San Diego’s Best NY-Style Pizza

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Fun Diego Family is on a quest to find the best pizza in San Diego.  Because all pizza styles are not created equal, we have created four categories of pizza.  Our favorite category is New York-style thin crust.  This article presents our list of San Diego’s Best NY-Style Pizza places.

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Our thin crust category of pizza refers to many pizza styles besides New York thin crust.  Other thin crust styles include St. Louis, Chicago thin crust, Boston Beach pizza and Rome style thin crust.  However, I agree with New Yorkers that say they make some of the best pizza in the world.

All the pizza places on our top thin crust list are NY-style pizza.  The only exception is for New Haven-style, which is near New York and arguably even better.  I simply am not as big a fan of other thin crust pizza styles, so I admit a bias.

The New York style I refer to is a thin crust pizza with a crisp, chewy crust.  Usually, this pizza is available by the slice.  Two slices and a drink for $7 to $9 is one of my go-to lunches.  However, pizza will almost always taste better as a whole pie versus a reheated slice.  If ordering for a crowd I will always get a whole pie.

New York is also famous for a thicker crust Sicilian-style pizza.  Some of the NY-style places on this list also serve a Sicilian-style pizza.  However, the thick crust style is a separate category and the places were not ranked for Sicilian pizza.  I will admit Sicilian-style thick crust is not my favorite.

I grew up in Philadelphia and have had plenty of NY-style thin crust and Sicilian.  New York City does have some great pizza places.  However, they also have many pretty bad ones.  New Yorkers will vehemently disagree, but the top San Diego places can hold their own.

My two favorite pizza places in New York City are Joe’s Pizza and Prince Street Pizza, both in Greenwich Village.  Both places are probably better than anything you can find in San Diego.  In New Haven, I have been to Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana.  Yes, that original is better than the San Diego version.

If you want the best NY-style pizza you have to go to New York.  That being said, we have our top 20 places which all serve a solid alternative for those of us enjoying the wonderful San Diego lifestyle 2,700 miles away.

San Diego’s Top 20 Thin Crust Pizza Places

1. Bronx Pizza
2. Pizzeria Luigi
3. URBN/Basic
4. Coney’s/Coney Island Pizzeria
5. Flippin’ Pizza
6. East Coast Pizza
7. Long Island Mike’s
8. Pauley’s Pizza Joint
9. Bongiorno’s New York Pizzeria
10. The Friendly
11. Landini’s Pizzeria
12. Surf Rider Pizza Co.
13. Hoboken Pizza
14. Sicilian Thing Pizza
15. Knockout Pizzeria (Mira Mesa)
16. Best Pizza & Brew
17. Tony’s Giant Pizzeria
18. Mr. Moto Pizza House
19. TBD
20. TBD

You will notice that our top 20 list has only 18 places.  This is because we are picky and need to visit a place multiple times.  The top five places we have been to over 10 times each.  Every other place, except The Friendly (which opened in 2018), we have been to 5 or more times.

This is a work in progress, and we will be adding places, eliminating places and reordering the list as we see fit.  For example, our number 18 place on the initial list, Knockout Pizzeria, needs to be revisited.  We have been there many times, but some reviews on Yelp, indicate quality may have slipped.

In short, this is an ongoing list and we welcome feedback.  Also, be sure and check out our overview of San Diego’s Best Pizza that includes pizza places that serve different styles such as thick crust, Italian etc.

San Diego’s Best Pizza Overview

Go here for our pizza taxonomy describing the four different styles of pizza.

Check out list of San Diego’s best thick crust pizza

San Diego’s Best Thick Crust Pizza

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