Sanfilippo’s Pizza

LOVE LOVE LOVE their dons and niki special — sorry the are closing

Love this place. Food always comes out fresh and hot and full of flavor! Heard they were gonna close as owners want to retire. So sad. Hope someone comes in and buys it.

My FAVORITE restaurant. Best pizza I have ever had (and that’s saying something because I’ve been to some really good pizza places in New York). Mrs. San Filipo is so kind to all of her customers and is constantly at the restaurant. I’ve also had their pastrami sandwich and that was really good too. The Don’s Special is a big hit with my family. We have tried a lot of their Italian pastas and you can’t go wrong with any of them, but personally I think the pizza is still the best choice on the menu. They out the pepperoni under the cheese and it just gives a whole different taste, and they never skimp around with the cheese. Love love love it! Very family friendly as well!

I got the lasagna and ravioli half and half, I will be going often. I love that place.

YUM. Their meatball sub is a must have. It’s big enough to share for two! Bön appetite!

I took my boyfriend and his daughter here one Friday night. Our ticket didn’t hit the kitchen, so we waited longer for our food. That’s okay, accidents happen. Our server was okay about it by giving us a salad for free. When we finally got the pizza, it was soggy in the middle (uncooked). We took it home and cooked it ourselves. We did make a reservation and were seated promptly.

The pizza here is the best! My absolute favorite part is the crust which is freshly made everyday and baked to perfection! I’m not a huge fan of cheese, and they put a lot for my taste but I just ask for light cheese and its perfect. They have great sandwiches, which again is because of that roll, they make them on location everyday. Can’t wait to eat my pizza tonight: D Also the cook that works there is HOT. He can make my pizza anyday ;)

The Sanfillippo family have made this a La Mesa staple. They are gracious and work so hard to make this mom and pop pizza and pasta place one where you feel welcomed and can enjoy the best Don’s Special! Its like lasagna but 10 times better. I grew up in La Mesa but have since moved away yet I still drive out there just to have cheese pizza, a meatball, and their famous Don’s special!

We have been coming here for years but lately food hasn’t been as good as it once was decided to come one last time before they closed place was very busy our food was delicious but the kid who waited on us left a little to be desired it’s too bad it’s closing but I have a feeling I know why poor service

I have been a loyal customer of this restaurant for over 15 years but recently their service has become AWFUL! they really dont even deserve a «1» rating. 2 weeks ago i ordered a pizza for take out — when we got it home the toppings were not what we ordered, so i called & spoke to Itzel (who was very nice) & after explaing the problem she admitted it was her fault & offered to comp our next pizza. Great i thought — well 2 weeks later (tonight) i called & once again ordered the pizza being VERY specific about what the toppings were supposed to be as i am allergic to pepperoni; well we got the pizza home & AGAIN got a pepperoni pizza which i couldnt eat! This is un-​acceptable & i will never return to this place again! I would rather drive 10 more miles & go to Marchiaros pizza on 2^nd street in el cajon than spend my hard earned money somewhere that cant even manage to get a 2 topping pizza correct!!!

This place is great, I’ve been going here since childhood. The environment is awesome even when it’s super busy, the pizza here is super filling so you can go with a couple of friends and share. Sometimes staff can be a little uppity if you go near closing though, but the place is great seriously

Haven’t been there in years and was very disappointed in their pizza. My daughter and I had planned on going to another place which didn’t open until late afternoon, so we went to San Fillipies. Ordered a large sausage, pepperoni, mushroom and onion. There was no decernable taste. Had a hard time swallowing the rubbery cheese. We could not hardly find any pepperoni or mushrooms. The sausage was not in crumbles but actually ground up and the onions instead of slivered slices but tiny diced and couldn’t even taste it. The crust was the worst, like hard dried up cardboard.

I tried this place last night and both my bf and I were completely satisfied I was craving pizza for take out so we ordered a large two topping and we got a complimentary side of spaghetti (which was their special at the time). The pizza was very, very cheesy so make sure you are in the mood for cheese! The sauce was not bland contrary to what some others have said or at least in my opinion, it had wonderful blend of oregano and Italian spices yumm! They were accurate on their wait time they said about 25 minutes which was pretty accurate. The spaghetti was good too, I’m not a big fan of spaghetti but I can’t complain it was free and we had a ton of leftovers for the next day. I can’t wait to eat in and try some of their other menu items, seems like a pretty authentic place.

We’ve been going to Sanfilippo’s since the very first week it opened. It’s partly nostalgia and partly delicious food, but it’s the one restaurant I go to (almost) every time I’m back home in San Diego. I’ve never encountered an Italian dish as delicious and perfect at Don’s Special! If it’s true that they’re closing, it will be a real shame. It’s been part of my childhood … and my adulthood. It’s a special place.

I came today to find that they no longer are open for lunch? If you as busy as it seems, the question is. what is the problem?
Service was terrible. We waited for 44 minutes to get in the door, and then after a few more minutes the waitress took our order. To my surprise the pizza backlog was an hour?
Prices are now quiet a bit higher, and no longer is salad included with the pasta dishes. This makes it about a 50% increase in their prices. How can you not be making enough money to pay rent when you have a packed house with new higher prices?
I’m wondering if the cause for their demise is not due to the lease situation, but rather poor management. It is management responsibility to have staff to handle the increased traffic, and to improve the quality as to maintain customers.
Sorry to see you go… but Lidos will take up a lot of the traffic, provided another good italian resturant does not pop up soon.

Loved it… until a roach fell from a wine bottle onto my brothers shoulder. Seriously usually roaches don’t come out until night time. They must be infested. We won’t be eating these anymore :(was good but just can’t seem to get over that experience.

Just ate there for the first time last Thursday. Standard large pepperoni pizza…
Quite overlooked, crust very dry, unfortunate because the cheese/​sauce combination seemed like it could be a winner (hard to tell) but the roof of my mouth is torn up from chewing the crust.
If I hadn’t been rushed for time it would have been sent back. this is the first pizza ever my family didn’t finish.
In addition, the waitress never came to check on us, so never even got a drink refill and I had to walk to the counter to get my check.

Honestly one of the best pizza places in town, lots of variety, not too pricey and great area and atmosphere.
Unfortunately, they are closing and it will seriously kill the appeal of downtown La Mesa. The only place that can compare is Bronx Pizza in Mission Hills/​Golden Hill

Came here for lunch with my mom a few days ago. The special of the day was on sandwiches, so I had a meatball sub. Kind of a bummer that cheese doesn’t come standard on it, but they give you the option.
Meatballs did the trick at filling my stomach, but overall they were kind of bland. The bread was nice and crisp, but presentation is lacking. I don’t appreciate the red plastic baskets with butcher paper — pretty sure some of that butcher paper ended up in my stomach.
It’s supposed to be family-​owned, so I would assume/​hope they make their pasta in house. There’s a sign on the wall that tells you they get their pasta from a place in L.A. Probably not going to try the pasta.
As far as customer service goes — I really don’t like it when places tell me to seat myself, but then has handwritten signs to say that «this section is closed». I prefer to be told where to sit, thank you. Our server was nice, but by the time he came to refill our waters, our sandwiches were already finished. Time taken from order to receiving food: 30 minutes.
Unless my mom is really craving this place, I’ll take her somewhere else. Just wasn’t wowed.

Felt like some Italian this night, Sanfilippo’s has been bookmarked for quite some time. I called in ahead for an order and was quoted ten minutes, was great for a Sunday night. After arriving, the cashier quickly got our order ready and we were out the door very fast.
Ordered the half & half combo spaghetti and the don’s special with meat sauce (
) for the entrée. The spaghetti was cooked great, tasted really good. But the highlight of the meal was the don’s special. It was a mixture of different pastas baked with cheese and sauce. The mixed pasta was compromised of rigatoni, shells, and tight spiral locks. All the pasta was exceptional.
The side house salad (
) was kinda weak. Mixed of some romaine lettuce, tomato wedges, olives, and pepperoncinis. A really small salad that came with packaged italian dressing, what kind of italian place doesn’t make their own dressing??!
For side bread, we decided to try the dora’s delight and regular garlic bread. The dora’s delight (
) was basically garlic bread with mozzarella cheese melted on top. The standard garlic bread (
) was butter garlic italian loaf bread. I only ordered half orders, I can’t imagine how big the full orders are. The bread came with some amazing marinara sauce (
). The sauce had a very hearty taste followed by some spice, quite possibly some of the best sauce I’ve had with breadsticks.
All in all, Sanfilippo’s restaurant serves up great pasta, breads and sauce. I hope sometime I can get a chance to try their pizza. The only downside, is the place seems to be a little pricey, it was about $ 27 for the entire meal of food. The portions are huge though, so get someone to share it with.