Packed with pizzerias, new and old, New York’s Times Square is the place to go to get a real slice of the city’s pie. Here are seven of the best pizza joints in Times Square:
Pizza at Emmy Squared/ Photo Courtesy of Bridgette M. Redman
Navigating the bustling streets of Times Square in search of the best pizza is a unique culinary adventure. With a kaleidoscope of neon lights and Broadway billboards as a backdrop, a myriad of pizzerias vie for attention, many claiming to offer the quintessential New York slice. From historic establishments with a lineage rooted in the city’s pizza history to trendy, innovative pizzerias pushing the boundaries of flavor, the quest for the best pizza in Times Square becomes a journey of taste and tradition. Take a pizza pilgrimage to Times Square – the quest could be just as memorable as the slices themselves.
Emmy Squared Pizza
311 W. 48th Street
Purists might complain that Emmy Squared doesn’t serve New York-style pizza, but that doesn’t stop them from having some of the absolute best pies in Times Square. They have their own unique take on pizza too, combining a New York-style grandma pie with a Detroit-style pizza and then adding their own flair of fluffy focaccia-like dough that is edged with a crispy cheese known as frico crust. My son described their Hawaiian pizza as the best Hawaiian pizza he’s ever had but thought the Farmhouse Pizza, with prosciutto and asparagus and a rich cheese, was even better. Also not to be missed are the cheesy garlic sticks with parsley pesto or the Brussels sprouts salad with blue cheese and cashews. Fora Times Square twist, Emmy Squared was also serving up a mocktail based on the musical “Chicago,” called The Razzler-Dazzler, made with cranberry juice, lime juice, orange juice, grenadine and sprite.
Famous Original Ray’s Pizza
Pizza slices from Ray’s PIzza / Photo courtesy of Bridgette M. Redman
736 7th Avenue, New York
Hewing closer to traditional New York-style pizza, Ray’s Pizza is a great place to get late-night food as it is open until 1am weeknights and 3am weekends. For more than 50 years, they’ve been dishing up authentic Italian food from their four Manhattan locations. The family-owned pizzeria puts out a spread of pizzas in addition to lasagna, calzones, pasta, wings, salads and hero sandwiches. Ray’s Famous Special Pizza Pie includes pepperoni, sausage, meatballs, mushroom, green peppers, bacon and onions and is smothered with extra mozzarella cheese. You can order a whole pizza or peruse the pizzas they have under glass and order by the slice. The large triangles come falling off the paper plates, hot and gooey on their thin crust and generously loaded with toppings.
Joe’s Pizza
Joe’s Pizza / Photo courtesy of Bridgette M. Redman
Featured in the 2004 Spider-Man 2 movie (Peter Parker gets fired as a delivery boy because of excessive tardiness), Joe’s Pizza is an iconic New York destination. Italian immigrant Joe Pozzuoli opened it in 1975 and he owns and operates the restaurant to this day. On any given day, you’ll wait in a line out the door at Joe’s Times Square location to place an order for their popular, very New York-style pizza. Be prepared to order when you get to the counter and they’ll serve you up a large slice of one of their seven types of pizzas, all hot and ready. You can also order an 8-slice pie for $23 to $31. Joe’s Pizza has appeared in other pop culture references including the Grand Theft Auto III video game and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. In 2011, Conan O’Brien visited there for an episode of “Conan” to learn how to make authentic New York City pizza.
1435 Broadway, New York
John’s of Times Square
John’s of Times Square Pizzeria / Photo courtesy of nycscout via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED)
For 25 years, John’s of Times Square has served up unique pizzas, each one made to order in a coal-fired brick oven that has been seasoned with age. They boast that no two pizzas are ever the same and all of the people who operate their 800-degree ovens have gone through months of extensive training. Founder Madeline Castellotti discoveredan abandoned church on West 44th Street and while taking a tour, she saw that there was an intact stained-glass ceiling made up of eight equal parts, just like a pizza. She converted the building into what became the largest pizzeria in the U.S. Their thin-crust pizzas include a traditional, a margherita, a pizza bianca and a shrimp fra diavolo, among others. For those looking for a pre-pizza bite, John’s of Times Square serves up pizza rolls made with their homemade dough.
260 W 44th St
Carnegie Pizza
It’s all about having choices when it comes to the authentic New York pizza served up at Carnegie Pizza. It’s one of the few places that recognizes there is more than one right way to make a pizza. They serve up classic New York pies cut into extra-large triangles, grandma-style square pizzas, Sicilian-style and upside-down pizzas. Their New York-style pizzas start with plain cheese or pepperoni slices and then include such varieties as margherita, buffalo chicken, spinach mushroom, Hawaiian, mushrooms, and even vodka. They also have gluten-free pizza options. It’s a small shop that people often stumble upon when looking for a better-known pizzeria nearby. For those who can’t make it to one of their seats, they offer online ordering and delivery. They have one appetizer, but it is one that visitors rave about—garlic knots made with melted butter, parsley and, of course, garlic. They also offer a Carnegie salad or a traditional Caesar.
200 W. 41st Street
Patzeria Perfect Pizza
Patzeria Perfect Pizza / Photo courtesy of 67bosco via Yelp
Like many New York pizza joints, Patzeria Perfect Pizza is a no-frills restaurant that is all about the food. They specialize in pizza, calzones, heroes, pastas and Italian food. On weekends you can order either the Neapolitan pizza or a pepperoni pizza. The Neapolitan is what they are most famous for – a traditional, hand-tossed cheese pizza with a thin crust. If you want one of their specialty pizzas, you have to visit on a weekday. These include a grandma pizza, a lasagna pizza, a bianca pizza, a margherita pizza or two different styles of vegetarian pizzas. There is a slightly wider range when it comes to appetizers including a Jamaican-style beef pattie with cheese, meatballs, chicken wings, garlic knots and slices of sausage or breaded chicken cutlets. If you stay for dessert, you can choose from several Italian favorites such as tiramisu and cannoli or dive into a slice of NY-style cheesecake.
231 W. 46th Street
Radio City Pizza
Radio City Pizza is all about making a variety of great-tasting pizzas. Their creations come in two sizes—the personal 10” pizza or the extra-large 20” pizza. This establishment knows people have lots of tastes in pizza so they offer up traditional NY pizza, Sicilian style, grandma style and a variety of flavors from the popular margherita and “white pies” to the chicken, bacon and ranch pizzas or chicken and tomato pies. Guests at Radio City Pizza praise them for the pizzas’ crunchy crusts and the generous amount of toppings. The sauce, they say, is on the lighter side. If for some reason a pizza doesn’t appeal to you, you can get calzones, hero sandwiches, stromboli, lasagna and a few other pasta dishes.
142 W. 49th Street