Pizzeria Luigi: Four Locations, Two Guy Fieri Visits, and a Man Who Picked Golden Hill Because It Looked Like Home

Overview

Luigi Agostini grew up in Varese, in northern Italy, and stayed until he was 23. He cooked in restaurants "from Los Angeles to Hawaii, and finally, San Diego," opened his first pizzeria in Poway in 2002, sold it, and in 2004 opened Pizzeria Luigi in Golden Hill.

The reason he picked Golden Hill is the best line on their website: it "reminded him of his hometown in Italy."

That's a more interesting founding story than most restaurants have, and it explains something about the place. Golden Hill in 2004 was not an obvious location for anything. It is now, and Luigi got there first.

Here's the practical thing that makes this the most useful pizza listing in San Diego.

Four locations, and every one is open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week. No split hours, no closed Mondays, no "kitchen closes at nine." Eleven to eleven, every day, at all four.

For late-night pizza in San Diego — a genuinely underserved category — that consistency is the whole value proposition.

The Four Locations

All open 11 a.m.–11 p.m., seven days a week:

• Golden Hill — 1137 25th St, San Diego, CA 92102 · 619-233-3309. The original, opened 2004
• North Park — 2121 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego, CA 92104 · 619-294-9417. Opened 2009
• Imperial Beach — 717 Seacoast Dr, Imperial Beach, CA 91932 · 619-271-3477. Opened 2017
• Ocean Beach — 5001 Newport Ave, San Diego, CA 92107 · 619-539-7025

Email across all four: getaslice@pizzerialuigi.com

What to Order

Two pies carry a Food Network credential, and the restaurant marks both on its own menu as "As seen on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives":

• The Mona Lisa
• El Diablo

Those are the two to start with. Guy Fieri visited in autumn 2008, and the restaurant was on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives again in August 2013 — twice, which is unusual.

The rest of the menu, by section:

• Luigi Classics — Mona Lisa, Michelangelo, Capone, Leonardo, Margherita
• Local Favorites — El Diablo, White Girl, Sports Bar, Frenchie, Buffalo Chicken, BBQ Chicken
• Ricotta Pies — Spicy Kevo, Haole Hawaiian, The OG Crime Scene, Donatello, Eggplant Deluxe
• Veggie and vegan — Vegan Daiya, Fresh Prince
• Baked — calzone, stromboli, spinach roll, meatball roll
• Pasta — lasagna, spaghetti and meatballs, pesto special, pasta primavera
• Subs — Italian, meatball parm, chicken parm, eggplant parm
• Salads — house, Greek
• Wings, six to an order, with a choice of sauce. Meatballs, three to an order

Build-your-own pricing (the only prices published on their site):

• Custom pies: meat +$2.50 each, cheese +$2.50 each, veggies and fruit +$2.25 each
• Make any pie vegan: +$4
• Slices: meat +$1.00, veggies +$0.75
• Baked items: meat +$1.50, veggies +$1.25

Beer and wine are available at all locations.

How to Visit

• By the slice or the pie — this is a slice shop as much as a pizzeria, which is the point of the 11 p.m. close
• Order by phone at your nearest location, or in person
• Four neighbourhoods, so there's generally one near wherever you are: Golden Hill, North Park, Ocean Beach and Imperial Beach
• Group reservations and private parties are offered — contact the location directly

Good to Know

• Eleven to eleven, every day. Put that in your head and you never have to check again.
• Start with the Mona Lisa or El Diablo. They've been on national television twice and the restaurant still leads with them.
• It's vegan-friendly — any pie converts for $4, and there are two dedicated vegan pies.
• The Imperial Beach location is on Seacoast Drive, which means pizza roughly a block from the sand.
• Golden Hill is the original, if you care about that sort of thing. It's been there since 2004.

The Takeaway

Get a slice of the Mona Lisa at the Golden Hill shop and eat it on the sidewalk.

What makes Pizzeria Luigi worth writing about isn't that San Diego has good New York–style pizza — it's that a man from Varese looked at Golden Hill in 2004, thought it looked like home, and was right about the neighbourhood twenty years before most people were. Four shops later, all of them open until eleven.

For more spots worth knowing, browse our Local Picks.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where are the Pizzeria Luigi locations? Four: Golden Hill (1137 25th St), North Park (2121 El Cajon Blvd), Ocean Beach (5001 Newport Ave) and Imperial Beach (717 Seacoast Dr).

What are Pizzeria Luigi's hours? All four locations are open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week.

Has Pizzeria Luigi been on TV? Yes — Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, first after a visit from Guy Fieri in autumn 2008 and again in August 2013. The Mona Lisa and El Diablo pies are both marked on the menu as seen on the show.

Who owns Pizzeria Luigi? Luigi Agostini, who grew up in Varese, Italy, and opened the Golden Hill location in 2004 after running a pizzeria in Poway from 2002.

Does Pizzeria Luigi have vegan options? Yes — any pie can be made vegan for $4, and there are two dedicated vegan pies, the Vegan Daiya and the Fresh Prince.

Does Pizzeria Luigi serve alcohol? Yes, beer and wine.

Does Pizzeria Luigi sell by the slice? Yes, with meat toppings at +$1.00 and veggies at +$0.75.