The First West Coast Pizzeria Is Still Serving Slices In San Francisco

If you're in the North Beach area and find yourself craving a slice, you're going to be met with tons of options. This Italian neighborhood is full of eateries serving up pasta, pizza, and Italian desserts, but there's one place you shouldn't skip. If you go to Kearny Street, you'll spot a building with a green-painted facade and a sign that says Tommaso's. It may look unassuming, but you've just found the oldest pizzeria not only in San Francisco but on the entire West Coast.

Upon entering, you're met with a cozy, homey ambiance that includes a communal table in the center and small booths along the walls. For decoration, Tommaso's displays historic photos and murals of the Italian shoreline, which have been preserved for decades. In the back, you may see the crackle of fire in a brick oven with pizzas flying in and out, their aroma intoxicating and inviting.

But the pizzas themselves are the true stars. Whether you want clams and garlic for a unique San Francisco taste or the Red, White, and Green pizza featuring red sauce, mozzarella, pesto, and stracciatella, you'll get hand-made dough cooked in a wood-fired oven. With a 4.3-star rating on Yelp, customers sing its praises. One reviewer put it well, saying, "This restaurant is a San Francisco landmark. It's been my favorite pizza for 40 years. A warm, inviting atmosphere. The food is authentic, delicious, and memorable." Another customer on Reddit stated, "I've been going to Tommaso's literally my entire life. Some of my earliest memories are at that restaurant."

Although pizza first came to America and stole our hearts by way of the East Coast, the story of Tommaso's begins in 1935. The Cantalupo family came from Naples, Italy, and brought an oak-burning brick oven with them. That oven was the first of its kind to grace San Francisco. The restaurant's original name was Lupo's, and it remained that way for decades. When the family sold in 1971, it was to their longtime Chinese head chef, Tommy Chin. Chin decided to rename the place but did so with an Italianized version of his own name. Thus, Tommaso's became the official title.

Chin, too, passed along the original recipes when he sold to the Crotti family. For 51 years, the Crottis did everything from making homemade pasta to waiting tables until at last Tommaso's came to rest in the hands of Maureen "Mo" Donegan. She's lovingly kept the same recipes and techniques, meaning all pizzas are still cooked in the original oven. Tommaso's refers to it as "the heartbeat of our kitchen" — that oven certainly helped land the restaurant a spot in the Pizza Hall of Fame and gain famous customers like George Lucas and Robert Duvall.

If you're looking to visit, there are a few things to know. Tommaso's is only open for dinner and is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Despite being small, it doesn't offer reservations, so showing up right at opening is the best way to secure your spot without a wait. If there is a wait, though, the food is worth it, especially considering you're eating a slice of history at one of the best pizzerias in San Francisco.