Brand New Pizza Port in Ocean Beach!

Place:
Pizza Port in Ocean Beach
1956 Bacon Street
Ocean Beach 92107

Agents:
Nick, Gabe, Nadar and Joe

Overall: 9 out of 10

Pizza: 8.5 out of 10

Atmosphere: 9 out of 10

Who would of thought about placing a Pizza Port in Ocean Beach: Brilliant! And apparently if the crowds are any indication, the locals also think it's brilliant. The same great pies and brew found in the Solana and Carlsbad ports are now available in OB. Each port carries its own style, but the people and the staff in OB by far are the coolest cats.

We started off with a large Monterey, hold the mushrooms, but add some sausage instead. The rest of our Monterey was traditional and decked with pepperoni, onions and loads of artichoke hearts. This pie was packed with toppings, which made it difficult to taste even the slightest hint of bread. Of course, the focus on toppings is typical of California style pizza.

Next up was a large pie split with one side the Lahaina, and the other the Laguna. The Pizza Lahaina is their original Hawaiian-style pizza. No pizza can be in this category without pineapple, but they also topped it with Canadian bacon, bell peppers and onions. I'm not a huge fan of the Hawaiian pizza, but this pie was done well. The cheese was oozy, the toppings were fresh and the bread wasn't soggy from excess grease or sauce.

The Pizza Laguna was cheesy vegetarian pie loaded with with black olives, which dominated the scene. Lurking in the background were a few other key players: mushrooms, onions and artichoke hearts, but much less artichoke than the Monterey. This was the only pizza that had functional issues. The crust was soggy and made it difficult to hold and to enjoy. To their credit, the sogginess was not from excess grease in the pizza, a cardinal pizza sin. No, the most likely culprit is an overly watery sauce.

The newly formed staff were some of the friendliest people I've ever dealt with on a pizza excursion. The guy on the mic shouting out orders was more hits than misses on the quips he threw out, and the couple serving up the pitchers were all smiles. And like Port Carlsbad, they had their brew tanks on show, which really sets the pizza port vibe. One helpful piece of advice: If you plan on ordering beer AND pizza, get them both at the beer register. They only allow pizza purchases at the pizza register, but the beer line you can buy brew and pie.