Lazzara’s Pizza Cafe

Their pizza is great. It’s square not circular and it’s perfectly thin. Fresh ingredients. We always get garlic onions and mushrooms on our pies. It’s great. Often times we take their food to go. I wouldn’t recommend ordering anything friend because they out it in foil containers and it just becomes soggy (ie. zucchini sticks or mozzarella sticks). Their canolis are amazing!

Prices are great. Food is delicious if you’re starving, which I was when I ate here with my friend. I’d just arrived by bus and hadn’t eaten in about 8 hours. The restaurant is tiny (5 tables maybe), but there was no wait and the server was polite but quiet.
We each got free salads and bread (sort of a potato bread with sesame seeds) — both mediocre but filling. We split two pasta entrees — cavatelli con broccoli (sauteed garlic, broccoli, oil) for $ 9.95 and ravioli pesce (filled with little shreds of lobster and topped with shrimp) for $ 11.95. Both these items were from the lunch menu, which I didn’t realize until after, but no one said anything about it.
We thought the food was incredible, but in retrospect, hunger is the best sauce and it was pretty middling.

I ordered the $ 6.50 ½ Hero Special — Chicken Parmigiana w/​a can of ginger ale. My friend ordered a salad w/​eggplant (don’t know the actual name of the entrée) and a side order of garlic bread.
My chicken parmigiana hero was hot & tasty. The melted cheese was great, but it lacked a bit of sauce. I didn’t try my friend’s eggplant salad, but the garlic bread was really tasty. Crispy, flavorful, and warm. it was a great choice.
The server was polite and even gave us extra tomato sauce at no additional charge. There were people coming in to order take-​out. and this one gentleman who ordered only a slice of $ 1.50 pizza actually came back to order an entire pan. There are only about 3 – 4 small tables, so take-​out is probably the best option.

Ordered in for a business lunch. Good prices, the sauce isn’t too bad. You need to eat three slices (half a pie) to be full though.
Thin crust pizza, not the best I’ve ever had but not bad. I’d recommend the Lazzara’s classic slice or the Grandma slice.
Definitely avoid the seafood pie. Salty, mushy and gross.

Of the two Lazzara’s in midtown, this the newest one, but rest assured, it’s just as bad as it’s sister location a few blocks away.
A full sized pizza pie here will range between $ 16 – 19, with only six slices. Since they are of the thin slice variety, don’t expect to get too full if you’re splitting it with others. I’ve had the Margo’s Mexicana, Lasagna, and Anchovie’s with a Twist and they seemed to all have one thing in common: bland, dry, and disgusting.
But it’s not all about pizza at Lazzara’s, they are very big on their pastas as well. Like their pizzas, the portions are dramtically smaller than their $ 14 – 15 price tags would suggest. The Gnocci Bolognese is flavorless and drenched in a watery sauce and the Fettucini Pesto tasted like it was microwaved and from a package.
I have ordered delivery as well as eaten in at least twice and all four times I’ve come away so disappointed I don’t know why I keep giving them chances. They may be only marginally better than their 38^th street location, but aside from sharing the same name, they also get the same raiting: one whole star.

Stopped here on a Food on Foot tour of Midtown Manhattan.
The place is very small and they have CHEAP pizza. It came up pretty quickly and only cost $ 1.50 for a slice. Their pies are kind of small — this slice is a 6^th of a full pie.

Why didn’t we walk 2 more blocks downtown and get REAL 99cent cheapy-​goodness pizza? Lazzara’s «slice» was a tiny square of average pizza. Not BAD, but its only exceptional quality was that it was very very hot.
If I wanted something that tried to be gourmet rather than giving me something simple and satisfying, I wouldn’t have been lured in by the ghetto «1.50 SLICE» sign, right?
BIG FAT BOOOO for deliberate deception.
The kicker was that the service was exceptionally rude and our 2 slices took 10 minutes to get to us even though the place was empty.

I popped in here to get a quick slice before taking a bus home. Its a hole in the wall, as this is their delivery/​takeout location and the other is their restaurant. The staff was friendly and chatted me up about soccer. It was weird that they didn’t display the slices up front, but this wasn’t a huge deal. I got a margarita, and unfortunately it was pretty lame. The sauce had no flavor other than a bit of acidity. The fresh mozz was good texturally but not in flavor. The crust was soggy, limp, and pretty devoid of flavor other than a little char around the edges. For this style of pizza, I would’ve at least expected some crispness on the bottom, but no dice.
The style of pizza served here is similiar to Rizzo’s in Astoria, except Rizzo’s is much better. I’m sure it would’ve been better if I had gotten a fresh pie, but you could say that about any place and the flavor of the slice’s ingredients wouldn’t have been changed by that. Nice idea for a pizzeria, but it didn’t work for me.

When they refer to «slices» here, they are talking about extra thin crust Sicilian style pizza (squares). You can easily eat 6 squares in one sitting. If you want big doughy pizza, go elsewhere.
Nice cheese but I found the tomato sauce slightly too acidic. A little bit of olive oil would have balanced it out.
Worth a try if you’re in the neighborhood but not necessarily worth a special trip.
Cheers!
N.

The pizza here was not the only saucy thing in the shop. The hostess was a raving scorned woman who carried on a loud conversation with the pizza maker during our entire meal. Mind you the place is smaller than a studio apartment in Hell’s Kitchen. I now know that she is becoming a lesbian because all men are cheaters and that she is moving back to her country because you can get away with murdering cheaters there. Um, yah… talk about a quiet Saturday lunch.
Also, when a customer walked in asking for the location of their other pizzeria, the hostess haughtily snapped «I work here, not there. How should I know?!»
The pizza was okay, but wow… the service was entertaining to say the least.

Good price ($ 1.50) for that sized slice. The sauce was good, but a bit salty. The cheese was nice and fresh. The crust was too thin and crispy to even taste. It was OK, but I’m not going out of my way to head back to Lazzara’s.

Renowned for its great dishes presented at an economical price! The prices are economical. However, some of the dishes are hit or miss.
— Eggplant Rollatini: Not the best I’ve had, but very tasty, and better than I can do.
— Chicken Parmigiana: thin leathery chicken cutlets. Not a fan.
— Seafood Linguine: the pasta & sauce was good. The seafood portion consisted of itty-​bitty pieces of sea foods. Regretful.

I believe Lazzara’s is part of the new wave of Neopolitan pizza taking over New York: square slices, modest cheesing, tangy marinara, all topped with an interesting twist of toppings. What I mean by «twist of toppings» is that when you ask for pepperoni, it’s not like the round, Pog-​like type of Italian meat. It’s short, rectangular, stubs of a finely cut, very red, type of pepperoni. The mushrooms aren’t the best but they’re not that bad either. Overall, the pizza is pretty good but I won’t go nuts for it.
Their other location features a very rude and bitchy hostess but this place has a fairly friendly fellow who actually brought the pie to our table even though the place is not really a restaurant. There’s only a handful of tables meant for two people each. The square footage is definitely minimal but during the warmer months, having a pie of this stuff is definitely welcome. Prices are definitely modest as well.
Not the best, not the worst, but a bit above average. More like a three point five.

One word: «Pepperoni!»
So delicious.
Date Rating: 5
Pick up Scale: 8 for pizza
Strong Suggestion: try the pepperoni — thicker sliced pieces, not too greasy!

so, what’s all the hoopla here? The pizza is overpriced $ 9 for a «half» of 3-​topping pizza, and their «square slices» are smaller than a normal slice.
Kudos for trying to bring a thin crust pizza into the neighborhood, but all the oil and grease that comes along with it nullifies any sort of crispiness. I’m a fan of oil and grease which makes for some sinfully delicious pizza, so if i’m to put half an inch of body fat to my rotundness, it better taste f’n good. It did not. so now i have to go to the gym. dang you!

Wow, I’m absolutely shocked at the reviews here. I work nearby, and am so glad they opened a little branch closer to me as going to 38^th was always a chore. But c’mon, I feel like this is some of the best pizza in NYC, and this is coming from a guy who lives near Di Fara’s and grew up in New Haven around some serious pizza. I mean, its definitely greasy, but its supposed to be, and the sogginess in the middle is always made up for by the crunch at the crust!
Also for pickup during the day, the pie for $ 8.99 cannot be beat!!!

Far be it from me, of Scottish/​Irish heritage, to tell someone named Lazzara how to run a pizzeria, but please, if you would, entertain me.
Cold cuts should be sliced to order. If your volume is high enough, it is acceptable to preslice and wrap the stack in cling wrap. But when you fold the slices them put them on top of a salad and leave the finished antipasto in your reach-​in soda case for a day or three the meat will oxidize, resulting, in this case, in a brown striped pattern bedizening both ham and salami.
And when a take-​out customer walks back in 10 minutes later to return an unacceptable product, that means he probably lives very close to you. Anything less than an effusive apology and explanation will guarantee you one less customer and a neighbor sure to talk shit about you. A half-​ass mumbley «sorry» don’t cut it.
And don’t forget the cheese on the Meatball Parm, goddammit.

Probably the worst pizza I ever had. For some reason one of our clients always orders from here when they visit us. Maybe because it’s generall affordable or maybe because they’re based out of Columbus, Ohio and don’t know what good NY style pizza tastes like.
Each time I see the boxes, my heart sinks a little bit. The novelty of the square shape dies pretty quickly. The quality of the pizza itself is poor. Very thin crust, soggy, and very oily. I tried a slice of the Classica (with pepperoni and mushrooms) which was okay. The Margarita (tomatoes, basil, cheese) was mediocre and the Pizza Bianco (ricotta and mozzarella) was gross, so much so that I had to throw out my slice. And I hate to be wasteful.
Next time these clients visit, I’m brown bagging it.

3.5 stars for the 99 cent pizza (with purchase of fountain drink) — «recession special» An additional slice can be had for another 1.50
Not the best pizza, but probably one of the more notable places I’ve found in Midtown West /​Hell’s Kitchen. The slices are small, thin sicilian squares, so you definitely need 2, maybe 3 slices for lunch. The crust is thin, but the sauce unfortunately makes the center of the pizza a little soggy. The sauce might also be a little on the sweet side.
All in all, a viable lunch option.

The pizza man here almost had a coronary when I walked behind the counter to look at the pizza. Square thin crusted pies of the usual– plain, sausage, pepperone, fresh mozzarella etc. Before I choose the pizza I asked to see it as pizza is usually displayed in the front counter. I grew up in Brooklyn and we like to see our pizza. So when he held it up and I walked further back, he Unilocaled at me. I am not going to rob your register man. The pizza tasted «eh» as we used to say. Thin, decent crunch though the sauce and cheese were relatively flavorless.