Recently I had the privilege or grabbing a few slices with the Rochester Pizza Guy. He is a pizza reviewer (blogger) that covers most of the Rochester, Buffalo region. He shares the same passion as I do, and that is finding the best pizza around, while helping others avoid getting bad slices of pizza. I knew I could trust him to guide me to the best pizza in Rochester, NY, and boy am I glad I did. Not only did he guide me to Tony D's Pizza in Rochester, after my close friend Herb texted me the recommendation, but he also came and enjoyed the pizza with me. I will cover some of the other spots he took me to, which weren't as awesome as Tony D's, but I figured I would start with the best I had in the city first.

As the Rochester Pizza Guy points out in a post about our outings, some reviewers are tougher than others, and each of us have different tastes in the pizza we like. Most of the time we will all agree on the greats, but when it comes to local places you grew up eating at, it is hard to stay unbiased. For some reason we all love the places that are in our fondest memories. So when it comes to reading reviews about local places the Rochester Pizza Guy eats at and likes, it is hard for me to give the same opinion as he might, since he is judging all other pizzas on what he considers the best in Rochester, which could be quite different than the best pizza in NYC, or Rome etc. We will shed more light on this when we review the other places he took me to around the greater Rochester area.

Tony D's Pizza on Exchange Blvd. was the second place we tried after I landed in Rochester. It was a short walk from the Hotel, but with the inclement weather, it felt like an eternity. Luckily the Rochester Pizza Guy was fun to converse with on the way. After feeling like I just took a cold, frigid shower, and stepping into puddles ankle deep, we finally arrived at this trendy looking place named Tony D's Pizza. Most of Rochester in the downtown area I was staying, seemed dead. Outside of one street which seemed to hold most of the bars in town, Rochester seems like dull city, maybe it is because of that murder rate! Tony D's wasn't dead at all, even on this Tuesday night. When we walked in, we were greeted by the smile of a cute hostess, who informed us there would be a 20-30 minute wait for a regular table, or we could sit at the pizza counter now. Duh....of course I would want to sit at the pizza counter, I would rather wait to eat there, so I was psyched to sit and watch pizza being made while eating some. I ordered their basic pie (I did put some oil and garlic on it since it looked so good on the counter) and began to wait. Normally a pizza in this style oven should take about 5 minutes, but I guess with the backup of orders, due to the high number of patrons eating there, ours got delayed. Took about 15 minutes. We began speaking with their chef, who explained that they use Coal mixed with Oak Wood to burn in their oven. This is a nice mix, and usually makes for a nice taste.

When the pizza was served to me I could tell they love bubbles and do not believe in popping them. I guess they feel it gives that authentic feel to their pies. Personally I am not a big fan of bubbles, so I was uncertain how the pizza would taste. My first bite was incredible. The crust tasted outrageous,with a thin coating of some sweet tasting homemade sauce, that they leave out there on the counter for everyone to see. The fresh tasting mozz cheese was generously applied and managed not to weigh the pie down. The crust was a bit flimsy though, and was lacking a certain crisp I had expected from this oven. Even with the uncrisp bottom, it held up with the heavy toppings of cheese and sauce.

Tony D's Pizza should serve as a lesson to many of the other new wood/coal oven pizza places. For $8.00, yes you heard me, only $8.00, they manage to give one of the best pies around. Stop ripping your customers off by charging more. There is a reason Tony D's Pizza was jammed, while most other places around the downton Rochester area were dead. They give amazing quality with fair pricing. Nice going guys.

Tony D's Pizza in Rochester gets 7 out of 8 slices.