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Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Oggi's Tustin

13612 Newport Ave Tustin, CA 92780
(714) 731-6444


After hearing a lot about this place for years, I finally decided to give Oggi's a try. I went there with high hopes of finding a great new place where I could go and relax, order a beer and get a good pizza. I was sadly disappointed.

Oggi's in Tustin resides in the old building that used to be Tony's Sea Landing. It seems that this location has just changed from one restaurant I didn't like, into another restaurant I don't like. I went to this restaurant with my wife and another couple. None of us intend to return to the restaurant.

I wouldn't say that everything at this restaurant is horrible, as I did enjoy their hot wings.

Oggi's is supposed to be a neighborhood eatery where you can go and watch sports, drink beer and eat good pizza. They have many large screen TV's around the bar and the restaurant. When we first sat down, the server told us that they were out of their two most popular beers, the Hefeweizen and their "Hop Juice". Since those were the two beers that I was considering trying, I opted to just drink water for the night.

My buddy Tim and I decided to start off our meal with an order of their hot wings (12 for $11.95). They were actually quite good. They weren't too spicy but they had a unique flavor and were incredibly tender. I added a bit of Tabasco sauce and they were fantastic. I did however feel that at a dollar a wing, they were a bit overpriced.

Tim and I decided to split a medium pizza for dinner. We settled on "The Great One" ($18.95)which was pepperoni, sausage, onion, bell pepper and olives. My wife opted for an individual cheese pizza ($8.95) and Tim's girlfriend got a grilled chicken sandwich ($8.95).

The pizza arrived piping hot. All of the toppings were there, and the pizza looked delicious.......but it just wasn't. The dough was bland, the sauce was overly sweet and the toppings tasted as if they weren't there at all. Tim agreed that the pizza was horrible, but since he was starving, his half of the pizza was soon gone. I was able to finish one slice of pizza after covering it with a thick layer of Parmesan cheese. After that though, I couldn't bring myself to eat another slice. My wife had a similar opinion of her tiny cheese pizza. She said it tasted like she was eating nothing at all, and she then proceed to cover the pizza with a thick layer of Parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper. We all then asked the fourth member of our party how her sandwich was. She said something like "It's really weird.....I see all the toppings on my sandwich, but I can't taste them. The chicken is also REALLY dry."

It's amazing to me how all of our food could taste so entirely bland, especially after being happy with the flavor of their hot wings.

When the waitress stopped by our table, she saw that I had only eaten one slice of my half of the pizza and asked me if I wanted a box. I told her "No thanks, I really didn't like the pizza, so I'm not going to eat it." She looked at me for a second and then said "So, you just want me to leave it here so you can keep munching on it?" I repeated myself, "No, I don't like it. I'm not going to eat it." She stared at me again with a deer in the headlights look and then said "So......you want me to throw it away or something?" I responded "Sure."

So the wait-staff here doesn't seem to be too bright, and the food seems to be awful and bland except for their overpriced hot wings. I see no reason for me to return to this place. If you disagree, I'd love for you to e-mail and tell me why.

Oggi's Pizza & Brewing on Urbanspoon

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hm, my co-workers like Oggi's down here in SD. Maybe V should try the 5-cheese pizza called "March Madness." I can't eat more than half a slice of that because I find the goat cheese or something to be too strong for me.

Griffin said...

She was considering the "March Madness" pizza but couldn't see herself paying $9.25 for a tiny personal cheese pizza.