Matthew's Pizza, Highlandtown

[synaesthesia]

Has anyone been to Matthew's? Someone told me that they have the best pizza in Baltimore.

[DonRocks]

synaesthesia said:

Has anyone been to Matthew's? Someone told me that they have the best pizza in Baltimore.

Gee you'd never know it from their website! 

[synaesthesia]

DonRocks said:

Gee you'd never know it from their website!

They set the record for having more patting on the back on their menu than actual menu items.

[cjsadler]

synaesthesia said:

Has anyone been to Matthew's? Someone told me that they have the best pizza in Baltimore.

You call yourself the Original Baltimoron and you've never been to Matthew's? For shame! Yeah, I'd say it's the best in Baltimore. I'm not sure what style of pizza it is supposed to be, as it's not like anything I've had elsewhere, but their signature Tomato Pie is very tasty. In fact, I would love to eat a slice right now. It's a deep dish crust baked with a good bit of olive oil in the pan, topped with chopped tomato and just a bit of grated parmesian (the cheese is optional, but get it).

[Whitemarshjohnny]

I went to Matthew's for lunch with my neighbor to see if they really did have "Baltimore's best pizza". The pizza was great, although the Waitress failed to tell us that a "large" is about the size that one person normally eats. I have eaten many a pizza and trust me - Mattthew's is a winner. It's sort of a thin crust - cooked at a very high temperature - sort of like New Haven Connecticut pizzas' if you've ever heard of, or tried one of those. Bottom line - Busy place, Quaint atmosphere, excellent pizza and mediocre service.

[1000yregg]

I prefer a thinner crust to my pizza, but I do like Matthew's Tomato Pie with grated cheese- the tomato sauce was nice. The crust is thick- reminds more of pizza hut, but not greasy at all. It has a good body to it.

It's a good price for a high quality pie I must admit.

[DonRocks]

"Are you Calvin?"

[shakes head no.]

It was the second time she had come over and asked in the last twenty minutes. I was standing in line at Matthew's Pizza (with Matthew!). Don't assume you're going to walk into this restaurant - which has only ten tables - at 6:30 PM on a Saturday and sit down right away.

Matthew's Pizza opened in 1943, and if you order a House Salad ($4.95, enough for two), you can imagine this is the exact same salad people were eating here during World War II - a big bowl of iceburg lettuce, pink tomato slices, a couple olives and pepperoncini, some onion, all taking a bath in house dressing and topped with a little grated cheese.

A Traditional Tomato Pie ($7.50 for a large) is a beautiful-looking pizza, about ten inches across and served sandwiched between two stiff cardboard plates, the top one removed just before the pizza is set down in front of you, and then placed face-down on the table in order to elevate the pie.

It's important to remember that this is a tomato pie, with the thick, bready crust, expertly browned around the edges, serving as a conduit for the canned tomatoes, and the strong-tasting grated Reggiano on top.

Despite its popularity here (and a lot of people were ordering this), this is a quirky pizza by modern standards, dominated by a French-bread-like crust and lots of tomatoes, the cheese being a pungent accent but not the focus of the pie. More typical is a Popular Mozzarella Pie ($7.50 for a large), with the same crust being topped by less tomatoes, and more cheese, in this case a good, gooey mozzarella. Thick-cut, Ledo-esque pepperoni ($1.50) came one piece per slice (there were six slices per pizza).

Natty Boh ($3.38), brewed in Wilkes-Barre, PA, under the Heileman label, owned by Pabst, under contract to Miller (sorry everyone).

As Matt and I stood in front of the line, after waiting 45 minutes, the waitress came back over a third time, and asked us:

"Are you Calvin?"

[shakes head no.]

She looked at the people behind us, and asked each one:

"Are you Calvin?"

Everyone said no.

She then put her hands on her hips, looked at us all, and said, "Where the hell is Calvin?" and then ran down the stairs into the bar to try and find him.

[synaesthesia]

According to a commenter on Slice, the style at Matthew's used to be de rigeur for B-more until a lot of the places that served the type closed.

[sixteenbiticon]

We hit Matthew's on a mini pizza tour of Baltimore and were all unimpressed. This was the first stop with BOP and Joe Squared following and the pizza got progressively better with JS being the best. I have a hard time coping with how Matthew's came to be on so many favorite lists. I guess this just isn't my style of pie. We ordered a half two cheese with pepperoni and half margherita. The two cheese was alright, I think I would've preferred the traditional pie which the waitress recommended, since I really liked the tang of the reggianito. The margherita was the table favorite and it was good, but nothing to write home about. I honestly thought so myself while sitting there that if I closed my eyes I could've been eating the same pizza at Sbarro. I did like the crust however, it was nearly as heavy as I feared, it was light with a nice crisp edge.

[Al Dente]

i'm getting a 404 on their website...

[frogprince]

We're going to a concert at Rams Head Live on a Monday (Power Plan in the Inner Harbor)....I'm not a fan of all the chain restaurants that populate the area - anyone have a suggestion of someplace that might be tasty on a Monday night for a couple of folks in jeans?

With a car: Mathew's Pizza http://www.matthewspizza.com, up in Patterson Park on Eastern Ave; old school, no attitude, featuring one of THE most uniquely delicious, um, styles shall we say, of pizza. Split the house salad, split a large "both cheese" pie, leave happy and free of any pomp, circumstance or pretension

[DonRocks]

We're going to a concert at Rams Head Live on a Monday (Power Plan in the Inner Harbor)....I'm not a fan of all the chain restaurants that populate the area - anyone have a suggestion of someplace that might be tasty on a Monday night for a couple of folks in jeans?

With a car: Mathew's Pizza http://www.matthewspizza.com, up in Patterson Park on Eastern Ave; old school, no attitude, featuring one of THE most uniquely delicious, um, styles shall we say, of pizza. Split the house salad, split a large "both cheese" pie, leave happy and free of any pomp, circumstance or pretension

[sorry to belittle your Ram's Head concert, storagelady, by creating a "Dining near Inner Harbor" thread, but the Power Plant is just a block away, and we could definitely use this topic.]

Matthew's is a great downscale choice for a tomato pie - here's my experience there.

[DonRocks]

On 9/12/2009 at 11:08 AM, Al Dente said:

i'm getting a 404 on their website...

This has changed to this. (I adjusted the top two posts accordingly, Evergreen Website and all that.)

[Ferris Bueller]

At Don's suggestion, we went this afternoon and it did not disappoint.  The tomato pie (no cheese), was very tasty - their sauce is excellent.  Homemade meatballs can be ordered as a side (2) with sauce in case you want to try them.  Their crust is light and considered "deep" dish, but it is not at all chewy; it almost is a cake-like consistency but flavorful so you want to eat the whole crust.  Their homemade sauce is zesty, full of tomato depth.  We ordered extras to shlep back to Virginia and enjoy tomorrow.  

The wait staff was friendly, happy to make suggestions and sincere in their desire for patrons to enjoy their food.  Would go back this week if it weren't an hour drive.  Blink and you will miss this place, but worth a trip if in the area.

[weezy]

Went to Baltimore over the weekend and lunched at Matthew's a bit on the late side on Saturday.  About 3/4 full when we arrived, only us and 1 other table when we left about 2:45.   Got the spinach salad (really, enough for 4 ), very fresh, with thinly sliced red onion and lightly candied walnuts with an excellent bacon mustard vinaigrette served on the side -- which also made a tasty dipping sauce for the pizza bones.  Got a crab pie, which is a cheese pizza with blue crab shreds scattered across.  With the crispy-edged almost buttery crust, this was a very tasty pizza and, like others mention, very unlike the pizzas I'm used to.  Also ordered was a pepperoni pie that came out quite brown on the edges and the waitress took the paper plate off the top and instantly said "Oh hon, that's no good, I'll get another one cooking for you" without us saying a word.  They've upped the amount of pepperoni from what's said upthread, with 2 pieces per slice.  It's not the gooey pizza or Neopolitan pies I'm used to, but I enjoyed it, I'd eat it again when I'm in Charm City.

[DonRocks]

On 10/18/2021 at 6:32 AM, weezy said:

Went to Baltimore over the weekend and lunched at Matthew's a bit on the late side on Saturday.  About 3/4 full when we arrived, only us and 1 other table when we left about 2:45.   Got the spinach salad (really, enough for 4 ), very fresh, with thinly sliced red onion and lightly candied walnuts with an excellent bacon mustard vinaigrette served on the side -- which also made a tasty dipping sauce for the pizza bones.  Got a crab pie, which is a cheese pizza with blue crab shreds scattered across.  With the crispy-edged almost buttery crust, this was a very tasty pizza and, like others mention, very unlike the pizzas I'm used to.  Also ordered was a pepperoni pie that came out quite brown on the edges and the waitress took the paper plate off the top and instantly said "Oh hon, that's no good, I'll get another one cooking for you" without us saying a word.  They've upped the amount of pepperoni from what's said upthread, with 2 pieces per slice.  It's not the gooey pizza or Neopolitan pies I'm used to, but I enjoyed it, I'd eat it again when I'm in Charm City.

It isn’t the same, but the closest approximation of Matthew’s Pizza in the DC area is “Grandma’s Pizza” ($6 for a rectangular slice at Happy Gyro).

Now it just so happens that Grandma’s Pizza is a far superior product, but it’s also priced commensurate with quality. There are several distinct, noticeable differences, but in terms of being thick, toothsome, and undoubtedly wielding a massive gluten content: If you like the style of Matthew’s, you’ll like the style of Grandma’s.

Is the Greek proximity of both restaurants coincidental?

[curiouskitkatt]

I’m on a staycation in Charm City. 

Door dashing pizza from Matthews. Thank God, cause my wimpy ass can’t handle this winter blast. 

Pizza & football. Doing the God’s work

This is how every Saturday should be spent .

Delish.

[curiouskitkatt]

Room service reimagined…

So grateful that Matthews was on doordash. & also ordered room service provided by Cindy Lou’s Fish House. 

8 hours ago, curiouskitkatt said:

I’m on a staycation in Charm City. 

Door dashing pizza from Matthews. Thank God, cause my wimpy ass can’t handle this winter blast. 

Pizza & football. Doing the God’s work

This is how every Saturday should be spent .

Delish.

Edited January 5 by curiouskitkatt