I was invited to check out Square One Pizza Cafe in Irvine along with friends and team members Marco and David. Marco and David are also part of the team who built a recreation of the famous Pizza Planet Truck from Toy Story. I thought it would be cool to have them bring the Pizza Planet Truck here as well. Above are the awesome owners of Square One Pizza Cafe, Kyle and Liz Gillies with the Pizza Planet Truck. I love that Kyle covered up the Pizza Planet logo with their logo!
The restaurant is informal and casual. It's the perfect place to stop in for a lunch or dinner. You simply step up to the counter and order and your food is brought to your table. Service is super friendly and you can tell the employees take pride in their job.
Did someone say salad? I love a good salad and we tried two of them. You can never go wrong with a classic Caesar salad. Crisp and refreshing and you can really taste those anchovies in the dressing.
The mixed greens with roasted vegetable salad is my new favorite salad. The roasted vegetables blend perfectly with the fresh greens. Make sure you get it with the balsamic vinaigrette for a fantastic combination of flavors.
The star of this amazing meatball sub is the house-made meatballs. So many places do meatballs but sometimes they are almost burnt on the outside or not cooked all the way through. These meatballs are perfectly cooked all the way through and still moist and flavorful. The rich marinara sauce and melted mozzarella cheese are equally as good as the soft baguette. Do not pass up on the meatball sub.
We also ordered the baked penne pasta. A wonderful combination of soft penne pasta, tomato cream sauce, fennel sausage and peas.You are going to love the perfectly cooked pasta with the creamy sauce, the sweet fennel sausage and the peas. Plus, you can also get pasta that is gluten-free.
Now we get to the pizza. As you can see all the pizza's are square, hence the name of the restaurant. You can order the pizza 50/50 so you can get to eat try two pizzas. We combined The McTernan which combines tomato puree, sweet fennel sausage, pepperoni, fresh basil and fresh mozzarella cheese. The other half of the pizza is the Charred Steak which blends marinated steak, roasted corn, roasted red peppers, red onions, manchego cheese and topped with sour cream and cilantro.
This is a great pie. It's thin crust pizza, almost flatbread like. The thin crust is sturdy and crisp. I'm a fold kind of guy when it comes to pizza and this is the perfect pizza to fold a slice and eat. I loved the McTernan with the slightly spicy sausage and pepperoni. But I would have to say that the Charred Steak completely won me over with the perfectly tender and flavorful steak. Combine that with the flavors of the sweet corn and fresh vegetables made for a refreshingly hearty pizza. I cannot wait to come back and try more of their creations.
For dessert we decided upon the midnight layer cake. This is house-made with a toasted pecan crust, chocolate ganache and chocolate espresso cream with bourbon caramel. If you love dessert and are a chocolate fan, then you owe it to yourself to try this dessert. It's moist and full of amazing chocolate flavor. It's almost pudding like a solid pecan crust. A dessert that is almost too good to share.
The lunch experience was a fantastic one. Everything we tried was fantastic. The freshness of the ingredients really shine. The extra ingredient here is love from Chef Kyle and his passion for making great food, using fresh ingredients and making sure that no one leaves hungry. If homemade, fresh pastas, pizzas, subs, salads and desserts are your thing in a casual friendly environment with friendly guest service then look no further than Square One Pizza Cafe.
Check out their web site:
Square One Pizza Cafe
Oak Creek Shopping Center
5789 Alton Parkway
Irvine, CA 92618
Phone: 949.451.1750
Email: info@sq1pizza.com
Hours
Sunday - Thursday: 11:00 AM - 9:00 PM
Friday & Saturday: 11:00 AM - 10:00 PM
*Disclaimer: The experience was provided for free in exchange for my honest opinion.*
