San Diego Reader

Heads up, you late nite Gaslamp guzzlers!

Pizza On Fifth Pizza Lounge - PO5 – where everybody goes to sober up a little at three in the mawnin’, is changing up, becoming more, well, loungey inside, with beer, wine, and a bigger sidewalk patio area where you can sit, chomp, sip, and watch the crazy world of Gaslampistas go by.

Right next to Asti

“In two weeks we should have our beer and wine license,” says Atheer Ascandar, the owner, “and within the month we should have completed our total redecoration inside, so people will want to come, sit, stay awhile.”

Do they have anything besides $3 pizza slices? Well, Cory, the server, has just brought me a $6 “Greca” salad (romaine lettuce with tomatoes, red onions, pepperoncini, black olives, and lots of feta cheese crumbles, plus some dark, tangy balsamic vinegarish dressing). Oh and a $2 cheese bread stick with a kinda sweet tomato dipping sauce. Fresh and delicious.

Cory brings my salad

"Greca" salad

The breadstick and sauce

Actually, the most delicious part? I’m sitting outside at a patio table, seven at night, right next to folks at Asti, eating their $30 meals, heh heh.

But does all this upgrading mean the end for $3 pizza slices?

No way, says Atheer. “That’s the foundation of our business.”

Cory, Atheer