Town Pizza-Closed

Town Pizza
5101 York Blvd
Los Angeles
323-344-8696

Town Pizza is a very popular pizza restaurant in Highland Park, that has been open for about a year now.  It's mainly a take-out location, though there are a few tables outside and a counter inside.  Soon, they will open their dining area.  When they first opened they only served slices.  Recently, they added whole pies, medium and large sizes, to their menu.  They do not have air conditioning, so during the summer it is hot in there!

As you can see from the above photo, it used to be Italiano's Pizza, a long time Highland Park pizza restaurant, they still have their other restaurant on Figueroa.  Town took over and painted the building red, but left the Italiano sign!  Maybe when the dining area opens, they will change the sign?

I ordered two cheese slices, $2.75 each.  The crust is usually very good, light and flaky, but anytime you order slices, you're at the mercy of how they the pie has been sitting on the counter.  The slices pictured above, I can tell that pie had been there for a long time.  The crust was too crispy.  But, the sauce is very good-light and balanced; no flavor overpowers one another, and there is a good amount of cheese.  Now, I've only had cheese slices here, but I noticed they used canned tomatoes and corn.  You can see their stockroom and they have their cans stored on a special rack.  That may bother some people.  Overall, these two slices weren't as good as other slices I've had before.  But, I like Town Pizza and now that they serve whole pies, I'll order a fresh baked pie and give an updated review.

Service is good.  I was greeted when I walked in, they were nice and friendly, and I got my slices quickly.

I'm a Town Pizza fan and I think it's much better than Maximiliano and Folliero Pizza & Italian Food, the other two Highland Park pizza restaurants I've reviewed.

Update July 11, 2016

Large fresh jalapeno and fresh mushroom, $17 plus $2 per topping.

So finally, Town Pizza has started serving whole pies!  They also opened their dining area.  I was looking forward to getting a whole pie, so on a very hot and humid summer night, I went back to Town Pizza.

If you noticed I put fresh jalapeno and fresh mushrooms.  Town Pizza has pickled jalapeno and a garlic sauteed mushroom.  The pizza is very good- good crust, good cheese, fresh topping-though they could put a bit more on the pizza.  But, something was missing.  It wasn't as great as their slices.  Maybe I've had such good pizza in the past few months because of the five places I tried on  LA Eater's 16 places to get a killer slice of pizza in Los Angele, Pie Life Pizza in Pasadena, Pizzanista, Pellicola, Joe's Pizza and Prime Pizza, that I'm judging pizza differently.

 Service was good.

I will give Town Pizza another chance. But, I was disappointed with their pizza, the first time I ordered a whole pie.  

800 Degrees Neapolitan Pizzeria-Closed

800 Degrees Neapolitan Pizzeria
2 E Colorado Blvd
Pasadena, CA
626-993-6455

Updated Review- June 28, 2017.  I went back to 800 Degrees a few times, sometimes for their daily Instagram special.  While the pizza was fine, the service went way down hill and the lack of dinners when I went, even during what should be a busy time, proved how terrible the service has become!  One time I went there and once I got to the cashier, she was texting on her phone while I was standing right in front of her!  If that isn't the worst service!  I realize people love their phones, I don't care if servers/workers in restaurants use their phone AS ALONG there isn't a customer right in front of them!  Another time, nobody was behind the counter.  I have no idea where everybody was.  But, ONE person can't be behind the counter to take the orders?  I found out this week that this location closed early in 2017.  The reason given was bad plumbing.  I'm guessing the real reason-TERRIBLE service and the owners just didn't give a damn!

800 Degrees Neapolitan Pizzeria opened their first location in Westwood.  Then they opened up other locations in Santa Monica and LAX.  They moved away from the snotty westside and opened their Pasadena location, in Old Town Pasadena.  This is another addition to the wood fire pizza places in Pasadena, that includes the already reviewed the chain- Blaze Pizza, Luggage Room and Settebello.

800 Degrees took the place of Louise's Trattoria.  This is a design your own pizza or order one of their own designer pizza.  The narrow dining room is separated from the kitchen area, but the wall makes it hard to hear them calling your number when your pizza is ready.

800 Degree has a daily special on Instagram.  The Pizza of the Day for 50% off.  There are no substitutions or deletions for the Pizza of the Day, you must get it as prepared.   The day I went it was a marinara pizza, crushed tomatoes, garlic, oregano, olive oil, with shrimp and capers, $4.05.  Listed price for the marinara is $5.55, rock shrimp-$3, and capers $1.25. 

This combo didn't would have been better with cheese.  But, the major thing is that the sauce is lacking in flavor and depth.  They could make this bolder.  The shrimp was cooked very nicely and there was a good amount.  The capers added a very nice flavor.  

But, the best part is the nice, soft, chewy dough.  Now, some parts of the pizza are burnt or chard, which I don't like and doesn't need to be there if the pizzas are rotated. 

I also designed my own pizza.  I got the margherita, $6.95, crushed tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, Parmigiano Reggiano, olive oil, and basil, with mushrooms-$1.25.  Again the sauce lacks flavor and the crust is great-though this pizza had a few more burned parts.  The toppings were fresh and flavor and the fresh mozzarella made this a very good pizza.

The main difference between 800 Degrees and Blaze is that 800 Degrees charges you for every topping, including cheese.  They do use slightly higher quality ingredients. 

Service was very good.  The people are all helpful and friendly. 

I had heard many good things about 800 Degrees.  It was good, but it wasn't the best pizza I've ever had.  I would go back, if I'm in the area but won't rush back.

Sal & Sons Pizza & Pasta-Closed

Sal & Sons Pizza & Pasta
1520 N Mountain Ave
Ste A-101
Ontario
(909) 984-2300

Yes, another review of a pizza place with Sal or Sal's in it's name!  This time it is Sal and Sons Pizza & Pasta in Ontario.  The other pizza places with Sal or Sal's in their name are, Two Sal's in Montebello-which is now closed, Sal's Pizza and Bagelry in La Verne, and Sal's Pizza in Alta Loma. I found out about Sal & Sons Pizza and Pasta from a review by David Allen.

Sal & Sons Pizza & Pasta is located in a very diverse shopping center just south of the 10 Freeway and Mountain Ave. exit.  There is also a Chinese, Mexican, and an American restaurant (A wings place called Wing Nuts.  I reviewed their Costa Mesa location, but have not been to this location) in that same shopping center.  There could be other restaurants, but those three I noticed.  Sal & Sons is a large sized, casual restaurant.  You order at the counter and they will bring your food to your table.  I was surprised how busy they were at about 3pm on a Sunday afternoon.

 

Sicilian two topping- mushrooms and jalapenos, $24.46.  This pizza had 16 slices, with lots of cheese and a mild tasting sauce.  There was a decent amount of toppings and the toppings were pretty fresh.  But, the crust was the worst part of the pizza.  The crust was too crispy for the slices from the sides and the slices from the middle were soggy.  

Service was good.  The lady was friendly and helpful.  But, one interesting thing about Sal & Sons is they consider toppings like broccoli and spinach as two toppings.  Not sure why because mushrooms are more expensive at the supermarket than broccoli and spinach!  

Standing on a soapbox now:  This is something I don't understand about the pricing at pizza places.  If you order a veggie pizza, the veggies are what the restaurant decides-most have mushrooms, bell peppers, olives and tomatoes.  Well, if most toppings are priced the same, why can't a customer substitute any of the toppings?  Say instead of olives, you want jalapenos?  I mean if you delete a topping they still charge you the same price.  So why not allow the customers to substitute a different veggie topping on a veggie pizza?

I thought Sal & Sons was ok.  Maybe their regular pizza is better, but I don't think I'll be back any time soon.

Warszawa-Closed

Warszawa
1414 Lincoln Blvd
Santa Monica
310-393-8831

Yes, there are two reviews in one week on The New Diner!  Hope you enjoy!

I always wanted to compare the two Polish restaurants, Polka Polish Restaurant, and Warszawa in Santa Monica, in the LA area.  I finally made it Warszawa about three weeks ago, without a camera.  I wasn't that impressed with the food, but a friend invited me back for dinner, so I went to take pictures.

Located at the corner of Santa Monica Blvd and Lincoln Ave, Warszawa has been in business for 35 years!  Warszawa is a little more upscale and bigger than Polka.  It's really an old house converted into a restaurant.  I believe there is a bar at the very back, but I've only been in the dining area.

Campari tomatoes, grilled mushrooms, goat cheese salad, $8.  A good, refreshing salad with fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, goat cheese, and romaine lettuce.  But, it was mostly lettuce and small amounts of mushrooms and goat cheese.  A bit overpriced, but this is Santa Monica.

Steamed wild mushroom and shredded cabbage pierogi, $5, as an appetizer.  You get two pierogies per order and a choice between steamed and fried.  A dinner portion is $17 with six pierogies and veggies and potatoes.  The pierogies are much smaller than Polka.  They were very bland and lacked flavor.

Service by the server was very good.  She was nice, helpful, and cared about providing good service.  But, a few minutes after getting our food, the hostess brought the check to our table.  When the server came by, she apologized for the error.  It wasn't a big deal- even though the hostess didn't say anything (Thank you?) when dropping off the check.

Warszawa is very average,  I really doubt I would go back!  I much prefer Polka, and think they are the best Polish restaurant in LA.