Ray’s Pizza

Oh my Lord!!! This pizza is insanely delicious. I am not kidding. Pretty sure my favorite places to visit when I’m in New York are Ray’s Pizza in Soho, and Bloomindale’s on Lexington :) If you drop in at Ray’s, please have one slice of the pesto pizza and one slice of the pepperoni. It’s so good, I could cry just remembering it! Trust.
On my last trip to NY, I got a piece to-​go and ate it on the plane. I was the happiest camper on that flight home and pretty sure the other passengers around me were super jelly. Just saying :-) Seriously, if you are in NY, please bookmark this spot and swing by. Its New York pizza at its finest!
xo Dre

RIP Ray’s Pizza on Prince Street. The great great great grand daddy of all Ray’s.
Two Haiku:
Rays on Prince, the best
so much better than the rest
NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM
Rays on Prince, fare well
Now just a pie in the sky
Find a new home soon

Pizza was okay, but nothing special. Thin crust, not too greasy and cheap. Good deal if you’re in the area, but I heard they closed.

1^st & last time eating here, since it’s closing on 10/​30/​2011. We ordered a plain pie and one topped with sausage & pepperoni. I liked the latter b/​c it had more flavors thus balanced better on my palate. The crust is btwn a thin and thick crust thus I found one slice to be filling. I found the crust to be nicely salted, the tomato sauce was a little on the sweet side, and I didn’t taste much mozzarella which was oozy & in every bite. My Sprite soda was flat, but plenty of ice to keep it chill.
Even though I didn’t fall head over heels with their pizza, it is said to see an institution close (after 50 years). I don’t believe many other pizzerias will have such a long run.

Paying my respects.
Unassuming, best. No lie!
52 years flies.

I was expecting an orgasm in my mouth. The pizza pie was fresh from the oven and super colorful and smelled yummy. All show no go.
I guess I am a real picky pizza fanatic so this was not the best pizza I’ve had in NY.
I will continue my quest for the perfect slice in NY when I go back next week. (I already have one in CA)

If you want authentic New York style pizza, then you must go to Ray’s. The slice is served piping hot. The pizza has a thin crust with nice crunchy and chewy outer edge crust!
Too bad they are closing soon. *Trying hard not to cry*Sniff*Sniff*
Going back to try other dishes before they close.

An Elegy
Ray’s you made me realize far too late what great
pies and slices baked with care to feed
all. The neighborhood, undeserved what you offered.
We remember you with sated hearts.
An Epitaph
1959 – 2011
Lived the Way He Died:
Cheesy, Greasy, Crusty.
The Unauthorized Biography
Rays wasn’t bad pizza, but, like many old joints, a bit overrated. Incredibly greasy, salty, salty salty, but had that perfect foldable NYC slice. Crispy at the crust, floppy at the center, but stiff enough hold its own.
PS my elegiac meter is f’d up, but you try in five minutes!

So my friends restaurant is across the street and i have yet to step into this place until yesterday. The claim to fame of this Ray’s Pizza is that it is the first one in NYC before every one and their mothers decided to just rip off the name and place it on any and every pizza joint in the city. After a few drinks at my friends restaurant i decided to saunter across the street and see how good this place was, obviously i wasn’t a mess where anything and everything would have tasted good i knew what i was doing.
I walked in late and only one couple was in there which was good, no waiting in line no nothing, i asked for two slices you know so i could properly judge the slices and you know what they didn’t blow me away but they def were above average compared to a lot of other pizza i’ve had, very doughy and overall it did taste pretty damn good it just didn’t blow me away which i wanted it to because i mean its the first Ray’s

My friend says this pizza joint has a lot of history behind it. So we came to try it out. The moment we walked in there… it was about lunner time. The couple of cooks working inside didn’t seem to want our business. It felt like we were annoying them. Basically they didn’t acknowledge us, but instead stared at us like we’re from outer space! Is this the New York attitude for the patrons? or was it they had a bad day? or maybe their shifts was about to end? who knows. But it’s a business!
We ordered the large Pepperoni Pizza with cheese and bell pepper toppings. It was one of their specials. The pizza was just okay. I think I have tried better elsewhere. It was thin crust and freshly baked.
The place looked like a dive. But was quite well kept compared to other places I have gone to. This place is probably more of a convenience rather than going out of your way for.

Mm, crispy, hot right out the oven, cheese pulling, good taste.
Seriously they say it’s like the bagels, it’s in the water.
I think you can get any good pizza anywhere in NY but of course the difference is this the original!
Friendly staff, fast service, and many tourists.
My cousins first time having NY pizza so they both enjoyed it a lot! Good place to bring out of towners to!
And pepperoni slice was my favorite!

It didn’t quite hit my p-​spot.
The cheese slice is a singularly classic cheese slice, which I’m normally not into. Thin, fatty, easy to fold. Classic New Yorkers can argue for years over a cheese slice. Let them argue.
The meat-​enhanced slices seem to be very similar. Thin crust + cheese + meat (pepperoni, etc).
I like meat. I like Cheese. But I also like a more pillowy crust and sauce.
I was drawn to the veggie slice, since it looked bigger, heartier and more saucy. And it was thicker in content and crust. It had big pods of spinach. It had big dollops of tomato sauce. It had big chunks of Ricotta cheese. All were wonderful on their own but didn’t work (for me) as a slice.

This is what you think of when you imagine a NY pizza joint. I had 3 slices and a drink to meet the $ 10 minimum bc hey, there’s no such thing as too much pizza.
Pizza was good. That’s about it. But, I’m a sucker for places where the old lady behind the counter calls you «honey» or «sweetie». I don’t know why.

Okay, so this is the original Ray’s. No, for real. Its not a corporate trademarked name or anything, its just the first one that was opened in 1959 before all the others copied the name because it sounded nice. And guess what? It also happens to be the best of them, and serve a very respectable slice.
I got a cheese slice and a margarita to go. They had a few other interesting things, but I kept it simple. This place is small as hell and there were two tables of tourists, but they weren’t too annoying. First off, the crust is very good; a good example of the soft yet crisp NY style crust. My only complaint was that the outer rim could’ve been a bit softer and packed more bready flavor, but it held up and did its job well. The cheese and sauce on the cheese slice were well balanced, as were those on the margarita. I’ve had slices that pack more overall flavor or had better individual components, but the pizza here had a great balance that is rare, especially in Manhattan. I would actually consider this a solid place – definitely one of the best in the neighborhood – but not worth traveling to unless you’re a nut like me or want to see what a REAL Ray’s Pizza tastes like.

My sister and I were doing some shopping in SoHo and decided to come over here for lunch. The inside is tiny, but has some seating. $ 2.75 for pretty big slices of pizza, they were hanging off the plates!
The dough was crunchy, the pizza was not overly sauced, the cheese was good. There was nothing wrong with this pizza. It was good. I would probably eat here again. That said there was just nothing super special about it either.

Walked all the way from Chinatown to this place! Was it worth it? One bite into and I was happy as a clam.
I ordered the classic cheese pizza. Nice thin crispy crust. Flavorful sauce. Good amount of cheese, but a little greasy.
It’s a good pizza, but nothing mind-​blowing. The small slice was $ 2.75. I just gotta say, a huge slice of Costco pizza is more worth it.
The place is small, dim. The man taking the order didn’t smile for me either, but oh well. It was convenient that Café Habana was right next door.

This is the original Ray’s. I’ve been to lots of pizza joints, including Lombardis, and Ray’s is one of the best. I went on my way home, so it wasn’t busy at all (around 1 pm). There are a few tables, but not enough for a big group. They have a little counter and sell pizza by the slice. I’ve been to Italy, and it doesn’t quite compare, but pretty decent for the states.
If you like thin crust you’ve found the right place. You can fold it (like I always do). The pizza I got was hot and tasty, with stringy cheese.
All in all a pretty easy to find, quick, cute little place in Nolita.

My most recent visit prompts me to update my review: the pizza is over-​cooked, bland and over-​priced.
I won’t be going back. Not even for a quick slice.

I grew up deprived of real NY pizza… now that I’m all grown up I decided to explore my palate and experience the beauty of NY pizza… WOW Ray’s has and will be the best pizza I’ve ever eaten. Usually I’m a toppings whore the less cheese and bread I taste the better… but holy cow… at Ray’s all we ate was an all cheese pie… and it was amazing. That day I learned that toppings are just a way of masking bad pizza to taste good.
I love New York and its great food. It’s just way to cold for my liking but if there’s a city that stole my heart it’s NYC.

If I was going to try real New York style pizza, it had to be the Original Ray’s Pizza. I was so looking forward to this. Maybe my expectations were a little too high. While it certainly wasn’t bad, I didn’t care for the weighted down feeling you get after eating something really greasy. Five slices of pizza will do that to you.
Besides being real greasy, the sauce lacked that bite you’d expect from a good tasting pizza.
Pretty disappointing. I’ve had way better NY style pizza… in Beverly Hills! Sorry!