CLOSED Review: Tomato Pie
Author: BigRedEater | Filed under: Food Reviews, Location: Indianapolis, IN
Tomato Pie
9611 North College Ave
Carmel, IN 46280
http://www.tomatopiebistro.com
Pizza is a magical thing. It’s a dish that delights the young and the old and it can be prepared in numerous ways with very different outcomes. And like the saying goes: even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good. With this in mind, I’m always excited to try a new pizza place. One place I’ve driven by several times on my way to Broad Ripple is Tomato Pie on College Avenue right near the Interstate 465 overpass. I’d read a few good comments about it and wanted to try it out.
What I Got: A friend and I went for lunch and I had a pepperoni pizza ($10.50 for a ten-inch pizza) while my friend had a stromboli ($8.50).
The pizza was a reasonable size for a single person and had a nice thin crust. The sauce was slightly sweet and maybe a bit spicy as well. The cheese appeared to be fairly generic mozzarella and they were generous with the pepperoni. It was pretty good pizza, but not good enough to draw me in again just for the pizza. There are other styles of pizza in town I prefer more, so I probably wouldn’t head here just for that. I also think it’s a bit overpriced for a lunchtime meal. For example, Some Guys has a pizza/salad lunch combo for $7.95. Pizzology also has a lunch special for a measly seven dollars that includes a pizza, salad and a soda. Given a choice, I think I would go to one of those places instead for both the taste and the value.
My friend remarked on how good his stromboli was and that he really enjoyed it. It came with plain potato chips (like a basic bagged Lay’s chip) and appeared to have a good variety of stuff inside it with large chunks of pepper and sausage (heartburn at no extra charge!). They also have a meatball sub in a similar style that I’d like to try in a future visit.
Would I Buy It Again? Maybe. I would go there with someone else if that’s what they had a hankering for, but I think I would try one of their pasta dishes next time. They feature lasagna, meatballs with artichoke, seafood ravioli and several other pastas that looked good. I would like to try one of those because the only thing better than finding a good pizza place is finding a good lasagna place.
Outside of the food, the service was also quick and courteous. There was nothing wrong with the restaurant or with our food, but at the same time, it wasn’t a standout. Given what I had, I’d give them another chance with a pasta dish.
-BigRedEater
Tags: Food, Pizza, stromboli, tomato pie
The pizza looks sorta/kinda like a Tombstone. Ew.
@Cornjob: Hey, don’t knock Tombstones! Those babies got me through my childhood. LOL!
Some Guys has a wonderful lasagna – but it is only available on special (and as long as I’ve been going there, I can never remember the set days)
I’ve heard that about Some Guys lasagna. They have it once a month on the weekend. I have a client that tells me about it when it is, but I don’t see any other way of finding out. I intend to try it out sometime – I’ll post a review when I do. But truthfully, I also enjoy Fazoli’s lasagna, which I fear reflects poorly on me and my tastes.
Tried Tomato Pie once…. I am sure the rest of the sentence completes itself.
Tombstones… ha, I had one this week and forgot how bar it was. I think that I am going to stick to premium frozen pizza, unless I am drunk and at the grocery store… Which is not that strange of a possibility.
Good review Big Red..
Tombstone was like gourmet frozen pizza to mewhen I was at Purdue!… College was way too many Tony’s pizzas and those bags of 10 burritos for a buck…. not to mention the spaghetti sandwich we had in our apartment – cheap white bread with canned spaghetti sauce, occasionally some american cheese when we were flush with cash….
Is that a hot dog bun?
Looks like a hot dog bun, but it’s more like a mini-ass sub bun. Probably could be used for a hot dog and not really impressive either way.
I’m glad to see you review this place, it’s just down the street from us. We tried it for lunch one day, and we found the food to be mediocre and overpriced. Like you…it wasn’t awful, and we’d go IF we were with friends who were set on dining there, but it’s not someplace we’ll go back to on our own.
Great Review! That pizza does look like it came from a box, and I thought the Stromboli was a hot dog until I read the review. I haven’t been here and I’m not sure if i’d go back.
I had a similar experience at Tomato Pie after a good recommendation from Nuvo.
If you are interested in lasagna, Matteo’s up in Noblesville has a great lasagna. It is a special, but they almost always have one version of the lasagna. It varies between chicken lasagna, sausage lasagna, a four-meat lasagna, and maybe one or two others. It is always good and always a generous portion,enough for two meals.