Probably not a “true” review but here we go…
Been seeing a lot of hate/ “disrespect” towards Joes pizza on here and the NYCpizza sub (odd place).
Joes is not only a NYC institution (with a pop culture background) but also people seem to have a somewhat swayed expectation towards it. It’s never tried to serve a meticulously crafted slice with high quality ingredients (like your finis and l’industries), neither has it aimed to convince through costumer service and hospitality (think your best pizza or Pauli gees slices).
It’s just the quintessential and in my opinion benchmark, no thrills NYC slice. Reliable, quick and consistent. You’ll now what you get, for what price and fast.
And taking all those into consideration it’s quite tasty pizza. Heated and fresh, good balance of cheese to sauce, charring on the dough is decent, so is the salt balance (to my palate at least).
A lot of rumbling but TLDR: stop having absurdly high expectations and Joe will hit the spot when the time is right for it (that includes a late night slice, just as much as a 1st timer to the city wanting the “authentic” NY-slice experience).
by Garconavecunreve
46 Comments
Fair
love joe’s pizza
This is the correct take. Joe’s is good. It’s a really solid slice, and when I worked in FiDi I was happy that they opened one in the area, even if it was mostly for tourists. It’s great in that it’s sort of the quintessential generic good NY slice. I wouldn’t go out of my way or stand in line for it, and think tourists would do just as well going to any good neighborhood spot, but that’s not taking anything away from it.
Joes is a good slice
Joe’s is the go to if I want to order a pie. I’m not dealing with some insta hype place.
2am, a little bit drunk, a little bit high, 2 slices and a coke (the soda). Hits the spot
I’ve eaten slices at the Carmine Street Joe’s since 1984. My chief complaint is that the slices used to be less floppy, and a lot more consistent. Since COVID, their consistency sucks. It’s 50/50 whether their plain cheese slice will be a floppy mess or decent. But I agree that people have unreasonable expectations about Joe’s.
It’s a perfectly adequate slice. And I think a no thrills slice is the perfect way to describe it. Only question is why am I paying the same price as a slice at one of the more notable restaurants?
Exactly this. I’ve seen similar takes where people complain about Veselka being a diner, or Lexington Candy Shop just being a lunch counter.
Just don’t understand why you would go to Joes when you can literally walk around the corner to bleecker st pizza which is way better and more filling.
Joe’s uses very good ingredients. They use Grande cheese, which is by far the most popular pizza cheese there is. Their sauce is from Nina whole peeled tomatoes and they don’t add much to it. Maybe a little sugar. There is a bit of inconsistency between locations and I’ve been to all NYC locations except for Fulton street. Even the Miami location tastes the same.
The busiest location is the Times Square location. Usually a line to the corner. Was there last weekend and had fantastic slices.
I used to go to the original Ray’s on Price street and that was my second favorite place besides Joe’s.
Joes hits everytime
I used to work in TSQ and the Joe’s guys would sometimes give us pies or slices. It was fine. It was good. It wasn’t worth the lines I saw tourists standing in for it.
Real ones know, if you think Joes is overrated most likely you’re a complete cornball no need to further engage. It’s not overrated it’s not underrated, it IS the rating.
Agree with everything you said. My take has always been: Joe’s is the best slice in the city after 11pm
It’s definitely overhyped for what it is. Is it the classic NYC slice and is it good? 100%, a late night Joe’s slice always hits the spot. Is it worth waiting in line for the pizza when you can get the same thing at a ton of other pizzerias in the city? I would disagree.
$4??? Holy shit i swear a plain was 2.75 like 3 years ago
I love Joe’s because, at least at this location, the menu is simple. If I ever open my own slice shop, the menu would be very simple
The tourist conceit of “Bring me to the best slice in NYC” is understandable but flawed. There’s too much ground to cover. Joe’s is/was a great coming home from the bar slice. But the whole range of upscale brick oven, best “bar pizzas”, bougie line out the door West Village, LES, and Williamsburg slices, weirder but great options further out, places like Luigi’s in south Slope, destinations like Totonno’s or Spumoni Gardens, wonderful abominations like all the great buffalo chicken or bacon ranch slices at somewhere like Suprema…. there is no “best slice” as pizza here has even more range than something like burgers or tacos. To me the best NYC pizza might be a clam pie in Connecticut, which is sacrilege in its own right, but the idea should be to come in seeking what you like in ‘za, not to stand as vigilant judge of whether “the Best” lives up to online hype.
I agree for the most part. Joe’s is always solid and consistent. It’s my go to in my neighborhood in Williamsburg when I’m craving a slice.
Joes is solid but not consistent. Take it from someone who gets a slice once a week at least, it’s pretty hit or miss (with more hits than misses) but for a pizzeria you can walk in and grab without a huge line or reservation it’s still above most of what else you can get.
I think the root of the Joe’s hate is from people who are standing on the massive line at their Times Square location. It creates an unreal expectation for a slice that is solid but not flashy. If you are from out of town I suggest the original West Village location or E 14th. Both are busy most of the time but rarely have huge lines.
I’d rather eat at Joe’s than wait in line for an hour for L’Industie. It’s classic NY style pizza and it’s never bad.
Joe’s is good pizza and I like to eat it. I eat it often actually because I’m frequently nearby and there’s always a seat in the park or table for me to chow on.
I really do not understand the level of cork-sniffing pizza gets. I spent a few years falling into the eater/infatuation/nytimes/etc trap of treating pizza like it’s some high art with infinite shades of complexity and then almost overnight I woke up and realized pizza is pizza. There’s bad, good, great, and amazing pizza but once it gets to a certain quality level the differences between them aren’t as big as I used to pretend they are.
I guess I’m just over the drama of it all that afflicts so many food things in culture.
Joes is a solid slice.
It’s not like gourmet like MaMa twos or L’industrie, but compare it to any other generic pie place (like I live in prospect lefferts) and you’ll realize how shitty other slices are.
> Been seeing a lot of hate/ “disrespect” towards Joes pizza on here and the NYCpizza sub (odd place). Joes is not only a NYC institution (with a pop culture background) but also people seem to have a somewhat swayed expectation towards it.
It’s tourists who have overly high expectations of Joe’s. They know nothing about NYC pizza. But they see many videos and posts online — by other tourists and travel bloggers — hyping up Joe’s as the greatest pizza. And they see the long lines outside Joe’s, so they figure it must be the greatest pizza — although those lines are other tourists who know nothing about NYC pizza.
Then the tourist tries Joe’s. Since that is the only NYC pizza they’ve ever had, when they go home, they post their own videos and posts online hyping up how Joe’s is the greatest pizza. Even though that is the only NYC pizza they know.
It’s usually when a tourist asks, “Is Joe’s the best pizza in NYC?” that locals will take Joe’s down a notch. I wouldn’t call it hate or disrespect. It’s locals being realistic to disillusioned tourists with overly high expectations.
Joe’s is perfectly good NYC pizza. But it’s not amaze-balls pizza. Would a local travel to another borough just to eat Joe’s? No, it’s not destination pizza . Would a local eat at Joe’s if they saw a 15 minute line? No, it’s not pizza worth waiting in line for, like the absolute best pizza places in NYC.
I think OP agrees with that, and I think OP would also express his “hate/disrespect” about Joe’s if some tourist asked, “Is Joe’s the best pizza in NYC?”
Most times when you crave pizza it’s after midnight and definitely not sober. In that regard, I’ll take a slice from Joe’s over pretty much anything in the city.
TLDR; nailed it, coming from a true New Yorker 🍕
Joe’s (Carmine location at least) is awesome. Before the new wave of artisan style gourmet slices, Joe’s was the archetype. It’s the platonic definition of a “New York slice” that people have envisioned for decades. They are not the only ones to do it, but I agree they’re the benchmark for that specific style of slice.
Don’t forget, the original Joe’s on Carmine was right off 6th ave and Bleeker (high traffic area) and would have a line out the door at 4am when the bars closed bc it was usually open until 5. It’s still the best of all their new franchise spots, including 14th st
I think this is 100% accurate. I grew up here. I first had Joe’s at the original location and it was noticeably better than the average slice place. At the time, specialty pizza and must go places were not really a thing. Now, I will occasionally have a slice of Joe’s and it is always reliable and good. The best? No, but the overall quality of NYC Pizza has improved IMO. As stated, Joe’s is also “real” NYC style pizza, sold in the correct NYC way (by the slice).
I will die on the hill that the best pizza is the closest to where you live/work.
Their sauce is just really good imo
Exactly. As someone who grew up in the area, Joe’s is my favorite because it tastes like what pizza tasted like when I was a kid. That’s the appeal. I like a fancy L’Industrie slice OK but that’s not “PIZZA pizza” or worth waiting in line for to me. Anyone saying that your local slice place is just as good or better in 2025 is either very lucky or not to be trusted, I’ve had pizza that reminded me of Chuck E. Cheese at more than one local spot in recent years.
Joes is a legit classic slice. Tastes like my childhood
Joes is always above level. It’s held to a higher standard because of that, so a lot of grumping about a decline, but it’s really difficult to walk out of here w/o a really nice slice.
It’s not the place that’s the problem, it’s the hype. It’s a decent establishment, but because of its constraints (size, lines, etc) most New Yorkers wouldn’t suggest someone go there over 10 other places.
Nowhere to sit with your large piping hot slice. You have to eat it in the middle of the street with flaming hot cheese burning your face and dripping on your clothes.
If Joes was my local spot and I could bring pizza home, it would be perfect, but if you are a tourist there are more practical places to sit and enjoy your slice without the line and drawbacks. Pizza Suprema next to MSG is a place I’d recommend to go if you want the same quality with no line and a place to sit and eat peace. If you want a step up in quality, John’s of Bleeker
Joes is the best example of OG taste of the neighborhood slice that I grew up on in the city, best eaten on the go with the orange soda $2.50 combo. This was before artisan slices took over. No shade, love them too, but the real ones will know Joe’s isn’t just a slice, it’s a memory.
> It’s just the quintessential and in my opinion benchmark, no thrills NYC slice
Yes, this is a strongly held belief of mine. Joe’s is the platonic ideal of NYC pizza. If someone from outside asks for a “New York Pizza”, I will take them to Joe’s. Nobody has ever been disappointed
Just been to New York with the family for a vacation,
One of my sons mention that we are near the “Spider Pizza” place.
I learn from an 11 yo the Joe’s is the famous pizza place where Spiderman used to work ( and i watched Raimi Spiderman plenty of times but didn’t get this detail…)
Well since we are here let’s try it.
The pizza is good, not fancy or spectacular, but just as good as a takeaway pizza should be.
Just as any stereotipical italian, i always have very low expectation for pizza outside of Italy, but I had to change my mind after trying it.
Now I understand why no matter what time of day we passed by, the place was always full of customers :]
Joes is a fine on the go slice. It’s not a slice I’m traveling specifically to get like I would for others in the city.
It would be nice if people in this subreddit and others would stop shitting all over the destination slice shops just because they have lines. We get it, you hate lines, transplants, and tourists. That doesn’t mean your little biased review is going to make Joes a better pizzas place.
The hate of all things popular here is really quite telling.
Consistent and really solid. The WV/Greenwich location is such a machine – I can walk in and out with a slice in 20 seconds.
> A lot of rumbling but TLDR: stop having absurdly high expectations
Then stop putting it up top on ‘best pizza in the city’ lists lol
Not bad, but ive had better tasting $1 pizza in the city
DAAAAMN 4 dollars?!?!
Joe’s is my 8 year old’s favorite pizza. He has good taste, unpretentious taste. Its good pizza
this is the journalism we need