Tony's Pizza Napoletana

San Francisco, CA

Tony's Pizza Napoletana has been opened a short time but already has a huge fanfare on Yelp. Famous for his Margherita pizza, a 2007 World Pizza Cup Winner in Naples, Italy, Tony Geminani's North Beach pizzeria features a large selection of authentic Italian pies with organic ingredients. Arriving at noon exactly when they open, we lucked out since there was only one outdoor table left on a beautiful sunny 70 degree Saturday in the city. We started with a Peroni (on tap) and house specialty iced tea (weird herb flavored). From the rave reviews online, we came prepared to order their Italian meatballs, the famous Margherita and decided on the clam and garlic pizza upon arrival. 

Bread and Olive Oils

We started off with some bread and olive oil, decent bread paired with very good olive oil. 

Meatballs

The three large baseball sized meatballs ($5) were drenched in an excellent marinara sauce. 

Margherita - 2007 World Pizza Cup Winner, Naples Italy

The Margherita pizza ($19) was up next, piping hot out of the oven. We're not huge margherita fans because usually they're boring, but this one was very impressive. There were layers of flavor behind the tart, tomato base, great snap to the mozzarella and a tasty, chewy crust. I've never had a margherita like it and it was very good. I still prefer a pizza from Mozza or Cheeseboard, but Tony's pizza did live up to the hype.

Clam & Garlic Pizza

Next up was the clam and garlic pizza ($21), also very good. The crust was thin and not as good as the margherita, but the clams....WOW. I've never had so many clams on a pizza before, each bite had a minimum of five clams. Also, the presentation of a shelled clam on each slice was a nice touch. The cheese was really good, combined with the dice garlic and roasted cloves, it was another enjoyable winner. 

My only complaint was that the pizzas came out together, and as they cooled, the pizzas weren't nearly as good. The service has also been subjects of complaints on yelp, but we found ours solid. Also, it was a pretty pricey lunch, with the pizzas were about 12 inches in diameter, six slices each. We weren't disappointed and glad we found another good place to enjoy pizza with Shaddy in the city.

Rating 7.5/10

November 13, 2010

Shaddy Approved