Lombardi's
America's first licensed pizzeria, opened in 1905 in Nolita, still baking coal-oven pies with fresh mozzarella.
Example
A table orders one margherita with pepperoni from the coal oven and it arrives whole and charred, because the kitchen does not cut single slices to sell.
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Related terms
NYC slang
Pie
New York shorthand for a whole pizza, as in ordering a whole pie instead of a slice.
Pizza
John's of Bleecker Street
A 1929 Greenwich Village institution baking blistered coal-oven pies in carved-up wooden booths, famously no slices.
Pizza
Totonno's
The 1924 Coney Island coal-oven pizzeria run by the same family for a century, now open weekends only.
Pizza
Joe's Pizza
The Greenwich Village slice shop operating since 1975, widely cited as the benchmark for the classic New York plain...
Frequently asked questions
Is Lombardi's a tourist trap or still good?
Both things can be true. The pie is genuinely good coal-oven pizza and the history is real. Locals go at off-hours.
Lombardi's or John's of Bleecker for a first coal-oven pie?
Lombardi's for the origin story, John's for the old-room atmosphere and slightly less tourist churn. You cannot lose either way.
Can I get a slice at Lombardi's?
No. It sells whole pies only in a sit down room. For a single slice nearby, Prince Street Pizza is a short walk through Nolita.
