Cheese. Grease. Garlic. If you appreciate these three things, you will love the Detroit-style pizza at Apollonia’s Pizzeria on Wilshire. While traditional thin crust pizza is offered on all the days they are open (currently Wed-Sun), their deep dish pizza is only available Fri-Sun. 

Set in a mini mall just east of La Brea, this pizzeria is currently open for takeout and delivery. After reading Yelp complaints about poor service on the phone, I decided to place my order in person instead. In the small parking lot in front sat a couple of customers, staring at their phones, waiting for their orders. The restaurant is pretty tiny, configured so that one customer could be inside at a time. Apollonia’s only accepts cash, though there is a bottle of hand sanitizer at the counter. 

Once you place your order, you will have to wait at least 10-15 minutes, which seemed a little long considering the slices were already on display. The deep dish slices start at $7 for pepperoni to $8. (Thin crust slices run half that price, with a slice of cheese at a mere $3.50.) For an additional $2, you can get your slice topped with burrata and Mike’s Hot Honey. Tempting as that was, I was already spending a minor fortune on pizza, so I passed. 

The pizza bottom is very crusty, and you’ll need a steak knife (and a little muscle) to cut through it, making eating with your hands the more appealing option. The tomato sauce on the pepperoni was added on top of the melted cheese and provided a nice tangy fresh contrast to the heaviness of the crust, with about 5 pieces of slightly burnt pepperoni. 

On my visit, there was only one vegetarian option – Acapulco Gold – with three types of cheeses, grape tomatoes, garlic and truffle oil. A giant blob of ricotta sat on top, with some arugula for good measure. This one was a belly bomb, although quite good – one slice could probably suffice for most people. 

My favorite of the three was the pork loin. My slice had a pronounced crispy cheese crown, with two different types of pork (both sausage and sliced pork loin), red onion, rosemary and garlic. A lot of garlic. So much garlic that it would be a natural way to keep people socially distant from you.

I usually like to fool myself into thinking that pizza isn’t that unhealthy, but there was no way to pretend with the deep dish slices at Apollonia’s. Maybe I’ll go for the thin crust next time. Or maybe I’ll stick to that Detroit-style because you only live once.

Location – 5176 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036
Website – http://www.apolloniaspizzeria.com
Kid’s Menu – No
Vegetarian/Vegan Friendly – Yes
Gluten-Free Options – Yes, they offer gluten-free crust on their thin-crust pizzas.