Pizzaioli

First Time Review
My BFFs parents come here all the time, saying how they love the food and the drink specials. I have some friends come in from out of town who wanted italian and we were in the Chino-​Pomona area. I’ve always wanted to try this place, so we all agreed to check it out.
Wow!!! No disappointment here!!! The menu items are a little on the pricier side of life, but there are gems to fit someone’s college budget. This is a nice restaurant to celebrate something or bring someone to impress. Found tucked into the backside of a strip mall, I was banking on the BFFs’ parents reviews to bolster my confidence in the place. Much to my surprise, the interior is that of a stand alone high end restaurant. Lots of dark wood and low lighting to set the mood. Even before you reach the front door, the waiting area has heating lamps set up and there is patio seating to take advantage of the Socal warm nights of summer.
Inside there is a long bar, 10 seats (approx), we’re all occupied and 2 TVs where the game was playing the GSW v OKC game 6 of the Finals. (Go OKC… sorry, not sorry… dad’s from OK. Boomer! Sooner!) The room was divided into two areas: bar & dining, with the bar area having a few tables and our choice.
We were greeted with a basket of sliced soft baguette & bruschetta (diced tomato in balsamic viniagrette)… delicious and this was before the took our drink orders.
What we ordered:
Grey Goose Martini (good, but Not in a martini glass-​what!!!)
Top shelf Margarita on the rocks with salt rim (yum!)
Iced tea with lemon (hey… I was the driver!)
Di Casa (x2): Mixed lettuce, topped with Roma tomatoes and mozzarella.
Pizzaioli: Endive, arugula, dried cranberries, Gouda, cherry tomatoes, toasted pecans, walnuts, and balsamic vinaigrette. (OMG… this is so delicious!)
Pollo E Tortellini: Spinach tortellini pasta stuffed with cheese, baked with chicken breast, creamy jalapeño sauce & topped with mozzarella. (Loved the jalapeño in the sauce. Has a kick, but won’t knock your teeth out or numb your face. There portions are on the bigger side of happiness so pace yourself… Yay, more happiness!)
Carciofo: Chicken breast sautéed with artichokes, spinach, kalamata olives, fettuccine and garlic olive oil. (This was simple, yet not. Bougie, but unassuming. Really liked it. Something to order when you want clean flavors… capiche? You get me right???)
Linguine Ai Frutti Di Mare: Clams, mussels, snow crab claws, shrimp, and scallops sautéed in either an olive oil & garlic sauce (or spicy marinara) served over linguine. (This was my dish & I chose olive oil & garlic sauce. This did not disappoint. I was sopping up the sauce with whatever bread was left from the delicious bruschetta!!! I’d order that again!
Tiramisu (Love! Great coffee flavor. Some Tiramisu’s (sp???) I’ve had in the past, the coffee is very faint. It was pronounced and you knew it was a coffee dessert. The marscapone cream was thicker too, not airy and i could TASTE it… delish! I’d order this again)
White chocolate Cheesecake (sadly I had only one bite, as to be polite and not eat this dessert PLUS my Tiramisu… creamy cheesecake with white chocolate, served with whipped cream and blackberries!!!)
I won’t lie, then place will seduce you into ordering all their yummy offerings and your wallet will be the victim. Most expensive item we ordered was my Linguine Ai Frutti Di Mare at $ 24. Hello, full size scallops, snow crab claws prepped for easy eating & the rest of the seafood orchestra. I would so order that bowl of nirvana again in a heartbeat… actually I’d order ANY of these dishes again… I’ll just wait for payday! (Lucky me… that’s every two weeks!!! See you here!)

Very good above average Italian restaurant that is actually in Chino not Chino Hills. Gotta love their jalapeño cheese bread. Great place to enjoy a high quality Italian meal. Just wish it as a little bigger. Good service too!

If you want authentic Italian food and wonderful service, this is the place. Chicken Marsala was excellent and the coffee unbelievably good.

What can I say… everything about this restaurant is perfect. The food was served sizzling hot, tasty cooked to perfection. The servers were nice and knowledgeable.

We use to come here slot when we lived in Chino Hills, we now live in Corona and try to get down here in between kids sports. We absolutely love it, servers are nice, food is delicious and the bread and bruschetta to die for

The service is always awesome! Who can complain about the complimentary fresh made bruschetta? Drinks are always made perfect and the spinach tortellini and pastrami pizza are my favorite. This place is classy and tasteful. (It is far from a bar where random brawls break out) Guess some people can’t handle some surprise excitement.

I been wanting to try this restaurant for awhile and was excited to try the filet mignon ravioli! Unfortunately they said they didn’t offer it anymore :(
The service here is great. All the waiters/​waitresses were very attentive and fast!
The food imo was overpriced and i didn’t enjoy my meal too much. I ordered mushroom ravioli for $ 24 and it was okay I didn’t like that it came with a lot of tomatoes… I didn’t expect that. (I don’t like tomatoes btw) I really enjoyed the tropical martini $ 5, that was pretty tasty I can not lie. It tasted like coconut/​pineapple. A great drink for those who don’t like a strong taste of alcohol. The tomato soup was very good! ⁵⁄₅ it was $ 7.50
I probably won’t come back, but I’m glad I got to at least try it out.

Been here twice now. It’s definitely a hidden gem in Chino Hills and the only true Italian restaurant in a few mile radius. The food is great and is prepared fresh every time. The only complain that I do have was that the kitchen does not seem to be prepared for more than 1 large party at a time. We were a large party among 3 others and our food took about 45 minutes to get to us. The manager was nice enough to hook us up with free dessert so it’s nice that they recognize the excessive wait time.
Otherwise the restaurant is a great place for family dinners or even a quiet date night with your significant other. The staff is very friendly and the place is very clean. Keep up the good work!

My In-​laws come every week, and often my wife and I join them. One of the best Restaurant bars in the IE. For me, it is my favorite. I truly enjoy having a whisky, and the whisky and whiskey selection is excellent. The food is always just a little better than I expected, every time. I love getting their specials, but the pastas and steak will never disappoint.
Oh, and the wine! Absolutely give this place a try.

Absolutely love this place! I’ve been going here forever, since I was a kid, and the food always tastes great every time that I come back from LA for a visit The wine selection changes frequently, but is always excellent. I love their filet mignon, and especially their tortellini with chicken and jalapeño. Also, the BEST bruschetta and softest bread I’ve ever had. I could literally drink that bruschetta juice. Yummy. Easily the only choice for the best restaurant in Chino/​Chino Hills.

Individual sized Pizza is really good and fresh here. Only negative is its slow here every time I’ve come. So if you’re willing to be ok with this, give it a try!

My family of 10 was excited to eat here. However, we arrive and they say the wait is 45 minutes. Not bad. Then, we wait one hour and ask about how much longer we would have to wait, and they say another 20 minutes. We waited a total of 80 minutes! We would have waited longer if we didn’t demand a seat outside and to put together some tables. If we knew we were gonna wait that long, we would have gone somewhere else. Everything is over priced and doesn’t even taste as good as it is presented. The one star is for presentation, I’ll give them that. But, I am not coming here again.

The wait was too long when they had said it would be 45 minutes. We waited over hour and a half and decided to sit outside due to the long wait already. Food wise, it was just okay. I thought buca was better. Service was good.

Cake Fee??? $ 15.00 ridiculous!!! Was not communicated to us, did not even provide any knife, plates, or additional utensils!!! We had to cut the cake with our dirty knife, had to clean our plate to eat our cake that we had to cut.

Love this place! Excellent service, stellar wine selection, and really great Italian food. Came today for Valentine’s Day and they had some great specials. I ordered the surf and turf filet with lobster ravioli and a bottle of Beringer Cab to pair. O M G !! Everything was awesome. And our server was excellent. Highly recommend for a romantic dinner out !

Flawless dinner and service every time. Great menu and great atmosphere. The food is fresh and you’ll even have some to take home. Everyone we take there is impressed!

A unique and authentic Italian flavor and great and relaxing atmosphere, I want to thank you: De Grezia Family for being there all these years, your service and dedication to conserve this place unique with always the best selection of food and wines makes Pizzaioli number 1 place to visit with Friends and Family. Salute The Perez Family.
** Food was incredible, everybody enjoyed and we will be back soon for more !!!

This place was absolutely amazing, I was surprised about it I’d love to come back again and have some drinks here! Bar looked good win looked good just talking about it makes me want to go back and eat the pasta and salad

The good, the bad, and the ugly…
1 star for the service, 1 for the martini, 1 for the caricatures on the wall.
Well, it looked and sounded good on the internet. (Like a lot of dates I’ve had! lol) My 6:30 reservation ended up being 7 after the wait. My table was a bar style table with stools, in a corner against a window, staring at the patio table full of people outside said window — not very comfortable. The bar side is tiny, noisy, crowded — but it was a Saturday night.
The service was excellent! Our waitress was great! They always came around looking to clear plates, refill water, etc. I can’t stress enough how great the service was.
The martinis were spot on. Fantastic selection of spirits it appeared on hand. I was pleased with the make your own bruschetta they give you instead of a standard bread basket.
Had some Calamari Fritti, not the best I’ve had, not the worst — the breading was falling off, which leads me to believe it was not properly prepared. And it was kind of dry. But the sauce — MMMM that was some fantastic marinara! The pizza: medium Prosciutto e Fichi — prosciutto, figs, dried cranberries, arugula, mozzarella, goat cheese and basil. For which I was charged for a large Salami pizza when I looked at the receipt the next day. Well it was different, but a lack of moisture, cheese, oomph. Basically a dry pizza crust with little bits of fruits and arugula against a smattering of cheese. I would not order this again. Well actually I would not order the calamari or this pizza again.
And then there was the BAR ROOM BRAWL. Good God, you’d think a nice little Italian place in a shopping mall, in the inland empire would basically be quiet and peaceful. They were on the floor, against the glass doors to the other dining room, breaking things, screaming — I’m talking full on brawl. Clearly no bouncer, no manager, no owner, no police, no security… as they eventually spilled out onto the front sidewalk and continued. Then about 20 – 30 minutes all of them fighting, and yelling, and arguing, and chasing, and just sheer mayhem all over the parking lot, left to their own devices unattended to scare away any potential or first time customers. Maybe these were the owners? Who knows. Crazy though. We’re just waiting for the knives and guns to come out as I whisk my date away to the car through the gauntlet of drunken warriors.
If I want a bar room fight I’ll go to east L.A. lol (another quiet neighborhood Italian joint called Charlie’s where I was randomly assaulted once!)
So I am not so sure I would come here again given the tally of pluses to minuses.
Cheers?

Let me just say I’ve been here at least a dozen times and I’ve yet to have a subpar meal. Don’t listen to the haters. This is great food and service with the pricing in line with the quality.
They start you off with complimentary bread and bruschetta. I could eat a couple orders of this alone as a meal by itself. I’ve tried a variety of food from pastas, salads, chicken to a New York steak special and they were very good, yummy, excellent and OMG.
This review could have gone 5 stars but they caught me on a bad day.