Lucali NY

“Totally worth the hype! This is the best pizza I’ve had in New York. We came Monday around 3pm to wait in line and get a table for later that night. Around 3:30pm someone came and started taking peoples reservations. We were able to get a table for 4 people at 7pm. When we came back at our scheduled time we were seated shortly after checking in. We shared one pizza, one calzone and one pasta and felt it was the perfect amount of food to share. We had half cheese and half pepperoni for the pizza, and for the calzone added spicy peppers, mushrooms and shallots. Both the pizza and calzone were amazing. The pasta was great too but the other items were significantly better. It’s BYOB but they have water and soda options. It’s also cash only, but there is a chase nearby. Overall it wasn’t terrible to come early and put our names down. It’s probably better to do so on weekdays rather than weekends, but I’d definitely come back!”

“Lucali in Brooklyn has that perfect mix of calm and buzz. The room is dimly lit, warm, and smells like dough and basil. Service is attentive without hovering, plates arrive when they should, and you’re never rushed. The pizza is exceptional: thin crust, crisp edges, and ingredients that actually taste fresh. Mark, the owner, was personable and welcoming. It’s simple food done perfectly, and that’s the whole point.”

“If you can snag an early seating, I think the experience would be a lot better than mine. The pizzas were good, but I wouldn't wait until 10pm to have it again. Atmosphere and service is great”

“Food: Lucali was honestly disappointing, especially because I went in wanting to love it. I’ve followed this place for years and heard all the hype, so I expected something much stronger. The flavor itself was excellent, which is what makes the review frustrating. You can taste the quality in the sauce, cheese, crust, and pepperoni. The calzone was the best thing we had fresh and probably the only item that really made sense in the moment. It was rich, cheesy, satisfying, and felt more complete than the pizza. The cheese and pepperoni pies, though, were a letdown fresh out of the oven. The slices were sloppy, oily, and had almost no structure. The cheese slid off, the slice could not really hold itself together, and for a place this famous and this expensive, that is hard to excuse. The pepperoni was much better reheated at home once it crisped up, and that version was genuinely excellent, but I do not think a pizza should need a second life in my oven to show what it can be. Service: Service was slow and not very attentive. I understand the place is busy, but the experience felt more like they knew people would come no matter what than like they were trying to make the meal feel worth it. Summary: Overall, 3/5. The flavor is real, and the calzone was strong, but the pizza we were served was too oily, too loose, and too expensive to fully defend. I’m glad I tried Lucali, but based on this visit, the hype was much better than the actual experience.”

“Firstly I think it really depends on your personal favourite style of pizza. For me this is more of a classic Italian style and it’s ok. Is it worth the hype sadly not. Even if you didn’t have to queue to get the reservation, the food is ok, the guys making the pizza are lovely, super friendly and the vibe inside is very cute. The service for me was mixed, the server advised we could order a pie with half and half as my wife is vegan which was some good advise. However the rest of the service this evening was a bit abrupt, servers asked if we had finished when we still had a slice left and a mouthful full of food for me was just poor service. They advise you that you have the table for an hour but we felt like we were rushed out of the door when we still had 15 minutes and we ended up leaving 10 minutes, the weird eagerness to get us out the door for an expensive average pizza is not the one. It ain’t worth the hype, but at least we can say we know. I think the hype is purely down to people not ever having a quality Italian pizza or the lack of variety in New York. Maybe it is down to so many places doing New York style pizza and this just different. For me it’s a bang average place, with nothing to write home about and I’d save your money.”