San Diego’s Best Pizza: Pauly’s Pizza Joint Review

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Pauly’s Pizza Joint is about as modest as they come in terms of atmosphere and location.  Right off the bat, that makes it a legit contender for a top NY-style pizza joint.  Indeed, this Miramar based place serves a top-notch pie.  In Fun Diego Family’s quest for the best pizza in San Diego this is our review of Pauly’s Pizza Joint.

WEBSITE: https://www.paulyspizzajoint.com/

Miramar Road is a busy commercial drag that borders the massive (23,000 acres) Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.  Miramar is home to many furniture stores, large commercial warehouses and chain restaurants.  It also is becoming a prime spot for San Diego’s beer scene, along with quality, funky eating establishments. Pauly’s Pizza Joint falls into that latter category.

UPDATE 2022: Pauly’s has opened a second location in Rancho Bernardo. We have yet to try this location.

You will have a hard time spotting Pauly’s Pizza Joint from the road.  It is buried in a small strip mall, right off the road, if you blink you will drive right by it.  The parking lot is tiny, and there is usually a security guard making sure everything is legit.

The interior of Pauly’s Pizza Joint is also very small, but this is to be expected of this type of pizza place.  As mentioned, Pauly’s Pizza Joint falls squarely into the NY-style thin crust category of our pizza taxonomy.  In other words, a great place for a 2 slice and a soda special.

At $7 for 2 slices and a soda, Paul’s is right in line with the competition.  A slice, salad and a drink is $8.50.  Three slices and a drink is $9.  For $10 you can get 2 slices and a draft beer.  The menu also includes salads, stromboli, calzone and some sandwiches, but this is mainly a pizza joint as advertised.

Generally, there will be up to 16 different types of pies to choose from.  There is nothing too crazy, but they do offer the popular BBQ or Buffalo chicken pizzas.  In addition, they have offer several sauces including chipotle, ranch, BBQ, pesto and buffalo.  I stick to the basic marinara red sauce.

Whole pies come in two sizes, 16 or 18 inch.  The 16 inch cheese is $15, with the 18 inch coming in a standard $17.  Toppings are $1.50 each.  Specialty pies are a little more expensive than most places, going from $21.50 for a ham and pineapple (more than just ordering those items ala carte) up to $27.50 for the veggie with 7 toppings (this time the same price as ordering ala carte).  You can make your own pizza out of 8 slices for $22.

Pauly’s Pizza Joint makes a great NY-style pizza.  Pauly himself is from Brooklyn and he is very hands-on like an old school pizzaiolo.   It is located near the UTC shopping and business district and this is when we usually stop by.  This has been especially true as UTC has gotten more hoity-toity and overcrowded with construction.  This modest joint is a contender for Fun Diego Family’s top NY-style pizza in San Diego.  For the other places in the running go here.

UPDATE FEBRUARY 2019

Pauly’s made our San Diego’s Best NY-Style Pizza list (aka thin crust)

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