San Leandro Reviews Other Reviews e-mail

Note: Pee Wee's closed down. A fire dessimated the building and the owners had let the insurance lapse. A Papa John's Pizza has opened in its place We live only half a block away from Pee Wee's Pizza and yet it took us almost three years to stop by and give it a try. I'm not sure what exactly kept us away, perhaps because its half-lit sign and dark windows are not particularly inviting. Or perhaps it's just that it looks like a dive. In any case, I'm glad we finally tried it. Pee Wee's has been around since 1953 and offers a short menu of homemade pizzas and pastas. Pizzas are only available in a 10" size; according to the menu, that's the ideal size for the ovens and they would have to sacrifice on quality if they made them any other size. The pizzas ($8 with one topping, extra toppings 75 cents, "favorite" pizzas $9-13) are thin (extra thick crust available for 75 cents more) and a hungry person shouldn't have much trouble finishing a whole one. Mike tried the "Spice Supreme" ($9) , which included extra cheese, linguica, Canadian bacon and extra "spice", and he really liked it. I decided to go for the pasta (small $4.50-$5.50, large $5.50-$7.25,dinners including soup & salad $8.25-$9.25). The menu offerings included spaghetti, ravioli, rigatoni and tortellini available with spicy garlic marinara sauce, meat sauce or meatballs, fettuccini alfredo and baked rigatoni. That evening neither the ravioli nor the tortellini were available so I had a large portion of the spaghetti with meat balls. The plate was really huge, enough for a couple of meals. Indeed, the spaghetti overwhelmed the comparably small plate making eating a little bit messy. The spaghetti was al dente and the sauce and meatballs had a very homey taste. It was satisfying but definitely nothing gourmet. It could have used a little bit of Parmesan cheese (none was available). I would probably try it again with the ravioli. We also split a garlic bread ($2.25 small, $3 big) and the three of us (yes, even Michaela) liked it very much. Pee Wee's offers no desserts. As mentioned above, the place is kind of a dive. It's pretty dark and there is a large screen TV (showing football when we visited); there are no decorations that I could notice. Service was pretty lacking; it took so long for our orders to be taken that we asked other patrons if we were supposed to go to the counter to order (nope). Our drinks came promptly but it took a while for the food to come (understandable, if the pizza was made from scratch) and quite a while for the bill to arrive. There was only one waitress, so that's understandable. All in all, we liked our experience at Pee Wee's and we'll certainly try it again. Pee Wee's Pizza, 2198 E. 14th St. San Leandro 510-357-9844 Open W-Su, 4PM -10PM