surf rider pizza cafe / ocean beach – san diego, ca

I hardly ever go to Ocean Beach. It’s far, it’s hard to park and often times its crowded. But, the allure of trying a new pizza place overwhelmed me and I caved in and bought a coupon from LivingSocial to check it out.

Jake and I took the kids here after we dropped off Chris at the airport last month. It was kind of a blustery day so we ate inside on these tiny round tables. They have a little patio with outdoor seating that I bet it wonderful on a warm, sunny day.

We decided to order one pizza to share among us. They only have one size for pizzas – an 18″ pie or you can buy some slices if you don’t want a whole pizza.

We got the Basil Pesto & Ricotta Pie ($16). All of us have a great love of ricotta cheese and the added pesto on this pizza was a really nice touch. It’s got a red sauce underneath and also has the usual sprinkling of mozzarella on this fresh made pizza pie. They make their own pesto on location and everything is made fresh at the shop.

This slice had a lovely fresh flavor from the pesto and the ricotta also made it quite good. I’m a bit torn on whether or not it needed the red sauce since I’m such a big fan of white pizzas but I still liked this pizza. Anything with ricotta on it makes me a happy girl.


Jake and I ended up talking with the owner for awhile and she told us a bit about the shop and her ideas for good, quality food. Consistency is very important to her and she wants to output the same, high quality product each time. She also makes her own brewed iced teas daily!

The shop also has some baked goods on site.

Here’s a photo of the case with a bunch of different cupcakes inside.

I asked if I could photograph the cupcakes and the owner pulled out a tray for me for some closer shots. Above are watermelon and bubblegum flavored cupcakes.

I ended up trying an Oreo cupcake with a dual frosting – chocolate and vanilla mixed together. I liked the idea of the dual frosting flavors. Sadly, the cupcake didn’t really do it for me. The cupcakes were very cold and a bit dry. They tasted a bit old like they had maybe been baked earlier in the week. They cupcakes do come in some really interesting and different flavors but would work better at room temperature and a bit moister.

In addition to pizza and cupcakes, Surf Rider Pizza Cafe also has other offerings, including Strombolis, Cheesesteaks, Hoagies and Pasta. Jake and I want to come back and try one of their cheesesteaks and some of their homemade meatballs!

Surf Rider Pizza Cafe
2163 Abbott Street
San Diego, CA 92107
(619) 226-7492

Surf Rider Pizza Cafe on Urbanspoon


4 thoughts on “surf rider pizza cafe / ocean beach – san diego, ca

  1. When I saw there was red sauce, I thought it was unusual too. I’m used to ricotta with pesto sans any marinara sauce. How is the crust on their pizza?

    1. It wasn’t quite as cheesy as say, the Whitestone from Bronx, so the red sauce was okay. I’m sure if requested they would make it without the red sauce, which is something I might be inclined to do. The crust was chewy and crisp on the ends, it was a good crust. Just saw that I totally forgot to mention that!

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