The Best Pizza in New York, Slice by Slice
A plain slice on a paper plate, a coal-charred pie from a Depression-era oven, a square with the sauce on top, a sourdough crust from a Bushwick wine bar — New York pizza is a dozen styles, not one. Here is what to order, and where.
20 dishes · 20 kitchens
Ask ten New Yorkers for the best pizza in the city and you will get eleven answers, partly because they are not answering the same question. The plain slice from a counter, folded and eaten standing up, is one tradition. The whole pie from a coal oven, charred at the edges and never sold by the slice, is another. Then there are Sicilian squares with the sauce on top, cracker-thin Staten Island pies, naturally leavened Neapolitan rounds, and the long-fermented, seasonal pies of the last twenty years.
So this guide goes style by style. Within each, the picks are the specific slice or pie worth crossing a borough for, from Joe's on Carmine Street to a five-day dough in Ridgewood, a clam pie in Astoria, a Salerno-style oven on Arthur Avenue and an oxtail slice in Bed-Stuy.
A few ground rules. The best slice is almost always the plainest one on the counter, at least the first time. Whole-pie places tend to mean a wait; go early or on a weekday. And when a shop is known for one thing — a square, a clam pie, a Bee Sting — order the thing.
The classic New York slice
Thin, foldable, a little oil on top, and on a paper plate within a minute of ordering.
- 01
Plain cheese slice
Joe's Pizza (Carmine Street) · WEST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN
The slice most people picture when they picture a New York slice, from a counter Joe Pozzuoli has run in the Village since 1975. Get a plain and a fresh mozzarella and eat them side by side on the sidewalk.
- 02
Thin pepperoni slice (or the Hot Boi)
Scarr's Pizza · LOWER EAST SIDE, MANHATTAN
Scarr's mills its own grain, and the thin crust tastes of it. Stick with the round slices rather than the squares; the Hot Boi adds jalapeños and hot honey to the pepperoni.
- 03
Burrata slice
L'industrie Pizzeria · WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN
A long-fermented crust that tastes more like bakery bread than pizzeria dough. Start with a plain margherita slice to understand it, then the burrata slice, spread almost edge to edge.
- 04
Plain slice and the Fulgieri
Mano's Pizzeria · RIDGEWOOD, QUEENS
A fluorescent-lit Ridgewood slice shop with a five-day dough that bakes up crackly, almost like a baguette. The plain is the benchmark; the Fulgieri swaps tomato for caramelized onions, provolone and pecorino.
Coal ovens and the old guard
Whole pies, thin and charred, from rooms that have been doing it the same way for generations.
- 05
Plain coal-oven pie
Patsy's Pizzeria (East Harlem) · HARLEM, MANHATTAN
Patsy Lancieri lit this First Avenue coal oven in 1933, and the thin, charred, almost austere pie Sinatra came for has barely changed. Sit down for a whole plain pie, or use the takeout window next door for a slice.
- 06
Margherita
Juliana's Pizza · DUMBO, BROOKLYN
Patsy Grimaldi came out of retirement to reclaim his original coal oven under the Brooklyn Bridge. The margherita is thin and coal-charred; time it for the afternoon lull.
- 07
Regular pie, and the olive and onion
Di Fara Pizza · MIDWOOD, BROOKLYN
Dom DeMarco opened on Avenue J in 1965 and made nearly every pie himself for decades; his family keeps the method — several cheeses, olive oil, fresh basil, a salty, crackly crust. Order a whole pie and plan to wait.
Neapolitan and wood-fired
Soft, blistered crusts from very hot ovens.
- 08
Margherita, then a bianca
Una Pizza Napoletana · LOWER EAST SIDE, MANHATTAN
Anthony Mangieri still shapes every naturally leavened dough ball himself, and the candlelit Orchard Street room opens only when he is there. One pie per person: make yours the margherita.
- 09
La Riccardo (butternut squash cream)
Zero Otto Nove · ARTHUR AVENUE, BRONX
Roberto Paciullo's Arthur Avenue trattoria is built like a Salerno piazza around a wood-fired oven. Order a pizza for the table even if you came for pasta, and make it the house La Riccardo.
Squares: Sicilian, grandma and beyond
Thick or thin, cut into rectangles, and in a couple of cases with the sauce on top.
- 10
Sicilian square, sauce on top
L&B Spumoni Gardens (Dumbo) · DUMBO, BROOKLYN
The airy, sauce-over-cheese square L&B has made on 86th Street since 1939, now also served a few steps from the Brooklyn Bridge. Skip the round pies and finish with spumoni.
- 11
Pepperoni square and cacio e pepe
Mama's Too · UPPER WEST SIDE, MANHATTAN
A tiny Broadway counter that Time Out put at the top of its 2025 pizza list, on the strength of a crunchy-bottomed square. The cacio e pepe — salty, rich and heavy on cheese — may be even better than the pepperoni. Slices sell out, so a whole pie is the safe bet.
The new wave
Sourdough starters, house-pulled mozzarella, seasonal toppings — the style that has spread across Brooklyn since the late 2000s.
- 12
The Bee Sting
Roberta's · BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN
Tomato, mozzarella, soppressata, chili and honey on a blistered crust, from the 2008 Moore Street pizzeria that helped start the city's wood-fired wave.
- 13
Hellboy slice (pepperoni and Mike's Hot Honey)
Paulie Gee's Slice Shop · GREENPOINT, BROOKLYN
Mike's Hot Honey made its pizza debut at Paulie Gee's, and the Hellboy was the pie built around it. Paul Giannone's retro Franklin Street slice shop now carries the name in Greenpoint: get the Hellboy slice, then the sesame-bottomed Hellboy² square.
- 14
The Cicero and the square pie
Ops · BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN
A sourdough crust that sits somewhere between New York crisp and Neapolitan chew, and mozzarella pulled almost daily. Order the onion-heavy Cicero and the thick square that regulars swear by.
- 15
Hot sausage with brown butter and sage
F&F Pizzeria · CARROLL GARDENS, BROOKLYN
The Frankies team's converted-garage slice shop turns one of their pastas into a pizza. Get it as a slice or a pie, plus the garlic-butter clam slice when it's on.
- 16
Plain pie with basil, and a calzone
Lucali · CARROLL GARDENS, BROOKLYN
Mark Iacono's candlelit, BYOB Henry Street room makes almost nothing but pizza and calzones. Keep the toppings sparse and let the thin crust, bright sauce and fresh basil carry it.
Thin, crisp and Staten Island-style
Cracker-thin crusts that snap, a style the island has been perfecting since the 1960s.
- 17
One-topping thin-crust pie (or the Tri Pie)
Joe & Pat's (East Village) · EAST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN
The Pappalardo family's Staten Island pizzeria has been making its cracker-thin pie since 1960, and this First Avenue room brings it to Manhattan. Keep it to one topping, or try the Tri Pie regulars call the house favorite.
- 18
The Tie Dye (vodka, tomato and pesto)
Rubirosa · NOLITA, MANHATTAN
Run by descendants of the Joe & Pat's family, Rubirosa makes thin, crisp, evenly charred pies in a loud Mulberry Street room. Swirl vodka sauce, tomato and pesto on one pie and you have the Tie Dye.
Clam pies and new traditions
Two pies that are each a reason to get on a train.
- 19
Garlic-butter clam pie (order ahead)
Andrew Bellucci's Pizzeria · ASTORIA, QUEENS
Hand-shucked clams and garlic butter, the pie Andrew Bellucci brought to Astoria after decades at places like Lombardi's. Order it at least a day ahead; walk in for a plain slice with sauce both under and over the cheese.
- 20
Sweet Chili Oxtail slice
Cuts & Slices · BEDFORD–STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN
Randy McLaren draws on his Trinidadian roots for oxtail that is marinated and slow-cooked for hours, then laid over cheese on a chewy, biscuit-like crust. This Bed-Stuy shop started it in 2018.
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