"Planning casual date nights is hard. You want a spot that’s quiet, but not so quiet that the entire place will overhear the full timeline of your goldendoodle’s distressing trip to the vet last week. Sexy low mood lighting, drinks, and a bill under $75 should be in the mix. And since you’re reading this and therefore have great taste, you’ll need fantastic food, too. But not all restaurants will do the trick. Enter Angie’s Pizza, the Mission spot we always count on for non-stressful date nights. It’s walk-ins only, so it works for spontaneous, same-day meet-ups with a situationship. And the retro space is effortlessly charming, like Florence Pugh or that work crush you’ve been silently obsessing over for years. The space looks like a ‘70s basement, with a vinyl collection and mushroom lamps, wood paneling, and funky geometric tiles lining the bar. Plus, the thin-crust pizzas coming out of the glowing wood-fired oven are excellent. photo credit: Melissa Zink photo credit: Melissa Zink The menu is just a few seasonally changing appetizers like a lemony mixed green salad and roast carrots, six pizzas, and a couple of ice cream sundaes for dessert. Start with the meatballs—they’re fall-apart tender, drenched in a bubbling, thick vodka sauce, and topped with shaved parmesan. Then turn to the pies, which are the belles of the figurative ball. Some toppings, like sausage or crisped-up pepperoni cups atop light swaths of tomato sauce, are pretty classic and always hit the spot. But the white pizzas shine the most—you’ll see more interesting Californian combinations like brussels sprouts and pecans, or dates, bacon, and dollops of creamy goat cheese. When the poached apple-topped ice cream hits the table (save room for this), you’ll already have made plans for another dimly lit rendezvous next week. For all this talk about pizza and ice cream dates, it’s worth noting that you should also keep Angie’s handy for group catch-ups or any time you need to overanalyze a recent awkward interaction with that work crush, alone, over some French or Italian wine at the bar. It's a fabulous place to spend any kind of night, full stop. But exchanging flirty banter over meatballs with someone cute is the way to use this spot. Food Rundown photo credit: Melissa Zink Pork And Beef Meatballs A standout starter. The vodka sauce is so thick you can scoop it up with a fork, and the meatballs deserve some sort of meatball prize. Order these or prepare for regret. photo credit: Melissa Zink Pepperoni Pizza Love pepperoni? You’ll love this. It’s a notch above your average pepperoni pie from the sticky garlic chili honey drizzled on top. Our only complaint is that the cheese and sauce tends to slide off when you lift up a slice, so go the fold-and-eat route on this one. photo credit: Melissa Zink Date Pizza This pizza is a creamy stunner thanks to globs of goat cheese on each slice. And bacon and dates get a sweet-and-salty thing going. As one of the more unique topping combinations on the menu, it deserves your attention. photo credit: Melissa Zink Potato Pizza Anyone who uses “favorite form of potato?” as their go-to icebreaker question and also has a zoomed-in photo of french fries as their lock screen, this pie is for you. The potato slices are thinly sliced and creamy, and work nicely alongside garlic cream and a sprinkle of rosemary." - Julia Chen
