The Best Pizza in NYC, According to Chefs

New York City has no shortage of excellent pizza. Every New Yorker can find a solid slice within a five-minute radius, but a true pizza lover is willing to travel across the city for the perfect pie. To determine the best the Big Apple has to offer, we reached out to the pros: F&W Best New Chefs that live and work across the five boroughs. Here are 11 of their favorite pizzerias in New York City.

Mama’s Too

“Mama’s Too makes amazing pies,” says 1997 F&W Best New Chef Dan Silverman. With locations on the Upper West Side and in the West Village, this pizza joint serves New York–style and square, thick-crusted Sicilian-style pies in addition to sandwiches on housemade hoagie rolls. Silverman usually goes for the pepperoni or cacio e pepe — a spin on the classic Roman pasta dish — with whipped mascarpone, aged mozzarella, pecorino Romano, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and cracked black pepper. 

Lucali 

A table at Lucali, a tiny restaurant in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn, is notoriously difficult to score. But, according to 1999 F&W Best New Chef Rocco DiSpirito, “those pies are so thin and charred that you’ll gladly want to wait two hours for one.” There are only two things on the menu — pizza and calzones. And the thin pies, rolled out with a wine bottle and baked in a wood-burning oven, are intentionally simple, with a bright tomato sauce, melty mozzarella, fresh basil, and the toppings of your choosing. Show up before 4 p.m., give the host your name, and hope that they bless you with a reservation.

Luigi’s

For an old-school, New York–style slice of pizza, 2022 F&W Best New Chef Calvin Eng relies on Luigi’s. The Park Slope pizza shop, founded in 1973 by Luigi Lanzo, is now run by his son, Giovanni. While you can get all the standard toppings, the Lanzos recommend sticking with their plain cheese slice to enjoy the slow-fermented dough and high-quality mozzarella in all its glory. “There’s no flop when you pick it up, but it’s not cracker-thin either,” says Eng. “The sauce is a perfect balance of sweet, sour, and salty, and it just hits every time. If I’m in the area, I always make an effort to grab a slice.”

L’Industrie Pizza

L’Industrie opened in Williamsburg in 2017, and quickly became one of the most beloved slice shops in New York City. Now with a second location in the West Village, it’s known for blending the pizza-making philosophies of Italy and New York City — a culinary reflection of the co-owners, Tuscan native Massimo Laveglia and New Yorker Nick Baglivo. “The added semolina and whole wheat flour in the dough gives it such a great texture,” says 2015 F&W Best New Chef Bryce Shuman. The airy, perfectly charred crust is often topped with Italian-inspired ingredients, like fig and bacon or burrata and basil.

F&F Pizzeria

“For slices, my favorite pizza shop is without a doubt F&F in Carroll Gardens,” says 2022 F&W Best New Chef Caroline Schiff. “To me, it’s a quintessential New York–style slice, and I love that they’re not trying to reinvent the wheel — they’re just executing an awesome slice. The crust is simultaneously crispy and chewy, and they keep the toppings simple, yet super high-quality.” Schiff sticks with the classic, plain cheese slice, sprinkled with red pepper flakes. 

Stretch Pizza

“When I heard that Wylie Dufresne was going to do pizza, I knew it would be exceptional,” says 2006 F&W Best New Chef Jonathan Benno. Dufresne, also a Best New Chef (2001), brings a high-end pedigree to his pizza concept, with slow-fermented dough and vibrant toppings that lean into the unconventional. “The pies range from classic to creative, and are all delicious. My favorite is the Stranger with fennel sausage and roasted peppers.” 

Stretch is also a favorite of 1988 F&W Best New Chef Daniel Boulud’s. “I love it when chefs approach pizza with a creative lens,” he says. “Stretch has a ‘chef-y’ finish — something subtle and smart that makes it stand out. It’s not a thin crust, but more like a focaccia — light, airy, and full of flavor and personality.” Pies are available whole or by the slice at locations in the Flatiron District, Midtown East, and Williamsburg.

Ops

For whole pizzas that you can sit down and savor, 2020 F&W Best New Chef Trigg Brown raves about Ops, a Bushwick-born restaurant. “Their wood-fired, Neapolitan-style dough is so soft,” he says. Made with sourdough, its crust is complex, soft, and full of air bubbles, and at its new East Village location, you can also order cracker-thin, tavern-style pies. “I’ve been a fan of their long-fermented, high-hydration dough for years,” adds 2025 F&W Best New Chef Telly Justice. “And it doesn’t hurt that their wine list is phenomenal.”

Joe’s Pizza

“In the slice category, you can’t go wrong with Joe’s,” says 2001 F&W Best New Chef Anita Lo. With five locations across Manhattan and Brooklyn (and another in Ann Arbor, Michigan), Joe’s has long been considered the gold standard of the NYC–style slice. It’s large, thin, foldable, and affordable — a cheese slice is $3 to $4 depending on location. Plus, Joe’s is open until 5 a.m. on the weekends. “The dough remains crispy yet chewy and it’s really what you want from a late-night slice,” says Lo.

Grand Street Pizza

2016 F&W Best New Chef Fabian von Hauske doesn’t typically like pizza, but Grand Street Pizza is the exception. Founded in 2021 in the Lower East Side, Grand is just as much a slice shop as it is a pub, with a full cocktail, wine, and beer list. Von Hauske calls its OG Cheese pie “amazing,” and says “whatever they do makes it go down easy.” For a pizza hater, that’s high praise.

Una Pizza Napoletana

When it comes to Neapolitan-style pies, Lo deems Una Pizza Napoletana in the Lower East Side as “the archetype.” Chef-founder Anthony Mangieri has been honing his recipe for over 30 years, using naturally fermented dough, San Marzano tomatoes, and buffalo mozzarella, all baked in a wood-fired oven. “Anthony’s pies are legendary, and for good reason,” Shuman agrees. Need proof? In 2025, 50 Top Pizza crowned Una Pizza Napoletana as “the best pizzeria in the world.”

Patsy’s Pizzeria

Patsy’s first opened its doors in 1933, and today is one of the only remaining coal-fired pizzerias in the city. The ultra-high cooking temperature gives the thin-crust pies at this Harlem institution a uniquely deep char. “It’s a very simple thing,” says 1998 F&W Best New Chef Laurent Tourondel. “It’s just tomato and cheese, and you could put some Parmesan and oregano on it. I’ve always loved it.” So, does he recommend a pie or a slice? “I get so many slices it becomes a pie.”