The tomatoes arrive on top. That is the first clue that the pie at Lillo’s is playing by Trenton’s rules.
Beneath the bright red sauce sits a layer of melted cheese, and beneath that, a thin crust that stays crisp enough to lift without folding in half. It is a straightforward combination with nowhere for a weak ingredient to hide.
At this family-run Hainesport shop, the pie shares the menu with hefty cheesesteaks and hot sandwiches, so deciding what to order can take longer than eating your first slice.
The Paxia family brought the food they knew from Trenton to Burlington County in 2021, and their little roadside restaurant has since grown beyond its original address.
Still, the best way to understand Lillo’s is to start where the family started: with a tomato pie, a table, and enough napkins for whoever insists they only want one slice.
Lillo’s Tomato Pies Brings a Taste of Trenton to Hainesport
Hainesport is a good distance from Trenton’s old Chambersburg neighborhood, but the pie at Lillo’s makes the connection clear. Cheese goes onto the dough first.
Crushed tomatoes follow. The result is the thin, sauce-topped style that generations of Mercer County pizza eaters know as a tomato pie.
Lillo’s serves it at 2503 Marne Highway in Burlington County, where that Trenton tradition has found an enthusiastic South Jersey audience. John and Lisa Paxia opened the restaurant in 2021, naming it for their eldest son, Calogero, whom everyone calls Lillo.
They were bringing a familiar kind of food to a new address. Both had roots in Trenton, where a tomato pie carries its own expectations about crust, sauce, and the order in which everything goes onto the dough.
At Lillo’s, the traditional version remains the clearest expression of that idea. There are specialty pies for anyone who wants to branch out, but the plain Trenton tomato pie gives you the full measure of what the kitchen is trying to do.
The shop’s scope goes beyond pizza. Cheesesteaks have become a major part of its identity, and the menu also covers chicken cutlet sandwiches, roast pork, Italian hot dogs, hoagies, and salads.
That makes Lillo’s an easy place to bring a friend who claims to be “just a little hungry,” then watches a pie come out of the oven and changes their mind. The family has since opened a second location in Gloucester City.
Hainesport, though, is where the business began. Its appeal is easy to grasp across a table: Trenton-style pie, served by a family that grew up knowing why the details matter.
The Sauce Goes on Top for a Reason
On most pizzas, sauce is the first thing spread across the dough. A Trenton tomato pie reverses the familiar order: the cheese goes down before the crushed tomatoes.
It sounds like a small adjustment until you take a bite. With the tomatoes exposed rather than tucked underneath the mozzarella, their flavor comes through immediately.
The cheese adds richness below, while the crust gives both layers a crisp foundation. Lillo’s makes its tomato pie this way, with cheese on the bottom and sauce ladled over it.
That arrangement also changes what you notice while the pie is still on the table. Instead of a blanket of melted cheese, you see the red tomato layer that gives the dish its name.
A slice offers a little of everything without making you search for the sauce. For someone used to ordering a standard cheese pizza, the first encounter can be pleasantly disorienting.
It is familiar enough to dive right in, with just enough difference to make you slow down. The plain Trenton tomato pie is the sensible first order at Lillo’s.
It puts the three essentials—crust, cheese, and tomato—front and center. Once you know how those work together, the rest of the menu becomes more fun to explore.
The mustard pie offers another Trenton-area twist, while the Nonna, white, Sicilian, and other specialty pies give repeat visitors plenty of room to argue over favorites. There is no need to treat the classic pie as homework before getting to the exciting stuff.
Watching that red-topped pie arrive, pulling up a slice, and tasting the tomatoes first is the exciting stuff. Lillo’s keeps the formula simple enough that every part has to pull its weight.
A Thin, Crisp Crust Holds Its Own
A slice that bends too far can turn a good lunch into a sauce-on-your-shirt situation. That is why the crust matters so much here.
Lillo’s makes its Trenton tomato pie on a thin, crisp base built to support the cheese and crushed tomatoes above it. Pick up a slice and you get the pleasing contrast this style depends on: a firm bottom, a crisp edge, and a softer bite where the toppings meet the dough.
Thin does not have to mean skimpy. The crust still needs enough structure to carry a generous topping of tomatoes without becoming heavy or floppy.
It also needs enough flavor to be worth finishing after the last bit of sauce is gone. That final bite of bare edge is a fair test of any pie, and particularly of one that puts its crust so visibly to work.
The balance becomes clearer if you order a whole pie for the table. Those first hot slices invite everyone to reach in at once; a few minutes later, the crust should still give you a satisfying bite.
It is the kind of practical detail that makes people particular about where they get their tomato pie. Sauce may catch your eye first, but the dough decides whether the whole thing holds together.
If a thin pie is your preference, begin with the Trenton tomato pie. If you like more bread beneath your toppings, Lillo’s also lists a Sicilian pie.
The two offer different pleasures, and choosing between them is a much better problem to have than settling for a crust you barely notice. The classic, though, shows how much can happen in a slice that never needed to be thick.
The Paxia Family Story Is Baked Into Every Pie
Before there was a restaurant, there was a backyard pizza oven. John and Lisa Paxia began making tomato pies for family and friends during the pandemic.
Encouraged by the response, they bought an existing Hainesport pizza shop and opened Lillo’s in 2021. Neither came from a restaurant career: John was a retired ironworker, and Lisa was a retired nurse.
They named the business after their firstborn son and built it around the food they remembered from Trenton. That history gives the word family-run some substance.
Lisa, who was born and raised in Trenton, helped start and run the shop until her death in April 2024. John and their son Nicholas continued working at the Hainesport location, while Lillo took charge of the family’s second restaurant when it opened in Gloucester City in 2026.
The original idea has traveled, but its roots remain at the Marne Highway shop. There is a Trenton connection beyond the family’s hometown, too.
As John was learning how to turn those backyard pies into a business, he sought advice from Donnie Azzaro, whose family is connected to Papa’s Tomato Pies.
It is a fitting detail for a restaurant carrying a regional style into another part of the state: Lillo’s has its own family name over the door, while taking seriously the long tradition behind the food.
You do not need to know any of that to enjoy lunch. You might simply notice that the restaurant is named for a person, or that the pie tastes like a recipe with a clear point of view.
Knowing the story adds another layer. Lillo’s began with John and Lisa feeding people close to them, then grew because more people wanted a seat at that table.
Cheesesteaks Give You Another Reason to Come Hungry
The smart order for two indecisive people is one tomato pie and one cheesesteak to share. That gives each of Lillo’s best-known dishes a chance to make its case, though it may also start a negotiation over who gets the last piece of either one.
The restaurant puts cheesesteaks right alongside tomato pies at the center of its menu, with a classic version as well as chicken and specialty options. The steaks have a Trenton touch of their own.
The Paxias began serving cheesesteaks finished with garlic butter when they opened the Hainesport shop, and the sandwiches helped draw attention alongside the pies. It is easy to see why the pairing stuck.
A bright, tomato-forward slice and a hot, savory sandwich bring different things to the table; together, they make lunch feel like a proper outing. There are other ways to go if steak is not your order.
Lillo’s lists a chicken cheesesteak, a pizza steak, a Buffalo chicken cheesesteak, and a hot honey pepperoni chicken cheesesteak among its options. Hot sandwiches include chicken Parm, meatball Parm, chicken cutlet, and roast pork.
An Italian hot dog also appears on the menu, giving New Jersey food traditionalists one more choice to consider. Availability can change, so it is worth checking what the kitchen is making that day.
Still, that first shared order is hard to beat. Start with the classic tomato pie so you can taste exactly what Lillo’s does with the Trenton style.
Add a cheesesteak for the other half of the shop’s personality. Someone at the table will probably say the combination was too much food.
They can make that argument while reaching for another slice.
What to Know Before Visiting Lillo’s Tomato Pies
The original Lillo’s is at 2503 Marne Highway in Hainesport. Its posted hours are 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, with the shop closed Sunday and Monday.
That makes it a lunch or early dinner stop, so check the current schedule before planning a late meal.
You can also call the restaurant at (609) 491-7751 to confirm details. For a first visit, keep the order focused.
The Trenton tomato pie is the reason to come, and sharing one leaves room to try a cheesesteak or another sandwich. If your group has different tastes, the menu includes plain and specialty slices, white pie, Sicilian pie, salads, and hot sandwiches.
Check availability before getting attached to a particular pie; some items may sell out. Prices can change as well.
Be sure you have the right Lillo’s in mind when looking up the address. The Paxia family opened another location in Gloucester City in 2026, while the Hainesport restaurant remains the original.
Both carry the family name, but a trip to Marne Highway is a visit to the place where John and Lisa first put their backyard-pie idea on a restaurant menu. There is plenty here to tempt a complicated order.
You can save that for a return visit. The first one calls for the pie that explains the name: thin crust underneath, cheese in the middle, tomatoes right where you can see them.
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