A Carini Pizza & Pasta

My boyfriend and I decided to stop by this place for some pizza and beer on our way back from a horseback ride in Temecula/​Murrieta. We were tired, sore, dirty, and HUNGRY. I ordered the Kicked Up Blanca pizza slice + salad + drink combo and he ordered a personal pan pepperoni pizza and an orange wheat beer. We were both blown away by the quality of the pizza at this seemingly random little pizza place that we happened to drive by (it wasn’t until later that we found out it was so highly rated on Unilocal!).
As if the good food wasn’t enough, we were treated to excellent customer service from Antonio (the owner) and his staff the entire time we were there. Antonio serenaded us with a beautiful Italian song and constantly walked around to ask his patrons how their meals were.
But the star of the meal was the CHEESECAKE. YOU MUST TRY THIS CHEESECAKE.
Full discretion: I normally don’t like cheesecake. It makes me a little sick just thinking about it. When my boyfriend ordered it, I was cringing because even the smell turns me off. But A Carnini’s cheesecake is like nothing you’ve ever eaten before. The filling is light, creamy, and just the right amount of sweet. Plated with a little raspberry sauce, it was PERFECT.
We live in Fullerton but we’ve marked this place as a «MUST GO BACK» restaurant specifically for the cheesecake and customer service.

Took the family here for an early dinner. Nice staff. Food was really good and came steaming hot to the table. My son is gluten free. He said they have the best gluten free pizza yet. We’ll be back.

Not the worst pizza but far from the best. Skimpy toppings especially those I paid extra for, caprese salad not worth $ 10, not at all impressed with my first experience… and my last!

Nice big airy place with outdoor seating. Slices may cost more than other places but they are much larger and very good. Not sure why they put ricotta on the margarita, it doesnt really need it and they put a lot on their pizzas. They also have tortellini alfredo pasta which is my favorite, the price on the menu online is old though. Staff are super nice and friendly.

Yummy food and top notch customer service as usual. A big thanks to the lady with the jellyfish tattoo for recommending the «strawberry lemonade» gelato

I’ve been here too many times to count because I love the food, service, and environment. Most of the staff is super friendly and personable and the pizza is killer.
I almost always go between 3 and 5pm to get a beer and a slice for less than six bucks. The kicked-​up blanca may be the best pizza I’ve ever had, but they’re all good.
They have a great patio that usually has a lot of shade and is a nice place to pass the time.

The pizza was bland… even Dominos is better and that is harsh. The eggplant barely had an sauce and was worse than the pizza. The tomatoes tasted canned and the cheese was tasteless.

Best pizza in Murrieta and the calzones are awesome. The cheese cake is the best I’ve had. The service inviting and friendly.

Delicious pizza and pasta. Everything tasted really fresh and homemade. Only down side is there is one cash register. Had to wait a while to order the food and go back in line again to order dessert. Wish it was a full service restaurant.

First time here, but definitely not the last! Great deals on Tuesday, so had 2 slices pizza and drink. Can I tell you the flavors and texture and freshness of both slices (Creamy garlic and Patricia’s pie) were excellent! My husband had the Marinara bowl of pasta and thought it was the best tasting marinara he has ever had!
We also had for the first time Arancini, (rice balls made with sausage, pepperoni and House cheeses sitting in marinara sauce) so delicious!
If you like cheesecake you will absolutely crave this most delicious, creamy fresh decadence we have ever tasted!
Can’t say enough how friendly and welcoming we felt by the owner Antonio and his family and staff.
Felt like we were visiting their home. Antonio even sang to us and his voice is incredibly beautiful!
We will be supporting this local business for sure, already looking forward to next visit.

Thank you Unilocalers! Once again you were dead on! The crust is the best ever. We had the Blanco Kicked Up pizza and it had comfort food written all over it. Side of marinara gives the best of both worlds. Definitely spring for the largest size because for a few bucks more you have dinner for tomorrow night. Also ordered the cheesy bread which was a meal in itself. Huge fan of the pesto sauce for dipping. Food coma! It’s a little light on atmosphere because it’s in a strip mall and import and craft beers only — no Coors light here. But those are hardly negatives. Make this a regular stop or at least try it for a total treat. Great job Carini family.

Possibly the best Pizza in town! I’ve been here a couple of times with friends and have always ordered pizza but today i wanted to try something different. I came here around dinner time with lots of families in the restaurant and was greeted by Matt and a lady at the counter. I took a menu, glanced at my options and decided on a calzone. I am very reluctant when it comes to trying new things on the menu when i know their pizza is heavenly. Still unsure about my decision, (Mariela) who was very helpful helped me pick out and make my own calzone. I sat down at a single table across a family with children. As I was waiting, a single slice of creamy garlic pizza was brought to my table. I was shocked at first as i thought that there might have been a mistake for my order but (Matt) the gentlemen who brought the slice told me to enjoy it as i wait for my calzone. Excellent customer service. While i was munching on my pizza a toddler from another table across from me dropped his pizza and plate on the ground. Not a second of hesitation a young man (Brian) came over, cleaned up the mess and asked the family if he could help them with anything else. Wow. Never in my life at a restaurant have I seen such professionalism all at once. Anyways my calzone came out and it was delicious! If you’re in the area or live in the city I would highly recommend this place. delicious food and Excellent customer service. A Carini Pizza & Pasta has found themselves a regular, I will be sure to come
back for more!

Went during lunch with a visiting colleague. It was kind of busy, but got quick and friendly service.
We both opted to get the pizza and salad combo. I had the meat lovers pizza slice — it was great. Oversized and kind of messy, but delicious.
We had gelato for desert. that was overpriced, in my opinion. It was not bad, but certainly not worth the price.
I would definitely drop in again for lunch whenever I’m in the area.

My family absolutely loves this place.
We love the lunch special (2 slices of pizza & drink). It fits all our preferences. I love the white & kicked up version of this delicious veggie pizza and my husband and sons can enjoy whatever meat pizza of their choice.
Best pizza hands down. The employees and owners always take the time to say hello and when not too busy will chat with you.
Anthony has sung beautiful Italian songs and serenaded the crowd.
They also offer gluten free pizza crust.
We’ve ordered off the menu and the food has always been wonderful.

I’m never coming here again!!! I will die of over eating because their food is too amazing.
Pizza — pepperoni is my standard to test any pizza place, but there is a garlic, bacon, pepperoni sausage pizza that amazes my taste buds. The pepperoni still tops most pizza places. The crust is soft and crispy without being crunchy which is hard to achieve with a thinner crust.
–Sauce — there is only one other pizza place I’ve ever been to that made their own sauce. This sauce is a lot more savory than most places because of its freshness. This unique aspect is what makes this pizza worth trying.
Anri-​pasta here didn’t fit. It wasn’t in the same class as everything else. It was good in an average way.
Cheesecake — smooth and creamy fresh homemade cheesecake is hard to come by. This is definitely a top quality cheesecake which is rumored to get better over time instead of worse.
Employees — they are among the happiest employees I’ve seen at a pizza place. They look like they are having fun and the owner likes to serenade the patrons with singing in Italian.
The atmosphere is casual and comfortably designed.

My favorite pizza place in town. Although, I’ve mostly only had their pizza by the slice — which I will say I prefer to their whole pizzas because they go back in the oven, making the crust a little extra crispy. The service is always friendly and the owners are very outgoing and welcoming. I recommend this place to everyone!
Almost forgot to mention the cheesecake! It might be the best ever, I don’t know.

We’re from out of town and needed a place to get a quick bite and found this place on Unilocal.It’s a casual place and smells delicious. The pizza is amazing and you haven’t had cheesecake until you try the in house made cheesecake. They also have Refuge Brewery Blood Orange wit on tap. I could live here. The breadsticks are heavenly, I could swim in them. The gelato is gelato-​perfect!
If you’re fortunate enough to be there when the owner is there get ready for some great entertainment. He loves what he does and it shows.

I’ve been to Italy before and this place is a pretty close match!
Great service and absolutely wonderful food!
A must regular for me.
Love love Antonio!!!

Pizza game-​Strong!
We love Carini’s!

I have experienced better.
We came here on a rainy day hoping to find our go-​to pizza spot.
We stood at the register for five minutes before someone decided that we were people and needed our orders taken. There were 2 young women working behind the counter, what looked like a cook or a bus boy, and another woman sitting at the bar area closing out the register? maybe doing payroll? What I’m getting at here is that there were plenty of people in this place that could have approached us sooner and didn’t.
We ordered a pizza to split, I ordered a beer, and my wife just got water. They didn’t pour my beer, and told me that it would be out shortly. How tough is it to pour a pint? After 5 minutes of waiting at our table, my wife sensed the severity of the no beer situation and finally went over to the woman doing payroll and asked for the beer… which eventually came.
We waited longer than necessary for a pizza of that quality. None of the ingredients tasted fresh, the sausage was rubbery, and the crust tasted frozen.
While we were eating our pizza several large groups of people came in to eat, one of which decided the wait in line was just too long and turned on their heels and left.
If the food and beer had been great, and the service been lacking, we’d be willing to go here again. But when both service and food stink, that’s a definite no go.
Needless to say we have yet to find our go-​to pizza place, and don’t think we’ll be revisiting this establishment any time soon.