Tommy's Pizza

Another old school, hole-in-the-wall pizzeria in the Bronx that locals say is the best around, similar to the way they worship Louie & Ernie’s. The pizza here is very simple, very plain, no gimmicks, nothing fancy, no nonsense. The dough is cooked well, minimal flop, not soggy at all thanks to the corn meal undercarriage, highlighted by a delightfully crispy crust. This is top tier texture in the dough department; unfortunately, it falls a little flat on taste. This doesn’t have that distinguishing flavor that most dough made in NYC has that gives it the advantage over generic dough from other areas. This is truly a plain cheese pizza, plain being the operative word, as the other ingredients left me searching for a distinct taste. The sauce is a little low in quantity, rather light and nondescript flavor. The cheese is a generic, standard issue, boring blend. I had to throw on some garlic powder and crushed red pepper to draw out some flavor from each slice. Locals boast this is best in the Borough; but this is basic Bronx pizza at best. This is a classic matchup of texture vs taste. The texture is outstanding, low to mid 8s; but the taste leaves a lot to be desired, low 7s. By no means is this bad pizza; it’s just not travel-worthy or worth bragging about, 7.6 is a very fair score. In the Battle of the Boroughs, the Bronx needs to step its pizza game up if they wanna be able to hang with Brooklyn pies.