Football Frenzy #5 - Oggi's Pizza - CLOSED

Oggi's Pizza

23641 Via Linda

Mission Viejo, CA 92691

It is now November and the football playoff picture is slowly coming into focus. A few teams have established themselves as supreme teams, even more have kept themselves in the playoff hunt, and then there are the teams that have given up on this year, and are looking towards next. My team, the Jaguars, fit into the middle group, and this is quite a surprise to me and to other football people. Usually by this time I am looking at who they are going to be drafting next June.

Since there are so many teams still in the hunt for the ultimate prize, a spot in the big game in January, we are still trying to find our ultimate football hangout spot. A reader of our blog, has asked me to check out Oggi's in Mission Viejo. So that is where we are headed.

Oggi's is a franchise restaurant that operates 17 stores in southern California and Arizona. They started selling pizzas in Del Mar close to twenty years ago. Back then they focused on pizzas, but they eventually started brewing their own beer, and converted their concept from a pizzeria to a sports themed restaurant. That sports theme is evident on this Sunday as we are seated, and can easily see abut ten TVs in our general area. The crowd is pretty spirited here. Everyone seemed to be into their games. I wanted to get into some food, so let's check it out.

To start us off we had the Garlic Knots. These were the most garlicky thing this side of the Gilroy Garlic Festival. These were made with their dough, tied in a knot and brushed with garlic and butter. We got eight in this order, and they were very good. Very filling for the $3.99 price tag.

Katie was in the mood for breakfast, so she had the unusual Breakfast Pizza. This is served only during football mornings. Katie felt that this was unexpectedly good, but also felt that it needed some kind of sauce. She opted for spinach on this, but I would have liked this more if it had some bacon, or another breakfast meat on it, to give it a little more flavor.

I was not in the mood for breakfast, so I went off of the regular menu. I got the Italian Stallion Pizza. This consisted of alfredo sauce, bacon, red onion, mushrooms, garlic and parmesan cheese. The big flavors of this pizza, combined with the sweetness of the dough, really balanced this out. If I had one complaint about this pizza, it would be that I should have gotten a bigger one.

What's a better way to wake up, than having a Bloody Mary? Nothing. This one was just okay. I know that this is supposed to feature tomatoes, but this one seemed too have too much tomato taste to me, and that can only mean that they skimped on the alcohol. I did enjoy the $3 price for this though.

I would say that this was one of the best places we have been for football. The service was decent, the crowd was definitely into the games and the food was pretty good. Oggi's even features free wifi for those of you that bring your laptops to check your fantasy football teams.

So out of five racetracks, (because the first Oggi's was founded in Del Mar, where my favorite racetracks is located), five being best to zero being worst, Oggi's get 3 solid racetracks.

For information on Oggi's, click here: http://www.oggis.com/