I've loved This Place For Over 20 Years
I've loved Pizza Port for over 20 years now, dating back to when my friends and I first when in there in high school back in the late 1980s.
The pizza, which is piled high with toppings and has a crunchy, 'not-too-thick' crust, is the main attraction for me, even though I normally prefer really thin, greasy pizza.
There's just something special about the pizza here. It's pretty much the best I've ever had, better even than anything I've had in "famous pizza cities" like New York or Chicago.
I've always loved the casual ambiance here, too, with the surf videos or Padres games on TV and picnic benches for tables. But for a casual place, it's definitely not cheap. Especially if you also have their home-brewed beer.
I've grown to like their craft beers over the years. Though I didn't like them very much at first because I don't really like heavy beers. But it has grown on me over the years. But be careful when ordering.
If you order casually based on their clever names, you can end up with a pitcher of heavy, bitter beer that no one at your table really likes all that much, even if it is purportedly "award winning."
I've noticed over the last decade or so that it's gotten ever more crowded, which is a natural side-effect of their continued success I suppose.
As a result, it can be hard to get a table if you saunter in here at popular times, like lunchtime on weekends. But we usually meet our friends there a little early, like 11:30 AM.
So while the place may fill up around us at Noon-ish and lines begin to snake out the door, we've already got our table, our pizzas and our beers.
Until I had a child, I also never really noticed how family friendly it is, too. My young daughter particularly likes the video games and vending machines in the back.
As a parent, I now really appreciate places that my daughter likes (so she'll stay there happily for a while), but which I can also enjoy myself and have a beer (or three).