Following in the footsteps of its long ago established and famously received cousin restaurant called Filippi's Pizza Grotto in Little Italy, San Diego, MR. D's PIZZA GROTTO in San Juan Capistrano is trying to get a foothold in So. OC. The food has always been fresh and never a let down in about 5 or so visits (coming down from Costa Mesa or up from family runs in San Diego) since its opening.

By choice, we do not live in So. OC so we don't have the pretentious, "we're golden" attitude when dining out, so that might be a big reason we enjoy Mr. D's so much. They take care of us just fine and we reciprocate by coming back for more and referring like crazy. Referrals that have joined us or checked the place out on their own have always let us know they enjoyed the food and the value (100% of the time).

Keep up the hard work Sergio and don't let that staff rest until they have it down pat (they have for us EVERYTIME). Service is always of the utmost importance at eateries and must always be worked on from the up and comers to the best of best.

Dang it, I just drooled on my computer thinking about a thick slice of lasagna (from Mr. D's of course).

Great food for the price. Far more value for the money than Tannin's which is right at the foothill of Ortega Highway down the street.
Too bad Mr. D's has closed down.
Whoever the new Pizza kitchen is, they have been working on re opening for over a month now, way too long.

WOW--looks like the only good reviews come from patrons of the San Diego locations trying to pump up Orange County. We patronize numerous local places and feel we are qualified in saying that the food and service for inside dining (dinner) was marginal to poor, after several experiences. Other locals have had similar experiences.

The attitude of management is not user-friendly or service-oriented. As you can see from other posts & their response, they are more concerned with excuses and proving they are right and the customer wrong. Customers can be challenging for sure, but this owner & staff need some lessons in dealing with the public--they are off to a bad start and getting quite a reputation already.

In their defense, lunches are cheap and fairly quick and the pizza is good. It is a fact of life that more people take the time to tell of their bad experiences, than the good ones. When you pay money to eat out, you at least expect it to be good, and hope for excellent.

I've been a loyal customer to the Filippi family for over 30 yrs, and Sergio does a fine job of representing the family tradition of well over 50 yrs. It's worth the wait, the mugs are chilled so just enjoy another cold beer.

Cheers - I'll be calling in my Lasagna order in a few Sergio!!

It is true, the food is great. HOWEVER the service is AWFUL!!!! We waited for 25 minutes for our food, they got our order 100% wrong, and then didn't do ONE THING ABOUT IT!!! Then when we informed the waiter that our food was wrong, their reply was, "Well I didn't take your order." Seriously? I don't care who took my order, make the customer happy.

Then they under-charged us 23 cents. So I gave them 23 cents, and they told me that since I charged it they had to void the previous charge and re-charge it. SO ANNOYING!!! So then they re-charged my card and didn't void the first one!! So not only did I get charged twice, I got charged twice for a meal that was WRONG!!!!

Please... be careful with this establishment.