Tasting New York in Lombardi's Pizza

For Kristen. See? I told you, you general pool of readers, that I would take suggestions on what to do and see so you could vicariously live through me.

Lombardi's - the name inspires interests, piques curiosity. It smacks of an Italian-American heritage, someplace far away from my Midtown abode. A place worth a journey.

Seven of us journeyed from Times Square on Saturday down to Lombardi's to try some of its best-in-New York pizza. Arriving at the corner restaurant, there was a line seven or eight people deep, and I hunkered down for a long wait, I surmised at least 30 minutes. To my surprise, thirty seconds later we were called, and all seven of us sat down at one table to await our Lombardi's delight.

We ordered a large margarita and a large spinach-garlic pizza, and after a short wait we delved right in. The crust was nice and flavorful, and easy to manipulate and fold so you could fit it all into your mouth. I noticed, most of all, that it tasted healthy - it was not too greasy, the cheese on the margarita pizza tasted light and fresh. It was tasty, but my Lombardi's pizza felt like I was eating any other pizza. The taste did not grab me by the taste buds and say "Listen, Lizzle, you are eating a Lombardi's pizza. Pay attention or I'm gonna slap you down to Brooklyn!"

Akshata and me at Lombardi's - stay tuned for "Rice to Riches" to see round 2 of the crazy-happy-I'm-going-to-be-eating-soon mouth gap.

I was impressed, though, with the speed and quality of service: our waitress was prompt but not pushy and very smiley for one of the most lauded pizza joints in town. Almost too impressive was the bussing service: as soon as we had finished the last slice of pizza, the try was gone; as soon as we stood up to leave, someone was clearing our napkins and glasses. And I don't blame them; they wanted to get people in and out, so they economized and made themselves efficient.

Overall, out of five stars, I give Lombardi's 4.1 for food quality, 4.5 for service, and 3.9 for atmosphere. If I had a similar wait time and was in the SoHo-East Village-Nolito area (still getting my bearings), I would probably go again. But as for best pizza in town? Their claim was too big. It was a good deal for this kind of pizza - I ended up paying about $8 for two slices.  Note to self, I need to try that $0.99-a-slice pizza that I walked past earlier this evening and compare it.At "Taste of Times Square" last week, the pizza I had from one of the stalls (possibly John's Pizzeria?) was cheesier, greasier, tastier, kickier. Better. It was good, but I couldn't taste New York in this pizza.

This might not be the final review of Lombardi's pizza; with more pizza under my belt (actually above it), my opinions may change. Not likely, but they may change. Stay tuned for what's around the corner.