Truly Pizza: Micro-Blistered Magic in Dana Point’s Coastal Garden
Tucked into Dana Point’s Lantern District at 24402 Del Prado Ave, Dana Point, CA 92629, Truly Pizza feels less like a traditional restaurant and more like stumbling into a secret garden party somewhere along the Amalfi Coast – only this one happens to look out toward the Southern California shoreline.
Opened in June 2023, the outdoor-only pizzeria is the shared dream of lifelong friends Donna Baldwin and John Arena. Their story starts decades ago in Las Vegas, when John opened his first restaurant, and Donna became his second employee. Over the years, their friendship was seasoned by countless shared pizzas and glasses of wine. During one of those evenings, an idea took shape: a neighborhood pizzeria that married Donna’s love of heartfelt hospitality with John’s lifelong craft of pizza making – built on care, quality ingredients, and true digestibility. From that conversation, Truly Pizza was born.
A name written in the stars
The name “Truly” carries a personal weight that feels almost cinematic. Partner and Founding pizzaiolo Chris Decker casually suggested it during the planning stages, not realizing that Donna had once written a script about discovering two half-brothers she never knew she had until after her mother passed away. The lead character in that script was named Truly. When Chris mentioned the word, it landed like fate – a single name that captured honesty, family, and the profoundly personal heart behind the restaurant.
An Italian alleyway on the California coast
Truly Pizza’s dining room is the Dana Point sky. The entire restaurant is outdoors, designed in collaboration with Dayna Lee and Ted Berner of Powerstrip Studio. The intent was to make guests feel as if they’d wandered down a back alley in Italy and discovered a hidden pizzeria lit by twinkling lights and surrounded by greenery. Terracotta flooring, leafy trees, and bistro-style tables create an intimate, Mediterranean-inspired setting that feels both transportive and totally at ease with the coastal California lifestyle.
There’s a lush garden-level patio and an upstairs rooftop deck complete with a fireplace, firepit, and views of the Dana Point hills – fitting for a city twinned with Sorrento, Italy. On cooler nights, blankets and heaters keep the al fresco experience welcoming year-round; after a stormy first season, the team added awnings so guests could linger outdoors even when the weather turns moody.
Front and center is an exhibition kitchen that puts the pizzaiolos on stage. Guests can watch dough being stretched, topped, and slid into the hearth, the air perfumed with the comforting scent of caramelizing cheese and blistering crust. It’s part theater, part masterclass in artisan pizza.
The science (and soul) of micro-blistered crust
At the heart of Truly Pizza is dough – specifically, a slow, multi-day cold fermentation that has already become the stuff of OC pizza legend. Co-partners and World Champion pizzaiolos Chris Decker and Michael Vakneen lead the culinary program, crafting American artisan 12-inch hearth-baked pizzas and feather-light square pies. Their dough rests for around three days, developing depth of flavor and an intricate network of tiny air pockets. When those pies hit the hot hearth, those pockets erupt into what the team calls micro blisters – a crust that shatters delicately, yet stays airy and tender inside.
This obsessive attention to craft hasn’t gone unnoticed. In 2025, the Italy-based guide 50 Top Pizza named Truly Pizza #9 on its U.S. list, and in 2025, the Dana Point gem climbed to #48 in the world, placing it among the most celebrated pizzerias anywhere. Co-founder John Arena also received the guide’s prestigious Icon Award, recognizing his decades-long influence on American artisan pizza.
A menu guided by California sensibility
The menu follows a simple philosophy: respect Italian and American pizza traditions while embracing the bounty and creativity of California. Expect whole pies with thoughtfully layered toppings, seasonal specials, and weekend “what we’re eating” creations that give the kitchen room to play with market-fresh ingredients. Salads, charcuterie and cheese boards, sandwiches on house-baked focaccia, and premium soft-serve desserts round out the experience, making the restaurant as much a gathering place as a quick pizza stop.
Seasonality is a quiet throughline. The team works closely with trusted distributors and vendors, always tasting, tweaking, and searching for better products instead of falling back on “we’ve always done it this way.” That open-minded, progressive approach keeps the menu evolving with the seasons and with guest feedback, without ever losing its core identity.
Wine, beer, and the perfect patio pour
For a site like ours, iLoveWine.com, the glass is as important as the slice – and Truly Pizza leans into that synergy beautifully. There’s no formal sommelier, but the team has built a thoughtfully curated wine list that leans on small-production bottles from Italy and California. You’ll find bright, food-friendly whites, characterful skin-contact and rosé options, and a roster of reds that might include Tuscan Sangiovese, Montepulciano from Abruzzo, or a textured Valpolicella Ripasso, alongside Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir and Napa and Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon.
The guiding question is simple: What would you want to sip on this patio? Maybe it’s a crisp Italian white with a lighter, herb-driven pie; a juicy Californian red with a heartier square; or a refreshing spritz that feels tailor-made for golden hour on the rooftop deck. Regional craft beers, zero-proof options, and non-alcoholic choices ensure everyone has a seat at the table.
Hospitality, community, and a bigger mission
Truly Pizza was built as an artisanal neighborhood pizzeria, and that ethos shows in how the team talks about responsibility: if guests choose to spend their time here, it’s on the restaurant to make that time feel meaningful. Service is attentive but relaxed, elevated without ever becoming stuffy. The goal is for guests to feel like they’ve been welcomed into someone’s home, only this one happens to serve world-class pizza.
Community is stitched into the brand’s DNA. Certain menu pizzas directly support K9 law-enforcement units, while others benefit a California-based rescue organization. The restaurant also regularly gives back to local schools and community programs, and uses its social channels to spotlight fellow independent restaurants and small businesses. When one local business thrives, they believe, the whole neighborhood wins.
Being blocks from the beach, sustainability is more than a buzzword; it’s part of daily decision-making. Truly Pizza uses compostable paper products, relies on eco-friendly straws that dissolve in water, and recycles its used cooking oil, which is converted into biofuel—small but meaningful steps aimed at reducing its environmental footprint along the coast.
Growing beyond Dana Point
Even in its short life, Truly Pizza has already begun to expand its footprint. A second location is coming soon to Laguna Beach, set to bring the same artisan pies and coastal-Mediterranean design sensibility to North Laguna in a roughly 2,000-square-foot space with ample patio seating near Pacific Coast Highway.
The team is also thrilled to announce that they will be expanding beyond Orange County and recently shared the news of its third location at 1239 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90291. Nestled in the heart of Venice, the new 4,655 square foot venue will offer seating for approximately 130 guests, including outdoor seats to embrace Venice’s coastal breezes and indoor seating inspired by the brand’s signature cozy, garden aesthetic.
Planning your visit
Whether you’re a local or visiting the coast for a wine-and-food-focused getaway, Truly Pizza is the kind of place that easily anchors an evening. Reservations are recommended—especially for larger groups—but walk-ins are welcomed, with the understanding that peak evenings can mean a bit of a wait (made more pleasant by the garden setting and coastal air).
You’ll find Truly Pizza at 24402 Del Prado Ave, Dana Point, CA 92629, a short stroll from the harbor and beaches. For menus and reservations, visit trulypizza.com or follow @trulypizza on social media for seasonal specials, collaboration announcements, and glimpses of that impossibly airy, micro-blistered crust in action.
For pizza lovers who care as much about craft and community as they do about flavor, this Dana Point gem lives up to its name: it’s not just good—it’s Truly.
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