Late Nite with David Letterman used to do this skit where the interviewer would had down to the street and interview pizza shop owners who advertised along the lines of “World’s Best Pizza” or “World’s Greatest Pizza.” It was pretty funny.
it’s there. half way down.
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Hard IMO to have a list that covers so many different styles that are very apples to oranges. NY style pizza and Neapolitan pizza have very little similarity IMO.
For Neapolitan-ish pizza (I say ish because his style is quite different than old school pizzerias in Naples), I have not had anything close to Una Pizza Napoletana in NYC. I think his fame is well deserved, and while it’s annoying because it is now hard to get a reservation to eat there, I am actually surprised it took so long and so many iterations of UPN in SF & NY for it to become as wildly popular as it is now. Not only is the end product really good, but there is the ‘romance’ factor of having a guy who only opens his business when he is there and who literally makes every ball of dough served in the restaurant.
Neapolitan pizza is a fragile product (i.e., a few seconds more in the oven can completely change the product…fermentation is also volatile), however, so despite best efforts I think there is a lot of variability day to day or individual pizza to pizza in what arrives at the table. So I could definitely see someone eating there and having a mediocre experience. It’s also very preference driven. His pizza is like 1/3 cornicione so you have to love that part of the pizza to be excited about UPN.
It’s kind of fun if there are only a few tables being served. Not so much if the restaurant is packed, with a long line of people waiting outside. There are plenty of places that do a great job, but use more of an assembly line operation, with multiple people decorating pies, and pumping out pizzas rapidly.
He has help making the pizza, he may open up the dough and prep while someone else mans the oven etc. It’s not like the old days of Di Fara where it was literally a one man operation and nobody else touched the pizza. But when Mangieri goes on vacation to Italy or whatever the place will shut down. There is something admirable about that IMO but obviously it isn’t the most efficient way to serve the masses.
Given as I said the kind of pizza he makes is a fragile product and execution is highly important, I think it is understandable to want to maintain control of the process personally. I don’t know how he has stayed in business all these years being open 3x a week for dinner in two high-rent cities, but I guess he’s made the math work.
I also wouldn’t be sure they could churn out that many more pizzas than they do now per hour. Can’t fit that many in the oven at a time and you need to give the oven a bit of rest between baking. However, they could clearly be open a lot more days than they are and could make more dough and go later in the night too.
I only went to the SF location (the old location in Mission). Pretty sure it was just him doing all the assembly. Maybe he had a helper rolling out the dough, can’t be sure. I just remember it was excruciatingly slow watching the whole process from our table. Each time a pizza would come out, we, and a dozen other pairs of eyes would watch it’s progression into the room, wondering if this might finally be ours lol.
Yeah I think I recall the same when visiting out in SF. But since moving back to NYC in 2018, he has had more help. On the other hand, demand has blown up over the past 2-3 years since getting ranked #1 in the world.
I’m going on a trip to the Naples/Caserta area in a few weeks, curious to check out a few of the pizzerias on the top in the world list and see how they compare to what is in NYC.
If you ever spend any time in northern Sonoma county, try to get to Diavola. Very good pizzas, salads, other dishes. Rustic vibe, fun meal.
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Plain cheese is the gold standard for NYC style and Roman style.
Some might argue pepperoni because they prefer it, but all the elements one needs to judge a pizza are in a cheese pizza.
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I could argue with this list. 
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Yes, and I posted a pic of a Margherita pizza (plain cheese with basil leaves).
Neopolitan > NY style > Chicago Style
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Not in my world.
I hate a soggy crust.
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Once a year I take my travel friends to L&B Spumoni Gardens in Brooklyn (not far from Coney Island). Only order the Sicilian. They are not known for their regular slice.
I finally went to L’Industrie in Brooklyn. The margarita slice was a major disappointment, and that’s said as a NY pizza ‘expert’. On the other hand, their Sicilian was top notch.
Last week I went to a favorite of mine, Di Fara’s. Maybe you’ve heard of it. 
After all the years, they’re allowed one bad experience.
Louie & Ernie’s in the Bronx is only recommended when a pie comes out of the oven. I’ve been there at random times when they clearly served slices that were sitting around. They’re off my list.
Lucia Pizza of Avenue X in Brooklyn is an overall winner in my book.
Mama’s_Too serves the best regular and Sicilian pizza in all NYC. Two locations.
Wheated in Brooklyn has been on my bucket list ever since Covid.
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I’m a big fan of both L’Industrie and Mamas Too.
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A clickbait list by NYT. Left out many good ones that locals here have already positively opined on.
Where’s DiFaras, Lucali?
I’ll throw in a couple in Massara and Scarrs.
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I feel like Scarr’s has gone downhill since they moved across the street. I haven’t been back in about a year. I may have to give them another shot.
You would be mostly wrong then.
i just ate a slice there less than 5 minutes ago. it was pretty good, in fact i think the slice was better than when they first opened the original location. however, i think grand street pizza around the corner is quite a bit better (and i have never seen a line there).
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Well, I’m not wasting my calorie intake on any of those slices that are just solid burnt cheese. I’ve eaten plenty of good pizza, in NY, Italy, plenty of places in California, and a lot of those listed aren’t anything I would waste my time with.