Tony's Coal Fired Pizza & Slice House
Tony Gemignani lit a coal oven at 1556 Stockton eight months after opening his Neapolitan room next door, and it turns out 20-inch New York and New Haven pies cut into slices you eat off a paper plate.1
Why go
Gemignani bought the old La Spiaggia and Palermo's deli space to cover what Tony's Pizza Napoletana could not, and he says so plainly: Fast-casual, quick and easy, by the slice, subs. Everything that Tony's wasn't.
1 He wanted New York and New Haven pies, which means coal, and he describes his as the only coal-fired oven in Northern California when it went in.1 Slices come off 20-inch pies onto wax paper and paper plates, so the whole transaction takes about ninety seconds.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the margherita. Jeff's line on it, after five stars in June 2017, is
Don't miss the Margherita.
3 The New York slice is the house format, and the counter also runs subs, which is the half of the menu Gemignani built this door for.1 - Avoid: walking into the wrong door and telling people you ate the other thing. The wood-fired Neapolitan program is at 1570 Stockton under the Tony's Pizza Napoletana name. This address is the coal oven.2
What locals & experts say
- Jeff (first-hand), 29 June 2017, five stars:
Some of the best pizza in SF, perhaps the world. Tony is the world pizza champion and it shows. Great NY slices from Slice House and authentic Italian style pies from Tony's. Don't miss the Margherita.
3 - The record is thin past that. Nobody with a byline has reviewed 1556 Stockton on its own. The reviews on this block are all of the Neapolitan room next door.
Good to know
- Which door: 1556 Stockton St. Tony's Pizza Napoletana is a separate premises at 1570 Stockton and is not the shop on this page.2
- Format: counter service, walk in, slices by the slice. No booking.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Order:
Don't miss the Margherita.
3
Verdict
should-visit — Jeff rated this door five stars in June 2017 and called the margherita a can't-miss, and the room exists because Gemignani wanted a format his flagship could not run: a coal oven, 20-inch pies, slices on a paper plate. That is a specific piece of cooking rather than an overflow counter, and the price makes it a stop rather than a plan. It stops short of must-visit because no bylined critic has written about this address; the reviews on this block are all of the Neapolitan room next door.