Celebrity pizza reviewer Dave Portnoy just published a surprise review of Topo Gigio Pizza located on Creek Road in Bellmawr NJ. In business for 42 years, Dave absolutely became a quick fan of Topo Gigio Pizza owner John, the shop, and his quality “football pizza”.
“I like this guy in there… this place is old-school. So I hand him a 100 and he goes Ho-Aah!”
And Dave seemed to really get a kick out of the locally beloved pizza shop owner.
Topo Gigio’s is located on Creek Road Bellmawr NJ not too far from Bellmawr Lake, and south of the Brooklawn Circles and Westbrook Bowling Alley.
“I like that reaction from that guy!”
Topo Gigio owner John is a beloved legend in Bellmawr… I know this for a fact because not only did I grow up blocks away from this pizza shop in the Crescent Park section of town, my wife and I owned our own home just three blocks from Topo Gigio… and “Tope’s Pizza” and John became our go to place for MANY years.
Ever since the first day John took over the shop 42 years ago.
Conversations with John are as big a reason to stop in, as it is his pizza.
Even when I stop back now many years later after moving to Deptford “Hey! Matt-Chews! How you doing”… and then John takes the time to chat with me about what’s going on in my life, asks me about my family.
“Hey how’s your brother doing? I havent seen your son in a while, what’s he been up to?”.
Even when my father was a mailman in Bellmawr Park 35 years ago, Topos was a very regular lunch stop for dad.
Over the years I’ve gotten to meet and know his family also… Amazing people. For MANY years his daughter and son have been in the shop helping out on weekends.
Dave Portnoy – One Bite Pizza Reviews
If you’re not familiar with Dave Portnoy he is the founder of Barstool Sports website which he turned into a multi-million dollar business.
He then found celebrity and fame by doing his One Bite Pizza reviews, where he surprises shop owners with a visit, buys a pizza and stands in front of the shop and films his review.
Just having Dave show up at your shop likely changes the fortunes of the owners and the higher the scores go, the crazier things can get!
Based out of Boston area, Dave covers pizza shops throughout the United States and beyond, but he absolutely has a focus on the Northeast typically hitting the big city shops… but he’s been branching out more into suburban locations such as when I wrote last week about his visit to Slice Pizza in Washington Township.
Topo Gigio Pizza Bellmawr – SPOILER ALERT
The Topo Gigio review is one of the shorter reviews at just over 2 minutes. Sometimes the reviews can meander on, particularly if Dave is standing on a busy street and random locals jump into the video.
For the Topos review it was just Dave standing in front of the shop on a quiet, warm and rainy afternoon, with John listening in the background by the counter.
Dave uses a scale of one to 10 for his reviews but really tries to uphold the purity of the scale system. A score in the mid-7s is a very good score from Dave Portnoy, and if you got into the eights you reaching upper echelon.
While he calls his reviews “One Bite Reviews, everybody knows the rules”, Dave absolutely takes multiple bites of the slice putting as much focus on the crust and the “undercarriage” as he does the cheese and sauce.
I have personally eaten hundreds of Topo Gigio pies over the years and it is a delicious classic South Jersey pie… that being the Dave Portnoy wheelhouse pie that he admits to liking is a very crispy and thin crust… slightly overcooked crust.
That being said Dave seemed to enjoy the Bellmawr Topo Gigio Pizza calling it a “football pizza, eat it on Sunday in the rain in Jersey.”
Factor in the pizza, the 42 year history of the restaurant and the owner, the old school” no credit card style”, and the enthusiastic “Hoo-Ah” from the owner…
Dave gave Topo Gigio’s Pizza a 7.5… Which again is a very good score!
So one thing that Dave said when he walked into Topos is John did not know who he is.
Now at times such as the weekends John will have his kids help him at the shop, but for the most part he is there alone making pizzas, cheesesteaks and hoagies… and I wonder if he has any idea what’s about to happen to him come Thursday morning, when dozens to likely hundreds of people swarm to the little pizza shop in Bellmawr NJ to taste his pizza.
Links and Location
Topo Gigio Pizza
984 Creek Rd
Bellmawr, NJ 08031
- Website: No!
- Facebook: Seriuously?
- TikTok: You must be kidding!