Rated: ♣♣♣
Pi Bar isn’t just a clever name, it serves good pizza too! A few friends and I went here one Saturday to put them to the pizza test. I’ve always been a fan of Neapolitan style pizzas and I was hesitant to try Pi Bar because of their New York style pizzas. To my surprise, it was actually pretty good! Pi Bar makes pizza eating fun and simple. You pick you sauce and your toppings and they’ll throw it all together for you. For beer connoisseurs, the restaurant serves up a large variety of craft beers from stouts to ciders.
We ordered a few appetizers to start - crispy polenta sticks and fried bacon and gorgonzola zeppoli. Both were very delicious. The polenta sticks were like crispy fat fries, but instead of potato, the inside was creamy cornmeal. The zeppoli was so sinful. The little fried balls were perfectly crispy on the outside and creamy and salty on the inside.
Now for the pizzas. The first combination was put together by me. I ordered a VERY large pizza with mushroom sauce topped with bacon and sausage. This was definitely my favorite of the night. The sauce wasn’t too creamy and rich and the salty toppings were piled on high. The crust was surprisingly good. Thin and crispy on the edges and gooey in the center.
Next we had a combination of pepperoni, mushrooms and bell peppers. This was like an average combo pizza, but with fresh ingredients. I’ve never really been a fan of combo pizzas, so I was sort of indifferent on this one.
Last pizza we ordered was a cheese and onion pizza. Interesting combo, but it was pretty good. The sweet onions balanced the salty cheese.
All in all, I was pretty impressed with Pi Bar. Tony’s Pizza Napoletana and Zero Zero will always be my favorite pizza joints because of their Neapolitan style pizzas, but Pi Bar has become a runner up as my new favorite New York style pizza.
Pi Bar
1432 Valencia St
(between 25th St & 26th St)
San Francisco, CA 94110
Neighborhood: Mission