Dana Point’s Truly Pizza looks to open a location in neighboring Laguna Beach

Truly Pizza has truly enjoyed a successful first year.

In June, the Dana Point restaurant was one of only two in Orange County named on 50 Top Pizza’s list of the 50 Best Pizzerias in the USA, and its Champion Cheese Pizza, designed by pizzaiolo Sergio Balderas, took home the Best Traditional Pizza award at this year’s World Pizza Championship in Italy.

On Monday night, a cluster of hopeful diners crowded the host stand hoping to get a table on Truly’s lemon-tree-shaded patio. Earlier in the day, the pizzeria’s owners announced plans to open a second location in Laguna Beach next year, expanding on the success so evident a few hours later.

“Bringing Truly Pizza to Laguna Beach feels like coming home,” said Truly Pizza co-founder Donna Baldwin in a press release. “We believe in creating a space where pizza brings people together, and our new location on PCH is the perfect place to make that happen.”

Baldwin, who has been a resident of Laguna Beach for 20 years, opened Truly Pizza with World Champion of Pizza winners John Arena, Chris Decker and Michael Vakneen in the summer of 2023.

Plans will be filed with Laguna Beach this week for a location at 320 N. Coast Hwy., not far from the Laguna Art Museum.

The new 2,000-square-foot venue is expected to have outdoor seating for 100 guests and is anticipated to have the same design sensibilities as the original location with the same team working to craft the space. Think open-air, shoreline dining reminiscent of the Amalfi Coast in Italy.

Truly has made a name for itself in the industry, both locally and internationally, with two distinct styles of pies: a 12-inch inch American Artisan that is crispy and airy and baked in the hearth, and a square pizza sometimes referred to as a “grandma slice” with an equally light crust.

A square pizza, sometimes called a “grandma slice,” at Truly Pizza in Dana Point.

(Sarah Mosqueda)

“First and foremost, our dough and our technique is the foundation to everything,” Decker told TimesOC in May.

As a partner and head pizzaiolo for Truly Pizza, Decker said the developed dough and local California ingredients are what makes Truly’s pies stand out.

“There is thought and intention behind every menu item, for example taking a sausage and mushroom pizza and elevating it in a new creative way — the La Foresta,” said Decker, referring to a menu favorite topped with fresh and aged whole milk mozzarella, fontina, roasted mushrooms, sausage and herb ricotta. “I also think our unwavering dedication to the highest-quality products and serving it at reasonable prices also sets us a part.”

Along with expertly crafted pizza, the menu offers other Italy-by-way-of-California dishes like an Italian tuna sandwich with tomato, pickled celery and red onion served on house-baked focaccia bread and a salumi chopped salad with little gem lettuce dressed in sliced salami, soppressata, red onion, shaved fennel, beans, fresh mozzarella, olives and a drizzle of Calabrian chili vinaigrette.

The forthcoming location will serve the same thoughtful menu including Truly’s premium soft-serve desserts. The beverage program will continue the restaurant’s favor of regional craft beers and small-batch wineries’ and the Laguna Beach location will also offer a selection of cocktails and mocktails from a full bar.

Truly Pizza’s new location is projected to open in 2025.

“We are looking forward to sharing our love for authentic, quality pizza with even more people,” said Baldwin.