Village Pizzeria Bayside is a cornerstone restaurant at the scenic Coronado Ferry Landing. While the restaurant business is known for being challenging, the pizzeria stays adaptable and fresh for its customers.
Counter Service is Here to Stay
The biggest transformation at the pizzeria took place during the pandemic. “The whole restaurant dynamic shifted in every aspect, not just Village Pizzeria, but every restaurant.” Events Coordinator, Oriana Spatafore, explains. “What we did was maintain servicing our guests, but in an expedited way. We were able to have fast service, yet still provide quality. At that time, we also had COVID rules enforced on us. Our main priority was to make sure that we were able to service our guests who were our loyal customers.”
That change stuck in the post-pandemic landscape, and both Village Pizzeria OG (1206 Orange Ave) and Village Pizzeria Bayside operate with a counter service model. Village Pizzeria Bayside manager, Brandon Depperschmidt, explains the benefits. “The service is more efficient, and we can help more guests quicker, which helps with the lunch rush for the military members or the construction workers who frequent Village Pizzeria and are looking to get something fast.”
This model also opens up options for where guests can enjoy their meals. “Probably 70% of our guests still come in and sit down, especially at the ferry landing. We have that perfect view right on the water, so that’s really the perfect spot to help bring your family and enjoy a meal,” Brandon says.
Cultivating a Team
Brandon adds that the shift to counter service has also positively impacted building their team. “It helps cultivate a better team environment rather than having specific jobs. Instead of having a hostess or a server or server assistant, all of the front-of-house employees at Village Pizzeria are servers. They’re responsible for every kind of job duty, whether it’s running food, busing tables, or taking orders. It really helps cultivate an all-hands-on-deck mentality and form a teamwork environment.”
Village Pizzeria Bayside Menu
Brandon serves up the details on the delicious options at Village Pizzeria Bayside. “We’re always trying to experiment and create new things. One of the newest items that we have is fried spaghetti. It’s like a mozzarella stick, but with spaghetti noodles and marinara sauce on the inside- you still get that stretchy cheese. That’s been a really big hit lately.”
Brandon also discusses their loaded options. “We’ve got our loaded garlic knots and our loaded French fries. We take the Parmesan garlic knots, a staple people love, but instead of just serving them plain with a side of marinara, we can load them with pizza sauce, cheese, and chicken. We have a buffalo chicken style of that.”
Pizza of the Month
Another way the pizzeria keeps things fresh is with its pizza of the month. “We try to make something new and completely unique in terms of the pizza world,” Oriana says. It’ll change, and it’s seasonal. Right now, we had a good morning pie, which had an egg on it before being baked in the oven.”
Brandon explains last month’s Ring of Fire pizza, “Last month, it was a spicy pizza with our hot honey, and we added some jalapenos, sweet peppers, and chicken.”
What else may be in store? Brandon says they have been known to throw Cheetos on a new creation! “We put together four or five ingredients that are maybe not something you typically put on a pizza, but somehow work together.”
While long-standing pizza favorites are the classic pepperoni and plain cheese, Brandon says, “Anytime someone asks for my recommendation, I say our Napoli pizza, which is kind of like a basic Margarita, but it’s tomato, basil, garlic, and Parmesan. We also have an artisan-type flavor for our billy goat with white sauce and garlic aioli. It has spinach, mozzarella, sweet peppers, roasted tomatoes, and onions. Then, we top it with a balsamic glaze and goat cheese.”
Of course, if you are ordering pizza, you may also be inclined to wash it down with a beer. Villiage Pizzeria Bayside is proud to keep local breweries on tap. A popular choice is Coronado Brewing Company’s Orange Avenue Wit.
Host an Event at Village Pizzeria Bayside
The options are endless when you choose Village Pizzeria Bayside for your next event! “We’ve had people who buy out Bayside completely. We’ve had people who had weddings come and do something super casual with a group of their guests. We do it all,” Oriana describes. “We recently participated in a foodie tour where we had people come in and dine at each of our locations and stop at Bayside Pizzeria, grab a slice and a beer, and then go. We are always open to hosting events and curating something specific for guests’ needs. There’s a lot that we can do. And like Brandon said, the Bayside Ferry Landing is a beautiful venue. We just did a baby shower there. In the past, we’ve pretty much done it all there, because it’s such a large space, it’s easy to accommodate, let’s say a group of 20, a group of 40.”
Catering
The option to bring the flavor of the Pizzeria outside of the restaurant is also a possibility. “In terms of catering, we’ve done a lot of parties. We can create some very long hoagies. We also have parties outside of pizza, with spaghetti fettuccini, garlic knots, meatball sliders, salads to go, all of it. If you’re looking to host a big party, especially in the summer, that’s something we do.”
Discounts & Philanthropy
Blue Bridge Hospitality has a reputation for giving back to the community. Villiage Pizzeria Bayside offers a general 10% military discount, but they take it a step further on Mondays. “We have a special Military Monday where active and retired service members get 50% off large pizzas, and that’s every single Monday of the year, and that’s extremely popular,” Brandon says. While some businesses have restrictions on discounts, the pizzeria shop extends Military Monday pricing to takeout and delivery.
Early this month, Village Pizzeria participated in the Silver Strand Luau. “We brought around 50 pizzas and a couple of other plates and dishes to choose from. We had many of our own staff, including Oriana and me,” Brandon said. “We were down there helping to serve people.” Beyond events, they extend to multiple facets of the schools. “We provide the schools a significant discount. This includes school clubs, school events, sports teams, and more. We get probably four or five orders a week with school-related events.”
Why Choose Village Pizzeria Bayside
Brandon invites everyone to come in for their next meal and enjoy something special. He says, “Most of our food is our house recipe. All of our pizza sauces and the dough are made in-house. Our salad dressings: ranch, blue cheese, and Italian, we make in-house with our own recipes.”
In addition to the unique recipes, the other notable component of the pizzeria is the oven. “We use the brick oven, which is very important and crucial for the flavor of the crust. I think we’re the only pizzeria in Coronado that uses a brick oven instead of a conveyor belt oven.” Brandon says, “That’s something not a lot of people might know, but it’s huge and how we get the flavor of the crust.”
Visit the Ferry Landing and taste pizza perfection for yourself.
Village Pizzeria Bayside is located at 1201 1st St.
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