Tomato Pie Pizza Joint (Silver Lake) — Restaurant in Los Angeles

I don’t know, man/ woman/ them/ fam. I tried this place years ago, in the beginning of the pandemic and I thought it was okay. I have always felt like I should give it another shot because maybe I didn’t recognize how good it is. Dave Portnoy later reviewed this place and pointed out how the dough is akin to French bread… from a Stouffer’s French Bread Pizza. The frozen one you microwave. I get that. I think it has things in common with Boston Pizza although they say they’re from New York or New York Style. This goes to show you, not all New York Pizza is great.

Not all New York Pizza is great. I think it is decent Pizza but lately I have been trying game changers in LA such as Little Dynamite, Pizzeria Sei, Apolonia’s, Ozzy’s Apizza, Hot Tongue and this is a far cry from anything like that. Also, can we talk about something here? Why does the one guy working there give me energy like he views me as Stunt Man Mike from Death Proof? Can anyone tell me why? Pizza is all about vibe. Does this have vibe? Yeah, weird uncomfortable passive aggressive sleepy depressing vibes.

No unique box or fanfare? You know ALL the other places I mentioned aside from Pizzeria Sei have shirts and/ or stickers and/ or pins AND Pizza Boxes with unique Art and Print! Not. Just. Lazy. Blank. White. Couldn’t be a fan of Tomato Pie if I tried! Tomato Pie won’t allow me to be a fan and supporter. They simply will not allow it.

What? I’m just telling you, this is average Pizza. Even the Sicilian. Even the Sicilian was underwhelming. Why is everyone so reliant on Hot Honey now days? I will say that maybe this place is better if you just get the Marinara Pie or the Pizza without cheese and only sauce. They have good sauce, cheese - I don’t know. Like Portnoy said, ‘it does the job’ or something to that effect. Also he said it’s similar to Philadelphia Style. I wouldn’t know. I have only had Pizza in San Francisco, New York, Italy (Rome, Milan, Venice), New Haven, Chicago and countless others but not Philly. So what do I know since I haven’t had Philadelphia Style Pizza? Makes sense cause Beto’s Pittsburgh makes Pizza without cheese and they’re fine. I guess. Tomato Pie, man. Come on, man. Get it together! Please, for the Love of Pizza!

It’ll do. It’ll do. But. You really expect anyone to drive more than 11 minutes...

Tomato Pie, a pizza joint in Hollywood and Silverlake derives its name from, well, tomato pie. Tomato pie is a Sicillian's take on pizza where the dough is fococia like and thick. It is normally topped with tomato sauce and sprinkled with cheese. Never having tried tomoato pie, Tomato Pie was an obvious choice. The color scheme inside was refreshing and fun. Entering, it seemed more relaxed than I thought. You order the pizza or slices you want, they prepare it, and you pick it up. They come in the flappy paper plates you get at Costoco, but the choices of pizza they offer is amazing. And of course the taste is great as well. Honestly, I did not like the tomato pie, but I do like Tomatoe Pie.

The tomato pie was the first thing I ate, as I was excited to try it. Topped with marinara sauce, herb, and pecorinno romano cheese, it felt a bit lacking in flavor. The marinara sauce was better than most, but the lack of meat and melted cheese was too missed. Sad to say, maybe the simplicity of it all didn't do it for me. The Grandma had crushed marinated tomatoes, basil, garlic, and light mozzarella. Though simple like the tomato pie, I really liked this one. Their pizza, the triangle sliced kind, has a crust so crispy and cracker like. The robust flavors of the basil and garlic were perfect with the light mozzarella melted on top. The Prosciutto Happiness, probably my favorite of the three was an obivous one -- Prosciutto is the magic word. Having alfredo instead of marinara, it was a bit rich in taste. The fig, prosciutto, arugula, topped with a balsamic reduction was all a great combination. Prosciutto and fig is always a nice combination of sweet and salty, and the balsamic reduction gave it that nice punch.

The crispy crust and thin pizza made it easy to fold and eat. Eating tomato pie for the first time was exciting, but didn't really enjoy it. They offer a variety of different kinds of pizza, but the Gramdma and the Prosciutto Happiness is a nice starting point. Not exactly made to order, but prepared to order, everything still comes out warm and toasty. With a refreshing Light Coke and endless pizza options, Tomato Pie delivers, figuratively...

It's always more rewarding to write a great review, and it's just plain fun writing terrible reviews, but for once I have to go for a straight-even medium for this joint.

The positives: we could order online easily, and apparently online orders get priority because our food arrived 20 minutes early, piping hot. It smelled good, and tasted just as good, better than the Pizza Hut across the street but nowhere near some of the gourmet places I've tried (most of which are in Eureka, so a fat lot of good they'll do YOU).

We ordered calzones and chicken wings. I'm glad they didn't try to call them Buffalo Wings, because they weren't; but they were tasty, even with the very watery blue cheese dressing. My wife got carnitas in her calzone; the bite I tried was tasty, not even close to some of the great carnitas I've had (most of which can be found in Grand Central Market, but that's a different review), but not bad at all; after all, good carnitas doesn't grow on just ANY tree. My calzone had sausage, pepperoni, olives and sun dried tomatoes, and it was tasty... just not great.

The prices were good to begin with, but when we saw the size of our calzones I upgraded my opinion to great prices, because the calzones were monstrous. I could only eat half of mine, and I'm a tank; my wife could barely finish a fourth of hers. For ten bucks, that's a bargain.

I would recommend this joint over any of the "fast-food" pizza chains, but if you want a really good pie or calzone, you'll have to pay more (considerably more) at one of LA's finer...