Nizario's Pizza Geary Blvd — Restaurant in San Francisco

This is a five star review specifically for the service and the California pizza.

Take out pizza is an art different from the high end, bougie world of wood-fired, thin crust, blistered pizzas served with trending toppings. Take-out pizza is soul food; a nourishment for the body and spirit that takes you back to early adolescence treats, or maybe your first street-slice. Take-out pizza is not high cuisine, but it sure as hell can be high art, and Nizario’s California pizza is just that.

Forgoing a preponderance of traditional marina base, the mozzarella on this pizza sits above and intermingled with a bright pesto sauce, that adds rich, healthy green to each appealing slice. Nestled in the melted mozzarella lay slightly charred poniards of chicken, whose crisp, succulent releases of sabor are accented by the accompanying feta cheese, which thoughtfully balances the crescendo of flavor. The crust itself is mid-depth, with enough structure to confidently carry a generous load of deliciousness, and which is punctuated by an airy crunch. The subtle crunch at the bottom-most layer of the crust that belies it’s oven baked method and is pure pizza magic (surely something that tasty and crisp is fried)! Lastly, for me, no take-out pizza is complete without a liberal dosing of parmesan and chili flakes; they tie together the whole experience... but season as you wish, knowing this is my recommendation. Ranch as a dip for your crust ends is obviously also a plus. This is the kind of pizza where you will almost always indulge in that extra “should I, shouldn’t I” slice... because, you should! Your soul need it!

The OG Nizario himself is often working at this location of the SF franchise, and the wall has a recent mural to his minor pizza kingdom’s 27 year history. In my opinion, the kindness if his team’s service, and the excellence of the appropriately named California pizza are the crown jewels in their reign.

Cheers to them both! Support your local take-out,...

The night is young. I hop on Yelp (as I always do) and look for the nearest bar scene. Call an Uber because I'm there's no way I'm driving home tonight. Find a quaint little neighborhood bar called NorthStar Cafe in Telegraph Hill. Dance battles occur and witty banter with the locals. Lots of drinks happen...tequila shots, beers on draft, Guinness, more tequila shots. It's getting blurry. Get to the jukebox, throw on some Journey, Don't Stop Believin' of course. It's closing time, super wasted. Jump in another Uber,"take me to get pizza..." He drives 2 blocks down, lol. Drops us off on a corner and points to a flickering neon light..."Nizario's Pizza By the Slice".

Ninja Turtle Pizza

You can't go wrong with it. It's so perfectly greasy to cure my drunkness and soak up the alcohol. Cheese oozing off of it just like in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I take a bit out of it and pure bliss. Hardly hold my hand steady enough to...

It was 10:50 and I was walking the street incredibly hungry looking for something to eat— then I passed by the front and Mr. Nizario was obviously closing down. I was hesitant about coming inside, but then he, with a warm smile, invited me in “Come in, come in, what can I do for you?”

After he served me, we had a great conversation about how San Francisco is and was. This man is so incredibly wholesome, sweet, and charismatic, I loved every moment speaking to him. At the end, he offered me complimentary water— and that bottle of water made my night.

Thank you Mr. Nizario for making me feel welcome, and serving me the most delicious pizza I’ve had...