Lillo's Tomato Pies — Restaurant in Hainesport Township

So i went to this location on an inkling that it would be the best pizzeria in NJ, also with the high rating and plethora of reviews. I could not imagine expecting anything less than great. I drove 25mins to try this place. The first impressions were not great, the place looks decrepit and along with the weird creepy logo it did not put my skepticism at ease. Then when you venture inside it feels as if you are stepping into a sauna. Three AC wall units set to 60°F and two big noisy rotating fans yet still nasty humidity and heat. I am unsure if the ACs were working or the circulation was poor and the heat too great coming from the pizza oven. I will talk more about the area’s hygiene in a minute. Once you step inside, no one greets you and everyone cannot be bothered to crack a single smile. All the employees look unprofessional, no one is wearing a hairnet nor food service gloves. All the girls are wearing big t-shirts and booty shorts, hair tied in a bun, but still flailing about due to the high air currents from the fan. The male cooks are in tank tops armpits free and beetle juice pants. I bought a pizza which only comes in one size? Does the pizza maker not know how to make more than one size on a made to order item? And three drinks 1 can of soda and two waters, yet i was charged for 3 sodas.. i do not know if they were the same price but split what i paid for three evenly,made the water bottles cost almost 3$. The hygiene of the place was dissatisfactory to say the least. Napkin dispensers look dirty, no one is doing mid day cleaning, the floor and the pizza oven look disgusting. They have a bunch of the Philly cheesesteak meat just piled on the grill and bread everywhere in the back. The whole kitchen looks like it had not been scrubbed since inception. The worse part of it all the girl in the white T-shirt was eating raw broccoli with no gloves straight out of the container?? And then when our pizza was ready she was cutting it with no gloves again and some pizza sauce from our pizza fell on her finger and she looked at it and then shamelessly sucked it clean off her finger right in front of us and proceeded to continue cutting our pizza nonchalantly as if she did nothing wrong and completely disgusting. I was in complete shock! I could not even believe what i was witnessing. I do have to say although all this happened we did not complain and we ate the pizza since we drove so far and were super hungry. But will it be the last time we come? 100%. No matter how good the pizza was, the health code violations there were appalling and i am considering making a formal complaint to the health officials. I find it odd how many people walk in there from the time we came in to the time we finished eating and no one felt the same it seemed. Almost as if we were in the twilight zone. I just hope we do not get...

Lillo’s Tomato Pies (2503 Marne Highway Hainesport NJ) is in the middle of nowhere. Lillo’s is about 90 minutes' drive from me. Yet the love for Trenton Style Tomato Pie brings the people from all over to Hainesport NJ.

Let us first address the elephant in the room. Trenton Tomato Pie (like New Haven Tomato Pie) is a pizza; Philly Tomato Pie is like a Focaccia with tomato gravy (yes gravy not sauce, Philly Words Matter). Consequently, Trenton Tomato Pie is made with pizza dough; Philly Tomato Pie is made with a bread dough. Trenton Tomato Pie typically has cheese, whereas Philly Tomato Pie has a slight dusting of finely grated Parmesan (but essentially dairy free). Trenton Tomato Pie is eaten hot out of an oven. Philly Tomato Pie is eaten cold at room temperature. Yes, Trenton Tomato Pie is not Philly Tomato Pie, they are two different things.

Trenton Tomato Pie is assembled with the Tomato on the top (typically just crushed tomato). The cheese is closest to the dough, next a layer of vegetable/meat toppings, and finally Tomato. From a flavor perspective, compared to other pizzas, the Trenton Tomato Pie emphasizes Tomato flavor.

The Mustard Pie version of Trenton Tomato Pie, unique to the greater Trenton region, a contribution of New Jersey to the world of pizza, has a layer of mustard on the dough and everything else thereafter on the top of it. Yes, here too, Tomato on the top.

Lillo’s is an offshoot of Papa’s Tomato Pie (the oldest Pizza joint in America). The dough is crisp without much flop. It is different. You will talk about it after eating one of their pies. The pies are outstanding. The mustard pie is worth a trip. Lillo’s along with Papa’s, and DeLorenzo (add Conte’s too) represent the best of pizza in the Princeton / South Jersey area.

But as amazing as the pies are, the best reason, my reason, to goto Lillo’s is their cheese steak in a Liscio like seeded roll (perhaps the roll is from Liscio). The cheese, the secret garlic sauce and 16 oz of sliced rib eye is amongst the best cheese steak ever. Just half of the sandwich is plenty for a meal. On the list of “The Joys of Single Living”, eating a cold, left-over Lillo’s cheesesteak sandwich (right out of the fridge) ranks higher than eating a cold slice of pizza (out of the fridge) for breakfast. No reheating, no microwave, all net no rim. A cold left over half cheesesteak sandwich for breakfast next morning, life is good.

Again, I need to point out that with Lillo’s, Donkey’s Place, and MeatheadZ, that area of NJ has some really awesome cheese steak...

We have ordered pizza here before and it's definitely a must try if you haven't as it's a lite crispy crust ,delicious sauce ,cheese and toppings you can tell they use the freshest ingredients and highest quality. Being from South Philly it's worth the trip especially if already in SNJ. This trip we finally got to try the sandwiches as the last trip they were sold out of rolls so we were sure to go on a weekday and early. I grabbed the Chicken Cutlet with Balsamic, roasted peppers,mozzarella and arugula and my buddy grabbed a cheesesteak with peppers and of course we had to get a slice as there's no way you can go there and not grab one plus the plan as always is to take half of the sandwich home for round two later. The sandwiches are packed as you get your money's worth unlike some places where you have to open the roll to find the meat ! Our sandwiches were amazing and we been all over on top of growing up in South Philly so being blown away is hard to do and Lillo's hands down has the best sandwiches in the NJ/Philly area so Philly is no longer home of the cheesesteaks or the go to destination. Can't wait til the Gloucester City location opens as I'll be in there a couple times a week being right over the bridge 😋. On side note everyone working there are happy and love their job and it shows as they go out of their way to make sure you have everything you need and the food is good also they don't rush you to order and love to have a conversation and enjoy talking to everyone as this is a old school family operation that's hard to...