We first heard about Tony’s when a friend recommended their pizza. It’s in the West End at 3409 Cox Rd, Richmond, VA 23233, which is at the corner of Three Chopt and Cox. Like so many other really good Richmond eateries, it is tucked away in a non-descript shopping center, and I wouldn’t have even noticed it if it hadn’t been recommended to us.
Tony’s has amazing reviews, which in our experience are well deserved. We’ve had Tony’s pizza three times now! Twice, we got it to go, and the third time we had guests from out of town and decided to dine in.
The vibe of Tony’s Italian Restaurant is casual – feels like a traditional Italian family restaurant. The outside is non-descript with typical signage above front glass panels. Inside, there are warm, rustic tones with faux brick walls, saltillo-like tiles for the flooring, and at least one quaint mural on each wall.
The menu seems extensive to me, but we were hungry and still kind of loopy from traveling, so my capacity for decision-making was limited and I didn’t pay it much attention. Since we’d had the pizza twice before, we knew it was good. My husband and I ordered the veggie pizza with extra mushrooms and shared a large Italian salad. Our friends ordered Tony’s Special Pizza, a small Mediterranean Pizza, and a Greek salad.
Because I hadn’t really read the menu description, I was very surprised to discover cooked broccoli on our veggie pizza. That seemed patently odd, since the only veggies I usually associate with pizza are onion, tomato, mushrooms, bell pepper, and maybe spinach or black olives. Well, it has all of those too – and quite a good bit of broccoli.
Although the broccoli did what broccoli does (get cold quickly), it was better than I thought it would be. The crust, sauce, cheese, and all the other ingredients were SO good I finished off all of the good-for-you cruciferous veggie on my slice and went back for more. But to be completely honest, when we order next time we’ll go for the Tony’s Special or maybe the White or Mediterranean Pizza.
The large Italian salad was a complete meal, and delicious, with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, salami, ham, provolone cheese, black and green olives and croutons. Even though we shared it, about half of the salad went home with us in a box, as did most of our large pizza, and was a great meal for two reheated in the air fryer the next day.
The total for our order was very reasonable at around $40 for a large pizza, large salad, and two diet sodas. It could easily have fed a family of four, and we did get four satisfying meals out of it.
Being New Year’s Day, they were a little understaffed during our visit. One of my friends asked for two items to be left off her salad, but they forgot to leave off one of them. Then it took a few minutes to get our ticket split so we could pay separately, but really the wait wasn’t that long. (Don’t get me started on how long we’ve had to wait – twice – for our tickets at a chain burger restaurant … rhymes with Red Bobbin.)
The server was super friendly and helpful otherwise, and we left the restaurant happy with our meal and the time spent together with good friends. I don’t know what the noise level is like on a normal day, but the day we were there, you could easily have a conversation.
According to the online menu, they do have lunch specials consisting of sub sandwiches and fries or a small tossed salad with grilled chicken. There are also daily specials, like two large 16″ pizzas for around $26.
Tony’s Italian Restaurant
TonysToGo.com | Menu
www.facebook.com/tonyitalianrestaurant
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