The Good Pizza

all these stars and yet The Good Pizza went Good Bye… makes me wonder who was right

I have never had a bad pizza until now. The first delivery of pizza was uncooked and burned on the outside. They also forgot any forks for the salad and condiments that we had asked for. We sent it back and they were generous enough to make a second delivery that was also completely uncooked in the center. I believe this business changed owners because the menu was different from the one posted online and this is not the same place that once received spectacular reviews. Also beware the name has changed and this appears to be a different business all together.

First of all, I must note this was the best experience I’ve had in ordering a pizza and having one delivered, ever. The person who took my order was pleasant to talk to, took the time to listen, made recommendations, and confirmed what I ordered. Sure beats the «authentic NY style» shouting you get from the other places.
Now, on to the pizza. In the mid-​late 1990s, Pedone’s ruled, but, after their service became abysmal, their pizza followed (are they using frozen crust?). We moved on to Paisano’s, which is absolutely delicious, but, lets just say it doesn’t agree with me (I stopped by their restaurant last week just to check their health department rating– they apparently got an «A», so I can’t explain it.)
So, I was very excited to see the great reviews for the Good Pizza & my wife and I decided to try it.
It showed up very quickly, was hot, and passed the «looks right» test with a 7.5 out of 10. The crust was a little flat and the cheese a little lacking. But the proof is in the consistency and taste.
The consistency was quite good, better than expected from looking at the crust. But the taste– it was almost right, but there was an underlying bitterness which really took away from the experience. We were discussing what it might be. My wife thought that the crust was spoiled. My guess is that there may have been too much of a carbon taste from the oven, and the crust recipe was off (One thing I’ve learned from perfecting my own pizza at home– crust is flour, water, salt, and very little yeast. PLEASE do not add anything else, or use whole grain wheat. It ruins the pizza.)
We finished the entire pie, despite the off taste, and may try it again soon to see if it is any better. I think they have the potential to make something great– if they could only work out the kinks.
…and, I felt GREAT after eating it! Take that, Paisano’s!

Some amazing pizza, and the chef hooks it up and is really nice and talks to you.
Def recommend this place for anyone, everything I have had here is good!
The only thing that defeats the purpose of Unilocal is that they will try to alter their Unilocal score and ask you to rate them well and bribed me with food. I don’t mind the free food and being extra nice to ensure we rated them well, but it probably has gotten them unfair extra stars.

Here are my qualifications as a credible reviewer of Pizza;
1. I’m 100% Italian, Second Generation (Not the Jersey Shore kind)
2. I grew up in New York
3. I was super poor in college. Pizza was a food group.
This being said, I am so glad to have found this place. Their Pizza was fresh and delicious– perfect crust, fresh toppings, homemade sauces. The pesto is delicious, high quality cheeses! The staff was incredibly friendly. We can’t wait to try other things next time.
So, as an East Coaster in LA I can no longer complain about lack of quality pizza! Luckily there are plenty of other things to complain about, such as bad drivers and traffic.

South Bay residents: if you are originally from the Northeast, or even Italy, and you want some real deal pizza, trust me — this is your new favorite pizza shop! Sorry Pedones (Redondo), I still love you, but this pizza can run laps around anything else I’ve tasted in LA to date. I am happy to say that now I don’t have any reason to move back to NJ! This pizza place is probably one of the best things to happen to Pizza/​Italian food since it made its way to the west coast.
I’ve passed this place a few times, and it used to be a phony pizza shop (you know, one with a conveyer belt oven) so I never gave it any thought until a co-​worker sent me a review on the new «The Good Pizza»… so I decided to check this place out for lunch. Test 1 — real pizza oven: Check. Test 2 — Crust: cooked perfectly, crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside (like real pizza should be), and slightly burnt in just a few key areas to add that pizza oven taste. Test 3 — Sauce: pretty great — not that fake Italian sauce that you’ll find at other places. I can stop here already… This pizza was amazing good! They used the right amount of cheese too, and they had an extensive selection of toppings that should make anyone happy.
Lunch specials are a pretty good deal: 2 cheese slices and a drink for $ 5, 2 slices with any toppings and a drink for $ 7, or 1 slice and a salad and a drink for $ 8. The restaurant also serves appetizers, salads, pastas, and sandwiches… which I will defiantly be trying on future visits. The owners are pretty awesome too– they stopped by to talk to me and my buddy for a few minutes and told us about themselves and their backgrounds. Thank God some authentic Italian food finally made its way to the South Bay! Don’t just take my word for it — get out there and try some amazing pizza.

If they can get their coupons figured out, I will definitely be back. Oh how I am thinking about that pesto pizza… yummo.

I started going to The Good Pizza in Westchester, and it was absolute heaven. I lamented that there wasn’t similarly good pizza near my neighborhood, then lo and behold, they opened a Hermosa location. The place is so good I had to open a Unilocal account and share!
Delicious pizza with a crsipy crust, great sauce, and the right cheese, all in the correct proportions (nothing worse than sauce squishing out the sides). The toppings are all high quality and delicious, but the cheese pie (Margherita) is my favorite, with the Prosciutto e Funghi coming in second. The pizzas are perfect and reasonably priced.
I go there so often that I have even been able to sample some of their other menu items, despite the gravitational pull of the pizza. The Lobster Ravioli is ridiculously good, in a tasty sauce and sprinkled with chunks of shrimp. The Gnocchi Bolognese was also delicious. The Spaghetti and Meatballs is very good, with giant meatballs. I have also had their sandwiches, which are huge and made from the same dough as their great pizza crust. The Panino al Pollo is a fantastic combo of chicken, zucchini, peppers, and cheese, but I have a tough time coming back to it because the pizza and pasta get jealous if I stray.
The salads are great and allow me to pretend I am being somewhat healthy — the Elena is my favorite (great combo of ingredients), and the Mediterranea is good too. I add chicken to both — the grilled chicken is quite flavorful — but it tends to make the salads a little spendy.
For deserts, I tried and loved the cheesecake — it is different and lighter than New York style. But nothing can beat the ridiculous chocolate pizza. Did I say chocolate pizza? Why yes, I did! Unfortunately it’s big, so you can only get it when there are enough people to share and you saved enough room after all the pizza, pasta and salad.
I hope you guys enjoy the place. The owner/​chef Nando is super nice and friendly, as is the co-​owner Carlos, and the location manager Francesco. They make you feel like family. And just like real family, one of the main reasons to go home is the great home-​made cooking!

First off, I kinda feel all warm and fuzzy inside to be the first elite to review this place, yay for me!
After noticing the «What’s Hot on Unilocal» area on the homepage featuring «The Good Pizza» over and over and over and over and well, over again I finally made the short trip up the street to see what all the fuss was about.
So on a Tuesday around 1:30 pm I step foot into the small, empty parlor. Gigantic signs featuring «5 DOLLAR LUNCH SPECIAL» are blowing in the wind outside as I am greeted very warmly by the staff.
Almost a little too warmly, buy hey then again maybe I’ve just become too much of a city asshole.
Not to my surprise there isn’t much going on, nor are there any many pizzas to choose from. Actually, there were 3: Pepperoni, Mushroom and Prosciutto and Pesto Chicken which all believe it or not looked like they had been sitting out for several hours…
I thought this was a FRESH pizza place as the other 9 reviewers boasted about… hmmmmmm
Okay so I ordered up a slice of pepperoni and the mushroom and prosciutto (because that just sounded cool), then sat down to have conversation with the staff. Again, whom came off very warm and friendly… almost like you had known them for several years.
Strange for this city IMO.
My pizza comes out of the oven and I can’t lie on here Unilocal,looks pretty disgusting. Let’s start with the mushroom and prosciutto which had a «quad-​colore» theme going that didn’t seem to be very appealing to my eye. Perhaps it was just the pink with brown and yellow and orange mix going on, beats me but as far as the taste went… blah to the blah-​n-​da.
The Pepperoni was another story, and I do recall a couple reviews noting how the pizza WASN’T greasy.
Well, I don’t personally know what that individual could have possibly ordered because I experienced much different… with both slices.
My pizza was swimming in grease, just as bad if not much worse than Pedone’s and Paisano’s. Literally it took me about 5 napkins plus (per slice) to soak it all up.
The flavor on the pepperoni was good, I’ll give it that, but it was just another NY style pizza experience.
I came here for fresh Italian pizza like everyone said they featured.
To those of you who have ACTUALLY been to Italy and had pizza you should know what I’m talking about… less focus on cheese MORE focus on perfect tomatoes.
And ZERO grease.
I’m disappointed, I’m sorry Good Pizza but you really weren’t all that good.

Chef Nando is incredible. Not only does he make the best pizza I have ever had, everything on his menu is very, very good. The place is small and has only a few tables, but this is about the food. Nando trained all over western Europe and has been a chef at several high-​end westside eateries until opening The Good Pizza.
The pizza is the best. The crust is medium-​thin and crispy, yet full and chewy and very flavorful. The toppings are all top notch, such as Nando’s very own homemade meatballs, the all-​beef pepperoni, the incredible smoked mozzarella, etc. The pasta’s are a must try as well.
If you like food, you owe it to yourself to check out The Good Pizza. If you are a foodie like my wife and me, bring a nice bottle of wine, sit down at one of the tables and say «Nando feed us!» Trust me, you will not be disappointed.

Well there I was noontime in Hermosa Beach and hungry.
I figured I’d get my standard quick lunch fron 7/​11, a hot dog, chips and a drink! Can’t beat it for under a $ 5 bucks!
When I parked I was sitting in front of «The Good Pizza» and said myself «self, read about this place on Unilocal!»
I ordered the Fettucini with meatsauce to go and a slice of pepperoni to nosh on while I waited.
While waiting and eating this piece of heaven pizza I chatted with Carlos about this and that, about their other place in Westchester.
When I got home dove into my pasta, muy bueno!
I’ll be back, il mio amico!

Just my luck I moved out of Hermosa Beach the week before this place opened up. The corner of 5^th and PCH has a cluster of pretty decent restaurants, and TGP fits right in there. Easily the best pizza in the neighborhood, maybe even in Hermosa Beach. I’ve now tried the Pepperoni, the Salsiccia, the Pesto Pizza Bianca, and the Prosciutto y Funghi (on two separate lunch breaks). That’s pepperoni, sausage, pesto & ricotta, and prosciutto & mushroom. They’re all terrific, but I highly recommend the prosciutto and mushroom.

The Good Pizza is SO fresh and not greasy. I don’t feel bad even after eating a meatball and pepperoni slice!!! Even the pickiest of eaters can appreciate the sauce. It does not have the after taste that Dominoes and other pizzas have… i. e… makes you feel like you ingested a cardboard box.

I have only been to this place once but it is super good!!! I will definitely go back. The Pizza is delish. The employees are soo presonable! They made me smile after a long day and also made my belly very happy.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this place! We walk to the Westchester location as often as possible. My favorite is the Pesto Bianca.
I did have a salad once that seemed a bit overpriced for what I got, but haven’t checked it again since to see if that had changed.
We love Nando and Carlos and they are so great to our family, especially friendly to my kids. That says a lot about their work as business owners and I’m happy to support any location of this wonderful team.
My son calls it «The GREAT Pizza» !

This really is actually really good pizza, the sauce was delish, fresh tasting cheese, the crust was not thin nor thick all organic ingredients. There is only one size «Big» which is more than enough to feed 4 hungry people. Chef Nando was a complete pleasure to meet. Can’t wait to try his salads.

Unilocal is awesome!!! Thanks to Unilocalers like Brittany S for posting grand opening events, I got to try some wonderful pizza and a glass of yummy sangria for lunch sunday– all for FREE!!!
Great authentic italian eats from a real Neapolitan chef!!! I got to sample some great pizza– (a pepperoni one and a fun BBQ one with french fries on it!!!), lovely panzarotto (the bf loved these potato snacks) and a really awesome salad. i love cranberries and walnuts in my salad and their salad dressing was perfectly tangy and sweet!
i grabbed a menu to go on the way out— they have a nice variety of pizzas, salads, apps, pasta, paninis and desserts! next time i am getting a dessert chocolate pizza!!!