John’s of Bleecker St. Review

If you are a pizza lover seeking a taste of history and delicious pizza, then I definitely recommend John’s of Bleecker. Founded in 1929 by Italian immigrant Giovanni Sasso, John’s remains a classic, family-owned New York City pizza institution serving its famous coal fired pizza. In 2016, Dave Portnoy awarded John’s pizza one of his highest scores ever of a 9.4. The restaurant inside has the ambiance of an old school eatery in which customers can etch their names into the walls and wooden booths. During COVID-19, outdoor eating is also offered. While the history and atmosphere is cool, most people come to John’s for the pizza.

I ordered a pie - half of it plain cheese style and the other half sausage, mushrooms, and ricotta cheese. The pizza arrived burning hot as it was fresh out of the oven, so the pizza was quite messy requiring lots of extra napkins to eat. Even though the center of the pie was quite soupy, the pizza itself was not very greasy. While the pizza did appear a bit soggy, in reality, it was very crispy. You can really taste the coal fired oven in the crust. For the plain cheese slice, the tomato sauce was quite sweet and tangy, and the cheese was flavorful. It was quite clear that their plain cheese slice is their classic flavor - it really is a phenomenal slice.

The other half of the pizza, however, was a bit of a different story. The extra toppings made the pizza much heavier, and the crust even seemed thicker. As a result, the extra toppings really distracted me from their legendary crust. Although the slice was tasty, I would recommend sticking with the legendary classic cheese pizza as it was significantly tastier. The price is fairly reasonable for New York City standards, $30 dollars for a pie and two sodas, and it was more than enough food for two people.