By Dennis Chu on May 30, 2011 • ( 1 Comment )

TOMMY’S COAL FIRED PIZZA

Address: 2 Bridge Avenue, Red Bank, NJ 07701

Today, my friends and I decided to go out to Red Bank and try out a new restaurant. We had originally decided to go try another restaurant, but after reading some negative reviews for it, we decided to head over to Tommy’s Coal Fired Pizza in The Galleria instead. In all the time that The Galleria has been opened, I actually have never been to one of the restaurants located inside it; today was an opportunity to change that and I think that we made a really great decision.

The restaurant has areas for both indoor and outdoor dining, but today it was pretty hot outside so we decided to stay inside. The interior is really nicely decorated, and you can see the coal fire oven immediately when you walk in on the right-hand side. There is a large dining area, accompanied by a bar and lounge area as well with TVs on the walls, making it a great place if you want to stop by to watch some sports over some food and drink. The waitress was very quick to attend to us after we were seated and we got our drinks settled in.

My friends and I decided to split one of their specialty pies, the “Mr C.’s Marsala Pie,” which came topped with chicken bits, mushrooms, cheese, and spices. The coal fired cooking technique definitely differentiated the pizza from other places in the area, and everything on the pizza tasted really fresh and delicious. I was surprised with the crust, which was crunchy on the outside, but the dough was still soft on the inside. Overall, it was a great experience that the three of us had at Tommy’s and I will be sure to go back again for some great pizza.

Here are my rankings for Tommy’s Coal Fired Pizza:

Food: 5 / 5
Pizza was hot, ingredients all tasted fresh and delicious. The menu did have a nice variety of other items as well, but it was clear that Tommy’s was showcasing their pizzas as their main offerings, which is excellent in my opinion.

Atmosphere: 5 / 5
The restaurant was decorated really nicely on the inside, and having the open kitchen at the front made the smell of the pizza really drift around the dining room.

Service: 4.5 / 5
Our waitress was very courteous and came back to check up on us several times throughout our meal.

Price: 4 / 5
As with most pizza places, the prices for pizzas (specialty, especially) ran a bit on the higher end, but if you end up splitting a pizza with multiple people the price is pretty reasonable.

Overall: 18.5 / 20 (93%)