By West Side Rag
An Upper West Side pizza place was just named among the best in New York City.
Eater New York published a list on Monday of the 16 best pizza joints in the five boroughs.
The local pizzeria to earn a place on the rankings? Mama’s Too! at 2750 Broadway, between West 105th and 106th streets.
Here’s what Eater NY had to say about the popular eatery.
“In an impossibly small space, the luscious square slices are on full display, each of them thicker, greasier, and more lushly topped than the one before,” Eater NY wrote. “The crusts are crunchy, too, and the tomato sauce is slightly sweet. Note the stylish cupping pepperoni. The poached pear and gorgonzola square is unforgettable, and evidence of Mama’s originality.”
Other flavors include the Vodka Pie with vodka sauce, whipped ricotta, and pecorino romano, as well as the Angry Nonna with hot soppressata, aged mozzarella, Calabrian chili oil, and hot honey.
Elsewhere on the ranking, while Don Antonio isn’t on the Upper West Side, the 50th Street pizzeria is a popular delivery spot for people who live within the southern section of the Upper West Side.
You can check out the full best pizza ranking — HERE.
Let us know in the comments what your favorite Upper West Side pizza spot is, and why.
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Serafina. Several locations, with one at Broadway & 77.. They also make a mean spinach with garlic and orecchiette. The sides go great on top of the pizza.
Bosino….real pizza. Theres’ nothing so good in our neighborhood as Bosino
They used to rave about roach and rat infested Absolute Bagels also. New Yorkers know where to go in the 100s for a slice and Mama’s Too ain’t it.
Mama’s Too is amazing
I could not disagree more. While pricy, Mamas Too is worth every penny! Congrats and keep doing what you’re doing!
Agreed. Please share where you like to go. Koronet?
Noooo Koronet no no no. Costs a fortune but whatever Buca on 103 is called now is great, but admittedly not a NY slice place
Sal & Carmine’s!
Way too salty! Last time I went, I couldn’t even taste the pizza.
Meh
Old school baby!
Maybe they can use some of that Top 16 cash to start selling their slices indoors instead of turning the sidewalk into their waiting room and dining room. They are the only business I know of, other than permitted food trucks and homeless sidewalk retailers, that sell their goods directly on to the sidewalk. Every other pizza place in town manages to sell slices from an indoor counter.
This is a truly nitpicking level of kvetch. The crowds at Mama’s Too are never unruly, and they manage to be busy without blocking pedestrians.
God forbid that we have lively streets.
The original Mama’s was better than Sal and Carmine’s, and Columbia Bagel on 110th was better than Absolute. The irony is when the UWS was SRO central and completely rent controlled, the food and culture were way better. I feel sorry for the folks who have to pay inflated prices to live in the neighborhood that is lacking true and decent places to eat.
The original Mama’s on Amsterdam? I’ve eat there dozens of times and it’s average at best. I wish the Mama Too folks could convince Mama Uno to upgrade their products. It’s a completely generic NY slice.
I like Sal and Carmines and go there a lot. But Mama Too’s is very very good.
Agree! Except for the Sal and Carmine’s part…sometimes good, often not…but will have you drinking gallons of water afterward! Will always miss Columbia Bagels.
Mama’s Too will NEVER qualify as the best anything in my book, because they refuse to make a pizza without cheese. I mean really?? If I buy the whole pie…WHY NOT? Perhaps there is cheese in the crust?
How did a comment complaining that a pizza place won’t make pizza possibly get through the firewall?
That’s not pizza. If you want baked tomato bread cook it yourself.
Can a list like this be taken seriously without Pizza Suprema on it?
Mama’s Too is certainly very good if a bit prima donna-ish. I like to order on a 3rd party app, and while Cheesy and Sal & Carmine’s are both on it, MT has to do its own thing all the way down the line. Meanwhile I settled it years ago before the Times’ review and feel like I’m owed something for that 😉
Mama’s Too is definitely high-handed with its customers, but I’m glad they don’t use third-party apps. Those apps rip off restaurants, and abuse deliveristas.
And I love Mama’s Too pizza, though the amount of stuff on top of their square slices has gotten too too lately: the slices are heavy and overloaded.
But order a whole pie, bring it home and reheat it at 450 for four minutes and it’s excellent.
For better or worse, if they were to condescend to using a 3rd party app, it would provide a more uniform, better experience for the customer, rather than the prickly, particular, niche set-up they now have. Their prices are high enough already to cover both the 3rd party app. experience and take care of their employees. We can’t be expected to worry about every phase of the retail food experience all the time
This article and related comments remind me of a line by a stand up comedienne I once heard: “Why do guys take such great pride in knowing where to find the best pizza in town? It’s bread, tomatoes, and cheese. How do you mess that up?”
They should have come up to the real UWS and gone to V&T’s which has been family owned and in the same place since 1951. Unlike others on the list the do not use “sauce from a jar/can”
Don’t be afraid come up to the real UWS, which is north of 96th street, and visit V&T at 110 Amsterdam Ave
It is called upstate New York.
Technically, V&T is in Morningside Heights, which is to the north of the UWS.
“The real UWS”? Yours doesn’t include Zabar’s, the Dublin House, Lincoln Center, The Natural History Museum, The Dakota, not even Symphony Space.
Last and only time I was there and their sauce was bitter and not very rich. And yes, I lived IN Italy for over ten years, so I know something about home-made sauce without sugar!!! Marzano tomatoes and shredded carrots go a long way to make a rich sauce without additional sugar!
The pizza is pretty good, but the people there treat the customers like trash.
That used to be precisely my experience at Garlic Bob’s on Columbus.
I’m Italian, sorry but mama 2 pizza sucks.
I”m Italian too, but that does not automatically make us authorities on pizza. Many Italians don’t know anything about pizza. The Florentines and Venetians especially. Ever have pizza in Venice? Che peccato!
Verissimo!
I ate there once and it was burned to heck. The crust doesn’t fold so much as break like burned crackers.
Yup! As some have commented, Sal and Carmine’s has my vote for the best pizza in the ‘hood.
I don’t know most of the UWS pizza shops, and rarely do just slices, but I’ve had a lot of pizza in my time. When I get the hunger, I go to Pappardella, and I pass a lot of pizza places to get there. Pappardella makes my favorite: a one-person plain pie (I get pepperoni) that is just the right size, otherwise I would eat it until I exploded. It’s not a slice shop, and the restaurant is popular so I go early to make sure I get a seat, but for me it’s pizza heaven. Gets my vote. I think their lasagna is the best on the UWS too, but don’t tell too many people.
Previtti has the best thin=crust pizza I’ve had in years. East side locations, worth the trip – try the cheese, tomato sauce with vodka, and thin crust to die for.
Try Bosino’s— they are a pizza place (took over from the old “il Buco”) on 103rd and the corner of Amsterdam…they have become my go-to Italian place for their ENTIRE MENU!! Small but mighty and their owner, Davide is a dream! Courteous, helpful and all-around master chef! GO!!!
Nonsense. Mama’s Too caters to the pineapple and endive crowd. “Poached pear and Gorgonzola?” Gag me with a calzone. Best pizza on the UWS is Sal & Carmine’s. As mentioned by others, V&T is another great choice.
Yep. They lost me with poached pear and gorgonzola. Yikes!
You know you’re not forced to get that one, right?
Freddie and Pepper’s is still my favorite.
The Pesto and Goat Cheese is excellent.
We have tried so very many times to like Mama’s Too, so hit and miss. Willing to continue buying anyway, until there was a hair which is totally non-negotiable .
New Pizza Town at Broadway & 78th. Hands down the best in the neighborhood.
A mainstay in its day (1983–May 25, 2011).
Motorino! So many amazing pies. Cooked perfectly.
For Roman style: Pizza Collective
For Neapolitan: Song e Napule
For NYC-style slices: Sal & Carmine
E basta cosí!
V@T was amazing when I was a kid. I have moved but happy to see other co.mme ts that it’s still in the running for notable pizza.
Why can’t L’Industrie or Louie and Ernie’s open up a UWS location. The UWS honestly does not have great pizza.
Burnt focaccia bread with burnt oily toppings, calling this pizza is an insult to the industry, I’ve tried them a few time hoping that I’d see the light, nope, burnt is burnt.
Mamas Too always burns the pizza. Obviously some people like that, but not me. It just tastes burned.
Once upon a time within the past 20 or so years there was a place offering a good selection of pizza — though I believe it was mainly a kosher grill — on the southeast corner of either Amsterdam or Columbus and some street in the low 90s; it had a glass-enclosed dining wing along the avenue side and a secondary entrance on the street side, and it seemed pretty popular among the neighborhood Jewish community. Anyone else remember it, know its name?
Cafe Roma? It was where The Shell is now and then moved a couple times and is now closed.
It had other vaguely Italian food but I’m not sure what you mean by grill. If they served pizza they wouldn’t serve meat which is what a grill means to me
Yes!! That was the spot, at the SE corner of 91st & Amsterdam. I am eternally in your debt, though don’t quote me on it.
The “grill” part might be my faded memory, but I seem to recall they had a selection of BBQ items. Anyhow, I would have stopped in for the vegetarian (vegan?) pizza, maybe a green pepper & onion slice, which was admittedly less than excellent. They seem to have been at that corner roughly 1997–2006, from what I can tell.
UWS pizza eater for 30 years and had them all. I really like Sal and Carmines, Bosino/Buco, Motorino, and Mama Too’s and go to them all often. But I wanted to bring up two that aren’t mentioned so far: Ortomare on Columbus and 109 and if you have the energy to go to Harlem, Sotto Casa on Malcom X and 121st. Both are sit down places with no slices. Both have just perfect dough and make fantastic Calzones.
Fire Pizza….UWS …AMSTERDAM BETWEEN 95TH AND 96TH.STREET…delicious Sicilian deep dish slices
Here we go again!
Mamas too literally just a pretentious hole in the wall that only caters to people with money, and everyone saying how amazing Sal and Carmine’s is obviously doesn’t know how dirty they are 😆 I’ve seen roaches in the glass right on top of the pizza and rats running around the floor soooo y’all nasty LOL
So great to see all the love for Sal & Carmines.
My grandmother used to take me to it when it was on 95th street in the 1980s. Fond memories.
But memories aside, it’s the best and always has been!
Does anyone remember Majestic Pizza on Maiden Lane in the 1980s. Too a newly arrived immigrant from Ohio, it was unlike anything I ever tasted. Truly Majestic.
My go-to is Pizza Collective.