Village Pizza & Grill

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outsite_at_opening.jpg vpg_sign.jpg

Location
403 G Street
Hours
Monday-Saturday 11:30am -10:00pm
Sunday 12pm to 9pm
UCD student discount, $3.00 off meal+drink, Mon-Thurs 11:30-3:00
Happy Hour 3-6pm, Mon-Thurs, dollar off beer, wine, & apps
Phone
(530) 750-0100
Call day in advance for parties larger than 6 people
Website
is in the works
Owner(s)
Aziz Fattahi
Established
2009-08-26
Payment Method(s)
Cash, credit/debit
Menu
VillagePizzaMenu.pdf

Village Pizza and Grill is the sit-down restaurant version of Village Bakery. It's a great place to go if you want some really great pizza with some really good beer. They also serve kebab sandwiches, hamburgers, and specialty salads, as well as a few other entree dishes, like steak.

If you come on a nice weather night, be prepared to wait a long time to grab an outside table.

The restaurant inhabits a building that used to be an infamous party house. Does anyone remember if it had a name? House with baseball team party? The 2007-2008 school year this was the baseball house. They did a fantastic job remodeling, one would never know that this was the freshmen black out spot.
The owner before that was a senior citizen lady.

Comments:

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2009-08-26 14:30:29   As of 8/26/09 I can verify that this place is open for business and that it is associated with Village bakery. I called them up and they said as much. —tombrokaw

2009-08-27 11:38:05   sure, it's the new location that serves the drinkage, and hopefully the latenight pizza cause it's near drunkie central —StevenDaubert

2009-08-27 20:52:15   Went there for dinner, the pizza was amazing (which wasn't a surprise coming from the owners of Village Bakery), the ambiance was very nice. It's kinda like a nicer, bigger version of Burgers & Brew, with ample indoor and outdoor seating. Service was quite slow but I'll give them a pass since it's the first week. Will definitely be coming back again, and again. Especially for that spinach and roasted garlic pizza. Mmmm... —jsogul

2009-08-28 15:25:28   Pizza is wonderful, as expected. Ambiance is great and they have lots of comfortable outside seating. They have a pretty good beer selection on tap. All the staff was very nice and pleasant. Yes, the service was slow, but out server notified us and apologized in advance that he was swamped. I think even the owner was serving and busing tables. Give them a few weeks and I bet they will get it all figured out. —lemurific

2009-08-28 18:03:11   Went there a second time on friday. They did have things other than 8 inch pizzas, but still no smoked salmon, which I really wanted to try. The 8 inch pizzas are not worth it, just get the 16, it's better value. The burgers are good but not as good as burgers and brew and with slightly inferior variety. The pizza is, as has been stated, the best in Davis. Gf had the kabob sandwich which had a pleasant and unique flavor. Perhaps not as spicy as one might expect. I would like to see more middle eastern food.

The service was all over the place. Ordered a potato salad, got fries. Friend ordered a side salad, got fries. Gf ordered steak fries, waiter came much later to tell her she'd get curly fries. Asked them to cut the burger, they forgot. Told me they had jalapenos, came much later to say they didn't. No pen with the bill. They did refill our water quickly. This kind of thing is to be expected in the early going anyway. So it's not a big deal.

They did have much more pleasant servers than burgers and brew, which I feel is their direct competition. —tombrokaw

2009-08-31 16:22:37   Can someone put up a menu please? :) —sm0729

2009-08-31 16:47:24   Several people I know were surprised that they were closed on Sunday, 8/30. Don't know if they won't do Sundays, or if, perhaps, this was part of the "shake out" process. —DougWalter

2009-09-01 21:35:16   First time eating here tonight. The place itself is really nice, very comfortable to sit and enjoy. The service was struggling with the large amount of people there, which is to be expected the first few weeks of being open. The waiter was a nice enough guy, seemed to like looking at my gf more than me but thats totally rational. Our waiter was slow to get us our one free refill, which was a little upsetting to have to pay after a single refill. We ordered a meat-veggie combo pizza which was great. The tomatoes were especially fantastic, and the sausage was very flavorful. the 16inch was a bit much for the two of us, I'd recommend the 12inch for two people unless you wanna n0m pizza really bad. Its a great place to take Davis newbies or visitors and overall we enjoyed our dinner.

2009-09-02 12:12:56   Innerlightz: Wait, you have to pay after you get one refill? That is unfortunate if that is what you meant. that's the best part of going out to eat. I may have to rethink this place... —EricaMacGregor

2009-09-07 17:50:32   the 2007-2008 school year this was the baseball house. they did a fantastic job remodeling, one would never know that this was the freshmen black out spot. —shraken

2009-09-16 09:50:10   I had a really good experience here. I ordered the roasted red pepper and goat cheese pizza, and it was probably one of the best things I've ever tasted. My boyfriend got the margherita pizza with pepperoni, and that was good too. Service was a little slow, but they were really busy. —StephanieRobinson

2009-09-16 15:27:57   The remodel looks fantastic. I was really excited to see the chain link fences that used to surround it gone when I returned to Davis this summer. Can't wait to try it, but it always seems too busy when I pass by. Maybe within a few months, I'll stop by. —BrookeB

2009-09-16 19:16:51   I had a great time last night. The place was full but they squeezed me and my friends into a bar table to eat since we didn't care about eating outside. The pizza is great and the beer prices are reasonable. I will be coming back. —ARWENNHOLD

2009-09-17 20:36:12   Had a celebratory dinner on the patio on a nice day. Their blue corn calamari is probably the best calamari in Davis (unless someone can point me to better). The blue corn batter adds a nice flavor compared to the usual flour batter. Their pizza was up to par with what you would expect from the Village Bakery, I had the roasted bell pepper with goat cheese and an anchor steam from tap. —KellyM

2009-09-20 09:54:44   Ate here last night; obviously still a new place (hostess, waiters a little slow and inexperienced but really nice). I had the smoked salmon pizza which was delightful, split a chili appetizer which was also tasty. Watch out for the gourmet veggie burger, however - my dining companion was EXTREMELY disappointed that it was advertised as "gourmet" and then came out a freezer garden burger. Please, Village Pizza, do NOT advertise something you can buy in the safeway freezer section in boxes of 4 as GOURMET, and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE someone in Davis make a good housemade veggie burger - you would be frequently visited! This place is DEFINITELY the best in town for pizza, and I will be back frequently for that! —UCDvetstudent

2009-09-22 19:46:52   spinach pizza was great, pitchers are huge, staff was super nice. love it. —bluemoon

2009-09-30 13:26:37   I've been here twice for lunch, after hearing glowing reports of the food and ambiance. But both times, my experience has been disappointing. Maybe it's great for dinner, but pretty mediocre for lunch. First time I got a BLT, and the bacon looked microwaved and the bread was thin and not toasted so the sandwich basically felt apart as I tried to eat it. How hard is it to make a good BLT? Second time I got a personal pizza, and it was not close to fresh- the crust was tough, the toppings wilted and oily, and it looked and tasted microwaved. Basically it was the quality of re-heated leftovers- not worth the $8. —annlewis

2009-10-05 21:32:45   Mediocre/terrible place. Pizza was bland; clam chowder came out cold; our cups were empty 80% of the time and best of all, we had a waiter that recommended the bland pizza and when we told him we didn't like it, he said we should have ordered something with more savory toppings. Yes, because fresh tomatoes, sausages, pepperonis, etc. are such boring toppings. Pizza is pretty tough to screw up on and of course, Village Pizza succeeded in failing. The menu was very typical- sandwiches, salads, and pizzas. There's nothing memorable or great about this place. I would NOT recommend this place to anyone who appreciates food. —skcmned

2009-10-12 20:40:56   At 11:40 this morning, I paid in cash, and the change fund was not out yet. That's poor management. Food was reasonably good, though. As with many places in Davis, if you want a refill on something, like a glass of wine, you have to go back and stand in line. That's a direct hit on revenue, because I won't stand in line. I don't understand why so many places in Davis don't have separate beverage service, but the Grad gets it. —JohnBerg

2009-10-12 21:58:29   Went here with a friend for dinner Friday. I guess I may not have the same interpretation of "medium" as the cooks do, because I thought my burger was very rare. I do have to comment that the seasoning/taste of the burger overall was good, next time I will just have to order well-done. Also I wish the potato salad had more potato in it. —Babhari

2009-10-17 15:11:01   Good location, went there last night and got to sit upstairs outside, which is way cool and right next to an owl house. ON THE OTHER HAND, everything else was pretty much CRAP. We got there and were seated right BEFORE a group of 8 next to us, and our waitress didn't even take our drink order until taking all of their food and drink orders 10 minutes later, then served them before us. Tried to bring the wrong pizza to our table right after that, then tried to bring our garlic bread to the wrong table - they need to get their table numbers right. Food was alright but wasn't that good, fries were way skimpy (but good), didn't bring any condiments to the table, had to ask for condiments and drinks. Oh yeah, they brought a bottled beer to me, brought it with a not-chilled glass and oh yeah, didn't even open it! My girlfriend had to search her purse for 10 minutes to find her bottle opener. They were pretty much TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE. The food was so-so. Will order a pizza to go from the other place next time. This place acts way more yuppie than they are. That waitress needs some schoolin'. —GarrettGallegos

2009-10-25 15:55:57   I went last week. The pizza was great and the house salad excellent. BUT THE SERVICE WAS HORRIBLE! The waiter forgot to put our order in and we waited 45 minutes for a pizza! They gave us a discount on the bill but I do hope some training takes place for better service. Simple mistakes were made like reaching across the table to pick up food, never refilling water, etc. But the food was great and I'll go back and hope for better service this time! —lovestorun

2009-10-27 19:08:20   I was worried about the service from some of the reviews here, but ours (on a Sunday evening) was just fine. Quirky, but fine — fine meaning, our order was taken promptly, our pizza arrived in around the time it takes to make a pizza, we were checked on to make sure we were OK, and our check arrived promptly. And I am thrilled to see that moving down the street has not affected the quality of the pizza. Now to check out some of the other menu items... —CovertProfessor

2009-11-08 21:07:38   So I guess sometimes they close early on Sunday nights when it's slow after 8. I was excited to finally try this place ... oh well, another night. —ChristyMarsden

2009-11-08 21:20:00   Probably the best pizza I've had in Davis.

The good: amazing pizza
The bad: not such a good value. Prices are VERY high. You'll pay about $10 for a very small pizza. Other items are expensive too, so I got a small pizza there, and then got something else elsewhere. Also, they do close early if there aren't enough people there, as Christy noted above. —IDoNotExist

2009-11-13 11:00:33   MENU PLEASE! —ashleyinthemist

2009-11-20 14:49:33   They need to hire more servers. Each server handles too many tables so service is very slow. Took 15 minutes to get our glasses of water. They were great and friendly though, so maybe that Sunday night was just overly busy. —julpham

2009-11-20 17:14:41   I was so excited when this place opened! It has probably the best outdoor dining in town. The food is good; the bar is well-stocked. I was so excited the first couple of times I was there—there was table service and the wait people were attentive. On a weekend afternoon, however, we went there with some out of town guests. To our dismay, there was no table service—we had to get in line and order at the bar. Unfortunately, we were behind a large group of young women (with matching purple shirts and pig tails!) who each proceeded to order separately and painstakingly slowly. We LITERALLY spent 25 minutes in LINE. When the food came out, the service was disorganized and slugish. No one was bussing tables—diners came in and moved dirty dishes off of the tables themselves. When they have table service, this place shines! Five stars!!!
When they go the typical Davis route of counter service, thumbs down! —toriac

2009-11-21 12:54:18   I have eaten here several times. The pizza is always amazing and some of the servers are great, but it's the specials that truly shine. The fish tacos were the best ones I have ever had. The French onion soup is also delicious, pulled of like a five star restaurant. Keep up the good work village. Whoever makes the specials is truly talented. —Pinkadottie

2009-11-21 13:28:54   Chris is also a really great waitor. And the bartender with auburn hair is so sweet and a total hottie. —Pinkadottie

2009-11-29 14:35:58   Went there for lunch on Sunday and they actually open at 12:00 noon not 3:00 PM as shown above. —jbauer

2009-11-29 17:06:21   I have been here about a dozen times since the place opened, for dinner, for lunch, and just for drinks. They have pretty good food and a decent selection of beers on tap, and I've heard a rumor that they are hoping to expand the tap, which would be amazing since Davis has only one other bar (The Grad) with an interesting selection. I like this restaurant, but they really need to get the service sorted out. Only twice have I had good service and the other times it has taken forever to get a drink, or waitstaff brings drinks for some people and not others (even though the drinks were ordered), or it takes forever to order food.... I would think by now that the staffing issues would have been ironed out. They seem to need more waiters, and it wouldn't hurt to train some of them better as well. —Ratatat

2009-12-02 20:14:26   Gift cards only work at the bakery, not at the restaurant, unfortunately. —JoFeuerstein

2009-12-29 16:01:06   I went there with a friend for lunch last week. I had the chicken kebab sandwich and she had the burger. For the price, I don't think it was worth it. My sandwich came on a nice roll, but with only 4 "nuggets" of grilled chicken, and some produce and sauce. As for the burger, I think Burgers and Brew does it better. However, I did enjoy that UCD students get free drinks, and also thought their french fries were delicious. But again, I wasn't satisfied with my $9 sandwich and probably won't be coming back. —BrookeB

2010-01-06 15:13:57   Food is good, service is friendly, but DO NOT go as a large group unless you plan to leave a huge tip... Our order total was just over $98, but the "18%" gratuity was $25. When we brought this to the attention of the waiter, instead of fixing it, he just said "I just push this button" and shrugged. So yeah, small parties are fine, but over 6, beware. Also, they charged us for soda refills (only one refill per person was requested) even though we were told refills were free. —JenniferKucich

2010-01-18 15:40:08   The chicken kabob is really good here. However, the service is terrible. My boyfriend and I came in today, the waitress (Jane, I think) sat us down, took our order, and then didn't check in on us ONCE. At one point, we assumed that she must not be our server. There were around four other tables in the room that she checked in on multiple times. She did not get us our drinks and we had to ask the busboy to get them. Then, without asking us if we would like any dessert, coffee, etc., she gave us the bill. My boyfriend and I were pretty annoyed at that point and he said, "Excuse me, did we ask for the bill?" She replied, uncomfortably, "Umm.. I'm sorry... I'm confused. Do you want me to wait until you ask for it?" (Most other restaurants do). I have NEVER not tipped a waitress before, but there is a first time for everything. I am really disappointed because I was excited for this place to open, since I love the original Village Bakery. —JanethN. * Her name is Jean. The service is downright embarrassing. With 26k undergrads, how is it possible to not be able to stumble upon a handful of waitresses that aren't retarded? —kenvinuda

2010-02-02 21:57:01   I had a great dinner here on a Tuesday night. The first room they sat us in was very loud (a small room with 4 tables) so we asked to move, and it was no problem. I came here with 3 others. We started with a French Onion Soup, which was probably the worst part of the meal; the onions and bread inside were burnt and the soup itself had a slightly funny taste. I had the New York Steak Sandwich, which was delicious and tender. Another guest had the chicken kabob with a side of the beef kabob. The chicken was delicious and juicy, but somewhat salty. The beef extra was served on an extra plate and looked fairly unappetizing. It had a good taste, but was dry.

The highlights of the meal were the rack of lamb, which at around 17 dollars is quite a steal. Another guest had the chicken pizza, which comes with onions and garlic with a garlic sauce. Like at Village Bakery, the pizza was delicious. I was very happy to pick this place and I plan on returning at least a few more times before I leave Davis. —BrandonWong

2010-02-05 09:04:06 Village Pizza and Grill (and Village Bakery) is a hugely supportive member of the Davis community. It's important to not let an isolated sub-par experience ruin your impression of this keystone downtown business, as this reviewer once did. I give a cumulative thumbs up to Village Bakery/Pizza. —Shootahh

2010-02-17 23:50:51   FOOD WAS AWESOME, SERVICE WAS EXCELLENT, COULDN'T HAVE A BEEN TO A BETTER RESTAURANT IN MY LIFE I LOVE PIZZZZZZAAAAAA —benson

2010-02-19 07:26:43   FYI, the happy hour no longer exists! They discontinued it several weeks ago! —wilkml

2010-02-20 19:22:25   My sandwich was tasty, but my fries tasted like calamari...I later found a piece among my fries. I'm not liking the idea that they use the same oil to fry seafood and fries. —klee

2010-03-03 08:44:55   Actually Happy Hour is still going on. It is Monday Through Thursday, 3:00 to 6:00PM. —davisazip

2010-03-05 14:29:48   My wife and I went with a couple of friends on Tuesday. The food was quite good and the server was very friendly, but they still have a lot of fine tuning to do. My wife got the veggie pizza and we both loved it. Because of the comments here about small portions, I talked her into getting the next size up (12" instead of 8"), and it was more than enough for her even after I ate 2 slices (1/4 of the pizza).

I had the rack of lamb. Despite not being cooked correctly, it was delicious. I'm guessing that they cook it in their pizza oven or something, because the ends of the ribs were pretty much charcoal when they came out. Two of them broke when I was gnawing the last of the meat off the bone, they had gotten so brittle. Despite that, the meat was only somewhat overcooked—I ordered it medium rare, and the middle was medium. When you only get 4 chops, though, having the two end pieces being very well done is a little excessive. The cooking was also a bit even: one end was a bit more cooked than the other—again point to being cooked in a wood oven or something of the sort.

The lamb came with a really interesting "savory cobbler", which was indeed a cobbler with the sweet oatmeal-y crust topping a baked dish of raisins and onions in some sort of really rich, herby sauce. I found it a little strange, but quite tasty. The topping's sweetness surprised me in conjunction with the rest of it. Even with the cobbler, however, the meal was quite small. I had 1/4 of my wife's 12" pizza and left full, but without scrounging from her plate, I would have definitely left hungry.

The service was a mixed bag. It was very friendly, and not horribly slow (58-10 minutes before we got our water and bread, but the food came pretty quick after we ordered). The waitress dropped by twice to see if we needed anything, but then sort of disappeared, so we had to do some searching to flag her down when we discovered that she gave us the wrong check—about $35-40 lower than what our group of 4 actually owed. The next check she brought out was still missing the second round of drinks we ordered. Sigh.

I'll definitely go back again. The food was really delicious, and I'm hoping that they work out the kinks and refine the cooking and service a bit. It's also hard to find a rack of lamb, even a small one, for $18.54! —TomGarberson

2010-03-09 10:31:55   I have been here twice. Had the pizza which was delicious and the french onion soup. The soup was tasty but they need to reduce the salt to make it really good. Service was unremarkable both times. Not great and not bad. —LokiAbbi

2010-03-12 12:50:33   Please... why is there no menu? —ashleyinthemist

2010-03-18 18:27:18   Went here the other day and was disappointed. The menu is pricey, and there are better places to go if you are going to spend that much. Our waitress was incredibly rude and we left no tip. I dont know if she was annoyed because we were college students but it doesnt matter, we are still customers. I one point I had to go up to the counter and ask for a water refill which seems a little unreasonable at a sit down restaurant. The waitress was probably in her thirties and blonde. She came to our table once and was rude when we werent ready to order, and the only time she came after that was to take our order, we didnt see her until we got the bill. The place wasnt even busy at the time but you could get better customer service across the street at jack-in-the-box. My food was good but I wont go back. —cj2012aggie

2010-03-18 22:10:16   Went in tonight for the first time with friends, at around 6:50. Even though there were staff coming and going and a lady at the bar, we stood there for about 5 minutes without anyone greeting us. It didn't seem like they were so busy that they couldn't find time to ask if we've been helped yet. Since there were many empty tables inside and out, we wondered maybe we needed to seat ourselves, so when the hostess went past us for a second time, a friend finally asked her. She replied, "No, ma'am" with a "duh" tone, and my friend felt the hostess sounded rude. (We later realized there was a "please wait to be seated" sign at the other entrance, but we didn't know). She told us she could seat us upstairs in 15 minutes, which seemed odd because the restaurant was half-empty, but we agreed. Should have taken that as a bad sign and left....We waited for a good 30 minutes before we were seated outside on the patio. I've waited longer in busy restaurants and not mind it, but 30 minute wait in a half-empty restaurant was a little ridiculous, and the staff's indifferent attitude probably made it less bearable. I preferred indoor tables, but we didn't want to wait any longer. We sat at out table for about 15 minutes before our orders were taken, and then 10 more before our soda appeared. We would have ordered ealier if we could actually track down the waiter. Our patience was wearing thin and even discussed leaving if our food's not ready by 8:15; Jack in the Box across the street began to look very tempting. Luckily, our 8" pizza did arrive a few minutes before 8:15, but our entree were not served until close to 8:30.
The food was really good. Pizza had phenomenal flavor, as one would expect from Village Bakery. My reuben sandwich also had good flavor and was not greasy.
However, service needs work. It's fine if the owner's not a front-of-the-house person and don't want to greet the customers, but the hostess/host needs to be good at that and seating arrangement instead of filling in for a waiter's job so much. This restaurant is either very understaffed or have poor coordination. Many restaurants do fine with the number of servers present today, so I think better employee training, coordination, or something is definitely needed to improve their efficiency. I did like my waiter, yet speed was lacking.
Overall I would go back for take-outs, but would think twice before going for a sit-down dinner. —winddolphin

2010-03-21 21:25:15   As counterpoint to a lot of the above kvetching about service and food here, my wife and I ate here for the first time today and neither one of us can think of anything remotely negative about the experience. We had a medium margharita pizza and a couple of adult beverages - it was like we were back in Napoli, but cheaper: with a $5 tip the total was 27+ bucks. —PaulThober

2010-04-06 20:30:33   Excellent experience, fair priced. Would take the family again. —klent

2010-04-27 12:32:08   Absolutely terrific food. Kid friendly options on the menu. The blue corn calamari is spectacular. Margherita pizza is one of the top 3 pizzas I've ever had in my life. It's THAT good. I took a nibble on my kids food and it was excellent. Nice beer selection.

2010-04-29 18:34:03   The pizza is good, rest of the menu is fine but nothing to write home about and expensive for what you get. I would NOT recommend the small 8" pizzas (mostly crust, not much topping, not worth it). Service here is constistently pretty bad. Been here several times and it's usually pretty slow and they always forget to bring us something (and still charge us for it), bring us the wrong thing (and have to wait again while the other half of the table is eating), etc. That aside, it's a great place to have dinner if you're with a lot of people. —SRB

2010-05-21 10:33:16   1)Very slow service. 2)waiter have no idea when asked about what exactly certain things in the menu are.
3)Waited almost an hour for the order to come.Order came but the wrong one.How busy they could be??
4)Tried once not sure if gonna go there again. —aj1981

2010-05-21 13:08:44   The pizza here is the best, nothing beats Village Bakery. They have a nice beer selection and a beautiful outdoor patio. The service reminds me of Bistro 33, which is not very good. Our server was nice but not present when needed and asked us how the food was 1 minute after setting it down, I had barely had a bite. I will likely go back because I am a slave to their awesome pizza and I love a nice outdoor patio to dine in, I hope I get better service next time. —DagonJones

2010-06-23 18:11:55   Love the look of the remodel and really appreciate that they kept and reused an older Davis home. That said, however, the front indoor dining area seems chaotic with hostess and staff continually hurrying through the middle serving all parts of the restaurant, including the outside patio. And it was so loud we couldn't talk. Also, they turned on the TV over our heads during dinner. After greeting us, our server never reappeared and we were finally served by the hostess (after I complained about missing server). Food was OK (some of it a bit overpriced for what it was), but, overall, our first (and much anticipated) visit to this new restaurant, was quite disappointing. I wish the owners would add some sound absorbing materials, train their staff, and take another look at their price versus value on some of their menu items. Oh, and leave off the massive TVs! Eating out is about being with your posse - not watching TV. —BarbaraZ

2010-07-02 16:54:41   If I had the money I would eat here all the time. A great place to go with a family. —smartgirl

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