There’s been quite a lot of buzz about Sal & Carmine’s over the past few days, because the restaurant’s been closed for a few weeks with little explanation. Its Seamless page says “Looks Like This Location is Closed” and no one’s answering the phone.
“At first it seemed they were closing for their usual summer break,” one local told us. “Then there was a sign that said “gone to a wedding and will reopen in 1 week”. It’s still closed and it looks like that whole block of stores is being cleaned out.”
On Tuesday, Eater reported that Sal & Carmine’s appeared to be closed for good.
Sal & Carmine’s first opened in 1959 and has been a neighborhood stalwart for decades; it’s even in the Pizza Hall of Fame. Last year, it was briefly closed for nonpayment of taxes.
But we reached out to the restaurant via Facebook, and now they say: “Will be opening tomorrow at regular time, thank you very much.”
So relax and eat pizza, friends.
Photo by Robert.
Phew!!! I can’t tell you the number of slices I’ve eaten at that place and at home. It’s my favorite pizza. I’d be lost without it.
I feel the same.
So rude disinterested service and soggy pizza live on, we can do better.
You know you don’t have to eat their pizza right?
Agreed, crappy service serving sub par pizza.
Speaking of soggy and rude…
Yo momma
Sal and Carmine’s is far and away the best pizza “by the slice” on the UWS. They are “old school” pizza.
La Traviata makes a much better slice than Sals.
On the south end of the UWS, La Traviata seems like the best available.
However, Farinella at Amsterdam between 72-73rd St. *”should”* open for business today, (I am told by their Lexington Avenue location).
That’s real competition.
This is factually incorrect. While S&C’s pizza has become more variable over the years, Traviata can produce a decent slice roughly 10% of the time. At it’s best, it’s comparable to a below-par S&C slice. Normally, it’s a doughy mess with its insipid sauce and cheese.
Time was every neighborhood had a few good slice shops. Very distressing that it’s such a rarity now. Wish Joe’s would open up a UWS shop.
Adam you must have not been raised in the metropolitan area. Traviata is thin crust, always crispy with a slight chew. Their sauce to cheese ratio is spot on from a classic NY slice perspective.
Thanks Adam, I definitely agree on Joe’s, and when I can I’ll do a double header and grab a Sicilian slice from Bleecker St pizza (if there is any left).
I’ve always had a good slice at Traviata, but timing is everything right?
Actually “born and bred” 40+ years, etc. though perhaps I shouldn’t have been so absolutist in my comment! Traviata does occasionally put out a really good slice, but, in my experience, they’re very inconsistent and far too often don’t have that ‘crisp crust’. I could very well just be unlucky. City Pie’s crust was like this as well — when the crust was thin, it was a good slice, but too often it was too doughy. Joe’s still remains my current standard for a slice, and they are generally acknowledged to have a prototypical “NY slice”.
Agreed, but the UWS has almost no good pizza.
No. 2 is Acqua
No.3 is Numero 28
I find it odd as well since there are so many great Pizza Parlors downtown, they would make a killing in this Family-fested neighborhood.
That’s yuppie pizza. For street slices you have to go to Mama’s or Sal’s. V&T makes a nice classic pie but they’re not street slices.
It’s good to emphasize that V&T is table service; it does not sell pizza by the slice. It’s a restaurant. They do, of course, deliver.
Yes, agree!
Absolutely the best classic slice of pizza in these parts for years.
Especially with so many crappy pizza joints (like those owned by Greeks, who put up signs saying “brick oven” and then slap some brick-pattern shelf liner on the outside of their ordinary pizza oven and serve garbage with a crust so thin you can’t even see it!
I don’t eat pizza too often these days (have to watch the tomatoes), but I remember finding Sal and Carmine’s when I first moved up here 40 years ago (they were in the original Symphony Space building).
Missed Sal after he passed away, but Carmine seems to keep chugging along, though with reduced hours and help from the “kids.”
Hope they’re around for years to come!
Carmine is retired after he broke his hip in a fall at home. that happened earlier this year.
The shop has been owned and run since Sal’s death by Louie, Sal’s son, with great help from his brother George.
Calling your pizza “brick oven” these days is just a market phrase that doesn’t mean anything unless you’re trying to sound fancy. It’s like putting “Stainless steel/granite counters” in a new apartment just so you can raise the rent exorbitantly.
Really glad they’re not closing. I love that place.
the place sucks
One of my favorite slice joints. So glad it’s not closing.
Been going there since the 60’s, to both locations. Sal and Carmine knew my entire family and always asked after my mother, no matter how many years passed. The best old school pizza, hands down!!
I know I’m in the minority here, and I really like the place, but the pizza has gotten bad in the last few years. Too salty, uneven shaped pies, sometimes over cooked, sometimes under cooked. Definitely lost something.
Recently discovered Buchetta on 103rd. Excellent brick oven style pizza.
I really find that the bricks from the brick oven adds a special flavor to pizza. You just don’t find that “je ne sais quoi” taste with pizza from a steel oven.
Now if you will excuse me I have to take my anti-psychotics.
Sal & Carmine’s. Hope it stays around. As with many things, you have to appreciate it for what it is, and not wish it were something else. The trick to Sal & Carmine’s is to time your order so that they are cutting your slice from a pie that just came out of the oven. If the slice has been sitting around, don’t bother. The next trick is to get a plain slice because other kind of pies don’t come out as frequently and the waiting around for, say, a new sausage pie might be not so fun.
My son and I used to hit S&C’s after Little League games at the 103rd street fields. Win, lose, or what have you, the pizza always hit the spot.
you’re absolutely right. Sal and Carmine’s slices “straight from the oven” are amazing, especially the crust.
I never understood the fondness for Sal & Carmines. It’s okay pizza. I never thought it was the best as far as sliced pizza goes. I miss Vinnie’s from 74th & Amsterdam. I’d rather go up to 110th st and get one of those jumbo slices from Koronet.
i miss vinnie’s too. they were even better before they expanded into a doublewide store front. i appreciate the mention of Farinella, and i agree with DR that la traviata offers a nice slice.
Good pizza. WORST SERVICE. One day they’re closed, the next they don’t deliver, the next day their credit card machine is out. I’m over it. It ain’t THAT good.
calm down, drop by the shop, and buy a slice. have we so lost touch with reality that we expect 5 star service from a pizza place?
Can anyone confirm that prior to S&C the space was a bar called Ernies?
I thought Ernies was on Broadway in the 70’s..I think where Duane Reade is
I can neither confirm nor deny, what with the bewildering number of chages in the shop on Broadway.
Is Amsterdam still the used furniture district?