· Brooklyn's Finest
The search wants a winner
Best pizza in NYC is a search with a hundred answers and no referee. Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island all have counters people will argue for. A list that ranks them from a pizzeria website is advertising. This page will not do that. We will not invent awards, and we will not describe another shop's pie.
Brooklyn's Finest Pizza is one address: 1250 Hylan Boulevard, Staten Island, NY 10305, on Hylan Boulevard, since 2012. Staten Island is a borough of New York City, so a citywide search can land here without us pretending to be a Manhattan slice room. If you are in the city and you are on the East Shore, this is a practical option. If you are in another borough, it is a long trip for a pie, and you should eat near where you are.
What a New York pie usually means
People who say New York pizza usually mean a round pie with a rim you can fold, tomato sauce, and mozzarella, sold by the slice or the whole pie. Thickness is moderate. The slice is wide. That is the habit, not a law. Square pies live next to it in the same shops: Sicilian, which is thick, and grandma, which is thinner. Both belong in the city. Neither one cancels the round slice.
Our round cheese pie is listed by size. A large is 8 slices at $19.49. A cheese slice by itself is $2.99. Sicilian and grandma's are on the same pizza list, both larges cut into 8. Specialty larges are 8 slices too. The New York style page stays on the round pie. The slice count post is the number, if the number is why you clicked.
How to judge a pie without a list
Look at the slice you were handed. The underside should be cooked, not pale and wet. The cheese should be melted, not a cold layer on hot sauce. A round slice should fold without the tip falling off in the first second. A square should taste like the style you ordered, bready if it is Sicilian, firmer and more tomato if it is grandma. Salt and sauce matter more than a topping pile.
Then decide if you want another. That test beats a ranking. It also fails if you ordered the wrong pie. A Hawaiian is pineapple and ham. A buffalo chicken pie is buffalo chicken and mozzarella. Neither one is the plain slice people mean by best pizza in NYC. Order a plain cheese if you are trying to judge the dough.
What we will not claim
We will not say we are the best pizza in NYC, in Staten Island, or on Hylan Boulevard. The best pizza Staten Island page on this site is a neighborhood page, not a trophy. Other shops on this island make pies people love. Eat those too. Use their menus for their prices.
We also will not publish a secret dough or a water story. The menu is the offer: rounds, squares, specialty larges, heroes, and the rest of a pizzeria. Gluten-free is a personal 10-inch cheese pie, not a large New York slice. Say so if that is what you need.
If you are actually nearby
Order at Order Online, which is order.brooklynsfinestsi.com, or call (718) 815-7070. On an iPhone or iPad, the app sends the same menu. Sit down, pick up, or check a delivery address inside 4 miles. Hours end at 10:00 PM, or 10:30 PM on Friday and Saturday. The location page is the map.
Best pizza in NYC is a fun argument and a bad way to order dinner. If you are near 1250 Hylan Boulevard, order a cheese pie or a slice and decide for yourself. If you are not near it, the honest advice is to find a good counter in the borough you are standing in. We are not going to mail a ranking to the rest of the city.
If you do come, order the plain pie first and the specialty second. A first visit that starts with buffalo chicken or pineapple is a visit about those toppings, not about the dough. Sit in the dining room if you want the slice hot. Take a whole large if you are feeding the house. Heroes and pasta are there when pizza is only half the table. None of that makes a citywide ranking. It makes a dinner at 1250 Hylan Boulevard, Staten Island, NY 10305, which is the only thing this shop can honestly offer the search. Call (718) 815-7070 if you are picking up a few pies and want them timed. Use the name on the ticket. A citywide argument can wait until after you have eaten the plain slice. The fold, the sauce, and whether you want another piece will tell you more than any list on the internet. If the answer is yes, you are in the right room. If the answer is no, you still got dinner, and the next counter in the city is someone else's to praise. We will not write their review. Eat the slice, then decide if you want the whole pie.
Visit the shop
Brooklyn's Finest Pizza is at 1250 Hylan Boulevard, Staten Island, NY 10305. Call (718) 815-7070.
- Monday – Thursday: 10:00 AM – 10:00 PM
- Friday – Saturday: 10:00 AM – 10:30 PM
- Sunday: 10:30 AM – 10:00 PM