Cruisers Pizza Bar Grill

My husband and I chose this for a late lunch after going kayaking in Newport Beach harbor for my birthday. Needless to say, we were really hungry and excited for pizza at a place that was new to the both of us.
But I know, only one star, yikes. I wouldn’t feel so strongly about only giving one star if they didn’t advertise as a «pizza bar.» Also, I don’t see a ton of negative feedback on here about the pizza, and I think that a different perspective should be represented because I’ve never felt so betrayed by a pizza in all of my life.
My husband and I got the hummus and veggies, and the «So Meaty» thin crust pizza. We ordered for pick-​up, but unfortunately it took an hour to get there from Balboa Island because of crazy Newport Beach Sunday afternoon traffic.
That was the beginning of the tragic downfall of birthday lunch 2016.
According to their estimate when I called in, the pizza probably had been ready for at least 20 minutes by the time we arrived, and so it was warm when we ate it (in the car, I was hangry) rather than hot which might contribute to my different opinion, but temperature is no excuse for good pizza. Also, the pizza smelled like the garlic butter Papa John’s includes with their pizzas so I couldn’t resist (not that Papa John’s is my measure of pizza perfection, but who says no to melted garlic butter? Ever?). The pizza overall looked very appetizing as well, continuing the buildup to what one would reasonably anticipate as a melt-​in-​your-​mouth pie.
And then I took my first bite.
Nothing. I tasted nothing, except bland betrayal.
Imagine my horror when the $ 30 pizza I hangerly braved 45 minutes of traffic for tasted like… cardboard? Perhaps crunchier cardboard, with no salt. The toppings and smell were the only redeeming qualities though their sole purpose was to shroud cardboard with bitter deceit.
On the bright side, the overall experience and customer service was very positive. All staff that I interacted with were friendly and helpful, even though it was busy because of happy hour. It hurts my culinary soul, however, that pizza is supposed to be a main part of the place, like if they took it off the menu they would have to change the name.
But the question remains: if they called Cruiser’s Pizza Bar Grill by any other name, would the pizza still taste as nothing?

BEST MARGARITAS
We stopped in after a nice walk down the pier and a day at the beach. We were looking for a nice place to eat dinner and have a few drinks before our drive home. Cruisers did not disappoint. The service staff was polite and helpful with our dinner selections. We got pizzas and sliders and the taste was perfect. We chose the thin crust pizza and the flavor was unforgettable. As for the drinks, we never left the margarita menu. WE TASTED THEM ALL. The Jalapeño Margarita was spicy but not overbearing and the cucumber Margarita was refreshing. The scary part was that the Strawberry Margaritas tasted so good, I drank it in no time. The drinks had the perfect amount of tequila and are definitely worth the price. A must stop for all Margarita or even non Margarita drinkers.

I love this place. The food is always good and they will add or subtract anything
you might want. The drinks are very good and with 25 screens for watching all
the games which are current, you are in the perfect place. I like the thin crust
veggie pizza, and the poke… but I have tried almost everything on the menu,
and all choices are amazing. Join the fun… waiters, waitresses, and service
is over the top. You will love it. Cindy and Rich

Went to trivia night yesterday and had so much fun! Easy way to win free beer, shots, or cash! Pizza was delicious! I recommend the bbq chicken pizza with the thin crust. Service was excellent! Definitely recommend and I will come back for next week’s trivia night

Came here last weekend and the food was amazing. The cheeseburger was made to perfection and the pizza was fresh. Great atmosphere and close to the beach! Also it’s a Packers/​Bears bar so I’ll def be coming here for some games this upcoming season. Go Packers!

Amazing deep dish pizza. Well worth the wait. The cocktails were inventive and excellent. Superb location and service. The next time I am in the area I will definitely stop by.

We had the Chicago thin crispy pizza. Homemade sauce an quality mozzarella cheese. Lots of topping choices. Really great fast and friendly service. Casey is awesome Lots is large screen HDTV’s for Sports enthusiasts.

I can’t say enough about the crew at Cruisers. We booked their party room for my sister’s «meet and greet» pre-​wedding event. We had a lot of family flying in from all over and we needed to feed them. We couldn’t have been happier with the help we had from Adam in setting up the whole thing, and the service provided by Bud and his staff on the day of. The room was perfect. The tables were set up beautifully and they even had balloons and little signs that said congratulations to the bride and groom. It was such a great little extra touch that just made the whole evening that much more welcoming and pleasant. The food was great! We had salad, wings, and several pizzas and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. If you’re looking for a casual event where people can visit, roam, and eat and drink as they please, then THIS is the place to do it! Thank you, Cruisers!

Nothing but good things to say about this beach-​vibe down-​to-​earth restaurant. The food – we had pizza, salad, and wings – is very good and the friendly service is on point.

Great place. Good service. Relaxed vibe.
Right on the sand in Balboa peninsula.
Happy hour 2x daily 3 – 7 and 10pm-​12.
Only complaint is food is a little on the pricey side for bar food and they should add food to happy hour menu.

One of my friends posted a link to the «10 ultimate pizza places in OC» on Facebook and Cruisers was in there. My boyfriend LOVES Chicago deep dish pizza so we decided to check it out.
We ate: poke appetizer, tangerine mule, Diet Pepsi, and deep dish pizza.
The good: they have their own parking lot so you don’t have to pay for street parking. Our server was really nice and very attentive even though the place was pretty busy. My drink was cheaper than the menu quoted. There were a lot of chips in our appetizer and we had more than enough for the poke (could be a negative but we liked it). There isn’t a TON of salt on the chips, in fact there’s barely any.
The not so good: the poke was really oily. My tangerine mule tasted more like lime than anything else. It was SO loud! Between the volume of the music and the TVs when they switched to them, this is definitely not the place to go if you want to have a nice conversation and enjoy someone’s company.
The bad: SO many drunk people (we arrived at 7pm on a Saturday night). When we walked up there was a guy standing outside that had just been kicked out, the 3 guys at the table behind me were so drunk they kept bumping into our table and my chair when they went to the bathroom. The deep dish pizza left a lot to be desired. We ordered the So Meaty and replaced the bacon with mushrooms. I’m pretty sure we didn’t get any of the sausage that should have been on our pizza. The bottom crust was basically a flavorless cracker. The side crust was SO thick (there is a good inch of dough rolled up in it) and it wasn’t completely cooked… it was a kind of a gooey yeasty flavored mess. The sauce left something to be desired. We’re pretty sure if garlic hadn’t been a topping in our pizza it wouldn’t have had any flavor at all.
The owners of Cruisers really need to go to Chicago, eat at Giradanos and fix their pizza. Heck, if they can’t make it to Chicago, just go to Tony’s Little Italy in Placentia or Rance’s in Costa Mesa and get a pie that’s more authentic.

I really like the atmosphere. The Refuge Brewery Blood Orange Wit is awesome. I’m not a fan of mules but they have a tangerine mule that was pretty yummy. The chicken nachos look great.

The Sunday brunch here is sweet! You can never go wrong with bottomless mimosas for only 10 $!! I may or may not of saw the bottom of my drink but our waitress Casey was so on it! super super good service! Will be back next Sunday ferrrr sure!

This is a place to go for good eats and vibe. The nachos are bomb and happy hour ain’t so bad. Dave and Karen took good care of us. Menu is out till 1 am, a chance to sober up for the bike ride home.

Great place for a group!
Wanted a local chill spot for Breakfast, and found it! #BrunchBowl order that, Everything you want in a bowl. Great Mimosas too.

This place has been blowing up my FB feed with their 3 free tacos and $ 2 well drinks and so I dropped by last week because I can’t say no to FREE TACOS. I had a couple whiskey sours and would’ve had more than two if I didn’t have to drive back home.
The tacos were good. I had 3 of each (carnitas, beef, and chicken). There also is a taco topping station which was dope as well. The two bartenders were cool and attentive.
I’ve heard their deep dish pizza is really good so I definitely have to try that next time I’m there. I’ve also heard this is a good place to watch UFC and it had a good amount of TV’s all around.
They had a DJ on the first Taco Tuesday of the season which was really dope, I think it was «Beats by Adolph.» I don’t know much about mixing/dj’ing but he was really good with a great mix. The music wasn’t blasting that Tuesday but it was still pretty sweet.
I think I heard they’re continuing the $ 2 well drinks on Tuesdays which will definetely have me coming back. I also heard they have $ 0.05 beers which I also have to check out/​take advantage of.

Awesome place to watch UFC!!! And to have some beer samplers mmmmmm. Pizza was ok, not the hugest fan of thin crust, I will have to try the stuffed next time! Great music on a Saturday night. Hell of a chill spot not crazy packed and still at the beach.
Just wish we could have heard the fight but hell its free to watch and to enjoy some good eats.

Came to try out this stuffed pizza pie my boyfriend discovered on Facebook today. We’re huge foodies and get sucked in with photos haha.
Anyways we came in during late night happy hour and got some drinks and a pepperoni original stuffed pizza.
I ordered the Spicy cucumber margarita and asked if he could add jalepeno to it. During happy hour all drinks are $ 2 off so .
Amazing margarita exactly how I liked it.
And that pizza pie! Get ready for cheese coma! That big thing was Delicious.
And wow! Alex was awesome some of the best service I’ve had in a while. He also told us about the big room with the huge tv screen for games and the patio room where they have a huge Jenga and beer pong tables you know just an FYI!!! So glad we found this place. Me likey!

So first off the service from the kid at the bar is awesome. He is proud of the food and I can tell he believes in the company he works for. It’s hard to find that in a young person these days. Good job kid.
The food was good, not great but you’d. The burger was very unique, great flavor but almost like a moist meatloaf and not a burger. The BBQ chicken pizza was good but not great. The chicken had a BBQ flavor they was super yummy, however the pizza had a marinara sauce on it. At first we thought the cook simply made a mistake but that’s just how they do it.
We were told that the restaurant win a few awards and was voted best this snd that. All that is great but it wasn’t great for me. My wife asked me in the car afterwards If I would go back and we both agreed we would but that we would order something different.
Great service, unique food and a fun atmosphere. I promise to update my review if and when I go back for seconds.

The nachos ($ 14) are hearty and humungous! It comes with a protein (we chose steak), melted grated cheese, black beans, salsa, sour cream, and guac. This was shared among 4 adults and 2 kids. Totally worth it!
The drinks are nice and strong! I ordered a couple well gin and tonics and it got me feeling good :) The others in my party ordered margaritas, beers, and a creamy pineapple mojito — i forget the name :(but it was super delish!
Happy hour start at 3PM daily — a couple bucks off of drinks really adds up!
Service was a miss that day. Our server was a little rude, and would walk away before we finished placing our orders. When i asked about the happy hour specials, she just pointed to the menu without being very helpful. It was pretty busy that day, so maybe just an off day.