{"id":461905,"date":"2026-09-12T20:02:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T20:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/461905\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T20:02:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T20:02:14","slug":"village-pizzeria-values-above-all-else","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/461905\/","title":{"rendered":"Village Pizzeria: Values above all else"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a style=\"text-align: center;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Village-Pizzeria-Bayside.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" td-modal-image wp-image-223143 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Village-Pizzeria-Bayside.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"884\" height=\"1024\"  \/><\/a>Village Pizzeria Bayside, 1201 First St.<\/p>\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/bluebridgehospitality.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Blue Bridge Hospitality<\/a> continues to expand and explore new concepts, its commitment to valuing both its menu and its team remains the cornerstone of the business.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBoth pizzerias, since they\u2019ve opened, have kept their originality and are very approachable,\u201d says Oriana Spatafore, Director of Sales and Marketing at Blue Bridge Hospitality. \u201cIt gives the feel of a traditional Italian pizzeria. You get a different vibe at each. Village Pizzeria at Bayside in the Ferry Landing has the beautiful cascade of the bay. It\u2019s very open and airy, but you still get that rawness of very classic pizzas, hoagies, wings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Village Pizzeria Downtown<\/p>\n<p>On the other side of Coronado is the original Village Pizzeria. \u201cIt makes you feel like you\u2019re in an East Coast pizzeria. It\u2019s right on the street side of Orange Avenue. Since COVID, we moved to full counter service. It\u2019s a very East Coast pizzeria vibe. You hear the cars going by, and you can watch through the window as the chefs make the pizza.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Village-Pizzeria-Orange-Ave-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" td-modal-image aligncenter wp-image-223138 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Village-Pizzeria-Orange-Ave-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Right next door to Village Pizzeria, at 1202 Orange Ave. was Island Pasta, which after 31 years <a href=\"https:\/\/coronadotimes.com\/news\/2025\/10\/20\/business-briefs-island-pasta-closing-stake-promotions-game-day-at-the-laundry-reading-legacies-grant\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">closed in October 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Blue Bridge Hospitality moved into the space in March 2026 with <a href=\"https:\/\/coronadotimes.com\/news\/2026\/03\/20\/double-standard-blue-bridge-hospitalitys-new-burger-joint\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Double Standard<\/a>, creating more opportunities for the pizzeria. \u201cThere\u2019s an open doorway, so you can move from Double Standard to Village Pizzeria. The two restaurants are connected by one wall. If you\u2019re a family of four and someone wants pizza and someone else wants burgers, you can go your own way. But you\u2019re still in one place to enjoy both meals at once.\u201d Continuing to sample into the other sister restaurants, Spatafore shares, \u201cAt Double Standard, you get a legit milkshake with MooTime Creamery ice cream. You\u2019re not getting something with additional additives or fake food coloring. We aim to use all-natural dyes. Our \u2018Silly Vanilly\u2019 is not as blue as it used to be because now we\u2019re using a beetroot powder.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Blue Bridge values its ingredients<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t shortcut things,\u201d Spatafore says of all Blue Bridge restaurants. \u201c[At Villiage Pizzerias] we house-make our dough. We house-make our marinara. We house-make all of our sauces. At Double Standard, we\u2019re using high-quality wagyu beef and all-natural chicken. At Little Frenchie, we use imported Valrhona chocolate from France for our Parisian hot chocolate. Staying true to ingredients that some restaurants try to shortcut changes the value of the food.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Village-Pizzeria-pizza-diagram.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" td-modal-image aligncenter wp-image-178999 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Village-Pizzeria-pizza-diagram.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Blue Bridge values its team<\/p>\n<p>At both pizzerias, Spatafore credits the team for decades of success. \u201cWe hire a lot with the seasonality of strong summers, but we also have people who have been here year after year and have grown with us. They understand the company values and understand providing great customer service.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The pride is evident as Spatafore continues, \u201cA lot of people have worked at Village Pizzeria for years. Let\u2019s talk about the guys who are making the pizzas. I think Javi has been there since I worked at Village Pizzeria, which was over 27 years ago. Felix has been there for 20-plus years. A lot of our kitchen staff, I could be their daughter,\u201d she laughs. \u201cBrandon started off working as an employee. He\u2019s moved his way up. He\u2019s now the general manager. His little brother works there, and he\u2019s the supervisor now. Everybody\u2019s family.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Created family blends with existing families at Village Pizzeria. \u201cWe are a family restaurant. We\u2019ve had a lot of locals who are Coronado natives and work there. We have the owner\u2019s son who\u2019s in there. He\u2019s going to school, but he\u2019s also back there making pizza some days. All the kids have worked there. Every single family member has worked there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In addition to behind-the-scenes, locals are on the other side of the counter. \u201cYou get a lot of locals that come in every week. A lot of the military supports us. Seeing a familiar face at the counter is key to what makes Village Pizzeria what it is. That\u2019s what makes it special. We\u2019re very blessed to have people who have stayed with us for so long and remain loyal. They enjoy where they work, which, as an establishment, is all you can ask for.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Village-pizzeria-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" td-modal-image wp-image-145182 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Village-pizzeria-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"680\"  \/><\/a>Village Pizzeria Bayside open space patioCommunity support &amp; Village Pizzeria<\/p>\n<p>Blue Bridge is well known in the community for giving back to local organizations. In particular, its pizzerias and Moo Time. \u201cWe are working with Sharp Hospital on the golf course tournament. We\u2019re working with the Coronado Island Film Festival in November. There are special prices for all school lunches. We have the Harvest Hoedown that\u2019s coming for Village Elementary. We do $7 pizzas for the schools, so we get a lot of orders. I would say on a weekly basis we\u2019re doing something for the schools,\u201d says Spatafore.<\/p>\n<p>Being able to give back is something they are most proud of. \u201cThey feel connected enough to reach out to us and know that we are always going to support them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Visit <a href=\"https:\/\/villagepizzeriasd.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Village Pizzeria<\/a> at the Ferry Landing and enjoy all <a href=\"https:\/\/bluebridgehospitality.com\/#restaurants\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Blue Bridge Hospitality restaurants<\/a> for a valued experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Village Pizzeria Bayside, 1201 First St. As Blue Bridge Hospitality continues to expand and explore new concepts, its&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[74,76,75],"class_list":["post-461905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}