OCEAN CITY – Grotto Pizza will be expanding to the Ocean City Boardwalk this summer in what will be its 21st location.
The site for is 14th Street and the Boardwalk in the Commander Hotel. The previous restaurant was the Skipjack Grille.
Grotto Pizza opened its first Maryland location in Ocean City on 125th Street in the summer of 2012. Grotto Pizza has since opened its second location in Maryland in Gambrills outside of Annapolis in 2014, making the Boardwalk location its third Maryland location.
“The 125th Street location is doing well but it is uptown and little bit of a ways from the Boardwalk. The plan always was to find a boardwalk location in the right area and the right size. This spot worked out perfectly for us,” Grotto Pizza Director of Marketing Vinnie DiNatale said. “It’s on the boardwalk…and that’s where we really wanted to be, in the heart of a foot traffic area.”
This Grotto Pizza will be similar to their location on the Rehoboth Boardwalk, featuring an indoor dining room, bar, plenty of outdoor seating on a patio and a takeout counter. The total space comes to about 6,000 square feet and will be able to seat least 160 guests.
“Having the Boardwalk locations in Rehoboth we see that it is a good fit,” DiNatale said. “We are tied into a lot of family vacation memories, and we are sure we can deliver those same memories and guest experiences on the Ocean City Boardwalk.”
According to DiNatale, construction should start in the middle of February after all the permits are ready.
“We are renovating it to put our pizza kitchens in there but it is not going to be a complete overhaul. We will be able to work with the look down there but change it a little bit to make it more personal in the kitchen, and make it more like a Grotto Pizza,” he said.
The opening is scheduled for mid-April and the restaurant will be open from that time through mid-October, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Grotto Pizza is the vision and lifelong project of owner Dominick Pulieri who started the company in 1960 at 17 years old. Pulieri is from Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and had been making pizza from an early age in his brother-in-law’s restaurant when he ventured into Delaware to start a pizza restaurant of his own. To this day, Pulieri is the CEO and president of the company.
“It is fantastic. Grotto Pizza has become a major part of so many family vacation memories since 1960. It is very humbling. There is something extra special about a Boardwalk location when you have sand on your feet and an ocean view,” Pulieri said of the new Ocean City Boardwalk location. “We heard what our guests wanted. They wanted a Grotto Pizza boardwalk location in Ocean City, Md. It is all about the guest. Without them none of us would be here.”
Jeff Gosnear, vice president of Grotto Pizza, was pleased with the site inside a landmark hotel.
“The Commander Hotel is a perfect fit for us. We both cater to families looking for a high quality experience on an affordable family budget,” Gosnear said.
DiNatale furthered Grotto Pizza will bring a unique experience to Ocean City’s Boardwalk.
“It will be very exciting to be there,” he said. “When Dominick Pulieri started on Rehoboth Ave. in 1960, three years later he opened his first Boardwalk location, so Grotto Pizza’s origin has always been tied to the beach and family vacations.”