Filippi’s Pizza Grotto

After being greeted by two servers we were told that they were not accepting new dining customers. With one hour before closing we thought it was a bit strange. Needless to say we will not come back… awkward experience.

Horrible food. Would love to frequent this pizza joint because it’s so close to us but after (2) bad experiences we are done with them. Ordered pizza with light cheese because previous pizza we ordered was saturated with grease. Same deal on 2^nd try. Pizza was so bad and greasy that we threw it away, again. Also ordered eggplant parmigiana which was edible but very blah and lacking flavor. Not recommended

We ordered takeout and had a good experience. The service was quick and they provided plenty of plates and napkins. The pizza was delicious and we were very happy. Will be back!

I love Filippi’s…but not this one. I called 30 mins before going to pick up my pizza, and when getting there it still wasn’t ready after being told it’ll be ready in 20 mins. I didn’t really care about that because I know and understand quality takes time. The pizza was expensive, more than the other locations, and when I got back home walked from the car to the house, it felt as if the pizza was going to fall through the box. I was pretty excited thinking this because that means the pizza must be stacked with toppings MMMMM.
Surely, the pizza was not stacked with anything but cheese and OIL. The box was being drenched in oil and was about to rip open the bottom and have the pizza fall out. There was no sauce on my pizza, just cheese and toppings, and the oil was WAY too much. My picture shows that. I felts disgusting after eating it, as if I ate a stick of butter, and washed that down with vegetable oil.
I will not go back to this location again, however all the other locations I have been to have always been great.

My family and I have been going to this location since I was a child. It used to be an amazing location and we never had a bad experience. AYSO, TBall, Birthday, all sorts of parties since I was a child. After the move to the new location it has all been downhill from there. I here from many Jamulians that the place kinda sucks. The inside is too bright, chintzy, and crowded. If you look at the recent Unilocal reviews it reflects all the issues.
I got a Pizza Sunday night. It was date night with me and my chick. We also rented a movie. Once we got home and popped the movie in we opened the pizza and everything looked a little off right away. The crust wasn’t as large and puffy as usual but we didn’t mind much. Pulled the pizza out and the bottom crust of the pizza was ¹⁄₈ in thick and the cheese was about a ½ thick. The crust was hard and the bottom of the pizza so thin it got soggy by the time we ate our second piece.
We were already into the movie and decided to just watch the rest and deal with it later. When I called back to explain my frustration and get the issues resolved some how they gave the phone to the owner, Steve.
Steve immediately was talking to me like I am some sort of child trying to explain to me about pizza tossing and dough spreading. Say what you want, ALL the other locations I have been too the pizza has come out exactly the same. He asked me to BRING THE PIZZA BACK and he will give me my money back. I have never heard of any place doing that before. I told him there was only a few pieces left and id be glad to take a picture and show him. He said there is nothing they can do and that I wouldn’t get credit unless I brought the pizza back. I said I am on a date night with my girlfriend and I am not going to leave to do that.
To add insult to injury he said I could come back that night but their closed. He would give me my money back. I asked why he couldn’t do that over the phone because I live 20 min away and he said because «he wont». After arguing a bit I told him my family and I will stop coming back to that location and I shit you not Steve the Dbag said «Good».
My family owns restaurants all over Southern California and let me say this with confidence. This location will slowly go under if they keep this up. Terrible customer service and terrible pizza. Steve is a dick and everyone that worked there was a teenager. Im surprised the family is allowing this idiot to continue running this location.

Can say it influenced in us moving to Jamul! lol, there is something different about the crust and the breads that they do different, soooo good!!!
My husband’s favorite by far!

Absolutely the best antipasto salad. Their pizza’s are filled with meat. They really don’t hold back. Not on the menu, but to die for, capicola pineapple pizza. This capicola is the best I have ever had they don’t offer the same capicola at any other Filippis. It is also on the antipasto salad.

I just left this place and never been so offended in my life. I took my family to eat and they sit us quickly but our server went missing. Me and my family are Hispanic We waited for about 20 minutes and another white couple was seated as soon as they were seated there server was right on it. I told my family to get up and go I tried talking to the hostess about who I can talk to to fix my problem but she gave me no answers she whispered to the manager and didn’t say anything to me then walked off spoke to another person then asked me if I wanted to talk to the manager I looked at her and said no thanks and left. Of course I wanted to talk to the manager why would you ask me that… I have never felt so disrespected in my life we will never be coming back to this place again. If I could give 0 stars I would

Usually good only one waitress had to wait 10 minutes just to get her to come over. Then salad to much dressing on ante pesto salad and then the pizza was burnt like black on the bottom. Bad night this time hadn’t been in a long time now will be longer to go back

Awesome pizza! There’s something different about the cheese on their pizzas. It’s much richer and thicker! Awesome customer service and very quick. The only thing I didn’t like is that the pizza seems to fall apart before it can make it to my mouth! Lol

Mom and pop pizza place.
No frills but good food.
Not a lover of all their menu items, but the marinara is killer and the reason I keep returning.
Pizzas are a bit pricey, but huge and a large can feed a family of 4 making the value much better.
The salads are also fresh and I like their Italian dressing, made in house.
Garlic bread is ok, not the best but a solid starter.
Service fine, atmosphere a bit dated and plain, but good for a simple Italian family dinner.

Love the lasagna! I think it was even better the next day. Sorry for the short review but that’s all I had with the exception of garlic cheese bread which was also great. Can’t mess that up.

The 1 is for customer service not the food, we love their pizza, salads, meatballs etc.
From the moment you walk in, you are not greeted with welcome how can we help you, it’s more like a blank stare and aanoyance.
The severs are generally pretty up beat and positive unless you want something quick.
Today we were starving and after the girl at the front reluctantly sat us, we told her we are starving and she replied with «I’m not your server so I can’t help you», this is the same girl that was irritated the week before when I asked for an itemized receipt on my to go order and the week before that, we asked her if any of the original Dephillipi’s worked there, she looked at us like we were from another planet, shrugged her shoulders and shook her head because she had no idea who we were talking about.
After sitting there for 10 minutes, my husband got up and asked for our server, she came, took our order and was very pleasant but annoyed that we were asking for quick service because of our hunger level. She let me know she had other tables to wait on (I think there was 5 or 6 tables total that had patrons and there were 3 servers there) and she would do what she could for us.
Lunch was great (again this review is not about the food), we get the bill and to go boxes for our left overs. There was $ 1.40 charge on my bill that I hadn’t seen before (we order the same thing every time give or take a soda) while my husband is finishing up go I go the front to ask about the charge and pay the bill. I am told by the server it’s for salad dressing (I like ranch and Italian mixed) and I explain I’ve never been charged for this in the past. She says I can talk to the manager and see what they say, of course I’m fine with this thinking that the manager will be a reasonable person and we can clear this up.
Well let me say this, I see why the staff is the way they are, I think he beats them into submission. He was one of the rudest, unkind people I have ever had the displeasure of meeting and the front counter girl was just as rude and unpleasant as he was.
He argued with me, told me that is what they charge and there was no way they were removing it from my bill, I explained to him that I have not been charged this in the past (upon reviewing my to go order the previous week, I was actually charged $ 1.70 for the dressing), that the server should let us know of the charge so we would not have been surprised by it. They both snapped at me and said it’s on the menu (I didn’t see it) and that was that.
I paid my bill, left a tip and will now have to decide if their food is something I can live without.
That man who runs this location is mean and nasty, I feel he rules with negativity and those who work there are afraid of him. That girl in the front needs to be moved to the back, she should not be the face of Filippis.
A smile and hello go along way, including turning a bad experience into a good one!
Your food is great, please work on your disposition…

It hurts me to do a 1 star review and it’s for customer service, not for the food.
I really love the pizza and pasta for this restaurant chain but you guys really need more attention to customer service
I called to order to go and they answer the phone and right after they said «Philippis can you hold»
I was left waiting for 12 minutes on the phone that’s not a good thing to do

Very, very disappointed. This is my favorite pizza place. I have been coming to this location since it opened. I recently had a large group with me to celerate my birthday. I called the location to let them know I had a group of 15 coming since they don’t take reservations. It was a Tuesday night so I thought it wouldn’t be a problem. My group waited for an hour to get seated which is exceptable. After we sat down we waited for over an hour before the bus boy come to us and said it would be another hour before a server could come to our table. That is unexceptable! I had people from out of town. It was embarrassing. We ended up walking out after an hour and a half. I don’t think I will ever go back to that location again. It is very sad because I have been going there for so many years.

Normally five-​stars here, but I’ll explain later. I’ve been a regular Filippi’s customer since the early 80’s and they are my go-​to pizza place when I have an obnoxious New Yorker or Chicagoan tell me how superior their pizza is; Filippi’s shuts them up. I can usually eat 3 – 4 pieces of regular pizza, but Filippi’s is so substantial I can only get 1 – 2 down, and it’s not just a bunch of dough. it’s the best!
About a week ago I ordered to-​go a half works-​half pepperoni and a white cheese/​oil pizza. Fantastic as usual, and we had leftovers. A couple days later I grabbed one of the leftover white pieces, warmed it up and start eating when I notice it was chewy. As there were no toppings on a white pizza, and whatever i was chewing was not coming apart, I spit it out to find a completely intact green rubber band!
UPDATE: Oh, and by the way Steve, you might ask your buddy Tony G. to not write belligerent messages to Unilocal users that write honest, factual reviews. It’s classless, and frankly a poor reflection on you. I’ll bet I’ve been a loyal Filippis customer (I even dated a waitress from the Friar’s Road location 32 years ago after going there so frequently) longer than he’s been a friend…

We usually go to Fillippi’s in other locations in San Diego. This was our first time here. Ordered the family style meal for 2 to go. It was meat lasagna, spaghetti, ravioli, smothered in marinara sauce, a small house salad, with a cup of Italian dressing, veggie soup, 2 slices of garlic bread, and a soft baguette roll. Perfect for 2. Just add wine. I got to run into the restaurant and check it out. It’s broken into 4 rooms. 3 were full of customers so I got a photo of an empty section. Right when you walk in there’s a table with packets of cheese, napkins utensils, to go menus. There’s a window and you can see the staff cooking up meals. Lots of people were getting to go orders as well. Glad we stopped in to check it out.

The food at this Filippis is the same and just as good as any other location.
Some say the one in Little Italy is the best, but it’s all the same to me…
But what makes this location extra awesome, despite being in nowheresville Jamul, are its dirt cheap wine prices:
$ 8 Half Carafe of Wine
$ 11 Full Carafe of wine
FUC YEAH!!! :D
PS: In general, there is no good reason to visit Jamul… ever. I just happen to have a friend who is from out there… only Gawd knows… luckily he lives in civilization now.

Best pizza for your money’s worth!
I grew up with Filippi’s thankfully, and have never ever had a bad experience with their pizzas. I have ventured out and tried many other pizza shops and franchises and can tell what is quality and what is not. From time to time i would grab Pizza Hut (yes I am ashamed I know) for a cheap bite. But would never have the satisfaction as I received with a Filippis pizza. I have tried Da Boyz in Rancho San Diego, Little Ceasers, Papa Johns, and many others (local, far, and out of state). Always find myself going back to Filippis. Not just because i grew up with it, but it tastes authentic.
If I order a large pizza i am getting my money’s worth. I may only finish 2 slices, but i can take home the rest, wrap them up, heat up the next day, and they will still have that taste from when it was ordered at the resturant.
My first job was a dishwasher at Filippi’s Jamul. I saw how the pizza was made, how the sandwiches were made, all of it. The pizzas are made from scratch, with a perfect & light tomato sauce, covered with plenty of toppings (if ordered) and real cheese. The bread for the sandwiches is the same dough as the pizza. Sandwiches and salads are arranged as they woukd be at home, of course Filippi’s has all the necessary fixings for their signature sandwiches. Lasagna and spaghetti tastes like homestyle cooking.
Bring friends here all the time, and have never never never had a friend complain. Just took two recently and i didn’t even have to ask them. They tore up the pizza right in front of me, and are looking forward to trying more pizza and trying other lasagnas and dishes.
Quality!

I have been to other locations for Filippis throughout San Diego. This specific one was off the beaten path but still offered the same menu.
The service was lacking a little. We ordered our food and it comes with soup and salad but neither of them was brought to our table. We didn’t complain because the food we did order was way more than enough.
The garlic cheese bread is delicious, the pasta/​marinera sauce was delicious, however the chicken parmesean was more breading than chicken. Aside from that, the place was decent and I would go back. I would just go to another location.