Restaurant Review: Wild Things Pizza in Ocean Beach

Restaurant Review

Wild Things Pizza
2163 Abbott Street
Ocean Beach, CA 92107

By Judi Curry

It isn’t often when the owner of a restaurant asks me to do a review of his establishment.  In fact, it has only happened two other times.  Fortunately, each time the food was good; the service was good, and it was fun to do the review.  This restaurant is no different.

It is where the old Surfrider Pizza used to be.  That was one of my favorite restaurants but the trouble with it was that I was always cold when I was there because of the open windows and doors.  It is no different now, except that Steve and I sat at the far southern end of the building and the windows were not open.  If I were to go again – and I am pretty sure I will – I would try to sit in the same location.

Also worthy of mention is that the inside seating is all on high stools and counter tops. Outdoor seating is with regular size chairs and table.  For some people, the high chairs might be a deterrent to eating there.

The menus are all over the restaurant, but I felt like I was in an oculist’s office trying to read the eye chart. The printing was very small. I asked if there was a take-out menu but was told that the menu was on line.  I decided to squint and do my best at reading it. It should be pointed out that the sun was shining inside the building, and made it a little more difficult to read the offerings.

There were many different kinds of pizza to choose from.  I asked if all the pizza was the same size and was told that they sell by the slice, or 18” pizza’s.  There was a Personal Pizza 10” Special, that was just cheese and pepperoni for $10 and I saw several people ordering that.  There were at least 11 different kinds of pizza offered, and Steve and I decided to try two of them – A KONG, which was billed as having mozzarella, mushrooms, green bell pepper, pepperoni, black olives and sausage.

We also ordered a KIKI, which had mozzarella, Canadian bacon, marinara sauce and pineapple.  We had two slices of the KONG and one slice of the KIKI and they were both excellent!  Tasty, hot, loaded with the toppings, and just a little spicy.  The idea of being able to buy by the slice was an added bonus, because it gave us a chance to sample more than just one pizza. And here is the most surprising thing of all – each slice was only $6!

We also ordered a half of a Caesar Salad and it was more expensive than the pizza at $8.  It, too, was very good. Large crispy croutons; salad dressing was good; lettuce was fresh.

Here are a few other interesting things about the restaurant.

They have 18 beers on tap; additionally they have canned beers and other drinks.  There is a large vessel of water with ice in it that the customers can pour for themselves. They have hot wings, and have a special on Tuesday night with 30% off their hot wings.  They offer sandwiches, and if you are gluten free they have pizza’s made with cauliflower flour so you can indulge in them also.

There are several drawbacks that are worthy of mentioning.

It is definitely a neighborhood restaurant because parking is almost impossible.  The place was packed, but I suspect it was from people living within walking distance, because if I didn’t have a handicapped placard I do not think that we would have found anything near enough to walk to comfortably.  (There was one handicapped space right across the street from the restaurant.)

There was a radio turned on loudly; and there were three televisions playing something different on each one.  I noticed that several people congregated around the T.V. that was showing a basketball game.  We were near the “Simpsons” and no one was watching it, including us.  They also do not take cash — credit cards only.

One other thing that concerned me is that the pizza was served on paper plates – very flimsy paper plates.  In fact, the Kiki was served on 3 paper plates; the Kong was served on 4, and the salad, although in a plastic container, was served on 1.  It seems to me that money and trees could be saved if the items were served on a more sturdy plate, and only one per item.

However, the counter people were friendly; the young lady came over to us and asked if we needed anything else. Enzo, the man that took our order wished us a safe night as we left.

Over all Steve and I were very pleased with our visit.  The total bill came to $28.03 and we left a 20% tip.  The food was delicious, and we will be back.