filippi's pizza grotto little italy

a must go to!. i love this place. there are many other restaurants in little italy. however, this is by far the best. consistently very good food, large portions, and fair prices. looks/feels like you are in new york, chicago, or boston. as there is a market/deli in the front, and the restaurant is in the back. red and white checkered tablecloths, chianti bottles hanging from the ceiling, open kitchen. i have had almost everything on the menu, and have never been disappointed. i am a big eater, and rarely can finish my plate. which is fine as i know i will have a tasty midnight snack, or tomorrows lunch. the front deli has yummyitaliancookies, and fresh/handmade cannolis. this place is family friendly. a great place to bring a date, especially a first date, as it's not expensive, but very nice. i often go there by myself. no problem. you can bring your kids here, your grandma. you know it's good , as there is always a line to be seated. if you are looking for fancy, upscaleitalianfood, then this place is not or you. but if you want authentic, like mama madeitalianfood, then this is the place to go.

classic 1950'sitaliandining. this is the best spaghetti you can ask for, and the price is right. you can't ask for more.

phippisitalianrestaurant. the color and flavor of delicatessens in new york or chicago. the immigrants that created a wonderful earthy and authentic place to eat unbelievable portions of greatitalianfood. always a line but people in the line outside are mostly of theitaliancommunity and if the locals go there to eat, thats where i go..

the perfect pairing of service and food

we had a excellent experience during an early dinner. fillipi's always has very gooditalianfood and this time they shined for the service we received from "randall." he has a wonderful ability to interact with the customers as if they are family making everyone around his area very "at home" in the restaurant. he does this in light a hearted way with good knowledge of the menu and wine offerings. he timed the courses of our meal with a restrained hand so that we could enjoy our wine and food without feeling at all rushed.

filli['s is a very popular and therefore a busy restaurant in the heart of little italy, the service "randall" provided to us made our visit to this iconic location a very comfortable evening.

great place, has that "old italy kind of vibe". usually you have to wait in line to get into restaurant. as you stand in line, you make your way through the littleitaliangrocery store. the pizza is decent, but the antipasto salad, spaghetti, and the garlic cheese bread are so delicious! if you are in little italy while in san diego, you gotta check out filippi's!

ate here and it was good. the food is served family style and very large portions. we ordered a child’s spaghetti, salad, and pepperoni pizza for 4 of us. more than enough food. we brought some back to the hotel. the service was great and the staff were more than accommodating. this restaurant is located at the back of a store, so google map it, and trust that the restaurant is there. go into theitalianmarket and you will see a small hallway. that’s the entrance to the restaurant.

cool olditalianambiance....the busy kitchen, average service and everything piled tight to each other. the food? - meh.....don't expect anything exotic but you don't pay the premium either. if i was still in university, i would give this a 5 for value but i did have a little higher expectation. its a personal taste thing and i understand why others rate it higher.

this is the most interesting of the chain of filippi's pizza grotto. little italy is a great neighborhood but many of the restaurants are pricey and/or fancy. this is a casual family style affordable restaurant. when you walk in its like an olditalianmarket. they sell lots ofitalianfood there. you wait in line to be seated so depending on the night its quick or slow... the decor is old with brick and murals and old wine bottles hanging from the ceiling. the food is good and filling. the pizza isn't that big but its so cheesy and thick you will be full. the pasta dishes are good. the service is ok. they always say they have one size, medium (which is funny because that would be between large and small ?) this is a great spot for families.

how many times did i pick up a pizza and six pack of amstel from this place…on so many occasions…i can still smell the pungent aroma of dried, salted cod hanging from the ceiling, as you walk through theitaliangrocery portion of the restaurant, past the ever-present line of people waiting for tables, to the podium in the back where you tell them your name, you get your pizza, and walk smugly past the line again, gloating, because you can just walk out the door, down the street, to your house, to eat your pizza, and drink your beer. the lines would typically be out the door and halfway down the block many days of the week. its totally worth it though, because the pizza is killer. the crust was thick and chewy, the toppings generous, and the cheese was loaded on top in an unorthodox fashion.

a little italy favorite!. one of my favorite spots in san diego is little italy. there are so many great restaurants in this area of town. i've been coming to filippi's for many years. they claim to still be family-owned even though they have locations all over southern california. this one is the original that started in the 50's. the food is good and it has a fun family atmosphere to it (the portions are huge). i love walking through theitalianmarketplace at the front of the restaurant.

yummy. one of the bestitalianrestaurants i've been to date. will be going back there every single time i'm in little italy.

while i don't know what the specific circumstances were for those of you who hated this place, all l i can say is wow!! that's got to be the first time i’ve heard anything bad regarding filippi's.

our server was very nice; we even tipped her double the normal amount because she was that good. she was very knowledgeable, knew everything on the menu, and also could provide an on-the-spot wine recommendation for some of us at the table (a wine that went well with the food we ordered). pasta was perfectly cooked and it was the best-tasting pasta i’ve ever had. i swear i could have eaten the pasta without the alfredo sauce, if it had come to that.

there's a restaurant of similar quality here in my home state that charges about double what filippi's does, and they make basically everything from scratch. while this other restaurant is very good, i'd say i would even prefer filippi's over them.

i'm sorry some of you had a bad experience, but all i can say is try it again. maybe they had an off night or something...but, they certainly wouldn't be on the list of top restaurants of 2012 nor have basically all positive reviews from the critics on this website if they weren't doing something right.

terrible! truck drivers' italian.... there was a 50 minute lineup and long-time customers told me it was worth the wait. the menu was notitalianbut american italian. the salad for two came largely out of a bag, and it was dressed up with olives, peperonchini, mortadella, and salami. dressing was probably kraft - out of a bottle. that was ok but nothing to write home about. the bottle of ruffino chianti at $19.25 was a steal. but the main was outright awful. the lasagne was a layer cake of pasta and ricotta, and it was totally tasteless. the sausage on the side was boiled (and not roasted or bbq-ed) and therefore tasted outright terrible. the large meatball was at least edible. all this was drowned in tomato paste without any spice. overall, it was a big pile of tasteless food, a vulgar orgy of ingredients without any balance. yes, it was cheap - and it tasted like nothing. no idea why everybody likes this and why 95% of urban spoon ratings are positive. somebody said that filippi's offered basic italian. i'd call it basic american. overall the worst restaurant meal i can remember. the moral: do not trust lineups.

big hype. do not waste your time standing online for a big disappointing experience unless you have no taste buds at all and don’t care what you eat or how long you have to wait for it. this place is only for tourists who know nothing aboutitalianfood.

i brought out-of-towners who had heard about the place and asked to go. we got there in the early afternoon (3:30) to beat the lines. we were seated in 5 minutes. after our order was taken we waited over 1⁄2 an hour for our food, which did not come all at once, and 4 tries to get the salad right. the chicken parm was over cooked and burned. the cheese ravioli tasted like it came out of a frozen box and reheated. not sure what the mystery meat was in the meat ravioli. the veal parm was over breaded, over cooked, and not sliced off the veal properly.

instead of a normal side, like spaghetti or a pasta dish, they actually give you a second dinner portion either lasagna or ravioli. the dish is piled high with too much food and they are standing by with the go-dishes and bags when you finish.

i am sorry, but quantity will never trump quality in my book.

in the heart of san diego’s little italy, when we left the line was around the block, but many of the fine restaurants on the block were almost empty. ???

p.t. barnum had it right.

p.s. we took other out-of-towners there by request about 8 years ago. there is absolute no difference.

tourist trap and bad. this palce is just horrible. the only reason it gets buisness is because the bus tour tells all the tourists its the best in sd. it's insulting to realitalianfood, the alfredo sauce tasted like margerine and chalk. growing up in philly, i've come to love gooditalianfood and this place does not have it. also the place is a giant cliche, you can tell that they try to hard to seem "authetic"...do not eat here!

whatitalianfood should be..,,classic, simple , basic ( like mama's kitchen). great food and atmosphere and amazing service. just like i like it. mmmmmm : )