By Louis Greenstein

THE LEGENDARY TONY’S BALTIMORE GRILL, established in 1927, might not be the best restaurant in Atlantic City. But it could be your favorite restaurant in Atlantic City. It’s been mine since 1975 – the summer I worked on the Boardwalk and seldom stepped off it other than to grab spaghetti-and-meatball dinners at Tony’s Baltimore Grill. The summer of 1975 was my favorite summer, which could have something to do with why Tony’s Baltimore Grill is my favorite Atlantic City restaurant. But I can make a stronger case than mere sentimentality.

Full disclosure: I have no food-critic credentials. In my writing career I’ve covered dozens of subjects, from music to boxing, from urban archeology to employment law, from public health to the Jersey Shore. But I’ve never written a restaurant review. That said, neither my inexperience nor my glaring bias can stop me.

Let’s begin with recent history. When the current administration in Washington, D.C., cut SNAP benefits last year, Tony’s Baltimore Grill – Atlantic City’s oldest pizza joint – responded within hours: any child whose parent had a SNAP card could get as many free meals there as they wanted. No questions asked. No conditions. Tony’s Baltimore Grill’s management couldn’t tolerate any child going hungry on Absecon Island. They knew that a restaurant isn’t just a transactional business; a restaurant feeds a community. Last fall, no child in the community had to be hungry thanks to Tony’s Baltimore Grill, and thanks also to the other Jersey Shore establishments that subsequently stepped up.

There’s more. Tony’s Baltimore Grill is Atlantic City.

Tony’s Baltimore Grill, Atlantic City. Photo by William Patrick Tandy.

Ask around. Look on social media. You’ll find a broad consensus: Atlantic City has gone downhill. But there’s no consensus on when the downhill slide began. If you ask locals you’ll hear all sorts of dates and times. It started to go downhill right before the casinos opened. It started to go downhill right after the casinos opened. It started to go downhill on the day the casinos opened. It started in the late-1960s, when the hippies showed up. It started in the ’70s. In the 1990s. In 2000. It started the day Nucky Johnson died. Okay, okay. Setting aside the fact that there are no hills in Atlantic City, if the town were actually on a downhill trajectory, wouldn’t there be at least a vague agreement on when the slide began and what caused it?

If you survey locals about Tony’s Baltimore Grill you’re likely to hear similar reports. It’s gone downhill, they’ll insist. Like Atlantic City itself. And again, none of the cynics can point to when the descent began. When the new owners took over. When the new manager started. When they changed their pizza recipe. When the hippies showed up.

Facts: Hippies are good, and the pizza recipe at Tony’s Baltimore Grill hasn’t changed. In 2019, the dude from Barstool Pizza Review slammed Tony’s Baltimore Grill’s pizza, foolishly calling it “boardwalk pizza.” Hello? Barstool Pizza Dude: Were you on a boardwalk when you were standing on Atlantic Avenue dissing Tony’s Baltimore Grill? Could you even see a boardwalk from there? Have you ever been on a boardwalk? Everyone knows that non-boardwalk pizza can’t compete with boardwalk pizza. This, I believe, has to do with salt air per milliliter of flour. But I digress. Barstool Pizza Dude also claimed that the pizza looked like “trash,” and he went out of his way to insult the patrons. To be clear: Tony’s Baltimore Grill serves the best pizza in Atlantic City that is not boardwalk pizza. Two more things about Tony’s Baltimore Grill that have not changed: the meatball parm sandwich and the roast beef sandwich. Both are outstanding. Maybe the best around. Not to mention, the French fries are always crisp, and the rolls super fresh. What more could you ask for?

Tony’s Baltimore Grill, Atlantic City. Photo by William Patrick Tandy.

Neither Atlantic City nor Tony’s Baltimore Grill have gone downhill. Nothing personal, but let’s face it: it may have been you who went downhill. It may have been you who grew cynical, who thinks of 50 years ago as the good old days, who sees nostalgia through rose-colored glasses. Maybe it was you. Because Tony’s Baltimore Grill is as constant and dependable as the tides. It’s exactly as good as it ever was.

Will your entrée arrive at the exact same moment as your dining partner’s? Maybe. But if that’s the kind of service you’re expecting, go to Nobu. Will your pasta be entirely free of water at the bottom of the plate? Maybe not. If that’s what you’re looking for, go to Angelo’s Fairmount Tavern. But before you do, consider that Tony’s Baltimore Grill’s homemade red gravy is as rich, well-simmered, and tasty as your Nonna’s. It’s Atlantic City comfort food at its best. You’ll be served with a smile, you will likely be known as “Honey,” “Sweetie,” or “Babe” for your entire meal, and you will have at your table arguably Atlantic City’s best jukebox. On a recent December night, we listened to a roof-raising Christmas-themed funk jam.

It may come as a surprise to you that Tony’s Baltimore Grill is located at the exact geographical center of Atlantic City. I urge you not to fact-check this, but to consider the novelist’s credo: Never let facts get in the way of truth.

Tony’s Baltimore Grill, Atlantic City. Photo by William Patrick Tandy.

Here’s the truth: Tony’s Baltimore Grill offers good comfort food at fair prices. It also offers more character than any pretentious, overpriced, small-plate, signature-cocktail, craft beer, skinny-jeaned hipster joint could produce on its wildest Sushi Croissant Saturday.

Tony’s Baltimore Grill might not be the best restaurant in Atlantic City, but it could be your favorite. Open 24/7, you’ll find a motley mix of patrons – families and singles, locals and out-of-towners, rich and poor, Black, white, and brown – at any time of the day.

A little ramshackle, maybe a little too dive-bar dark, always self-deprecatingly friendly, Tony’s Baltimore Grill is Atlantic City. If you haven’t been, go. If you stopped going because you think it went downhill, take a breath and go back.

And be sure to bring a pocket full of quarters for the jukebox.

Louis Greenstein is the author of the novels Mr. Boardwalk and The Song of Life. Learn more at www.louisgreenstein.com.