palo mesa family

Palo Mesa Pizza's Story

Our pizza and all we do is based on love, it wouldn't be right to tell the story without starting from the beginning...

Michael and Kelly were both raised in Monroe, MI and grew up in the restaurant business. They fell in love young and married in 2000. Michael graduated from the college where his godfather started their culinary program.  One day they finally decided it was time to take the leap west, never realizing at that moment where their journey would grow into what it has.

Friends became family, and new to the area they adopted their grandpa Ken. A celebrated chef, Michael's love for pizza continued to grow. Together they opened the original Palo Mesa Pizza in April 2007 on the mesa in the Craig Center. Grandpa said Palo Mesa means wooden table top, hence all of our hand made tables and counters were made lovingly by Grandpa Ken.  

Shortly there after our oldest was born, Michaela. Therefore it took some time before we opened our second location in August 2012 on Rancho Pkwy. In March 2013 Michael won his first #1 award for Best Traditional pizza at the International pizza expo in Vegas. Michael placed again  #3 best pizza in the USA which earned him a spot on the United States Pizza team. Over the years, Kelly and several team members have began competing as well. Our third location we opened in Slo, May 2014.

With Michael's spot on the USPT he began competing in Italy representing America. That is how his love grew for the Napoletan pizza and its simplicity. We opened our second concept in the heart of the AG village January 2017, serving traditional Napoletan pizza with a California twist at Palo Mesa Wood Fired.

Our second daughter, Isabella, blessed us in 2018. We are so blessed! We love our community and want all of our team and guests to feel very welcome at all of our establishments. We are so grateful to our guests and team, if it weren't for all of you we would not be where we are today. 

Today Palo Mesa Pizza, has four locations to serve you. Palo Mesa Pizza is internationally recognized for numerous pizza awards and we are extremely grateful and proud to represent not only Arroyo Grande but also San Luis Obispo and Santa Maria at pizza competitions around the world.

Palo Mesa Pizza also makes great appetizers, pasta, calzones, sandwiches and more. We are open for dining in, pick-up, delivery and even catering. Palo Mesa Pizza Makes You Happy!