8 New York Pizza Slices To Skip & 8 That Are Worth Every Bite
In NYC, pizza is everywhere, but finding a slice that’s actually great? That’s the real challenge.
Some places serve up mouthwatering, foldable slices that hit all the right notes, while others leave you wondering what went wrong.
Get ready to navigate the city’s pizza jungle and uncover the pies that truly stand out.
1. 2 Bros Pizza: Bargain Basement Basics
The dollar slice phenomenon might seem appealing to your wallet, but your taste buds will file a formal complaint.
The sauce lacks any discernible flavor beyond ‘red,’ and the cheese has that peculiar plastic quality. I once grabbed a slice during a midnight craving and regretted it immediately.
The crust somehow manages to be both floppy and cardboard-like simultaneously, a paradox of pizza engineering.
2. 99 Cent Fresh Pizza: Penny-Wise, Palate-Foolish
The name promises freshness, but delivers something that tastes suspiciously pre-aged. The sauce has an oddly sweet profile that clashes with the bland cheese covering.
Their slices sit under heat lamps for questionable periods, resulting in a texture that’s neither crisp nor properly chewy.
The crust often tastes like it was made with the bare minimum of ingredients required to legally call something ‘dough’.
3. Little Italy Pizza: False Advertising
Despite the promising name, this chain bears little resemblance to anything you’d find in actual Little Italy. The sauce lacks the herbal complexity you expect from proper Italian pizza, tasting more like slightly seasoned tomato paste.
Their cheese distribution is often uneven, creating barren cheese deserts on one side and overwhelming dairy mountains on the other.
The crust typically arrives in that unfortunate middle ground: neither crispy nor satisfyingly chewy.
4. Famous Original Ray’s Pizza: Identity Crisis on a Plate
With countless ‘Ray’s’ scattered across the city, this one fails to distinguish itself in any positive way. The slice is aggressively ordinary, with a sauce that tastes like it came from a can opened too many days ago.
The cheese lacks character, and the crust often has that reheated quality that leaves it simultaneously tough and soggy.
My friend from Chicago tried it once and asked, ‘Is this really what New Yorkers brag about?’ No, my friend. No, it is not.
5. Bravo Pizza: Standing Ovation Not Required
Bravo might be convenient when you’re desperate, but it’s hardly deserving of applause. Their sauce has an oddly metallic undertone that becomes more pronounced as the slice cools.
The cheese quality varies wildly from day to day, sometimes acceptable, other times resembling a science experiment gone wrong. Their crust consistently underwhelms, lacking both flavor and proper structure.
When folded, it tends to crack rather than bend gracefully.
6. Koronet Pizza: Size Doesn’t Equal Satisfaction
Koronet’s claim to fame is their jumbo slices, big enough to cover two paper plates. Unfortunately, quantity trumps quality here in dramatic fashion.
The massive slices feature a crust that’s often undercooked in the center while the edges border on burnt. Last semester, my study group ordered Koronet for an all-nighter.
We unanimously agreed that even finals-week stress didn’t make these slices taste better. The sauce lacks depth, and the cheese quality is forgettable at best.
7. Champion Pizza: Not Quite Winning Material
Champion’s slices fall firmly into the ‘edible but unmemorable’ category. The sauce lacks any distinctive flavor profile, seemingly content to merely exist between crust and cheese without making its presence known.
Their cheese has that commercial quality that melts properly but offers little in terms of actual taste. The crust is perhaps their biggest downfall, often too thick in some spots and cracker-thin in others, showing inconsistent preparation.
8. Little Caesars (East Harlem): Fast Food Folly
This national chain’s attempt at New York pizza is like showing up to the Met Gala in pajamas. The sauce has that distinctly processed sweetness that overwhelms any other flavor notes.
The cheese seems more like a cheese-adjacent substance than actual dairy. Their crust manages to be both overly doughy and lacking in proper chew.
My nephew once described it as ‘pizza for people who don’t really like pizza,’ which sums it up perfectly.
9. Joe’s Pizza (Carmine St): The Quintessential New York Slice
Joe’s delivers pizza perfection in its purest form. The sauce strikes that magical balance between sweet and tangy, complementing rather than competing with the high-quality, perfectly melted mozzarella.
The crust is the platonic ideal of New York style: thin enough to fold, with a crisp exterior giving way to a tender, chewy interior.
I still remember my first Joe’s slice ten years ago, standing on Carmine Street in the rain, experiencing a moment of pure culinary joy.
10. Scarr’s Pizza: Organic Revolution in Slice Form
Scarr’s has revolutionized the pizza game by milling their own flour in-house, creating a crust with depth of flavor that’s simply unmatched. The sauce has a bright, fresh tomato flavor that tastes like summer in Italy.
Their cheese is applied with restraint, allowing all elements to shine in perfect harmony. The 70s-inspired décor adds to the experience, making you feel like you’ve stepped into a pizza time machine.
Each bite offers that ideal textural contrast between crisp bottom and airy interior.
11. L’Industrie Pizzeria: Williamsburg’s Slice Sensation
L’Industrie merges Italian tradition with Brooklyn innovation to create slices that are nothing short of transcendent. Their crust achieves that elusive balance of crispness and chew that makes you wonder why all pizza can’t be this good.
The sauce has a fresh, vibrant quality that speaks to careful sourcing and preparation. My Brooklyn-skeptic uncle visited from Chicago and grudgingly admitted after trying L’Industrie that ‘New York might know a thing or two about pizza after all.’
Their fresh basil finish elevates each slice to gourmet territory.
12. Mama’s TOO!: Upper West Side Pizza Royalty
Mama’s TOO! has perfected the art of the square slice, with caramelized cheese edges that create a lacey, crispy perimeter worth fighting over. Their dough undergoes a long fermentation process, developing complex flavors that commercial operations can’t touch.
The sauce has a rich, slow-cooked depth that balances perfectly with their carefully selected cheeses. The bottom crust achieves that magical state where it’s sturdy enough to hold its shape but tender enough to bite through without struggle.
13. Prince Street Pizza: Spicy Spring Slice Supremacy
Prince Street’s famous Spicy Spring square slice has developed a cult following for good reason. The thick, airy Sicilian-style crust provides the perfect foundation for their signature spicy tomato sauce and natural casing pepperoni cups that crisp up and collect pools of savory oil.
The first time I brought out-of-town friends here, we ended up ordering second slices before finishing our first ones. The balanced heat from the sauce builds gradually, never overwhelming but always present.
Their perfect ratio of sauce to cheese to crust makes each bite a revelation.
14. Luigi’s Pizza (Park Slope): Brooklyn’s Old-School Masterpiece
Luigi’s has been perfecting their craft since 1973, and that dedication shows in every slice. The crust achieves that magical textural contrast: crackly exterior giving way to a tender, developed interior with complex flavor.
Their sauce strikes the perfect balance of sweetness and acidity, clearly made with respect for tradition. The cheese is applied with the confidence of experience, melting into ideal patches of golden-brown perfection.
When my grandmother visited from Italy, she nodded approvingly at Luigi’s slice, which is perhaps the highest praise possible.
15. Di Fara Pizza (Midwood): Pizza Pilgrimage Destination
Dom DeMarco crafted legendary slices at Di Fara for decades, and his legacy continues in every meticulously made pizza. Each slice receives a generous shower of freshly grated hard cheese and snipped basil, creating a sensory experience that begins before your first bite.
The olive oil drizzle creates flavor dimensions that most pizzerias never approach. My first Di Fara experience involved a 45-minute wait and a 90-minute subway journey.
Was it worth it? Without question. The crust has depth of flavor developed through perfect fermentation and cooking in their seasoned ovens.
16. Lucia Pizza of SoHo: The New Classic
Lucia may be relatively new to the scene, but it’s already established itself among the pizza elite. Their crust achieves that perfect balance of structure and tenderness, with just the right amount of char to add complexity without bitterness.
The sauce has a vibrant, fresh quality that tastes like actual tomatoes rather than a commercial product. Last summer, I brought a visiting Italian friend here, preparing to apologize for American pizza. Instead, he requested a second slice before finishing his first.
Their cheese blend melts perfectly, creating those coveted golden-brown spots that intensify flavor.