VIDEO: Best Pizza by the Slice in Lutherville-Timonium

When you tell people you write restaurant reviews you can be sure you will be hearing the same question over and over again: “So, where can I find the best…”? 

Now this question has many endings ranging from sushi to BBQ to desert, but more common than any of these is, of course, pizza.  That’s why this week we here at Patch decided we would put an end to the mystery once and for all by trotting around town in an attempt to find the perfect slice. 

To keep this as scientific (and inconvenient for me) as possible, we decided it was only fair to keep me blindfolded throughout the process. 

While the blindfold put a damper on any hope I had of being graceful in this endeavor, it did allow for a taste test completely free of bias. Also in the interest of fairness, I sampled the same two slices, plain cheese and pepperoni, at each restaurant.  What followed was a day of bruised shins, disoriented adventures and most of all, delicious eats.  So without further ado, here’s how our six pizza hotspots stacked up.

6.

I’m sad to say that taking the bottom spot on our list is, unfortunately, Original Giorgios.  I say I am sad because the folks there could not have been sweeter to us as we stumbled through their dining room for our little experiment. 

While the customer service was great, sadly the pizza wasn’t quite so stellar as the crust was flimsy and brittle, the sauce was layered on too thick, and the cheese while nice and fresh, was not cooked long enough.  Certainly this was not the worst slice I’ve ever had, but in terms of its competitors today, Original Giorgios fell far short for me.

5. 

It’s been an eventful year for the folks at A Little Taste of Italy having recently had the misfortune of being on the . But things are back in full swing these days and the pizza is no exception.  For me, the crust at A Little Taste of Italy was a bit on the soft side. However, again I enjoyed the sauce and was a fan of the pepperoni.  While the cheese could have been more prevalent and more plentiful it was still relatively flavorful.

4. 

Olympia Pizzaeria was not on our original five-stop roster but man, I’m glad we snuck it in as our bonus stop as the pizza was worth the trip.  While it didn’t quite have the bold flavor of some of the other stops on this list, and admittedly it was a bit greasy, the crust was crunchy with lots of flavor and the sauce had a bold, tangy note to it that I didn’t find anywhere else.

2&3.  (Tied) Village Sub Shop and

I know a tie is a bit of a cop-out with only six competitors but I really had a tough time choosing a favorite between these two.  While Momma Angela’s crust was almost as tasty as that of our winner, I preferred the sauce just a tad more at Pasta Blitz.  While Pasta Blitz took the edge in flavorful pepperoni, Mamma Angela’s mozzarella was nothing short of perfect.  In the end let’s just say you can’t go wrong between the two.

1.     Pasta Mista

 Not only was Pasta Mista the first restaurant I visited, it also takes the honors as my favorite slice of the day.  I am a sucker for a great crust and Pasta Mista absolutely nailed it.  The hand-tossed dough lent itself to a perfectly thin and crispy crust, which was accompanied by a subtle but flavorful sauce and fresh delicious toppings. 

Editor's Note: The review does not reflect other speciality foods of all the restaurants we visited—just pizza by the slice. All shop owners or managers were made aware of the experiment for the first time, at the counter. The only eateries included were independently owned, meaning no corporate chains. 

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