Matthew’s Pizza Brings Crab Pies and Pan-Style Crunch to Highlandtown

Maryland back-fin crab meat, mozzarella, onion and Old Bay make an unusually convincing case for putting seafood on a pizza. At Matthew’s Pizza, the crab pie arrives without sauce, letting the crab stay front and center rather than disappear under tomato and cheese.

This small, longtime pizzeria sits on Eastern Avenue near the eastern corner of Patterson Park, in Baltimore’s Highlandtown neighborhood. It has the useful, unpretentious quality of a place that can serve as a casual dinner stop after time in the park—or a destination for a particular pie that is hard to find anywhere else.

The room is compact, quiet and comfortable, with a nostalgic neighborhood-pizzeria atmosphere. The menu is much broader than the crab specialty suggests, but pizza remains the reason to settle in, browse the combinations and give the kitchen time to bake a pie fresh.

Matthew’s signature style lands between a thin crust and a thick Detroit-style pan pizza. The traditional and deep-dish-style pies have a slightly thicker base, crisp underneath and around the edges, with enough chew in the middle to keep the crust from becoming merely crunchy.

That structure matters once toppings start piling on. The crust can carry a generous layer of cheese, seafood, vegetables or meat without becoming floppy, while still feeling lighter than a heavy, fork-and-knife casserole pie.

Thin-crust pizza is available, too, so the menu does not force every order into the pan-style lane. But the crisp-and-chewy traditional crust is a strong place to start for anyone trying to understand why this particular neighborhood pizza shop has stayed in Baltimore’s dining conversation.

The crab pizza is Matthew’s defining order. It is a sauceless pie built with Maryland back-fin crab meat, mozzarella, small pieces of onion and a dusting of Old Bay, an ingredient list that sounds simple until the pie arrives with crab distributed generously across the top.

Without red sauce, the sweet crab and the seasoning have room to register. Mozzarella adds the familiar pizza pull, onion gives the pie a little sharpness, and Old Bay supplies the unmistakable local accent.

This is not a grab-and-go slice made ahead of time. The crab pie is prepared to order and can take roughly 25 to 30 minutes, which suits the ingredient better than a rushed version would. It is priced at market rate rather than a fixed menu price.

The three-cheese pizza, sometimes called the “both cheese” pie, has its own following. Its appeal is straightforward: a balanced cheese-to-topping ratio and a tomato sauce with a sweet, bright, zesty character.

That sauce is worth noticing because it changes the personality of the standard pies. It brings more liveliness than a flat, generic red sauce, giving a traditional cheese order enough character to stand beside the restaurant’s more unconventional combinations.

The selection ranges widely. Shrimp fra diavolo, stuffed pizza, margherita, Popeye, Fiery Hawaiian, Great White Veggie, Greektown, barbecue, Roman, grated, traditional and The Popular are all on the roster of named pies.

The shrimp fra diavolo is a favorite for diners who want seafood with more spice in the mix. The stuffed pizza goes in a more nostalgic direction, recalling childhood stuffed pies while using real dough and more substantial ingredients.

Fiery Hawaiian adds jalapeño heat to its sweet-savory setup, so it is not a timid pineapple pizza. The Great White Veggie and the other vegetable-focused pies give meat-free diners choices that read as full pizza combinations, not an afterthought with a few peppers scattered on top.

Pizza may command the table, but Matthew’s offers enough Italian-American standards to build a more varied meal. Pasta, subs, salads, mozzarella sticks, French fries, bone-in Buffalo wings, meatballs and Caprese toast all broaden the possibilities.

The antipasti salad is notably large, making it a sensible counterpoint to a rich pizza order. House ranch dressing has a following of its own, a small detail that can make the salad feel less like obligatory greenery.

Bone-in Buffalo wings arrive with a crisp exterior and a mild sauce that carries flavor without pushing every bite into full-on heat. Meatballs also make an easy starter when the table is waiting on a fresh pie from the oven.

Dessert does not have to be an afterthought. Cannoli is on hand, along with limoncello cake that is light and fluffy with a sweetness kept in check. After crab, cheese and crust, that lemony finish has a certain logic.

Below the dining room, Matthew’s has a small basement bar with a relaxed, inviting mood. It offers beer and a separate place to settle in for a game, rather than making every visit revolve around a dining-room table.

That downstairs space gives the restaurant two distinct rhythms. Upstairs works for a meal and a fresh pizza; downstairs provides a quieter detour for a drink before, after or alongside the food.

Matthew’s supports dine-in and takeout, including online and to-go ordering. A fresh pizza is the centerpiece, so a made-to-order wait is built into the experience rather than a sign that something has gone wrong.

The dining room is compact, and seating can be limited during busier periods. Standard pizza meals generally fall in the roughly $10 to $20 range, while the crab pie follows market pricing.

Free street parking is available around the Eastern Avenue location, though finding an open space can be difficult. For many people, the easy solution is simply to make the pizza part of a Patterson Park or Highlandtown outing and let the fresh-baked wait unfold at its own pace.