Leaning Tower of Pizza

I love this place! Its gourmet and hipster all at the same time. The wall art is amazing and the location is even better. My sis and i went on a sunday during their happy hour (slices only) and some sort of discount. We ordered pepperoni slices and an incredibly delicious arrugala salad with homemade ginger vinaigrette. Oh and beer of course. The staff is also very kind, informative and make you feel at home. Love the open kitchen style you can see your food before you get it!
In addition to amazing food, they have an
incredible collection of board games from childhoods past. Love this place and cant wait to go back!

Came here while I was waiting for my friend to get home. It’s down the street so it’s super convenient. It was a nice surprise– the pizza is very good. I got just pepperoni. They have a nice happy hour deal 3−6PM so I got a soda and a slice for $ 5. I think they have a similar offer for beer– buy a beer and get the slice free? I think I heard. It was a gorgeous day so I sat outside and enjoyed it. They also adjusted their hours– not sure from what but now they are closed Monday and open Tues-​Sun 3 – 10.

By the lake with street parking. I could smell the pizza from a block away. Service was fast and friendly. The meat pizza was a bit more on the salty side but was decent overall.
Update: minus 1 star because 3 hrs after eating the pizza, I had a bad stomachache (you don’t want to hear the details)
Not sure if the ingredients were spoiled or if It was just too salty. Either way probably won’t be returning.

Just had the cheese pizza, sourdough crust? I’m a fan. Thanks boys — first review in a while but I’ll be back.
Just an update this place is so unassuming from the outside. It looks like just a generic pizza joint, but the food is something else… They have beef tongue & sauerkraut pizza for god sake… Next level shit.

I’d passed this place a couple of times on the way home and I didn’t think much of it as I’m not really a pizza person. Last night my husband suggested we have a beer or two there and I’m so glad we did! They have a small but good craft beer selection on tap (we had Anderson Valley Oatmeal Stout and Dust Bowl IPA– there was also a Gose there), and you can drink outside at one of their tables and get a nice view of the neighborhood.
After checking out the menu we ordered a half veggie pizza (they will do it w/​out cheese BTW– I can’t eat dairy at the moment), and it was GOOD. Nice thin crust, not greasy, very simple but very tasty. Again, I am not really a big pizza fan in general so honestly, this is saying something.
The inside of the place is no-​frills but there is an awesome mural depicting Lake Merritt and above it, perhaps a version of pizza heaven? Anyway, we will definitely be going back– friendly staff, good pizza, good beer, walking distance– can’t go wrong there. Love that it’s been around for over 40 years and is a local establishment.
I just glanced at a couple of other reviews– I didn’t realize the place recently acquired new owners (I just moved here), but they are doing something right. :)

Best pizza place in the neighborhood! Excellent pizza, sandwiches and salads! Presentation is amazing, very kind employees… Alex is our fav! They have board games you can play while eating and a TV available for watching games… GO WARRIORS!

This place rocks! As someone who lived his entire life in New Jersey and New York this place does a great job of replicating the classic New York pizza experience. I recommend ordering «well-​done» if you want those great dark spots on the crust. Now if only they delivered…

Best pizza in the Bay Area! After living on the east coast and growing accustom to eating New York pizza, it has been challenging finding a decent slice around here. Then we moved to Oakland and found this neighborhood gem. Great New York style pizza and a friendly staff that makes you feel at home. This is what pizza is suppose to be! We eat here at least once a week.

Get up to speed: new owners, new pizza, friendly staff. Bonus: they offer half pizzas (and by the slice, too). So stoked that this area now has good pizza.

Good pie, just recently found this spot after living here for over a year! Slices are even perfect for breakfast the next day.

Recently went back, ordered a pizza, and realized how tasty it is. It turns out they are under new ownership. The pizza is far better than I remember them being!

This review is for The Leaning Tower of Haddon Hill — tonight’s build-​your-​own Mushroom Pizza with a side of meatballs was absolutely delicious. DOES NOT GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS outside NYC — we don’t go here every Friday — like to spread it around — but the pies created at TLT is the best hand thrown pizza in Oakland and perhaps in the whole East Bay hands down. Thanks Isaac and the rest of the staff for making this a most memorable Friday night. Danny & Francesca…

I really love this pizza place. We called in for a pickup and it was ready within 20 minutes. I had the market salad which was excellent — even though for $ 9 it was on the small side. It had arugula, goat cheese, apples, and sliced radish. The Hawaiian was delicious and the whole one is a huge pizza. It has a very thin crust with good ingredients, and a very homemade feel to the pizza.

I’m generally pretty lazy about writing reviews, but people need to know about this place. As far as I’m concerned, there are two great pizzerias in California – The Ferndale Pizza Co, and the Leaning Tower of Pizza. Considering that to get to The Ferndale Pizza Co, you have to get to Ferndale (not an easy task), we’re fortunate to have the Leaning Tower right in here in Oakland.
So how good is it? It’s the rarest of things – a truly perfect pizza. That means everything from the crust, to the sauce, to the cheese, is as good as it gets.
It’s not cheap, but who cares? I’m so tired of mediocre pizza that I’m happy to pony up for the good stuff when I can find it. And to call this pizza merely «good» is a terrible understatement. So if you too have been searching for that perfect pie, consider your search over.

Ate here for the first time about 2 weeks ago. The pizza was great. Great service too. We will be going back.

This is really good pizza! The beers on tap are tasty, too. I’ve been here a few times to see my friend’s band play live. That can be a good time, but it can get a little noisy since the place is kinda small. I would suggest keeping a pair of ear plugs in your car just in case there is live music.
We went as a large group each time and I got the beer, so I didn’t order any of the pizza we ate. Yet, every pizza that was ordered was delicious. If you’re a pizza lover that will eat almost anything that is on your pie, this is a good joint to check out. Parking can be a bit tough since it’s in a residential neighborhood, but if you get there early enough, the parking isn’t too bad.

Leaning Tower is the only REALLY close restaurant to my house –5 minutes on foot. I developed a grudging symbiotic relationship with the former proprietor because I’m very lazy and have small kids to feed. It was a happy arrangement.
When they sold to the new owners, I was really bummed, but again developed a fondness for the new model over time.
The new pies are hand tossed and have limited gourmet ingredients, and this is a good approach for a changing Oakland.
I am keen on trying the seasonal offerings, and my babies have come to peace with the fancy cheese hand tossed.
Ah, convenience in Cleveland Heights. I’m still a fan.

As a local I really like the idea of this place, but they seem to be going through enough culinary growing pains that I’m likely to move on. I’m a big fan of Haddon Hill Café for this very reason so I was really pumped to find out that Leaning Tower was under new management or ownership and had really put time into solidifying their menu while preserving their feel so it pains me to give them only 2 stars. They need to step their quality and flavor game up a bit to match their amazing crust.
Their pizza is fairly priced for the quality bracket, but in my three times ordering there there have been shortcomings that just disappointed me in the end:
First time: Had a salad and slice. Both were good, but the salad portions were a bit small for the price. Slice wasn’t a specialty flavor, but the crust was so good it could have had 0 toppings and I would have liked it. I felt overall though that if it weren’t close I wouldn’t really ever go out of my way to get this again.
Second time: Got a pie to go. Felt the toppings were extremely sparse, cheese was oddly not very flavorful, and overall didn’t think it was worth the premium over a basic margherita. All of us were a bit bummed that, aside from the crust, it was pretty bland. We had to put on spices and sauces to get some taste out of it.
Third time: Ordered a spicy red pepper pizza, but they were out of sauce. OK, I’ll let that part of things slide. The toppings were extremely sparse again and this time it seems as if the pizza was over-​cheesy because it was floating in a puddle of grease. We used an entire roll of Bounty paper towels to soak up the oil. It was pretty disgusting. A Pizza Hut pie would have probably had less oil and grease. Simply unacceptable for the price. Taste wise the crust was excellent, but we all had to put on various sauces to get some actual taste from the toppings. This is the third type of pizza I’ve had there and ALL have completely lacked flavor. You just can’t charge $ 7 more and premium prices if you don’t get any additional flavor out of it.
I’ll likely keep giving this place a try, but they need to step their game up for the price. They charge as much as Zach’s, Nick’s, Lanesplitter, Boot and Shoe, etc., but their flavor is nowhere near on par yet especially for the price.

The staff is super nice, and the owner has a coffee shop a couple blocks away. They obviously have regulars that come up and chat with the staff at the counter.
I was really impressed with the pizza. I had a great, spicy, sausage and pepper pizza with Thai sauce. Their ingredients are really high quality, and they know how to cook a pizza with cool ingredients while keeping the flavors balanced. They don’t overload their pizzas.
I also appreciate that you can order a half pizza. I’ve been visiting from out of town for work and didn’t want to carry ¾ of a giant pie back to my AirBnB.

Pizza here is amazing! The mushroom and garlic specials are our favorite pizzas in the Bay Area. These guys have been working on their dough game for a long time and make everything from scratch. A hidden gem in Lake Merritt.
Salads are super gourmet and delicious.
Meatball sandwich looks awesome. Can’t wait to try it!
Great beer selection too. Keep it real, buss your own table.