Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza and Grill

my gf & i LOVE coming to sammy’s! jason is our main man here-​he makes the best mojitos in town & serves up the best pizza we’ve ever had! wow, we love this place! of all the restaurant choices in the del mar highlands, we only choose sammy’s! yay jason, yay sammy’s!!!

Jason is the greatest bartender and makes every visit special! We love coming in here because the food is delicious, the service is wonderful, and the ambience is perfect for any occasion. There are many good restaurants in the immediate vicinity but we always pick Sammy’s because the staff is so personable. And the truth is, we love Jason, he makes it feel like we are coming home each time we walk in the door!!! Xoxo.

I like the salads and pizza there. It is kids friendly and has a nice atmosphere. Sometimes there is a long waiting list so it is best to call in advance when you want to go in the busy times for dinner.

Overall the pizza was very good. The appetizers are kind of all over the place in terms of theme, with Mexican, Asian and Middle eastern dishes, but none of them were really great. The restaurant was quite busy and there was about a 20 minute wait on a Tuesday night. That being said, the entire time we were waiting there were empty tables that just needed to be cleared. Probably under staffed.

I nver seem disappointed with Sammy’s their selection and their food. Consistent in every way at each location.
They have something to satisfy every pallet, much more than pizza only.

Went to Sammy’s on a Monday night. because it is not so noisy. No one came to wait on us in our booth. I could see a guy in the distance wiping silverware and some waitstaff chatting by the bar. Finally a young lady came by very rushed and took our order. She put our order down without a word and took off. It looked fine until we bit into the pizza and discovered it was the wrong one. Waitress never came back to ask if everything was O.K. Ask another waiter going by if she could get our waitress — never came so we decided we would eat the pizza rather than have to wait for another one to be cooked. The young lady did come by to drop off the check and just grabbed my credit card and departed. First time we had such bad service.
I threw out my receipt so unfortunately I cannot name the person responsible.

This particular Sammy’s is located in the Del Mar Highlands Town Center right next to the Cinepolis complex. The No1DP wanted to satisfy his once-​a-​visit pizza craving.
This Sammy’s branch has (like most others) indoor and outdoor seating with the seating area heated during cold days. There’s a bar area towards the entrance. The waiting area is quite small as there’s limited spaces to sit and two people can block the entrance to the restaurant.
As we went on a busy Saturday night it took a while for the servers to pour our waters and take our orders. It also took even longer for them to get us our food.
As for our food it was so mediocre that I didn’t even bother to take pics.
— No1DP’s New York Style (Sautéed mushrooms, all-​natural pepperoni, salami, Italian sausage, house-​made tomato sauce, $ 13.75) was just overcooked everywhere. The crust was almost black, the mushrooms were too rubbery and the Italian sausage was dry and crisp. I should be able to enjoy my sausage as a sausage and not charred scraps.
— My Shrimp Angel Hair (Roasted mushrooms, artichoke, carrots, zucchini, lobster cream sauce, $ 19.75) had too much pasta and not enough shrimps and vegetables. The sauce was decent and was able to coat the pasta, shrimps and veggies.
— The No1DP had his white wine and I had a soda. Sadly this was the best parts of our meal.
Maybe we just went on a busy night but there’s plenty of other pizza places around SD that I’d like to take the No1DP on his next SD visit.

The worst of all the chain!
Good food, terrible service and even worst manager. She is very disrespectful with customers and has a terrible attitude. It’s funny how nobody has notice in management. To bad because is nearby my house.

Went for dinner last night and it was phenomenal! Myrna was our server, she was quick to serve our drinks, food, and bread! We never had to wait for refills either! Ordered pizza and salad and everything was great! I will return, and ask for Myrna!

First time here. Pizza was good. I guess you are paying for the atmosphere. Ordered a margherita pizza. I love the crust, the pizza overall was good.
The service was okay, our waitress was kinda nice. She barely checked on us after our food was served. Had to ask several times for a drink refill. No, the restaurant was not busy. We were there on a Sunday afternoon at 4pm.

A+++++ for Service, Healthy & Tasty Dishes and location.
We had a party of 11 here last night and after dinner, we rolled ourselves out of the restaurant and agreed — hands down — that from A — Z, Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza and Grill in Carmel Valley is the THE BEST option for enjoying a night out with a big group of best friends.
They have EVERYTHING and they serve it all with great attitudes, professional quickness and amazing thoughtfulness. Nothing was left to chance as we descended upon them ravenously hungry and fading fast. 7 pizzas, 1 ginormous salad, drinks, desserts (that blew us away!) and a staff that went above and beyond for everyone, not only for our party — but for EVERYONE at the tables surrounding us. What a crew. Excellent restaurant.
Talk to Kim. She’s one of the managers that always remains calm and accommodating. But it goes without saying… if you can’t talk to Kim, there’s always a slew of top-​notch servers that won’t let you stand at the hostess desk for long. They’ll take care of you like they did for us!
If you’re lucky, you’ll get Zack. This dude will sweat for you. I know that doesn’t sound appealing, but even when he had to man a slew of other tables, he managed to make us feel like he was only taking care of us. Where do you find an employee like this? We didn’t realize we didn’t have a bus boy… that’s because Zack did EVERYTHING. Although, it was cool how the ALL the servers will take food to your table. What a concept. What an idea. Totally cool.
The negative reviews sure didn’t slow down business last night, business was booming and we can attest why — this place rocks. We had such a blast and the food was terrific. So many choices, so many decisions — another reason why I like this place.
Free parking, a movie theater nearby and this venue is so ‘Southern California’. Easy, breezy and oh-​so-​much fun! We. Will. Be. Back.

Came here for dinner on Monday night. It was pretty slow and not has packed as the other restaurants across the way. There were handful of people out on the patio and a few inside. Chose to sit inside for AC.
Took a while to be seated. The bartender was also acting as server and hostess. There was no one in front of us or a wait. She could have stopped what she was doing and sat us. It didn’t seem like they were short staffed so idk…
We sat and went through menu, I haven’t had a chance to look over, and was already asked what we wanted to order. I never been to Sammys before so I would like to thoroughly look at the menu, like what’s the rush?
After feeling rushed, not told if there was a special, or asked if we questions about menu. We ordered gyozas and the NY pizza.
Asked for bread and they brought us burnt rectangular crackers cooked in the wood fired oven, not sure if it’s suppose to be black on purpose, it didn’t taste like the good kind of burn on food if you know what I mean…
The manager I think brought out the gyozas and it was warm. Never saw our waitress bartender hostess after this until she finally came by to pick up the plates from the appetizer after it has been sitting there for quite some time. The BF called her out for it and she just apologized and sent someone else to take over our table. So the new girl just shuffles by and ask if things were good and walks off.
The pizza was surprisingly good despite the weird service.
Overall didn’t like the mediocre customer service negative and fake. Go huff and puff some where else please. I really like the pizza. So I would order take out then sit in there to eat. I don’t like bashing on service but come on you need us to come back and write nice reviews for you and spread the word.

The service at this Sammy’s has really gone down hill. The servers are still friendly, but the last 3 times we’ve visited they’ve messed up our order and or delivered the salad and entrée at the same time, when we’ve specifically requested the salad, to share, first and the flat iron steak second, to share. This is what has lost them the stars, we like to take our time and enjoy the salad (which is still enough to take home after sharing it). When they drop all of the food at the same time, we need to move on from the salad and onto the steak so it doesn’t get cold. The last experience was so poor, there’ve been a few times that we wanted a Sammy’s salad, and one of us has declined the idea citing the crummy service.
Come on Sammy’s…Food is still delicious, and fresh… but your service has gone way down hill.

Good vegan options.
Their baba ganoush plate is a delicious starter and the kale salad is also very good.
Sammy’s is one of the few pizza companies who offers vegan Daiya cheese as a substitute, The crust is light and delicious.
The atmosphere of the outside tables are very nice during the summer.
Good for late dinners.

I got Sammy’s for take-​out. The two pizzas I got were the NY Style pizza and the Hawaiian pizza. The person on the phone told me that the pizzas were 12″. They weren’t; the pizzas are not 12″, but 10″. By percent error (144 – 100)÷144, the pizza was 31% smaller than expected. Talk about false advertising.
Hawaiian pizza:
Taste wise, the pizza is rather mediocre. It was cold in the box and tasted like… nothing really. Reheated, it were slightly better, but not by far.
NY Style pizza:
This one tasted better than the Hawaiian, but there was far too much oil on it. I had to use a napkin to absorb the oil on top of the pizza before eating it.
Overall, I’m not happy with Sammy’s. The only reason why they get two stars is because the pizzas only took 15min to make.

We have been coming to Sammys for years. There is a lovely atmosphere and the food is great. It is an excellent place for a family dinner, to meet a friend for lunch or to have a business meeting.

Two stars on Unilocal is «I’ve experienced better» and that’s exactly how I feel about this place. I live in this area and have been going to this particular Sammy’s for about 20 years and while the appearance of this restaurant has been upgraded and gives the appearance of a great dining experience, the quality of the food has suffered.
They are located in a rather big strip mall with much to do as well. You can go to the movies right next to the restaurant and come over for dinner after… however, I would recommend any other restaurant within feet of this place before coming for dinner. They offer both indoor dining as well as outside and with the great weather we have, outside dinning is pretty nice.
We ordered up Balsamic Grilled Chicken for a starter and then for main course, I had the Chicken Tequila Fettuccine and my friend had the Shrimp Angel Hair pasta. The balsamic chicken salad was good. They give what seems like a whole chicken breast that has been freshly grilled and then sliced atop some nice mixed greens with Gorgonzola and just the right amount of balsamic dressing. It’s enough for two people to split.
The Shrimp Angel Hair Pasta came with a large portion of pasta, again enough that you could probably split the meal and a generous amount of grilled shrimp. My friend said it was quite tasty.
Now to the Chicken Tequila Fettuccine. Again, of note, I have been going to Sammy’s for 20 years and to this particular one for most of that time and there was a time when this was a great meal. I used to crave this meal but sadly, for some unknown reason, over the past 10 years or more the quality of this meal has all but disappeared. I guess it’s no wonder since if you look at the menu online, they can’t even spell Fettuccine! To start, the pasta is absolutely flavorless and a bit overcooked. But the part that is impossible to overlook is there is hardly any sauce and even less chicken. I asked my friend what they thought of the meal; I told her the name and her first statement was… «where’s the chicken?» Exactly my point!!! The salad came with what seemed like an entire chicken breast but I only found two cubes of what I assumed was chicken in this dinner. Again, this used to be a dish I would crave and rave about. Over the past decade I keep giving it a try and hoping that it was just a bad dish that day but consistently this is one of the worst meals. All the worse because it used to be such a magnificent meal.
And to top it all off… the cost. We ordered 3 dishes and the bill was $ 55 (without a tip). We put down $ 5 so it was a total of $ 60 for three dishes. WTF!!! Seriously… $ 20 each?!? California Pizza Kitchen has basically the identical menu but on average $ 5 cheaper per dish and infinitely better tasting. I have absolutely come here for the last time. Horrible, cheap food that might as well have come from the frozen foods section at nearby Ralphs. Too many great choices literally just steps away from Sammy’s where you actually get your money’s worth.

I will start out by saying the service was very good on our recent visit to Sammy’s. It was our first time trying Sammy’s and I would liken it to a California Pizza Kitchen with a more eclectic menu.
We were seated and greeted right away and our server was very helpful with our questions pertaining to items on the menu. If I were rating this review solely on the service it would have been five stars.
Where Sammy’s fell short for us was with the food. We ordered the Chicken Lettuce Wraps which were a SODIUM bomb… they were so salty they were almost inedible. We also ordered a Balsamic Grilled Chicken Salad. When it arrived I thought I had misread the menu as the chicken was charred black. It thought perhaps it was Balsamic BLACKENED Chicken Salad. It was not… the kitchen got a little overzealous grilling the chicken. The chicken was so overdone that it was dry. The lettuce looked a little old too. I sent it back. They offered to make another one or asked if I wanted to something else. I figured with two strikes I am not going for a third so I passed.
Even though the servers (they were training someone) were very attentive and friendly, I was a bit miffed that the manager was not sent over, nor did they offer anything to make up for the salad which was clearly a disaster.
Regardless, it is safe to say we will not be going back anytime soon.

Met a friend here for lunch during the work week. We arrived at 11:30 and beat the crowds. There was still parking available in the lot (Sammy’s is located upstairs next to Cinepolis) and we were seated right away. We sat in a cute little booth outside (it is a covered/​enclosed patio). They have a really great area outside in the front that looks like it would be fun for happy hour.
They offer a «power lunch» which is 2 items for $ 10 (choice of soup/​salad/​pizza). The soups were: tomato basil, butternut squash, and clam chowder. They also had three different salads and pizzas to choose from… pretty sweet deal.
I ordered the chopped chicken salad with dressing on the side and it was perfect. There was even enough for me to take some home. My friend ordered the power lunch and got the butternut squash soup with Greek salad and thought it was good.
The food arrived quickly and the servers were young friendly guys. Only knock was that they didn’t do a great job refilling our iced teas. Overall, a great experience. I will definitely go back.

I got kidnapped by my cuz the other day and this is where he brought me…
yes sammy’s is walking distance from my house and yes my kids have been here frequently with their grandparents or for father — daughter or father-​son pre event dinners. but i personally haven’t really been here.
once i met a friend for a drink and another time I came for a kids party. oh wait… and i’ve been here to redeem the free big messy sundae coupons… but my kids ate the sunday and I had a glass of water and waited while they ate!
Never have i even looked at the menu!
so on this visit… i didn’t plan to eat (that stupid diet thing again)…kids ordered off kids menu… two of them got pepp pizza one got angel hair pasta… all reasonably good sizes. includes drink… about $ 6 (i had a coupon sitting in my purse for one of those free)…ok i caved… i ordered the chinese chicken salad… it was super duper yummy and i had enough leftover for breakfast the next day!
atmosphere .nice
service…friendly (had to practically beg for water)…
food…good…
not bad… i’ll be back…
note to the management… we are in a drought. so i understand waiting for people to request water in order to reduce wasted water…
here’s the problem… your servers bring a stack of share plates and dump them in the middle of the table… we had absolutely no use for these plates… we didn’t ask for them and we didn’t use them… yet all these plates will be washed. This is a complete waste of water. it’s a waste of your employees time both placing the plates, clearing the plates and washing the plates… decreasing the productivity of your employees.
**how about offer share plates and if the customer doesn’t want them… don’t bring them! the amount of water used to wash these plates is WAY more than bringing drinking water to the table.
this suggestions goes out to ALL restaurants!