Berkeley Pizza

Went to this place as we liked what we thought was a sister pizza place in Berkley. Staff working had no knowledge of the real Berkley place so maybe they’re not related after all… Went on a Tuesday night before Padre game. Fairly empty (2 other customers) yet it took almost 15 minutes for a slice of pizza. Cashier forgot to give me change (almost 4 bucks) but I caught it before we left. 3 stars because the pizza (crust especially) was good. Not on par with its cousin in Berkley but good. Slow– too slow for a pizza slice place and just a note– no salads or anything besides pizza.

Needless to say I am from Chicago and I know pizza! Berkeley Pizza is by far the best deep-​dish pizza I have had in San Diego. I’ve actually been ordering pizza from Berkeley Pizza for a couple years now and every time it’s been amazing! When I first found them I was living in the Gaslamp area so I would order from their downtown location and have it delivered. It’s not really the type of place you make plans to go there and dine-​in, so I recommend either picking it up or having it delivered (if you live within a mile and half). Don’t let the pick-​up scare you off; it’s truly worth the hassle of having to go and pick it up yourself. If I am picking it up alone, I will pay over the phone when I place my order, then I call when I am out front of the restaurant and have them bring it to my car.

AMAZING sauce. Amazing pizza. Amazing staff. Will be back next time we are in the area.

I didn’t realize nor was it disclosed all the pizza is 50% of Chicago style thickness. It was ok, but a bit slow service.

Every summer my mom and I visit her family in Chicago where we spend just about every meal eating deep dish pizza. Berkeley pizza is where we can eat delicious Chicago style pizza for the other 11 months out of the year.
Cool place right off 5^th avenue, very chill people (shoutout to Harry!) and awesome atmosphere. Definitely recommend this place next time you’re in the mood for deep dish pizza and local beer.

DELICIOUS! That’s the only way I can describe the pizza and other tasty treats they sell. I came here with two other people on a weekend night and we shared a pizza that was loaded with toppings and a little extra cheese, it was amazing. We ended having great conversation over even better food. The place is a little small, but they also do takeout. It was a little crowded, but it was fine. I will definitely be coming here often!

Spinach and Mushroom Pizza is quite good. Deep dish is very «heavy» and worth the price

The owners are awesome hard working guys and the pizza is AWESOME. Could not recommend more !!! Nothing is better than a good slice of pizza after a good night of drinking

Updating review got here hella late and the guys are always super nice and get me a hot slice ready!!! Love this place nowhere else in downtown for pizza

Rude rude rude!
Way too much attitude for a guy who is taking my order. Good pizza… poor customer service. The owner of this place should train his staff better.

Its the perfect late night snack after running around downtown. I think their pizza is pretty decent, although I didn’t think the crust was all that great, but who can say no to a slice of pizza with lots of delicious red sauce!

Went to downtown in search of a bike shop my friend told me about after work and happened to find parking next to this pizza shop. Wasn’t too packed so I chose to try it out. Looks nice, good food

Not only do I like Berkeley Pizza for its namesake, but the have 21^st Amendment’s Hell or High Watermelon Wheat Ale on tap! I don’t think people realize how rare it is to find it outside of San Francisco.
We ate a quick bite after watching a comedy show down the street. We each had a slice of their delicious Chicago style deep dish and a pint of Watermelon Wheat and it made for the most perfect after show snack. Not to mention hip hop from the 2000’s was playing added a nice touch to this Friday night.
I will definitely be back!

A few of my friend and I were at Omni tonight (a few steps away) and after the club we decided to get some pizza, the ratings on this place seemed pretty good and the pictures of the pizza looked amazing so we went ahead and took our chance on the place.
Long story short the place was completely unorganized and the people that were working there obviously didn’t know how to listen. They messed up my order and my friends order as well. Usually when something’s wrong you go back and ask for it to be corrected however after waiting for our pizza that took a good while and the crowd now getting rowdy we decided to leave with our messed up orders.

I SO wanted to like my lunch here. I came downtown specifically for Deep Dish Pizza and tried Berkeley and another place while i was in the area. It’s not close to home so I figured I might as well give a couple places a try. Fortunately I can get just a slice so i’m not quite such a pig.
First thing you need to know is that parking in the area SUCKS! be prepared to walk a couple blocks at least or try the parking structure near by but you may get charged.
I walked in and was greeted by the man behind the counter who was attentive-​ish but didn’t seem to be overly enthusiastic about his job. Short and to the point for the most part. Two slices and two drinks was about $ 12 which is about the going rate I think. A few minutes later the food is ready and I can’t wait. I dive into my slice with sausage and its ok… sadly just ok. The crust is thicked and more bready than I care for. I also remember it being a little deeper dish than today. Kind of disappointing because i was so in the mood and I remembered it being really good (3-​ish years ago) the last time I was here. Something has changed.
My friend had the mushroom and spinach slice and took 3 bites. «I’m done». I had to try it just to see why and it didn’t take much to see. I decided to call it quits after the one bite. Meh, no thanks.
Well Berkeley crew… I probably won’t be seeing you again. Average-​esque service and moderately mediocre pizza don’t equate to a 40 minutes drive to satisfy a pizza craving.
And the quest for the unicorn that is phenomenal deep dish pizza in San Diego continues…

Just called in a attempt to place a to go order.
Asked the employee if they had served chicken wings. In a tone that lacked any hint of hospitality he replied «no» and then paused with a tension that could have easily cut one of their deep dish pies with ease.
This employee needs to learn a thing or two regarding customer service.
Maybe next time the conversation can go something like this:
Me: do you have chicken wings?!
Employee: we actually don’t, but have phenomenal deep dish and it’s a must try. Can I get your order started?
Until that kind of hospitality is on display I’ll go someplace else for pizza.

Like every good spot around SD, they have a great local beer selection, plus a small but good selection of other craft beers. A great easy going vibe and some of the best deep dish I’ve ever had. Come sit by the huge open windows, watch San Diego cruise slowly by while listening to some smooth reggae & jazz, and eat pizza, drink beer, love life.

I don’t really care for pizza, but Berkeley pizza was great! Deep dish pizza, with great flavors. Don’t think I’ve ever had a pizza like that and so well made. I’ll definitely come back here again when I’m back in SD. ENJOY!

This is one of the best pizzas in San Diego. Flaky, buttery crust, ripe, fresh tomatoes, and overall… The best taste. That’s saying a lot, and as far as deep-​dish, Chicago-​style pizzas go, this is the no-​brainer when you’re in the Gaslamp and hankering for a nice, sloppy slice. The slices are not oversized; in fact, they fit on a small plate. But don’t let the smaller size fool you– These slices are big in flavor and in their fill-​you-​up ability! I generally go with the Pepperoni, with its nice, spicy flavor, but, believe it or not, the simple cheese slice is incredible in it’s honest wholesomeness. Top-​quality cheese, just the right amount of Basil, and rich, red tomatoes piled on as the delicious cargo!
If you’re looking to grab a quick lunch, you can’t go wrong with the two slice special, which incudes a drink– For under $ 10! Service is universally excellent, with a friendly, easy-​going attitude that makes stops here a pleasure. If it’s lunch you’re after, get here before 11:30– Parking will be impossible after that. Highly recommended, and come hungry!

From LA. Stopped here after barhopping the gaslamp district… Gotta say this was the perfect spot to hit up for an authentic Chicago style pizza. You will not be disappointed!

This is simply the best deep dish pizza in downtown San Diego. Flaky, buttery crust, ripe, fresh tomatoes, and overall… The best taste. That’s saying a lot, and as far as deep-​dish, Chicago-​style pizzas go, this is the no-​brainer when you’re in the Gaslamp and hankering for a nice, sloppy slice. The slices are not oversized; in fact, they fit on a small plate. But don’t let the smaller size fool you– These slices are big in flavor and in their fill-​you-​up ability! I generally go with the Pepperoni, with its nice, spicy flavor, but, believe it or not, the simple cheese slice is incredible in it’s honest wholesomeness. Top-​quality cheese, just the right amount of Basil, and rich, red tomatoes piled on as the delicious cargo!
If you’re looking to grab a quick lunch, you can’t go wrong with the two slice special, which incudes a drink– For under $ 10! Service is universally excellent, with a friendly, easy-​going attitude that makes stops here a pleasure. If it’s lunch you’re after, get here before 11:30– Parking will be impossible after that. Highly recommended, and come hungry!

Delivery took 90 minutes, girl came without change when total was $ 27 and we tried to give $ 40. She rode her bike so pizza was smashed, cold and soggy. Because we ordered through Eat24 app they wouldn’t do anything about it. All in all a waste.

By far the best chicago deep dish pizza in SD. Great special for 2 slices and a drink.
Try getting the pepperoni on top a slice of sausage if you’re a meat lover and it’ll change your life! The spinach and mushroom specialty pizza is delicious even if you don’t like the two ingredients together.
Best part is the beers that are on tap to include Deliriums Tremens which you can never find on tap anywhere!
Amazing pizza to get for lunch, dinner, or after a drunk night in Gaslamp. Or even the hungover morning after!

My second time here and the taste is absolutely amazing. Staff is super nice and efficient! Casual, roomy, and the aroma is delicious! It draws you in from all the way around the corner. I’ve had short waits and food is always tastefully fresh.

Open late :)
Cheese pepperoni is the best.
A bit crazy after 2am. Long lines, but friendly service.

I’m not a huge fan of Chicago style pizza. They don’t advertise whether it is Chicago or New York style, just that it’s sold by the slice. I didn’t even finish my slice.

If you’re a tourist looking for really great Chicago pizza, this is the place. I’ve never been disappointed, but my last visit wasn’t the best. My BF pizza came out cold, he asked for it to be reheated and 10 min later the second slice was burnt. Both times they had apologized but the cashier (skinny kid with tattoos) had a sick attitude. Hey if you don’t like your job, then quit. I Asked to be reimbursed for the burnt pizza and told him I really enjoyed my
Pizza to lighten up the awkward situation. He said nothing, just refunded me and gave my card back. Learn some manners kid. Thumbs down for service.

How did this place get 4 stars! I don’t know if it was because of the time I went in to order the pizza, or if it was just my luck. The guy working there at 2:15 in the morning was really rude while asking for the different types of pizzas they had available. At this point I just wanted to order and get out of there since there were a bunch of people waiting for there orders. I ordered a large pepperoni pizza (Which cost me over $ 20). About two minutes later, the guy comes out with a box and says here you go, its your lucky day the pizza came out early. «Great, you would think.» Until I got back home and realized that it was a tomato pizza that was hard and just disgusting. It was so bad after having two slices we had to throw away the rest of the box. What a shame!

1) I am from Chicago.
2) I love pizza
3) Chicago style deep dish pizza is awesome
4) Berkeley makes real Chicago-​style deep dish pizza
5) I love Berkeley Pizza.
Got the spinach and mushroom special, took half an hour to make (as it should), thick, gooey, cheesy happiness.

First time eating at the restaurant, but not my first time having their pizza. Let me start off by saying they make TASTY pies. Personally, I am more of a thin-​crust/​New York style pizza eater, but this is Chicago-​style pizza at its best and it is delish. The pesto garlic is my favorite.
As for the restaurant… well, it’s small and probably seats around 30 people. But what it lacks in size, it makes up in character. I love the chalkboard drawings (right now they have a picture of a Jedi-​Pizza «slicing» up a Vader ham sammie). The beer selection is great relative to San Diego choices. The people that work there are friendly. And, most importantly, «monster-​friendly.»
Will be coming back

Um, wow! This pizza is UH-​MA-​ZING! Small family owned business that I would have never found if I wasn’t on the Bite San Diego Tour. The pizza flavor was delicious and the crust was perfection. They have several beers on tap, lots of seat yourself tables, and the front of the restaurant is open to the sidewalk. I cannot wait to return.

Wow, this place is absolutely delicious! I mean this joint may have the best tasting pizza in all of San Diego. They serve what is essentially Chicago style deep dish but not quite as substantial as the lies served in Chicago. Hard to explain but it is pretty much a stuffed pizza with the cheese on the inside and sauce on the outside. The concoctions can best be described as delicious from the first bite to the last, nearly a perfect blend of flavors. The place itself isn’t really much to write home about but as a downtown pizza joint is concerned, it’s top notch lol. Overall, this place fits the bill whether it’s a late night after clubbing bite or just some daytime pizza to satisfy a craving. Strongly recommend giving this place a try.
Pros–
Delicious
Great prices
Different style of pizza
Flavoring
Beer menu
Pepperoni
Location (next to Omnia)
Cons–
Late night crowds
Can get messy

900^th review!
Needing a place to go to dinner before all the fun to start while at Gaslamp, we came here for a quick meal. Usually I’m all for the meat, but they’re known for their spinach and mushroom pizza and I decided to try a slice out. It was deep dish, sauce-​y, cheese-​y and flavorful. Pretty heavy for one slice of pizza and if I had 2, I would have been stuffed! I liked all the flavors and the toppings were good. I don’t know if I would call it one of their top slices though.
Overall, a good place to grab a quick and tasty bite to eat.

I came in expecting a regular ol’ pizza with some standard toppings and be done with it. Boy, was I surprised when I got a deep dish styled pizza.
I ordered the PEPPERONI and a SAUSAGE pizza.
There was only one! pepperoni and it was on the side of the pizza; none were on the top of the pizza. It was tasty because the cheese was melty but I was not sure if there were any pepperoni inside the pizza at all.
The sausage was just as tasty as well but it also looked like a cheese pizza.

Opened late & conveniently located next door to Omnia. It is very popular & the line is usually out the door.
My friend tried to order a whole pizza but the cashier said it would be better to order individual slices. What? That totally did not make sense because they still had to make a whole pizza & cut it in order to give it to us. Anyways, a whole pizza comes with 8 slices & my friend ordered 7 slices. The slices are extremely small & expensive! We ordered the Pesto Garlic & when it came out, we were confused because it does not look like what you expect (we expected it to be green but it was red & black). Nonetheless, the pizza was tasty but for how much my friend spent, we probably could have walked somewhere else to eat & be filled.

This place is a great gem in the downtown area.
I usually don’t go for the heated up slices of pizza but Berkeley’s style of semi-​deep dish holds up well to the reheating.
Swing by for 2 quick slices and a good craft draft for about $ 10.

3.5 stars Opened late night deep dish pizza by the slice or whole pie located a few blocks away from Petco Park.
We were looking to grab a quick bite on our way out of San Diego and I had this one bookmarked. First of all, there is nothing quick about going to the Gaslamp district as parking is crazy but after circling around we were able to find a parking spot in front of the restaurant.
What intrigued me here was the deep dish pizza by the slice.
We tried three different slices the Spinach and Mushroom, Sausage, and Pesto. By far the Spinach and Mushroom was our favorite, it tasted the freshest and is the pizza which they are know for. I liked the crust and found one slice to be filling enough even though the slices were not very big. At approximately $ 4 a slice its not a bad deal, and they throw in 2 slices and a drink for $ 9. Wished I saw salads on their menu but I did not notice and did not ask.
The guys that work here were nice, food came out within 10 minutes or so.

Location: Downtown is always more difficult to get too, but if I hadn’t gone here on a food tour, I might not have ever SEEN this place! Small sign outside on a side street in Gaslamp. Make sure you look!
Service: Our tour guide was our waiter, but they very willingly gave us all water cups even though we were there to sample pizza with our tour. Several people bought drinks as well though and seemed happy with them.
Food: We got to try two different pizzas — cheese and mushroom spinach. Both had copious amounts of tomatoes on them and were deep dish. I happen to love deep dish pizza and loved that the tomatoes were ON TOP of the cheese/​toppings instead of the reverse. The pizza crust was crunchy and held up to the toppings well. My husband had a local beer as well that he enjoyed a lot.
Overall: I dont crave pizza ALOT, but if I ever did and we were in the area, I would definitely go here.

I had heard of «Berkeley Pizza» in San Diego. but I had my doubts so never pursued it. I found that it’s hard to replicate the original no matter how hard you try. whether it’s Berkeley Dog in OC (attempting to copy Top Dog– which don’t get me wrong, does a pretty good job). or Berkeley Pizza. For me. true Berkeley pizza would be Cheese Board (god I love Cheese Board). but I heard this particular location was attempting to mimic Zachary’s~ another norcal pizza favorite. I do love me a good Zachary’s so I had my doubts. but my hubster — who is the true Berkeley pizza fan (we’re both alums) — wanted to give it shot.
In a nutshell: I’m glad that we did.
Berkeley Pizza is located in Downtown SD /​Gaslamp. closer to the ballpark/​convention center than to Horton and 4^th. It’s humble digs in a part of town that it is goddaymn near impossible to find parking. so be prepared to drive around in circles wanting to maul pedestrians and other drivers who stop for no reason on a one lane path. It was probably my mistake thinking I could come down for a pick up on a Friday afternoon.
I placed the order through Unilocal /​Eat24. which was a first. Most of the folks who used the same service sought delivery and had issues. but I opted for pick-​up and had no problems. I even called ahead just to make sure they would be ready and found the process quick and easy.
After driving around the block (this was around 7pm on a Friday with the sun still up and too early for clubbing). I parked in a red zone close by the restaurant and asked if they would bring the pizza out to me. Surprisingly, they were very chill about it and very promptly said «Sure! No problem!» Out came a very kind young man who passed over the pie. saving me from truly running someone over if i had to circle around one more time. I had cash on hand. tipped him a little for his trouble. and then headed home.
The pizza. looks like and smells like Zachary’s… It was cooked well and there were no uncooked layers (dough, cheese, etc. ~ all cooked). We opted for the spinach and mushroom. added sausage and jalapenos. and let me tell you they were VERY generous with the sausage and jalapenos (bonus star). The sauce was well flavored and the pie was a good weight and balanced in ratio. It definitely wins for being the closest thing to a Zachary’s pie in socal. but still misses the mark by just a sneeze.
My issue was with the crust. it’s good… but it is just missing something that I can’t put my finger on. It had a french bread shell/​feel about it. that needed a bit more «puff». It was pretty crunchy on top (considering it had a 30 minute commute to my dinner table). and again. it was cooked through (an issue I usually find with chicago style pizza places). but just barely missed the mark in consistency.
Still. overall, I was happy with the find. If we have a hankering for Zachary’s in the near future, I would probably hit up Berkeley pizza and would make the drive down from North SD. Price was reasonable (26 for a medium spinach/​mush with add sausage and jalapenos) and they were timely with the requested pick up time. All in all pretty tasty.
Quick note on the venue: It didn’t seem all that busy inside. Nice big open windows. if I was in the area with a nice parking spot. it looks like a place I could unwind from the week. Recommended!

I could definitely go for a slice of pizza almost any time of the day. I generally prefer the NY style but Berkeley does one of the best Chicago pie style in San Diego. I assume it doesn’t compare to actual windy city slices though.
I like that the dough is actually pretty stable here. Chitown pies usually can’t be picked up. The sauce is flavorful, but I do like adding some pepper flakes still. The slices are seem small at first, but if you take into account the thickness, it’s about on par with pizza by the slice eateries in SD.
Got 1 TV on the wall for sports, about 10 smaller tables to sit at inside, and about 8 local brews on tap.
$ 9 for two slices and a drink.

YASSSSSS!
Berkeley Pizza is THEEEE place to go for a quick late night bite to eat after hitting the clubs in gas lamp district in SD.
They’re open late and their food is affordable and delicious and it’s PIZZA! Can’t go wrong with pizza! It’s easy to take to go and it’s like a stuffed pizza so it’s also easy to eat.
There’s a long line, but moves fairly quickly.
Limited seating indoor and outdoor but honestly it was all a bit of a blur to me. I just remember the pizza tasting bomb and it was really close to the club we were at lol.
5 Stars for the convenience, location, price, food and environment!