The Very Best Pizza in New York, According to People Who Live Here

"There are so many lists that promise to reveal the best pizza spots in New York City. But as someone who lives here, I usually roll my eyes at these roundups, wondering why anyone would continue to suggest a place that requires hours of waiting in line on the sidewalk. This is the pizza capital of the world, darling! There are roughly 2,000 pizzerias across the five boroughs. In the time you might spend waiting for the mere chance of a table at a certain star-studded joint in Carroll Gardens, you could finish an entire so-good-I-could-die pie at a lesser-known spot."

"Yes, there can be an artistry to nailing the dough, balancing the sauce, and assembling a thoughtful or even surprising mix of high-quality toppings. But at its core, pizza is a fast food in the truest sense: Something to grab and run with. What are you doing in line? By now, you realize this isn't going to be a list focused on who has the most chemically-sound sourdough crust, or fawning over fancy, imported ingredients, or the award-winning chef brought over from Italy. I'm not saying you won't find those things here, but they aren't the point."

"The point is that there are many great places to find truly delicious pizza in New York, and our definition of “the best” is a restaurant's ability to keep locals coming back, over and over, and sending them out the door happy every single time. To prove our thesis that fantastic pizza abounds beyond the big names and TikTok fame, we asked our New York City-based editors to share their favorite pizza spots. You'll see that we didn't mention Joe's Pizza, that of Spiderman and celebrity-photos-on-the-wall fame, and that's because we consider Joe's the standard against which other slices are measured: Is it better than Joe's? Floppier than Joe's? More topping variety than Joe's? Overcrowded like the Times Square Joe's or chill"

New York City has about 2,000 pizzerias across five boroughs, making it possible to find excellent pizza without spending hours in line. Pizza is treated as fast food, meant to be grabbed and eaten quickly, rather than waited for like a rare event. Quality still matters, including dough, sauce balance, and thoughtful toppings, but the focus is on restaurants that reliably satisfy locals. “The best” is defined by repeat visits and consistently happy customers. A curated set of favorite spots avoids big-name hype and TikTok fame, using Joe’s Pizza as a baseline for comparison rather than listing it as a standout.

Read at Conde Nast Traveler