San Matteo Pizzeria e Cucina

Tremendous food, authentic Salerno experience.
The crew is really attentive and make it s memorable affair

We’ve had lunch here on our New York trip. Overally a very disapointing place. We’ve ordered meatballs, capriciossa and burrata. The meatballs were standard, but both pizzas were probably among the worse we’ve had, and that’ saying something with us coming from California. The dough is stringy and chewy, while the toppings almost seem like they were added halfway through baking process. Do not recommend. Staff was indifferent on the border of unfriendly. Had to ask I for bread with our appetizer, weren’t checked up on etc.

Cool décor. Seemed brand new. I can see how this place would be a good place to chill and grab a good brick oven pizza. Only one issue is that we had to wait a while to be seated and then once we were seated we had to wait even longer for our food. We ordered a few items to share including a speciality pie. The rest of the food came and went before the pie came out. Problem is we were full and no longer wanted the pie. Not sure if they forgot our order but we didn’t get a good explanation of why it hadn’t arrived with the other food. The manager comped us the pie as well as a desert. It would 4 stars if it want for the service.

I’ve gotta put in a plug for the Panuozzi. These are long flat sandwiches made on warm, slightly salty, crunchy/​chewy dough, stuffed with authentic Italian goodies, and then baked in the wood-​burning oven. DELICIOUS and I don’t know another place in town that makes them.

I brought same friends here from Italy, being a fan of the first San Matteo on 91^st Street and 2^nd Avenue. This new place is not as good as the other one. Service was really poor and slow, the mozzarella was not that fresh (especially when you order it with prosciutto, so it’s not cooked). The pizza was not that good (and I am speaking for 5 of us, mostly from the South of Italy).
I’ll keep going to San Matteo… but only at 91^st Street.

I live in London and when I go to NY is compulsory for me to have a nice Napoli Pizza at San Matteo.
I come from a Neapolitan family and trust me it’s not so easy have a pizza or panuozzo like those made at San Matteo even in Neaples.
The owner is very pro and a very nice person as well.
San Matteo it’s a must if you fancy true Neapolitan oven dishes.

The pizza is incredible (definitely the best on UES), the staff is nice and attentive. I don’t usually post reviews but felt inclined to to give a shoutout to the busboy staff who not only filled in for the waiter occasionally because the restaurant was very busy, but also chased me half way down the block to return my scarf to me. Very impressed. Thanks again! We’ll be back.

I wanted to like this place, I really did. But unfortunately, my pizza (eat in) was pretty mediocre. The tomato sauce was watery and the crust was soggy and limp in the middle. The staff were super friendly, however, so I may give them another chance. Maybe.

If you are Italian and looking for something as close to what you get at home then this is the place. This is not the place for people who eat pizza with fork and knife. You might have to wait for some time to get seated as it gets overcrowded. The glass walls are nice but the end seat is kind of drab as the delivery door is adjacent to it and one might not be willing to get disturbed by all that frequent movement.
Food is quite good; Even simple margarita pizza is fun to eat. I tried to put buffalo mozzarella but it didn’t go with me. I took my aunt here and she liked the pizza; my cousin liked it too but he didn’t like the pinot noir as he said there is something wrong with the wine. Very acidic!

A cute place with a glass wall that allows you to see the beautiful streets of the UES! Also casual because they have TVs (currently airing March Maddness). So a classy pizza place mixing with a sports bar.
I got the cacio e Pepe pizza. It was absolutely delicious. The plain crust was fluffy and fire-​wood cooked burnt. And the cheese and pancetta was quite the mouth sensation.
Would definitely coma back for pizza again!
I also ordered a $ 30 bottle of wine that I feel is a decent price for NYC.

THIS REVIEW IS FOR DELIVERY ONLY.
After trying this place twice, sadly I will not be ordering from them again.
Not worth it at all.
First, might be my bad for not reading that the description did not include cheese for the pizza I was looking at, but it was under the pizza section and in my world pizzas typically have cheese (so a no brainer you would think) Nope. So we received a baked piece of dough with sauce and garlic. We added cold tomatoes for $ 2 and they came baked on and hot. Without cheese, basically hot tomatoes on hot tomatoes. Luckily I had cheese in the fridge and added. The crust was chewy and not noteworthy.
Second, I ordered the focaccia pizzette thinking it could serve as a sort of bread stick substitute (focaccia is normally a spongy, yummy olive oil experience). Nope. This was literally pizza dough with spices on top cooked way too much, so much so that pieces snapped off. It was dry to say the least. It’s criminal to charge $ 1 for this, let alone $ 10. What a joke!!! My boyfriend literally looked at me and said what the F”$? Did I order and asked if he should order something else.
Oh and I asked to have a side of marinara and they didn’t send it. I didn’t see a place to add it, so I asked for it in the comments. If they were unable to add to my order, they knew the number to call.
They also don’t cut your pizza so that was fun. Not.
I ordered their salad which doesn’t list what type of dressing it comes with. Well it comes with a balsamic reduction that is probably what they use on the other dishes. Not a salad dressing at all. Woof.
I was so excited about this place having potential but based on the 2x I’ve had this delivered, I’d be a fool to try it again. Basically I just paid $ 40 for pizza dough (probably one of the cheapest things to make in this world) and a yucky salad that I threw out.

The new San Matteo is pretty damn good. I really like the little old joint, but I don’t think they have lost any of their charm by moving into a bigger place. They took a good thing and made it better.
Ordered some meats and cheeses which were very good and a super tasty pizza with prosciutto on it. If you like a stiffer, crunchier crust I suggest asking them to make it well done. It does come out a little doughy for my taste. Sauce is tasty though.
Had the meatballs too. Man, those were good. Really, really good. Worth getting an order and just sitting at the bar.
Speaking of the bar… bar service was just alright. However, once at the table my waiter, Charlie, was really terrific.
San Matteo is not, in my opinion, as good as some of the old joints you will find downtown and not even close to grimaldi in dumbo or Lucali or Di Fara or Giuseppina’s or any of the really great joints.
However, they are very good and the best on the UES as far as I can tell. I like that they are not trying to keep pace with Roberta’s (making some kind of wacky modern interpretations of pizza) and are just keeping to very simple pizza done well.

We came to San Matteo Pizzeria e Cucina on a Friday night for a quick bite and it was probably the best decision we’ve made that day! The pizza was so good + the staff was super friendly. We were seated at the bar and the bartender was really nice & attentive and even giving my boyfriend some beer suggestions.
We ordered two beers and the Margherita pizza and it was delicious! I absolutely enjoyed every bite. The crust was so soft, the tomato sauce was delicious, and the cheese was so good. The whole thing was just really good. Am I coming here again? YES. I definitely recommend people to come here. My mouth is watering just thinking of the pizza. Also, the restaurant décor creates a cozy environment (they have string lights which I love).

I really like this place as it’s one of the few pizza places of its type in Yorkville. I’ve had the margherita pizza and the white pizza with mushrooms and truffle oil. Both pizzas were very, very good but the white mushroom truffle oil pizza was a little pricey. These pizzas are the perfect size to share with two people. Ambiance is really nice and the servers are extremely sweet. I’d suggest eating in house and not ordering takeout because the pizza tastes the best directly out of the oven. Salads are decent but not amazing. It’s a solid restaurant and I’d be confident to take anybody here!

This is a terrific space and the food only compliments it. In my experience I found a new location over burdened customers, it was busy. Despite having to wait, the food and environment made up for it and the owner was absolutely great.
Thanks

This place was disappointing for a number of reasons. The Margharita pizza was $ 15 for a 12 inch pizza. I picked it up and live right nearby (2 blocks) and so there was no way the pizza could have deteriorated so substantially just by my carrying it.
First off, the pizza was mostly crust — the crust extended in from the outer edge over an inch which on a 12 inch pizza leaves very little but thick crust.
Second, the crust was still doughy — under cooked.
Third, perhaps as a result of being undercooked, the ingredients didnt settle and so this was not so much «pizza» as much as it was some sauce with some floating bits of cheese.
Lastly, the flavor overall was just not that good. The dough was so heavy and dominating that whatever flavor the sauce may have had was completely masked.
It tasted kind of like stadium pizza, in the bad sense. If all the pizzas are this size, and the other pizzas start around $ 20 bucks, im not certain why i’d be prompted to give this another go and suggest that, if you’re in the hood, you try one of the other good pizza places (Gino’s, Roma’s, etc.).

This place was amazing! If you are looking for NY style pizza, this definitely isn’t it, but it rivals any pizza in Italy. We were on vacation and starving after the Met. Walked there after for lunch on a Sunday. The place was not really busy, and the service was very attentive. We ordered 3 pizzas — two were fantastic, cooked to perfection in the wood fired oven — truffle white pizza was delectable! We should’ve ordered 3 of those! The one with eggplant (and, I forgot what else) was good, but was needless to say — forgettable.
I do highly recommend the deserts!!! The chef (and/​or desert chef) came out to our table to present the deserts. You could tell he took pride in his creations, and that they were original recipes from the «old country». We couldn’t decide between the nutella chocolate cake, tiramisu or the panna cotta, so we got all three. We could not have made a better decision! The panna cotta was way better than what I had at Becco the night before! The nutella chocolate cake was also amazing — super chocolatey, and not too heavy. I wish I lived in NYC. This would be a staple in the dinner rotation.

Stopped in during what I assume was a soft opening because they did not have two pretty significant portions of the menu available, which was slightly disappointing. It also turned out that the one appetizer I wanted to try was also unavailable, but regardless I will still be coming back to give it another shot, because the margarita pizza that I did try was REALLY good. Their free standing oven cooked the pizza extremely fast, which was great, because although it was relatively late on a Sunday night, the place was pretty busy. We also got a caprese salad that was a pretty big portion size… would definitely recommend splitting that if you’re ordering it as an appetizer or ordering it as an entrée!
In general the service was really good and the space is big and open. Like I said, I will for sure give it another shot and hope that more of the menu is available to try the second time around!

Finally a place that knows how to do Neapolitan pizza (or any pizza for that matter) on the upper east side. Been waiting for a place like this for years. Neapolitan pizza is simple, dough, good ingredients, execution. However few places do it right.
San Matteo does it right. The wood fired oven there produces light, airy and slightly charred pizzas. They pizzaiolo doesn’t over work the dough, the sauce for the margherita pizza is sweet, likely uncooked San Marzano sauce and the mozzarella is perfect.
The cacio e pepe was near flawless. The calzone was also a solid showing.
If you are on the UES and need your pizza fix this is your spot.
Please, I beg you San Matteo, keep the quality control and execution and you have a customer for good.

Absolutely delicious food in a place that really feels Italian You’re likely to overhear staff speaking Italian, olive oil & some other products have Italian labels, and their oven spits out crisp pizzas. I tried most of the menu and literally all of it is REALLY good. Like, this is easily one of the best tasting food places in the area.