*Bloggers note: the price increased from $1.00 to $1.50 in 2023)
I have been coming to 2 Brothers Pizza, which is located right next to the back entrance to the Port Authority Bus Terminal since it opened back in 2010. Its original branch is down on St. Marks Place by Gramercy Park. It is home to the $1.50 slice of pizza and started the trend of $1.50 slice places in New York City. When the City, still reeling from the meltdown of 2008, this type of restaurant came at the right time (The slices price has increased from $1.00 to $1.50 in 2023).
The view on 9th Avenue
The pizza oven is going all day long
2 Brothers Pizza also has the lunch special of two slices with a Coke for $3.99. It took off and has been popular ever since. The location is perfect because if you are hungry after a long day at work and need a quick snack, 2 Brothers Pizza is the place for you.
The cheese pizza is delicious here
These may not be gourmet slices, but the pizza is cooked very well and if it is not too busy, cooked all the way through. Sometimes the lines are so long at lunch that they will rush the pizzas out of the oven before they are done, and it can be doughy.
Their cheese is good quality and their sauce is flavorful with lots of spice so it stands out. Pizzas here never sit long and you are guaranteed it will be a fresh pie. I have always noticed that this place is busy. They used to have more lunch specials like chicken and rice dishes but I think they have given them up and concentrated on just the pizza. They also have pizza with toppings but those slices are a little bit more.
The Two Slice special of Cheese Pizza and a soda.
For a $1.50 a slice and two slices with a Coke for $3.99, you can’t beat 2 Brothers Pizza. They also have locations in the Garment District on 7th Avenue and their location on St. Marks Place by Gramercy Park, so check them out online. Also, they are open late night as well so if you are heading home from the theater or just touring the City, it is a nice place to stop off for a late night snack.
The Cheese slices on the lunch and dinner special.
Since the slices are now $1.50, they put a good twist on that so you spend the other .50 cents. They sell Garlic knots for .50 cents and they are good! Loaded with garlic butter. Chopped garlic and grated cheese. Yum!
The garlic loaded garlic knots
They are worth the additional money
For a late night snack there is nothing like it
Seating is limited in the restaurant but there are a few small tables and a few cocktail tables to eat at outside on a nice day or night.
The view at night from the cocktail tables
Since COVID, the owners have put more cocktail tables outside on West 41st Street for patrons when the weather is warm.
Locations: They also have locations at 549 9th Avenue, 31 West 46th Street and 755 6th Avenue
I have been coming to 2 Brothers Pizza, which is located right next to the back entrance to the Port Authority Bus Terminal since it opened back in 2010. Its original branch is down on St. Marks Place by Gramercy Park. It is home to the $1.00 slice of pizza and started the trend of $1.00 slice places in New York City. When the City, still reeling from the meltdown of 2008, this type of restaurant came at the right time.
2 Brothers Pizza also has the lunch special of two slices with a Coke for $2.99. It took off and has been popular ever since. The location…
In honor of Small Business Saturday, I am featuring wonderful reasonable restaurants in New York City. Don’t miss the huge over-sized slices at this pizzeria by Columbia University.
The front of the pizzeria
The pizzas are huge here!
The pizza is bigger than the plate
Their jumbo slice of sausage is like two meals in one.
Koronet Pizza was established in 1981 and is located right on the border of the Columbia Campus in Morningside Heights and is known best for having ‘New York’s Biggest Slice’. I have to admit that the slice is huge.
I stumbled across Koronet Pizza when I was walking around the Columbia campus for my “WalkinManhattan” project and needed a quick lunch. The giant slice is part of their 32 inch pizza that they sell for $38.00. An individual slice of their delicious pizza is $4.75 and is about the size of two normal slices. You only need one to fill you up. When I ate there, customers got a big kick out of downing one of these slices.
The pizza is excellent. Their sauce has a spicy tomato taste…
In honor of Small Business Saturday, I am featuring wonderful reasonable restaurants in New York City. Don’t miss this pizzeria’s lunch specials. They are excellent!
La Crosta Pizzeria at 436 East 72nd Street closed in 2022.
(The restaurant closed in January 2022 and is being replaced by another pizzeria named York Pizzeria).
York Avenue Pizza took over the spot but the prices are now double of what they once were when the old restaurant was open.
I came across La Crosta when I first started to walk the rim of the middle section of the Upper East Side for my blog, “MywalkinManhattan.com” and found it was hidden behind some scaffolding around the building that it is located in. I saw several people walking in and decided to take a peek at the menu. It was very nice, very reasonable and had a nice selection. Their reviews on both TripAdvisor, Google and Yelp were very encouraging so when I did the extensive walk of the Avenues and then the Streets of the neighborhood, I decided to try it for lunch a few times. I have to say…
In honor of Small Business Saturday, I am featuring wonderful reasonable restaurants in New York City.
Now the pizzeria is known as 109th Street Pizzeria
The pizza here is delicious.
*Since the pandemic, Make & Bake Pizza has changed names and owners and is now known as 109th Street Pizzeria. The restaurant has also been renovated since my last review.
I came across Make & Bake Pizzeria when I was visiting East Harlem for my walking project, “MywalkinManhattan” and I needed a snack. I had already visited Moe’s Grocery a few doors down for a ‘Chopped Cheese’ and I needed a slice of pizza.
I followed the school kids from the two schools across the street into the pizzeria and they really seemed to like the pizza here. Because the kids are from the housing projects that surround the school and this part of Second and Third Avenues, the prices at the restaurants in the area are very reasonable. Here the prices are more than reasonable, they are cheap.
A slice of cheese pizza here is $1.00, a soda and water are $1.00…
In honor of Small Business Saturday, I am featuring wonderful reasonable restaurants in New York City. The Bacon, Egg and Cheese sandwich on an Everything Bagel is just excellent!
Sometimes you are looking for the perfect little ‘hole in the wall’ restaurant and it just jumps out at you. This is how I found out about West Side Cafe & Pizza. I was looking for a snack and came a across a restaurant that offered well-priced pizza slices. It also offers a whole lot more.
I went into West Side Cafe & Pizza for a slice of pizza. The place around the corner from it had the slices at $3.25 for a slice of cheese and when I walked in here, the slice was $2.50, more on the level of a regular slice.
Even though the slice was warmed over, the sauce was flavorful…
In honor of Small Business Saturday, I am featuring wonderful restaurants that are reasonable in New York City. Lions, Tigers & Squares closed in June 2025 and has since been replaced by another pizzeria.
This new pizzeria opened in the heart of Chelsea in Manhattan that specializes in ‘Detroit style’ pizza, which is a type of Sicilian pizza that is baked in a deep dish with the cheese baked right into the sides of the pizza producing a caramelized edge to the pizza. Having gone to college at Michigan State University, I was introduced this this type of pizza at a restaurant named “Dooley’s” in the mid-Eighties. It’s nice to see it come to New York City.
Lion’s & Tiger’s (Named after two sports teams in Michigan) & Squares, a very clever ring in the fact that the pizza is cooked in a square pan in a pizza oven. These wonderful deep-dish pizzas are offered with a limited amount of toppings such as pepperoni, sausage…
I came across this little gem of a restaurant one afternoon when I was walking in the Garment District and it is one of my new favorite places to go for a snack when working in the area (See reviews on TripAdvisor).
Non Solo Piada makes traditional Italian Street foods and breakfast inspired by street food you might find in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The best part of the menu here is there are all sorts of wonderful and creative items on the menu that will run $10.00 and less.
The items on the menu are split into four catagories: Piadine (sandwiches), Cassoni (stuffed sandwiches) and Piadizze (Pizzas) plus desserts and beverages. A Piadine is a warm folded over sandwich where you can see…
I came across Cheesy Pizza when visiting Manhattan Valley/Bloomingdale neighborhood (the very Upper Upper West Side) when walking down Broadway for my blog ‘MywalkinManhattan.com’. What attracted me to the restaurant was a big sign in the window, ’10 meals for $5.00 +tax’, so I had to investigate. I am glad I stopped in to check it out, the food is wonderful and flavorful and the service is always friendly.
I tried the Personal Cheese Pizza with a Coke one afternoon ($5.00) and was very pleased with the small fresh pizza that was made expressively for me. It was a nice size eight inch pizza with four nice slices, gooey high quality cheese and a very tasty tomato…
I came across SheShe Pizzeria on my walk around Manhattan Valley (Between 110th Street-96th Street and Riverside Drive and Central Park West) for my blog, “MywalkinManhattan” when I was walking Columbus Avenue. This little ‘gem’ has one of the best lunch specials in the neighborhood. I am surprised that the Columbia students have not discovered this restaurant.
I stopped in for lunch twice and was very impressed that such a good quality lunch can be had for $5.00 (tax included). The first day of my ‘walk’ in the neighborhood, I tried the personal pizza with a Coke. It was delicious. The owner makes the pizza fresh for you and it comes out piping hot and gooey from…
Eating at Curioni’s Pizza is a real local experience. The fun part about eating at this family run business is that if you want to meet the residents of Lodi, NJ, just sit at one of the ten stools inside the pizzeria and you will know all the town gossip.
The front of Curioni’s Pizzeria
The customers come up and talk to owner, Walter Curioni Jr., while he is making his pies and his son, Ryan, who is usually running around behind him popping in pizzas into the pizza oven and preparing sandwiches. It is a real family atmosphere here as people come in to talk to one another and air their problems and concerns in the town and in their lives.
The front of Curioni’s Pizzeria
Sitting down at the bar to eat lunch and dinner
The business was opened by Mr. Curioni’s grandparents in 1923 as a grocery store that catered to the local growing Italian-American population. Mr. Curioni said in an article that when his father took over the business, he felt there would not be enough money in groceries so he put in a pizza oven and the rest is history (Curioni Pizzeria website).
The current menu in 2026
The pizzeria almost closed a few years ago as Mr. Curioni wanted to cut back in his hours but lucky for the community, he adjusted the restaurant hours and now closes early during the week. Now into the fourth generation, his son Ryan, cooks alongside with him.
Walter Curioni Jr. minding the business
On the many occasions that I have eaten there, the food is wonderful, very flavorful and well-spiced and the portion sizes are very generous for a fair price. Everything I have ever been served here has come out sizzling hot.
The pizza is delicious and a slice here ($1.75) is larger than your average slice. It can be cut into two for light eaters. Their pizza sauce is spiced very nicely with hints of oregano, basil and garlic. There is a nice zip to it. It is loaded with cheese and has a nice gooey consistency to it.
The pizza slices at Curioni’s are very generous
The regular pizzas are very fairly priced with a twelve slice Sicilian at $13.00 and a 24 slice Sicilian at $22.00 with an extra $1.50 each for toppings. A regular round pie is $10.00.
The Sicilian Slice
The large cheese pizza at Curioni’s Pizza
The ravioli can be ordered with either meat or cheese and served with their delicious sauce. A small portion is $4.50 and a large is $8.00. These pillowy little delights are perfectly cooked and come steaming to the counter with a side of fresh crusty bread, perfect for dipping.
My lunch one afternoon, the Ravioli with Marinara sauce and a Slice of Pizza
This is the small Ravioli with Marinara Sauce
The Ravioli in Red Sauce is excellent
I recently had the meatball hero and for a small hero at $5.50 (the large is $8.00) it was larger than the average sandwich. Served on a fresh hoagie roll that had just arrived from a bakery in Garfield, NJ, six homemade pork and beef meatballs were served with a generous portion of mozzarella cheese on the bottom and a large ladle of sauce on the top that oozed out for dipping the sandwich.
It was like heaven in every bite. You could taste the rosemary and basil in the meatballs on top of the flavor of the sauce.
The meatball sandwich is delicious
Yum!
The service here is very personal and friendly as Walter and his wife and their son talk to the guests in between customer orders, cooking the food and serving guests at the counter about everything from local politics and how the sports teams are doing to family matters and asking about parents and grandparents. If you want a “Cheers” type of experience in a local restaurant, then stop into Curioni’s for a slice of Lodi, NJ.
The inside of the pizzeria while Ryan Curioni was cooking my lunch. eating here is a real Jersey experience! It’s like everyone knows your name!
Eating at Curioni’s Pizza is a real local experience. The fun part about eating at this family run business is that if you want to meet the residents of Lodi, NJ, just sit at one of the ten stools inside the pizzeria and you will know all the town gossip. The customers come up and talk to owner, Walter Curioni Jr., while he is making his pies and his son, Ryan, who is usually running around behind him popping in pizzas into the pizza oven and preparing sandwiches. It is a real family atmosphere here as people come in to talk to one another and air their problems and concerns in the town and in their lives.
The business was opened by Mr. Curioni’s grandparents in 1923 as…
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