When Seniore’s Pizza opened in Pacific Beach last September, it was a full circle moment for owners Armin and Liz Eberhard.
With options including pizza, pasta, burgers and more, Seniore’s Pizza is great for a meal after a late night partying or a long day at the beach.
“In PB in particular, people work hard and play hard,” Armin Eberhard said. “When they want something good and fresh, but don’t want to cook, our food can fill those cravings.”
Like many couples, the Eberhards met in PB while they both were attending college. They have fond memories of their youthful party days and always stopping to get food afterwards.
Armin and Liz Eberhard, owners of Seniore’s Pizza in Pacific Beach. (Courtesy of Seniore’s Pizza)
Unlike many couples, they returned to Pacific Beach years later, to continue their dream of living on the beach, opening their own restaurant and leaving a legacy for their grown children.
“We did a lot of looking to find a good location,” Armin Eberhard said. “We kept going back to PB — it’s a beach town, a tourist town, a family town — and we thought about all the different customers we could have. And, of course, we just wanted to be back by the beach.”
The couple had ties to Southern California even before their college days. Armin grew up in Oceanside and Carlsbad, while Liz grew up in Los Angeles, and they both had families in the area.
They met while attending the University of San Diego in the early ‘90s. After graduating from Hastings Law School, now the University of California College of the Law, Armin found work in Palo Alto.
“We moved to Redwood City and lived there for 20 years,” said Liz Eberhard. “But we always planned to move back to San Diego.”
The couple had three children, now adults between the ages of 18 to 23, and they wanted to make sure they were left with something.
“Armin did a lot of research and we talked about different kinds of franchises, such as a gym, or a storage facility or even a restaurant,” Liz Eberhard said. “We decided everybody loves pizza and it will never go out of style.”
Once they decided on a pizza restaurant, their next decision was to choose a franchise. Since they were living in the Bay Area at the time, they decided to go with a new, local franchise — Seniore’s Pizza.
Seniore’s Pizza is at 4305 Mission Blvd. is next to Ralph’s in the Pacific Beach Marketplace. (Courtesy of Seniore’s Pizza)
With eight locations around San Francisco, the Pacific Beach location is the only Seniore’s in Southern California.
“We were new to franchising, and thought it would be a fun, flexible business model and we could be part of creating and building the brand,” Armin Eberhard said.
Since neither Armin nor Liz have any restaurant experience, part of the appeal of Senior’s was that the menu is set by the franchise, offering help where they felt they needed it the most.
But in the meantime, the pandemic hit. With their parents getting older and requiring frequent visits to the area and many of their best friends living here, they decided to move back to San Diego.
“We always thought it would be fun to have a pizza place by the beach, so we opened a pizza place by the beach,” Armin Eberhard said.
Seniore’s menu offers great pizzas, as well as appetizers, salads, sandwiches, burgers, pasta and desserts. All the food is made to order.
There are about 20 different pizza options on the menu, all of which can be customized by ingredients and in sizes as small as a single slice to pies ranging from 10 inches to 24 inches.
“One of the most popular menu items with our customers is the Tijuana Special pizza,” Liz Eberhard said. “It has beef pepperoni, Canadian bacon, pineapple and jalapeños. It’s almost like a spicy Hawaii. People really like the combination.”
Among the employees, Armin Eberhard said the Chic O Roni — a grilled chicken pizza with a white garlic sauce, beef pepperoni and a pesto drizzle on top, is a favorite.
“I like cold pizza, and go out of my way to reheat this one,” he said.
Toppings on Seniore’s Tijuana Special pizza include pepperoni, Canadian bacon, pineapple and jalapeños. (Courtesy of Seniore’s Pizza)
There are well-known options such as Hawaiian, vegetarian, meat lovers and more, but also some unique offerings, including California Chicken with white garlic sauce, grilled chicken, Canadian bacon, tomatoes and feta cheese, and the Salute Vegetarian with mushrooms, onions, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, garlic and spinach.
The Eberhards said their employees are part of the team and they consider their favorites as important feedback.
“Our core management team is about four, including both of us, but we can have as many as nine employees seasonally,” Liz Eberhard said. “We’re all working to provide our customers great food with friendly, professional service.”
Among the pasta options, Liz said the fettuccine Alfredo with chicken is a favorite of both customers and employees. The dish combines grilled chicken, mushrooms and garlic in a cream sauce with parmesan cheese.
The fettuccini Alfredo pasta with chicken includes grilled chicken and mushrooms in the sauce. Every order is made fresh and can be adjusted for customer’s preferences, such as leaving the mushrooms out. (Courtesy of Seniore’s Pizza)
Among the appetizers, wings are a definite crowd favorite.
Diners can order six, 12, 24 or 30 wings, in regular or flavors such as honey mustard, garlic Parmesan, buffalo, barbecue, teriyaki, lemon pepper and panga.
“Panga is a Peruvian hot sauce; it’s like a buffalo sauce, but more lemony than vinegary,” Armin Eberhard said. “Q’ero Restaurant in Encinitas makes the sauce.”
Wings can be ordered in various amounts and with numerous options for sauces, such as these wings seasoned in hot honey sauce. (Courtesy of Seniore’s Pizza)
Seniore’s Pacific Beach location is not a dine-in, although there are a few tables inside, but focuses instead on take-out, delivery and orders to go.
Long term, the Eberhards said their goal is to open a couple more Seniore’s locations in Southern California.
To kick off the summer beach season, mention this article when placing an order at Seniore’s during the month of June and receive a 15% discount on the total.
Get the recipe for Seniore’s Pizza House Made Margherita Mix below.
Want to visit?
Seniore’s Pizza
Address: 4305 Mission Blvd., Pacific Beach
Hours: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays; 11 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
Phone: 414-404-5174
Website: seniorespizzasandiego.com
Good to know: Mention you saw their article in PB Monthly and during the month of June receive a 15% discount.
Although the Margherita mix at Seniore’s Pizza is typically found on the baked penne pasta, customers can add the mix to anything they desire, such as this garlic bread with mozzarella cheese. For the recipe visit PBMonthly.net. (Courtesy of Seniore’s Pizza)
Recipe for Seniore’s Pizza House Made Margherita Mix
Ingredients:
• 5 tomatoes, gutted and diced
• 1/2 C. of minced garlic
• 1/8 C. of olive oil
• fresh basil, chopped
Directions:
Mix ingredients together and enjoy. Armin and Liz Eberhard, owners of the PB Seniore’s Pizza, said the Margherita mix can be used for pizzas, pasta, garlic bread or whatever a customer would like.
“It’s kind of a secret menu item, but it comes out well, especially on pizza or garlic bread. Adding mozzarella on top of the bread and running it through the oven is one of our favorite ways to use it,” they said.