Giuseppe’s Express

Try to avoid this location after it gets dark — if you see that no-​one is there and its after 8pm, don’t go there they’re closed… (ignore the sign that says close at 9pm).
My family came down from Vallejo with some friends from Reno to have a nice dinner and then afterwards some desserts in Pismo, we had a great dinner at cracked crab — smashing shells and devouring crustaceans. After that my dad, who’s birthday it was, wanted sweets (pies, cakes, gelato, or better yet zabaglione) lucky for us theres an a place called Giuseppe’s just down the street from dinner.
After the short walk we see on their menu that we can get desserts across the street at their sister restaurant called «Giuseppe’s Express», so the 6 of us start to walk over, it’s about 8:20p about now, and walk in to a dessert case, but upon further inspection the chairs were up and half the place was turned off and put away. Their dessert display showed tiramisu, triple layer chocolate cake, two kinds of cheesecake and a carrot cake. We chose the tiramisu and chocolate. When we went to sit the young lady behind the counter who served us said they’re closing down now, but we could sit outside… so it was a cool, but not frigid night, so we found a 6 top outside and we sat and began to eat our desserts. About 8:40p they turned the lights off outside…
Needless to say we won’t be going back.
The tiramisu started off good, but the closer to the out the more frostbitten it was, and the chocolate cake was hard and not as fresh as it looked — note also they didn’t cut us pieces from the display case, but from a freezer behind the counter.
We should have stayed at cracked crab… they had desserts… curse our need for exploring new places!

After being very disappointed by the main restaurant, I thought we might give the Express a try. I was craving Pizza and thought that maybe my previous experience was a fluke. So we ordered a pizza with several different veggie items. Unfortunately it was fairly flavorless and very dry. I could not detect any sauce. Very disappointing!

This was an amazing find, fresh food, delicious and tempting looking food from pasta to cake to Gelato, and top notch service! Thanks to Cody, you did a wonderful job and we’re sure to be back because of you!

They make a great Margherita pizza; I’ve tried it in both the thin crust and Sicilian and both were delicious!

Paul continues to bring it with delicious sandwiches and pizza. Bread is always super fresh. The cold Italian hero is amazing, as is the Caprese with tomato, basil and avocado. No mayo/​mustard — just balsamic. All desserts are incredible. Thank you for so many great meals !!

Based on the other reviews I think they may have improved their pizza because it is freaking DELISH.
The dough to topping ratio was GREAT for our taste buds. It was fresh with quality ingredients.
Our Caesar salad was good, but not special. The dressing was yummy, but be warned it is VERY anchovyish. Perhaps less fishy and move citrus.

I popped in after work on a Friday, ordered at the counter. Waited about 25 – 30 mins for my pizza. It was worth it.

Ordered a large take out pizza, cost $ 27, ¹⁄₃ was dough with no sauce or toppings, toppings were suppose to be pepperoni, sausage, onion, olives and mushroom — barely enough to satisfy, otherwise the pizza was good.
I struggle to understand the Pismo restaurant owners, they don’t seem to be concerned with the quality of their food and many are not concerned with customer satisfaction. They seem to think that those visiting Pismo and their restaurants are simply tourists, but many of us live within few hours drive and have been visiting their establishments for decades. Each time I come to Pismo my list of places to eat narrows.

Service has definitely gotten a lot better here and the employees are much more friendly than in the past. I will say that their pasta items are not nearly as delicious or fresh tasting as their full restaurant counterpart across the street. That being said, I would stick with the pizzas and salads when coming here. My personal favorite is the Margherita pizza — the tomatoes and basil always tastes fresh and it is a reasonably priced pizza for the size and quality. I usually order in person and get a split of champagne to enjoy while I’m waiting which is usually not too long of a wait. They have a great selection of both alcoholic and non-​alcoholic beverages in their fridges as well as a few draught beers and wines by the glass, again all at a reasonable price. I think what stops me from giving this place 5 stars is simply that I don’t think I could confidently tell someone that anything they order here will be great, as well as the fact that they charge for extra salad dressings and for parmigiana cheese.

I have been going to Guiseppe’s express and the restaurant for all my life and I have never had a bad pizza. My grandfather got our family hooked on the pizza so much the staff eventually called in «Friday night Frank».
Presently, the staff is young and holds only an interest of a «summer job» mindset and it shows. Could try to be a little more friendlier even say «hi» instead of the head nod I always get when I pick up a pizza.

Giuseppe’s express has great sandwiches and side salads to go with them.
The Pizza is just ok, thin crust with decent toppings.
This place is great if you are in a time crunch. If you call in for a delivery plan on at least an hour, they are never in a rush to please a paying customer.
Oh, they have a good beer selection to go with your Pizza or Sandwich.

Food is not that good for the horrible service you’ll receive. You call to place an order and after 7 rings a snobby girl answers and immediately puts you on hold. Eternal hold!!! I was on hold for 7 minutes before hanging up. It’s not that busy or big of a place. There is always more than 1 employee working at a time. There is no reason to be on hold that long. It’s almost as if they put you on hold in hopes you give up.

We actually had wanted to eat at the main restaurant Palazzo Giuseppe across the street, but as they had an hour waiting list we followed the advice of one of their employees and went to the «bakery» — same food but quicker, cheaper at not so elegant. It’s kind of a store/​restaurant, but our two pizzas (primavera and Gorgonzola Sicilian style) were outstanding. We shouldn’t have finished it but did ;)

This place is fast and convenient, but I’m pretty sure i’ve gotten food poisoning twice from their pizza and soup.
It’s good but don’t make eye contact with the sweaty guy in the back making the food… might start the sickness sooner…
: /​

OMG amazing pizza, great desert (cream brûlée), awesome service. We are outside on their patio and was a perfect picnic lunch. Their salads were also delicious.
The only thing item I wouldn’t order was the brownie. It was just ok. Highly recommend this place for lunch!!!

If you want a good pizza this is not the place. Ordered a pizza to go got it home had family from out of town visiting and we all decided on a pizza for dinner. The pizza was SO burnt on the bottom we could not eat it
Unbelievably! !! So disappointed SO we called the next day and explained they said they would make it right. We’ just asked for a replacement and guess what? We got another burnt pizza!!! This time we checked it before we left and again it was black on the bottom… they asked if it was ok and we showed then the bottom the cook along with the cashier said that’s the way they bake them. Sad situation when you pay $ 25+ tax and are told it’s just the way they bake it! Will not be going back and hope this review will help someone else avoid this experience. …
SAD IN PISMO BEACH

Very authentic italian deli. The make some great pizza and sandwiches. Good selection of Italian deli meats, sauces, pastas, olive oil, sodas and beer. Meatballs are homemade and tasty. The rolls they use are some of the best. Nice outside seating in the heart of Pismo. The main restaurant is across the street. If your in the area I highly recommend stopping by.

I really love stopping here on our way home from L.A. to grab a pizza. The service isn’t very good though. The girls don’t know the menu (didn’t know the available sizes of the two types of pizzas), and they don’t tell you that they will bring your food out to you. We sat outside and kept running back in to see if it was ready. Then, we finally asked if they would bring it out and they said they would. Caesar salad didn’t come with croutons. I thought all Caesar salad came with croutons. Pizza is still yummy.

10÷10÷14
This place is the express store to the main white table restaurant across the street. There is street parking and plenty of people walking around the quaint lil town. Stopped in on our way to our hotel in Lompoc for lunch. We both ordered the florentine chicken sandwich which was phenomenal. The combination of the sauce with the sautéed spinach and other veggies on top of the perfectly cooked chicken breast on their amazing fresh baked bread! AMAZEBALLS! For a stop in place this is awesome. We were able to eat outside and enjoy the wonderful view of the blocks down to the beach front.
The staff is very friendly and it is a great lil mom and pop place.
I suggest this place if you happen to be in area.

I was impressed by the friendliness and variety of menu items.
You can eat inside or outside and they will brig your order to you.
No fountain drinks, only what is the cold case.
Ordered the small Caprese salad… about $ 3.95 and enough for two persons (see pic). It consisted of grape tomatoes with small cubes of mozzarella cheese with basil and olive oil… very good.
Also ordered the Giuseppe’s Italian Hero which was good. The bread was not to thick but was crusty/hard…not bad. It included mortadella, capicolla, genoa provolone with a touch of balsamic on the bread.
The pizza looked great