Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, San Francisco

Reviewer: Foodnut.com Tony's Pizza Napoletana 1570 Stockton St. (At Union) San Francisco, CA 94133 415-835-9888 Tony's Pizza Napoletana Website

Tony’s Pizza Napoletana is a popular San Francisco North Beach restaurant from Tony Gemignani, 9 time Champion Pizza Tosser, certified pizziaolo. It first opened in 2009. He also runs a the International School of Pizza next door. He is well qualified to make a great authentic pizza! Also part of his empire, the “to go” oriented Tony’s Coal Fired Pizza and Slice House next door, Slice house at Oracle Park, and Italian Restaurant Capo.

They serve 4 types of pizza, STG Pizza Napoletana from the 900 degree wood fired oven, Classic Italian from a Domed Brick oven, Classic American from a NY Flat Top Brick oven, and Teglia/Sicilian style from a Italian Brick Oven. Many Ingredients are imported from Italy. They also serve pasta, salads, and antipasti.

Our last visit was in the Summer of 2022.  The place is super busy, with tons of tourists in line.  Pizza quality had fallen.

Decor, Vibe – Tony’s Pizza Napoletana in SF has old hardwood floors, baffled ceiling, decorations from the first pizzeria in Naples, four pizza ovens (one is wood burning). Families were dining as were couples and tourists. This place was extremely busy on our last visit, with the lines starting before they open the doors.

Pizza Making

Tony at Work.

Tony’s Pizza Menu Pictures (Click to zoom into any picture)

Website Tony’s Pizza Napoleta Menu

Tony’s Pizza Picks:

Mojito ($15) was strong and balanced, wow they know how to make cocktails.

Napoletana – Margherita pizza ($25) cooked in 900 degree wood fired oven. World Cup Winner Naples Italy 2007.  Limited to 73 per day, Rustic Medium Crust, dough mixed by hand using San Felice flour then proofed in Neopolitan wood boxes, San Marzano Tomatoes, DOP, Sea Salt, Mozzarella Fior di Latte, Fresh Basil, Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Campania. You can see the experts make and cook this pie in the dining room. Wow a must order!  In 2019, we found this pizza a bit under-cooked.  Call it reduced quality control with the place so crazy busy.

Tony explained that this was authentic and designed for folding over. Actually, they use a fork and knife in Naples.. The cheese was very good and mild. No sogginess here but no extra thin crunchy crust either. Chewy side crust, not too charred expect for the bottom. Rich decadent cheese.

Compared to the real deal in Naples, Italy, this pizza was fairly close but lacked some of the sogginess in the middle as well as the intense flavors of the authentic margheritas at places like Starita and Da Michele. This is about as close as it gets without flying to Italy.

Classic American Pizza – Americano ($25) cooked with 550 degree gas NY flat top brick oven. Hand crushed, slightly sweet tomato sauce, and a hand tossed rustic medium crust. Mozzarella, pepperoni, salami, mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, black olives, italian sausage, linguica, bacon, cherry tomatoes, scallions is clearly a big meaty American style pie.  Lots of meat, lots of sliced cherry tomatoes, a much more crispier crust.  Good stuff, but we’ll take the thinner Italian pies.

Detroit – Motorhead ($39) 535 degrees – red top with pepperoni, salami,
mushroom, smoked applewood, bacon, sausage, ricotta, basil. We are big fans of Square Pie Guys Detroit style pizza, so we had to compare!  Tony’s Detroit is more fluffy with a nice crisp edge.  The top is slathered in tomato sauce, very messy.  Akin to a Chicago style pizza on top of thick dough. While decent, we’ll stick to Square pie guys. 7.5/10

Coal Fired New Yorker ($34) 16incher, 1000 degree, gold medal winner Las Vegas.  Mozzarella, hand crushed tomato sauce, natural casing pepperoni, sliced Italian fennel sausage, calabrese sausage, ricotta, chopped garlic & oregano. A big change from the margherita, meaty, thicky, a little greasy, everything people like in a pizza.

Classic Italian California Italia ($29) cooked in 650 degree gas domed oven. Vine-ripened tomato sauce and a hand tossed rustic medium crust. Gold Medal Winner on Food Network Pizza Champions Challenge!  Asiago, mozzarella, italian gorgonzola, croatian sweet fig preserve, prosciutto di parma, parmigiano, balsamic reduction, no sauce made for a modern pizza that was awesome. Crispy crust, spectacular edge with plenty of sweet – savory action. Perfect crust edge.

Scarola con Pancetta pizza ($17) Rustic Medium Crust, Crushed red pepper, Mozzarella, Pancetta, Peppered Goat Cheese, Escarole, Sweet Piquante Pappers was recommended by the waiter. Same crust as the Margherita, a sprinkling of bacon and lots of greens. A good pizza with decent flavor although we should have tried a different style pizza.

Mac and Cheese ($7 Kids) was excellent with strong cheese flavor.

OK:

Ravioli ($7 Kids) was deep fried to a golden brown and served with dipping sauce. Nice crunchy texture although classic style would have been better for us.

Pans:
Tartufo Pizza ($28) with white truffle oil, pancetta in 2019 was underdone and has a bit of truffle essence. We should have sent it back.  The neighboring table had an issue with their Margherita.

Tony’s Pizza Conclusion

Tony’s Pizza Napoletana is truly a serious pizza restaurant with all the different styles. His team were checking with us during our meal with regular intensity. They serve up some very authentic pizza and quite a few varieties. It is hard to compare with other restaurants as most pizzas are not as authentic as Tony’s. We like the thin crunchy pizza crust of Dopo and Gialina, but authenticity suffers.  We have dined here when it first opened in 2009 and over the years sign then.  Unfortunately Quality has slacked off as the crowds have grown on our last 2 visits in 2019.

Tony explained to us that the Classic Italian or American would be crunchier than the STG Pizza Napoletana. We would definitely be back to Tony’s Pizza Napoletana try some of the other pizzas. Kid’s menu available. 3 page wine list with wines by the glass from $7, bottles from $34.

Restaurant Map: