The Pizza Capital Of Ocean County Is…Silverton?
(Editor’s Note: This is an update to a story we wrote back in September of 2022. You seemed to enjoy it then, so give it another look now.)
I’ve lived in the Silverton Community of Toms River for 21 years now. My wife and I have raised our two children, and spent many days walking and biking the streets of our fine friendly little town within a town. There have always been many food choices in the area but over the past couple of years a strange thing has happened. When I first moved there, we had 2 longtime pizza places, Johnny G’s and Steverino’s.
Then about the time I started living in Silverton a new place opened, Cuzzin’s. Ok so 3 pizza places within a quarter mile of each other is no big deal. Well, fast forward to 2022, and in about a 1 mile stretch on Hooper avenue, from the Brick boarder, to the end of Silverton, I now can count NINE pizza places, with another set to open soon!!! 9..in about a mile! Silverton truly is the Pizza Capital of Ocean County! The best part? Go on one of the Silverton Community social media pages and ask which is the best. You will start World War 3 ! People everywhere are passionate about their pizza, especially here in New Jersey, but my God, the divisiveness is amazing!
I have often thought I should have the Rat do the Ultimate Silverton Pizza Showdown, and have the entire community do blind taste tests of all the pies, to determine who’s reigns supreme…or just pepperoni. Another thought I had was to lobby Dave Portnoy to come to town and review every single place. He’s already done a lone review of Brooklyn Square, but why not the whole neighborhood. For all I know, it’s already in the works over at Barstoool.
Ultimately, I thought, why even have a competition? Certainly it’s not going to change people’s allegiance to their favorite spot. Furthermore, it could damage the reputation of the place that comes in last, and by all accounts, all of the places have come out of the pandemic doing just fine. So even with all the competition, there seems to be enough bellies in Silverton to go around. Here are the names of the area pizza shops, in case one day you’re in the neighborhood and feeling hungry. Hey maybe really hungry, and you can try them all!!!
North To South on Brick Blvd/Hooper Ave (about a 1.2 mile stretch)
Azzurro
Nino’s Coal Fired
Domino’s
Little Mia’s
Brooklyn Square
Pizza Hut Drive Thru
Vilaggio’s
Verace’s
Johnny G’s
Cuzzin’s
Oh, and if you feel like having a cold one too, head down the road a few yards to Macs Pub, for a nice bar pie.
So yeah, Silverton..Pizza Capital Of Ocean County.
