New York Pizzeria

Name: New York Pizzeria
Location: 33 W State St., Binghamton, NY 13901
Phone: (607) 724-3555
Cuisine: Pizza
Price: Less than $5 for two slices and a drink!

Review:
New York Pizzeria occupies the southernmost corner of the K-Mart Plaza on Binghamton's North Side, a part of town sorely lacking in dining options. Sometimes I'm in the mood for just a slice or two of pizza instead of an entire pie, and I'd heard that this place specialized in slices. So off I went to check it out.

The K-Mart Plaza has seen better days, but I found New York Pizzeria to be a decent enough looking restaurant. If I were to look up the word "pizzeria" in the dictionary, a place with the layout of New York Pizzeria is exactly what I'd expect to see in the adjacent picture. There's a counter straight ahead with about twenty different pizzas on display, all available by the slice, and off to the right, there's a fairly large dining area with a large mural on the wall. I was surprised to find that the restaurant was pretty packed at 1:30 PM on a Sunday, but like I said, there really aren't many other choices in this part of town.

I opted to order two slices. I think a pizzeria is best judged by their plain cheese slice, so I got that for one, and I went with the Meat Lovers slice for my second, which appeared to be a New York-style slice covered with ground beef, pepperoni, ham, and bacon. In addition to the standard triangular slices, they also had Sicilian-style slices, which appeared to be rather popular among the patrons who were there at the same time as me. With two slices, you get a free drink, so I managed to get these two slices and a drink for a mere $3.93, which I found to be one of the area's best deals.

I found the cheese pizza to be fairly average. I thought the crust was pretty good and the sauce had reasonable flavor, but did not care too much for the cheese and it was a little lighter on the sauce than I prefer. The Meat Lovers was much better. They certainly don't skimp on the toppings, and the various meats did a good job of hiding the lackluster cheese. This was a slice I'd order again if I make it back to New York Pizzeria for a second visit. Another plus: service was quick and efficient and slightly on the brash side (which I actually expect from places such as this). On the flip side of the coin, I didn't get the sense that the restaurant was all that clean as evidenced by the copious number of flies buzzing around.

On the whole, I was guardedly pleased with my visit to New York Pizzeria. It certainly fills the need for a good, quick, cheap place to buy pizza by the slice, and the pizza itself is of reasonable quality. Cleanliness is perhaps somewhat of an issue, and aside from the dirt-cheap prices, there's really nothing that separates New York Pizzeria from the dozens of other pizza merchants in the area. If you live in this area, I recommend this place (though if you live nearby, chances are pretty likely that you already know it well), but it's not necessarily worth seeking out if you're coming from a distance.

Grade: C+