Tomatina

Tomatina
3127 Mission College Blvd
Santa Clara, CA 95054
Phone: (408) 654-9000
Fax: 408 654-9009
www.tomatina.com

Vitals:
Mon-Thurs: 11 am - 10 pm
Sat: 11:30 am - 11:00 pm
Sun: 11:30 am - 10 pm
Good for groups
kid-friendly

Tomatina is named after the festival in the village of Bunol, Spain, where for one day each year, there is a town food fight using ripe tomatoes. Tomatina is a casual pizza joint that serves some good thin crust pizza (although the pizza crust reminds me of naan bread, which is fine by me), which is baked in a brick oven that makes the crust bubble up and crispy. I really like this place as the food is good, cheap and it's a convenient place to go to before you check out a movie.

Starters are pretty standard, garlic rolls, bruschetta and soups (which generally range from $3.50-$8.50). They also serve pan-roasted mussels, which are particular good. The mussels are fresh and the sauce is made of garlic, white wine, some spices and tomato sauce. I don’t know what they put in that sauce but it’s delicious (I even like to dip my bread in the sauce).

Interestingly, they also serve piadines (pronounced like “pee-ah-dee-nees”), which is essentially a flatbread topped with your choice of salad that you fold in two and eat like a huge taco (generally run around $9-$10). When I first ordered one, I couldn’t imagine how anyone could finish the whole thing (they are pretty large), but once you start eating one, you can’t stop and lo and behold, you are left with an empty plate and a full stomach. My favorite piadines are the caprese (the bread has a slight drizzle of pesto and it's made with romaine lettuce, roasted tomatoes, fresh mozarella, parmesan and topped with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing, but instead of romaine lettuce I ask for baby spinach) and the chicken (the bread is spread with some garlic paste and it's made with baby spinach, roasted red peppers, mozzarella and parmesan cheese and topped with a citrus vinaigrette) .

I’m not a pizza aficionado, but the pizzas here are pretty good as well but the pizzas are a bit on the small side. My husband and I can easily finish a medium sized pizza (although I’m sure we could do some damage on large pizzas as well). Pizzas range from $11-$24, but personal pizza starts at $8. My favorite pizza here is the “Spicy” Three Cheese pizza. It’s a simple pizza that packs a lot of flavor in each bite - it’s made of a blend of feta, fontina, parmesan and mozzarella, with pieces of proscuitto, roasted garlic paste, peppercinis, onions and fresh parsley. The blend of cheeses is decadent and provides a good salty base that nicely complements (and doesn’t overpower) the pieces of proscuitto and is highlighted by the spicy kick provided by the peppercinis. I’m not a big fan of the parsley, so I just pick those out. I have to stop talking about this pizza…. The Pesto Chicken is also good, which is made of tomato sauce, mozzarella and parmesan cheese , with pieces of roasted chicken, roasted red peppers and drizzled with a sun dried tomato and basil pesto sauce.

Pastas are adequate, but not memorable (prices range from $9-$11). Can’t say when I’ve ever been impressed by a pasta dish. I’ll keep searching for that perfect plate.

This is one of my favorite cheap South Bay Eats!!!!