Close But No Cigar-Pizzeria Luigi

We headed out to check out Pizzeria Luigi in Golden Hill on Friday night.  Luigi's is a cool little spot right across the street from one of my favorite restaurants in San Diego, the Turf Supper Club.  It's right on 25th and B St just up the hill from Downtown San Diego.


Proprietor, Luigi Agostini grew up in Italy, traveled the world, and ended up in San Diego where he learned the pizza business working at Bronx Pizza.  In 2004 he opened the Golden Hill restaurant.  He also has a location in North Park.

In 2008, the Food Network's "Diners Drives and Drive Ins" visited Luigi's and literally put them on the map.  They've been a local hotspot since they opened, but after the episode aired they achieved cult status and people travel from all over to check it out.

We got there on an early Friday evening and the place was just starting to heat up with hungry customers.  They brand themselves as "New York style pizza".  I set my expectation meter on "Bronx Pizza".  Bronx would be my benchmark.  I love Bronx Pizza.  I've never been disappointed and until I discovered Urbn Pizza, Bronx was my favorite San Diego Pizza place.  Would Luigi's Pizza stand up to the Bronx test?

Luigi's offers slices, just like Bronx.  Urbn and a few of the others we've visited only serve full pies.  Luigi's has a deli case full of cold pizza's so you can see choose the kind of slice you want.


We ordered our standard fare; cheese pie with 1/2 sausage and 1/2 meatball with fresh tomatoes.  It took a really long time for them to make it.  After about 20-25 minutes we started getting impatient, but just then our pizza was delivered to our table.


It looked pretty good:

But, unfortunately, it didn't come close to Bronx Pizza.  The flavor missed the mark for me and the crust was not crisp or crunchy the way we like.  It was really disappointing because everything about this place was so cool and looked so promising.

I will come back and give them another chance.  I wanted to like the pizza, but I could barely finish my second slice.  In fact I didn't finish it. And then the next day when we popped the leftovers in the oven, it wasn't all that good then either.

When I eat a pizza in New Haven at Pepe's or Sally's, etc, I can't stop eating.   Even at Urbn, I could down 3 or 4 slices.  I don't like to fill up, but I will if it's worth the calories.  Not worth it this time.

I'll report back when we try them again, but for now it was close but no cigar.