The Best Pizza Places in NYC

Staten Island’s legendary Joe & Pat’s takes the ferry to Manhattan via AJ Pappalardo, son of the pizzeria’s Giuseppe Pappalardo. At Rubirosa, the Pappalardo family recipe is the inspiration for a new family classic: thin-crusted, cheese-light pies cooked in a brick oven. Order the vodka sauce and pesto-topped Tie-Dye pizza for the best taste of what Rubirosa has to offer.

The Hylands are at it again, this time with a Detroit-style joint. Square-cut pies are baked into sheet trays and then cut into thick, brown, chewy-yet-crusty pitch-perfect slices. The Roni Supreme has a backbone of heat thanks to Calabrian chiles, but don’t sleep on the Quinn, a cheese-focused affair made better by the addition of smoked gouda, pecorino, and ricotta.

Chef Albert Di Meglio brings his experience from what were once some of the city’s top restaurants — Le Cirque and Windows on the World — to this dedicated pizza space in South Williamsburg. Dishes, including superlative pies, all come out of a wood-fired grill. And while his grill produces plenty to love that isn’t pizza, Di Meglio’s top-notch dough, topped with mindfully sourced Italian cheeses, is reason alone to order. 

A 100-year-old bar-turned-liquor store-turned auto parts shop now plays host to one of Brooklyn’s finest pizzerias. Speedy Romeo is named for co-owner Todd Feldman’s champion race horse, but the restaurant has myriad other influences, from the Italian wood-fired pizza oven to the handmade mozzarella to the locally sourced produce. Order the St. Louie, an ode to the chef’s hometown: a red pie rich with pepperoni, Italian sausage, and Missouri’s very own provel cheese blend.

Paulie Giannone, the unofficial pizza king of Greenpoint, draws inspiration from the slice shops of the 1960s and 1970s at this Sicilian pie and NYC slice-specific spot. Specialties include incomparable gems like the Hellboy: a slice made with crushed tomatoes, mozzarella, pepperoni, and Mike’s hot honey.

It’s no surprise that the pizzas at La Pasta and La Pizza — the restaurant within New York’s cavernous monument to Italian food, Eataly — made the list of top pies in the city. With over 10 Neapolitan-style pies to choose from, it’s hard to go wrong, but one decadent way to go right is to tuck into the eggplant Parm version, which marries two tried-and-true classics. Fried eggplant and creamy buffalo mozzarella atop expertly cooked pizza? You had us at hello. 

It’s nearly impossible to utter the words Joe’s Pizza without mentioning that it’s a veritable institution. This Greenwich Village pizza spot has captivated pizza lovers since 1975 when its Napoli owner, Joe Pozzuoli, first opened its doors. Although the original location has shifted slightly from its original Bleecker Street digs, the pizza remains among the city’s finest. (Some New Yorkers argue that the classic cheese pie is NYC’s Best in Class.)

Emily and Matthew Hyland’s devotion to pizza dates back to their Rhode Island college days, but Emily is decidedly New York pizza. Wood-fired pizzas come in red, white, and pink versions, and the toppings are diverse. The red-sauced Modern brings together herbs, garlic, pecorino, onion, basil, and Szechuan oil, while the aromatic white pizza, called the Emily, features mozzarella, pistachio, truffle sottocenere, and honey. Don’t skip it.

When restaurateurs Frank Castronovo and Frank Falcinelli joined forces with baking maestros Chris Bianco (from Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix) and Chad Robertson (from Tartine in San Francisco), they converted an old garage into a pizzeria for the ages. The classic New York slice may not need much improving upon, but F&F does it anyway, using impeccable ingredients and time-honored techniques. Don’t miss the hot sausage and brown butter sage pizza — it’s dang near perfect.

Astoria, Queens, was once the borough’s answer to all things Greek. Today, it’s a cultural melting pot, and pizza has not escaped the neighborhood’s culinary reign. At Milkflower, brothers Peter and Danny Aggelatos and Yair Lenchner pair their skill sets with an Italian-built pizza oven, baking chewy, charred pizzas that are as vibrant as Astoria itself.

Since 2013, Fornino has warmed the hearts, souls, and pizza-loving stomachs of Greenpointers looking for a Neapolitan-style pie. With a wood-burning oven that churns out perfectly charred pizzas, it’s no wonder that this spot is still immensely popular after nearly a decade in business. Their kale salad — with beets, apple, pistachios, and a pecorino dressing you’ll want to bathe in — has been known to cancel out any and all pizza-related damages.

Peppered with accolades from the Food Network, USA Today, The New York Times, and just about everyone else, Bleecker Street is straight up New York-style pizza, with a thin crust, homemade sauce, and springy cheese. Here, original means classic, and classic is best: you can’t go wrong with the cheese pie, an emblem of New York City pizza culture.

What would Brooklyn pizza be, really, without the legend that is Roberta’s? The restaurant that is now a nationally known brand continues to set a high bar when it comes to pizza-making. Roberta’s has always enjoyed a cheeky sense of humor, and we’re better for it; options include the Crispy Glover, with thin slices of fatty guanciale and breadcrumbs, or the cheeseless Marissa Tomeito. But the most-loved pizza here is the Bee Sting, a spicy-salty masterpiece topped with soppressata, chili, and honey.

The family business that began over 100 years ago continues today with the same coal-fired oven, though now Grimaldi’s has expanded far beyond Brooklyn, where they originally became famous. That’s good news, of course, for anyone who ever had to wait in line for these perfect slices. The 16” Grimaldi’s pizza is made with the pizzeria’s secret recipe sauce, hand-sliced mozzarella, and basil, and comes topped with a signature cheese and spice blend. Get it while it’s hot.

Serafina’s backstory begins on a boat — literally. Owners and friends Vittorio Assaf and Fabio Granato became lost at sea. There, they dreamed of pizza and vowed to open a restaurant if they survived. In 1995, they made their promise a reality, and their pizzas, it turns out, are as legendary as their origin story. If you must choose, order the stellar pizza all uovo, which comes with sliced tomato, mozzarella, prosciutto di Parma, and one slightly runny egg, right in the center, the perfect coda to this ultimate American dream. Serafina’s TriBeCa and Upper West Side locations are also extremely popular with our diners.

A dedication to Rome and to GMO-free products drives this Brooklyn pinseria —or Roman pizzeria. Pinsa dough is made from a blend of rice, soy, and wheat flours which have been imported from Rome. Pinsa, a hand-pressed pizza dough with a history in Roman cooking, is a longer, chewier cousin to the more ubiquitous Neapolitan pie, and Brooklyn is better for its arrival. As to which pinsa is best, that may be a matter of personal preference, but don’t skip the titular Montesacro: mozzarella, crushed roasted potato, lamb sausage, artichoke, and a drizzle of rosemary oil.

If you prefer that your pizza bring a taste of the ocean, then  Pasquale Jones, stationed right in the heart of Little Italy, is for you. The restaurant’s little neck clam pizza, baked in its signature wood-fired oven and made better with the addition of lemon, plenty of garlic, and just enough bitter broccoli rabe, is a must-order.

Legend has it that Lombardi’s, opened in 1905, was the first pizzeria in the United States — or at least the first one that’s still running today. The Little Italy standby is home to founder Gennaro Lombardi’s Naples-style coal oven margherita pizzas — along with their famous clam pies, each of which boasts approximately three dozen chopped clams.

Family owned and operated since 1975 — it was started by eight brothers in Maspeth before it moved to its current Williamsburg location — this old-school New York-style pizzeria is a Brooklyn institution. Try their upside-down Sicilian pie, with the mozzarella on the bottom and the red sauce on top, or the rigatoni vodka slice, which is indeed a pizza covered with creamy baked pasta.

Chef Aurel Xhepexhiu grew up in Brooklyn and boasts a two-decade career slinging all kinds of pizza types, from Detroit-style at Emmy Squared to Neopolitan at Enoteca. At his new Williamsburg spot, options abound, from thick, chewy slices of grandma pie to gluten-free-friendly cauliflower crust pizzas. Want to switch it up a bit? Try the panzerotti — a cheese-stuffed fried calzone native to Puglia.