Smashing Tomato Italian Pizzeria by Fayette Mall — Restaurant in Lexington

When we walked in, smell of bleach was fairly strong. Not appetizing. This is establishment behind Fayette Mall.

As my husband was placing order, the young man that was arranging dirty dishes in the black tub and taking them to the back kitchen with gloves on, came back out and with the same gloves, put his hands and thumbs on the clean food plate and delivered them to the table to customers!!

I noticed this, so I went up to where my husband ordered and asked that when it came time for our order to be delivered, to please notify me and I would pick it up myself. I just felt sick when I saw his hands in tub arranging dirty dishes, turns around 2 steps, then had hands touching customers food with same gloves taking food to customers, THEN......on top of that, had hands, ( same gloves) in tub of dirty water, and with old rag, wiping off tables. This cant be sanitary!!

I won't be back. No management there to watch over how things are done on Sunday afternoon for customers food safety. If they were there, need to be retrained.

Just keep this in mind if eating there, on Sunday, and there's no management present. Any good manager would be in tuned to such things, and catch issues...unless there to just get a paycheck and not do a good job. Unfortunately, sometimes managers in these types of places last only a few months, as it's hard to get someone who's really good...

This is far and away THE BEST pizza in Lexington. I lived in New York City for 8 years, and I've eaten pizza all over the world. This among the top five pizzas I've had in my life. The "smashed" sauce adds the perfect amount of spice and texture, and the crust is THE REAL DEAL. Lexington should consider itself VERY fortunate to have this restaurant in town, especially given that the "baby" pizzas are the perfect single serving. And the price is just right!

The only reason I didn't rate 5 stars is that, on three separate occasions, I've ordered salads and received wilted, rotten greens. This is also true of multiple dining experiences I've had at ST's parent restaurant, Bella Notte. If the two brands could fix their salad problem, I'd rate both with 5 stars.

Nevertheless, I eat here once a week; I now just avoid the salads.

My only other caveat would be, after seeing me come in so often and knowing me by name, I'm surprised it took staff a year to offer me a frequent customer card! I'm moving in three weeks, so my brand new reward card won't do me much good in Colorado! Maybe someone from ST will see this post and offer me a free meal consolation prize...? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge? ;-)

A girl can dream....

Oh, and PS... they don't deliver. Hopefully, they'll reconsider on that, as it would CRUSH the...

Best pizza place in town. Love their pizza, sauce is amazing and it doesn’t hurt that they they serve decent wines and beers. 😉 wish they’d expand to other parts of the city! However, I’ve never felt compelled to leave a review until tonight. I visited solo for a late dinner and didn’t realize I ordered in shortly before close. I offered to box my pizza. The staff insisted I stay while they closed down. They continued to wait on me-offering me refills and even a sample of bread and oils, even though they didn’t have to do so. They kept reassuring me to stay and enjoy my food. As I waited for my order, I listened to their exchanges with other guests and then me, they were ALL so genuinely friendly, happy and personable. They worked so well together and they put their customers’ needs first. Before I left I asked if they’d let me take their picture to post alongside a review I planned to leave. I told them how rare it is for businesses to treat their guests this way and that means a lot. They obliged. Thank you to these four -and one who clocked out before I left- for being so hospitable and happy. Smashing Tomato is lucky to have this...