe’s pizzas… and you would be right. Sometimes I get down to the Solana Beach Farmer’s Market on Sundays (1 – 5 on Cedros) and treat myself and my guests to Giuseppe’s wonderful, gluten free pizza
And sometimes I just have to give a party so I can have the pizza truck in my driveway.
Neighbors, friends and colleagues once again enjoyed Giuseppe’s fabulous fare. It is just such a kick to see everyone going to and from the truck to select their plate-​sized pizza. One of my friends (who is a size 2 and doesn’t eat anything) was stuffing herself with the pizzas. She is Sicilian and couldn’t believe how good the pizzas were. She said these are the only pizzas that don’t bother her stomach.
The all time favorite is the margherita, with mozza, tomatoes and basil. Yum. The next favorite is the Alsatian, with carmelized onions, little pieces of italian bacon, and a very small amount of mozza (no tomatoes). Then Giuseppe brought a bunch of other ingredients, prosciutto, asparagus, eggplant and made a big selection of delectable gourmet pizzas. Each plate-​sized pizza takes only 3 minutes to cook so guests could go out and order what they wanted and wait for it.
What a fun evening! Add the wine and margaritas and everyone had a great time. There were 37 of us and Giuseppe made around 45 pizzas! And they all disappeared.
This will not be the last time that the Red Oven pizza truck graces my driveway.
Forza Giuseppe! Sei favoloso!