which was suggested by Darlene of My Burning Kitchen, who is always "in the know"about all the hot new restaurants. Word to the wise. It's Hillcrest. Parking sucks. Good luck.
Look for this sign but don't expect to find parking in the lot, although I did. I got the last spot in a green, 30 minute space even though we stayed nearly an hour and were supposed to pay but didn't. But I digress...
If this spot is familiar to you, it's because Sambuca used to be there. Ironically, Subway is also in this same tiny strip mall.
It's also across the street from Peet's and Urban Mo's.
Project Pie opened in late February to mostly positive reviews. It was likened to Subway in that you could have the workers assemble your own customized pizza before your very eyes...The kicker was that the pies were $7.50 and you can select as many toppings as you wish.
You can choose from the pre-made selections or make up your own. Now, don't be too greedy with the ingredients. It's not Chicago style pizza where the crust is thick and deep and can hold many toppings. No, the dough is rolled out paper thin and they put on your selected toppings sparingly (in a good way). I didn't get a chance to see the guy take out the dough, but according to TC, it comes out as a small ball, which is then pressed in some contraption.
The toppins - various cheese....
plus meats (pepperoni, ham, bacon, chicken) olives, mushrooms, and pesto to name a few...
along with fresh vegetable toppings and fruit (pineapple) and nuts (walnuts)...
You choose your sauce - red or white...
Someone else lays on the cheese and whatever else you want...
Then, in the superhot oven it goes.
Done in less than five minutes dudes.
Sodas are $1.75 are are made with cane sugar. No Coke or Sprite here. These are kind of "fancy" flavors like black cherry, grape, ginger ale, root beer, and some other flavors I can't remember (which also came in diet). Refills are also free.
Decor is sparse, clean, and industrial...
The girls liked this huge wall filled with quotes.
My black cherry soda.
What floored me was when they first brought out my pizza, it was already in a box. The server told me, "Your new one is coming right up".
When I asked, "New one? I only ordered one...".
To which she replied, "This one slid out wierd from the oven so we are making you a new one right now!".
Well, that was a really nice surprise! I didn't even think this pizza looked mangled or anything, do you?
Below, our pizzas (includes my "new" one):
I had red sauce, ricotta, mozzarella, basil, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, and candied walnuts on mine. Yeah. Walnuts.
TC had red sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni and pineapple. Not as adventurous as mine, but still a combination that was of her own making.
TC's classmate and friend chose a white sauce, crumbled sausage, chicken, and bacon. Yes, very meaty this was.
KD's daughter chose red sauce, mozzarella cheese, ham, pepperoni, bacon, and pineapple.
Here's another look at my pizza, which I really enjoyed.
The crust comes out thin and crisp enough to hold the toppings. The pizza has a nice "chew" to it, and as you can see, has a tiny bit of char from the oven.
There's also an area designated for folks who want to take their photo and upload it to facebook or Instagram or Twitter or whatever social media they utilize.
The pizzas are a good size but a bit too much for all of us to finish in one sitting. One is probably good for two people to share as a light meal. If you have a big appetite, then the one pizza would be sufficient. We all ate about half and took the leftovers back to the house. Bert was the lucky recipient of the fkd up pizza, which he enjoyed later that day...
Meanwhile, I was nervous the whole damn time we were there because I didn't want a $#%& parking ticket. I wasn't sure how anal their parking police were and as we were about to leave about 40 minutes later, this guy comes over and asks us if we would be interested in dessert. Truthfully, I told him that we were full, but he insisted on making us dessert and even said something to the effect of, "Don't leave...I'm going to make you one right now"! Wut? This was also unexpected.
When he brought it out to us five minutes later, I insisted on paying for it, but he refused and then he siad, "I'm the owner, it's on me!" (I didn't catch his name). I ended up shaking his hand and thanking him for his generosity. I don't know why he singled us out or if he randomly offers his customers dessert, but whatever the motive was, it was really appreciated. I was quite impressed by the level of professionalism of the servers and the owner. Even if we didn't get this dessert pizza, I had already given "high marks" to Project Pie for their super friendly service and their patience with their customers.
Bananas, Nutella and sugar topped this dessert pizza (called "strips" for some reason on their menu)...
As we were all pretty full, we only managed a few small bites before heading out to the Spruce Street Suspension Bridge for a bit of swaying and wiggly fun.
So the parking gods were smiling upon me that day. There was no dreaded parking ticket on my bird crap and bug goo'd windshield. Even though we got here a little after their 11 am opening, parking for a four block radius was completely packed. On a weekday. Very sucky. I hate parallel parking too. With a huge passion. I was lucky to get that space because otherwise, I told the girls, "Plan B is going to be Luigi's in South Park" (because I sure as hell didn't want to find parking near Bronx either!).
Project Pie
3888 4th Ave
San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 241-2881
www.projectpie.com
Recent articles and reviews:
First Hillcrest, then the World: Project Pie Opens (Candice Woo, Eater San Diego, Jan 23)
An aspiring pizza empire hits Hillcrest (Kyle Hall of Thrillist.com, Feb 27)
Slice - Project Pie Comes to San Diego (Erin Jackson of Serious Eats, Mar 6)
The Art of Topping (Edge San Diego, Mar31)
If the parking weren't so craptacular, I'd be here every day! Well, not every day, more like once every two weeks, but you know what I mean. It's nice, it's sparkling, it's new, the toppings are fresh and delicious, the workers are friendly, the owner was a super nice guy (and generous to boot), and the turnaround time to get your customized pizza can't be beat. Can't wait to go here again and concoct some other combinations for our future pizzas!
*Note - Only the dessert pizza was free. I also read a yelp review and apparently they gave a comped pizza to a lady because of the same reason - it came out looking less than perfect.
9 comments:
Wow, such great customer service! I've been curious about this place. DH and I passed by it the other day but we already had lunch. Now I am definitely curious to try it out.
Nice review! I totally feel the same sentiments as you about parking in Hillcrest, but I still wanna try this out.
Unless they changed it since I went, I believe the white sauce is really just garlic butter (which is delicious). Before it was Sambuca, it was Einstein Bros. Bagels. Crazy how the neighborhood changes so much.
As for parking, we always try to park near our old place and include a walk into any new places we want to check out in Hillcrest.
hi kirbie - i think you and DH will like it there. i like this style of pizza, more like a flatbread crust.
hi jinxi - thanks. parking sux in hillcrest. period. i might do what darlene does next time, but that's only if i'm not feeling lazy to walk, ha ha.
hi darlene - you're right about the white sauce. i wish i had gotten it, but there's always next time. the japanese place in that corner also used to be something else (forgot the name of it). yes, lots of turnover! re: parking...great idea, but that means walking (and sweating!). seriously, i will have to do that next time and do that walk!
I went into that same lot recently to go to a different restaurant and I was also nervous about parking since we also went into a 30 minute spot... and then I decided we had to go across the street to Bread & Cie to get cupcakes. But luckily the parking gods liked me that day, too! We passed by this place and it looked pretty cool - I liked the decor. The customer service sounds really impressive! Always nice to see. I'll have to check it out sometime.
OMG, you had me at Nutella! I want to try that place. Pure cane sugar soda in black cherry sounds good, too. I love pizza so I think I'll take my hubby and boy there. He's a Ninja Turtle fan, so you know he loves pizza!
xoxo
Cyrillynn
hi sigh - i think you and your family would like this place, and your neice too!
ha ha! TMNT!!!!
have fun finding parking here (evil laugh)!
OK. Now I have to try this version of design your own pizza; it looks really good. Hadn't read this until now (oh, you posted it April 5...I wonder what I was doing...). I saw there is a Project Pie at the corner of Genesee and Balboa-while I was looking for some sort of signage as to where the new 85C would be(lots of construction on both sides of the street there).
hi cathy, i posted this last year, haha! i have the new eastlake project pie post in the works. closer to me than the one in the cv mall. the hillcrest location has the crappiest parking ever!
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