Il Fornaio Pizzeria

Just one old man running this pizzeria on his own for decades.
Not the best pizza but his passion and the old New York feel made me enjoy this slice. Now closed for business. I’m glad I got to go a few times and meet Frank.

This is a classic old New York style dive pizza place. I’m so glad I found it.

Frank has the best pizza in the neighborhood, so I was very sad to hear that he retired a few days ago. I’ll miss the huge, cheap slices!

I was visiting New York City this past week and looked up cheap but good pizzeria’s and found this on Unilocal!DELICIOUS PIZZA! I can not describe the delicious flavor that our pizza had. We ordered a large ($ 16) with mushrooms and sausage. It was a huge pizza and was ready within 10 – 20 min. My mouth still waters while I am writing this review. Yes the place does not look pretty but i didnt care the pizza was delicious and cheap!

Simple, yet delicious. Cute man.

My friends and I like refer to this place as Franks for that is the name of the old man who runs this little pizzeria all by himself. Frank is an awesome old man who seems to enjoy running his own pizzeria and it also seems that he has tons of repeat customers.
Now lets get to the important stuff… The Pizza!!!
Pros
Price — I have yet to find cheaper pizza (excluding dollar slices) …a pie is around $ 11 – 12
Taste– If you like cheesy and doughier pizza then this is the place for you.
Size — big slices that tend to be fresh out of the oven.
Other food items — garlic knots are to die for and dirt cheap.
Cons
Store hours — Frank closes at 7:30 and this past Saturday he was closing shop around 5:30
Specialty slices– If your looking for exotic slices or even basic specialty slices this really isn’t the place for you; However, Frank will throw on some sausage or pepperoni if you want.
Décor– places is right of the 1970s… some people like it, some people don’t…Go and at least give Franks a try!!!

Can’t beat the price at this joint that transports you back to 1978. The pizza is big with tangy sauce and cheese on a thin nyc crust. I’ve never seen it open, I live in the area and pass by often, so when I was around during mid-​day for my annual visit to the doctor I had to pop in.
The little old man never said a word to me until while paying before I left I asked him how long he’d been in that location. He said, ’20 years’, in a mumbled barely audible voice. I feel like it had to have been many more.
Probably one of the only places that gives you your food, lets you sit and eat then you pay before you go. Not like the ‘ray’s’ of the world.
Definitely worth the visit if your in the area, if only to take in the quickly disappearing Old New York.

Classic, old-​school New York pizza. Vintage 1970s, unironic décor.

Pizza slices are generous here. Garlic knots are very yummy as well. It’s a convenient location by my apartment and so I like to come here.

No bullshit barbecue chicken or other inappropriate toppings at this one-​man show — the hard-​of-​hearing octogenarian Paisan (I think his name is Frank) who does it all here only offers you mushrooms, sausage, or pepperoni (unless I’m forgetting something) on his slices, which are not the typical New York thing — they’re big and fluffy.

Excellent pizza! The owner should be in a movie! The crust is really great for by-​the-​slice pizza, it’s more like the pizzas that are cooked in wood burning stoves. The cheese was great. The place was clean and the owner was friendly to my son. If in the area, I’d recommend stopping by.

So my boyfriend and I just call this lovely little place «Old Man Pizza». Why? Because the only person who works there is a cute little old man who looks just like the guy in the Pixar short where the two old men play chess. Since I’ve moved here I think I’ve eaten Old Man Pizza more often than any other place.
There’s nothing fancy about the place (it’s small, and hot, and maybe a little dingy). It’s just good old pizza. The cheese is melty and bubbly, the sauce is really nice. The crust is perfect. The price is right! His pizza’s are huge! There’s always leftovers! I love Old Man Pizza!
Only drawback? Old Man Pizza is the only one who works here, so his hours are not really consistent. (I think he just closes when he’s had enough for the day.)

Is there something wrong with me? I really don’t get the high ratings for this, small neighborhood pizza joint. Il fornaio is tiny with large cheap slices. The cheese used was processed and packed to the point of oblivion. I really wanted to tell the old man that runs the place to save some money and hold a little cheese back. I can’t comment on the sauce. Why? There was too much cheese to taste it. The crust was nice. Garlic knots oozed oil when squeezed and I think they use powdered garlic for the seasoning.
Sp very far from the best cheese slice. Matter of fact, familglias on madison is better.

LOVE. This place is amazing. The slices are huge & Frank is awesome. Stay away from the mini/​personal pizzas. Be prepared for a taste of a simpler time, meaning you may catch Frank making garlic knots in a bucket. Seriously, everything about this place makes me feel warm & fuzzy & full of deliciousness.

First of all, whoever clicked $$$ for the price category of this pizzeria is a fucking asshole. Also, cards are NOT accepted here. Unilocal,please correct the misinfo on the biz page!
I found this hidden treasure sometime between a desperate run from my apartment to the nearby CVS or a sullen day of laundry at the shit-​o-​mat across the street.
It was just prior to the holidays, and since I had a day off, I could finally see the place open (definitely closes before 7 p.m. on weekdays, and I am not sure about weekends). That day, the simple, tiny space with artificial brick-​colored flooring and brown formica walls was washed in white winter light, and only a young couple sat on two of the few barstools, waiting for their carryout orders.
There was this small elderly man with glasses all alone behind the counter of a kitchen that looked like it had nothing going on whatsoever. That first day, I didn’t pay attention to the small menu posted up with plastic lettering on the wall, except to identify that a slice was $ 2.25 and garlic knots were five to the dollar. I paid the man in coins (so I guess it was laundry day and not CVS run) for a cheese slice and garlic knots. I never buy cheese slices unless desperate because I know that they are usually a boring disappointment. However, there was no alternative here.
The man had an accent I couldn’t quite identify, but we communicated just fine. He calmly but expediently lopped off a gigantic slice and slid it into a huge iron oven, then attended to a woman who was ordering a whole pan of baked ziti to go.
They left, and my slice and knots were served up. The knots were pretty standard, but the pizza shocked the crap out of me. It was literally the best cheese pizza I had ever had (nevermind that I’ve had cheese pizzas only about ten times in my whole life, like when everything else runs out at office gatherings or when I was going through the PABT and resented spending money in the area). The bottom was all crispy from the oven, and the cheese was REAL; melting and sliding on top of a base of the tangiest, liveliest tomato sauce ever. The crust was thin, and marked with trails of roasted cheese.
Halfway through my orgy for one, a man stuck his head in the door and shouted, «Frank! Hey, Frank! Happy New Year!» The business owner waved kindly, a little dismissively, as he continued running his restaurant all by himself.
I went there again yesterday. Feeling a bit under the weather, I fantasized about taking it back home. I have no idea if Mr. Frank recognized me or not, but he was kind as ever and ridiculously generous with his slices… I feel I got about a third of the large pie when I ordered two to go. In minutes, a brown bag was slid over the counter to me. I was too excited to open the bag up to see how the hell he fit those prehistorically sized slices into it, and I didn’t want to let the heat escape.
Weaving like a madwoman through the obstacles for the two whole blocks back to my house, I began to salivate and almost be aroused by the heat of the back. Panicking that the slices would cool, I tripped up the stairs, ran into the door, ripped my jacket off, washed my hands, poured a huuuge glass of whole milk (that’s right), then opened the bag.
Of course, each was folded, New York style, into a sheet of wax paper and a paper plate. I took one out and bit off almost more than I could chew. My eyes watered as the sauce burnt the inside of my mouth and an avalanche of scalding cheese obstructed my throat. But I couldn’t stop. Took a huge swig of cold milk, and the mozzarella hardened into a delicious, chewy clump. Moaning in gluttonous pleasure and pain, I took the indulgence even farther and changed into sweatpants and cued up «American Pie» on my TV.
If you are not grossed out by this because you know exactly what I am talking about, you should visit Frank’s shop ASAP. I have no idea how much business he gets; he must be doing all right, but this man deserves to be filthy rich and possibly famous, if only because he provides the only palatable pizza for miles around in the UES. Maybe if his clientele expands, he’ll extend those ridiculous hours. But then, would the pizza taste the same…
Next time, I’m going to get a LARGE mushroom pizza. That’s right, the man has toppings after all, but for whole pies only. One star off for that, because I could only deal five stars if there were a place next door where I could score a pepperoni or mushroom slice on the go.
All in all, though, this kind man is really a marvel, running his operation all by his lonesome. I wish him the best, and in the meantime, I’ll be paying him slice by slice for what my money’s worth; certainly somewhat less than this delicious, authentic pizza, I’m afraid.

I probably ate more pizzas from this place than any other place in NYC. I liked that it was located between my apartment and the subway because I could have some pizza before a trip or after.
One slice was very filling, but if you want to have your stomach close to exploding, you can order some cheap garlic knots to go with your lice.