Tony Pepperoni Pizzeria — Restaurant in Escondido

The staff was very inviting and friendly. It was a pleasure interacting with them.

The space is strangely large, even behind the bar. I can imagine that when it's full it is quite lively, but on the day I was there it was strange to see all of this open, cold, empty space.

There are large widescreen televisions on almost every possible square inch all around the place. This seems like overkill and quite unecessary as on the 20 some odd televisions I only counted 5 channels going. They can eliminate half of them and still have more than enough screens for patrons to view. It feels these serve as a distraction from what would otherwise be evident as quite an open and cold empty space (besides the arcades cabinets at the far end)

What I really wanted was a proper pizza. Going with their pepperoni felt like the way to find out if this place would be my go-to place for a good slice. I also got some sides, but the pizza was to be the star.

Sadly, the pizza that arrived was almost flat and burnt. mentioning to my server that it appeared overcooked, I asked if this was how they tend to come out? She said that, yes, that's how they come out but graceously offered to have them refire a new one. Not wanting to waste food, I declined.

Watching as other pizzas came out I can confirm that they all did indeed come out nearly burned all over, thin, crunchy, and quite sad looking. So I proceeded to try mine.

The dough was indeed a thick hard dark cracker with no rise at all to the edges. Everything was cooked beyond justice, No chance of pulling off that nice fold-and-bite you might expect from a good pie. The bottom of the crust had no leoparding but was a black-brown smear of grease (odd that the crust was still cracker hard).

I could summarize my experience by saying that it was akin to a non-rising frozen pizza that you might forget about in your oven 8-10 minutes too long. Although the beer and sides that I chose were pretty good, I will sadly not revisit Tony Pepperoni for pizza; I've had better at Domino's, in New York subway stations, and have certainly made better myself.

I hope they do improve and eventually put care and respect into making a pizza worth leaving home for, but if you're on the hunt for a good slice, I would recomend giving Tony...

Repressed anger is a dangerous influence that can drive you to unconsciously avoid or deny your feelings of annoyance or irritation. Clearly my friend @leannawinter22 has some latent anger reserved just for me considering that she recommended we review this place. She knows me well enough to predict that I wouldn’t be able to resist the challenge of ordering something spicy and that I’d ignore the clearly demarcated menu warnings and order something that sounded at least slightly dangerous.

My misguided plan was to construct a siege ramp of hotness in an effort to ascend to the summit of Mt. Sriracha. 🔥

We established Base Camp at “The Works” which was a safe launching point and provided no hotness challenges.

Stage 1 of the climb involved “The Goose” and brought my resolve for this journey into question. However, with the benefit of some iced tea and recovery time, this challenge was completed.

Our summit goal was “Sarah ‘racha” and she immediately knocked me right out of my hiking boots. Our Review Team observed that my face and neck both turned red, my eyes were watering, and I was visibly perspiring. 🥵 In their words, this pizza is for those who have generous life insurance policies or are a glutton for punishment. I ordered essentially 4 kid sized slices and 75% of them went home with me so that I can inflict additional punishment upon myself at some point in the near future.

I sure hope that this experience settles my debt with LeAnna because I don’t think I’d survive any more of her wrath. 🕊️

All I can say is that @graveytaters had better stay in line! 😉

And that’s…Henry’s...

When I hear a restaurant is staying open, you best know that I’m going to give them my support. Even when it’s a two hour drive.

I am SO glad that I did! Tony’s is a mom and pop restaurant, and the attention to detail shows it. I started out with some delicious loaded tater tots, smothered in generous amounts of cheese, bacon, and jalapeño.

My husband ordered the Greek pizza, and said it felt like he had an entire salad with his pizza (and I was a little jealous).

I wanted to be adventurous and decided on the Mexican pizza. Honestly, so bomb. It’s such a unique combination, but it makes so much sense.

We stopped by the Saturday after Christmas, and the place was definitely packed full of locals and people that had found them on the news, like I had. Joe Locricchio, the owner, was working behind the bar, meeting and greeting the patrons and getting to know their stories. Super down to earth guy, and on his break, I got a sneak peak of him ordering food from the kitchen and enjoying some lunch himself. When the owner eats his own food, you know it’s a good spot.

Tony Pepperoni’s Pizzeria recently made the news for staying open, and continuing to provide its employees with paychecks. When I heard the pizzeria was staying open, I made the decision to drive down and show my support. #StayOpen...