Removing options from the editor
I do it this way and it works. Add this code to the functions.php:
add_filter("mce_buttons", "tinymce_editor_buttons", 99); //targets the first line
add_filter("mce_buttons_2", "tinymce_editor_buttons_second_row", 99); //targets the second line
function tinymce_editor_buttons($buttons) {
return array(
    "bold", 
    "bullist",
    "numlist"
    );
}
function tinymce_editor_buttons_second_row($buttons) {
   //return an empty array to remove this line
    return array();
}Also, I use this plugin, to prevent changes being lost with theme updates and only run on front-end: Code Snippets

 
 
Code Snippets is a must have, great advice!
Thanks Chema.