NYC Cheap Eats: Best $1.00 Pizza Slices

Sometimes, you just want to grab a slice and go. Or, maybe two slices and a soda.

Luckily, New York City still has plenty of pizza joints where you can get a great slice for just $1 or even just 99 cents.

These are not gourmet pizzas, but they are hot, fast, cheap and generally tasty, and you can add pepperoni or veggies for another buck.

Expect to stand at a counter to eat, or as take-out. Few of these places are large enough for tables and chairs.

Because of the sheer volume of fans, especially at lunchtime, dinnertime and after theater time, your slice is fresh out of the oven and bubbling hot.

Hours vary, but most are open until midnight, even later, to accommodate the late night munchies.

The mini-chain called 99 Cent Pizza, with – you guessed it – serves slices for 99 cents. There are more than a half dozen locations in Midtown, Downtown and the East Side.

99 Cent Pizza locations

2 Bros Pizza is another mini-chain, with ten locations in Manhattan, Bronx and Brooklyn, which serves up regular slices and such specialty abominations as Hawaiian Pizza.

Click here for locations.

Champion Pizza
123 Essex Street, between Rivington and Delancey Streets, Lower East Side

Champion is known for serving up especially cheesy slices, and the lines are often out the door. After 10pm everything costs an extra buck, and people still wait in line for it.

Joey’s Pepperoni Pizza
381 Broadway, between Walker and White Streets, Soho

The pizza is perfectly good for the price. What makes Joey’s a stand-out dollar joint is the additional item menus. Along with your dollar pizza slice, grab four garlic knots for a dollar, or a beef patty for two bucks.

Percy’s Pizza
190 Bleecker Street, between Sixth Avenue and Downing Street, Greenwich Village

The draw here is the almost-crispy crust that holds a fold without drooping and dripping, far better than the wimpy thin crusts at other dollar-a-slice joints

Add these 99 cent pizza joints from the NYC website Serious Eats.

Z Deli (Times Square)

803 Eighth Avenue, 212-315-1659

“Either way, the pizza was good enough to make the $1 price tag a total deal. My wife liked it better than 99¢ Fresh pizza, and I liked it as much as any cheap pizza. The key, of course- is getting the fresh slices. Z Deli doesn’t have the turnover that 99 Cent Fresh Pizza has, so it’s going to be more of a crapshoot. Don’t be shy, and ask for the fresh pie (it’s probably hidden under the counter). If that doesn’t work, just order one slice, take some photos, and go back for a second. It worked for me.”

569 Ninth Avenue, New York NY 10036 (at 41st Street) 212-268-1461

99¢ Fresh Pizza does a nice job with the crust, browning it evenly and crisping it up fairly well. [Cheap-Slice Showdown: St. Marks 2 Bros. Pizza vs. 99 Cent Fresh Pizza »]

542 Ninth Avenue, New York NY 10018 (at 40th Street) 212-695-2642

Overall, the 2 Bros. pizza had a better flavor than the 99¢ Fresh Pizza slice. While the 99FP slice was better balanced in terms of crust-sauce-cheese ratio, that’s not necessarily a good thing here, since that balance allows you to taste the sauce. It’s flavored heavily with what tastes like powdered garlic–acrid and almost metallic-tasting. When scraped away on its own, the 2 Bros. sauce is bland but at least does not assault your tongue.”

99¢ Fresh Hot Pizza (Midtown East/GCT Area)

459 Lexington Avenue, New York NY 10017 (45th/46th)

Note: According to Midtown Lunch, this place was started by a disgruntled former employee of 99¢ Fresh Pizza near the Port Authority. What’s that, you say? Don’t they have the same name? No! This is 99¢ Fresh Hot Pizza. Maybe the former employee-turned-pizzaman didn’t think the original served its slices hot enough?

99¢ Fresh Pizza (Midtown East/GCT Area)

151 East 43rd Street, New York NY (Lexington/Third) 212-922-0257

“It doesn’t get any better than this… (unless you like your pizza great, and don’t mind paying the money for it). Seriously… I only say it’s not great pizza so I don’t get a million comments questioning whether my taste buds still function. The truth is- I freakin’ LOVE the 99¢ pizza place. Call me a cheapo, but I’ve never once asked for my penny back (and they’ve never offered it.)” [99¢ Fresh Pizza (Expands its Mini Empire!!!) »]

2 Bros. Pizza (Midtown West)

Eighth Avenue and 38th Street.

K-Food Corp. (K-Town)

18 East 33rd Street, between Fifth/Madison, 212-213-5100

“From what I could see K Food Corp. doesn’t have the turnover right now to ensure the hot slices at all times. I arrived at around 2 p.m. and there was just one half a cheese pie out and it looked like it had been sitting for awhile-I’ve been to the other 99 cent pizza places at a similar time and scored a fresh piece. I paid my $1.09 and the guy took my slice around to the back to reheat it…. The sauce was too sweet and a little too heavy on the oregano for my liking. It was also topped with a fairly thick coating of cheese-which again is not really my thing, but for 99 cents, I was decently satisfied and happy to still have money in my pocket.” [

8th Avenue Gourmet (Chelsea/MSG Area)

403 Eighth Avenue, (at 30th Street)

Moderate turnover; you’re just as likely to get a hot-oven slice as you are a reheat. Lackluster cheese but good balance of sauce and cheese. People looking to fill up will say they skimp on the cheese. Note: Actually costs a dollar. (I suppose I could have asked for my penny back, like you can do at 99¢ Fresh Pizza, but I forgot to. [AK]

2 Bros. Pizza (Greenwich Village)

601 Sixth Avenue, (Waverly/West 8th) 212-206-8656

“The pizza is reminiscent of something you’d get in a high school cafeteria or an airport: a dimpled, doughy crust; premade sauce; and greasy, flavorless cheese. The only thing they’ve got going for them is that the slices are super fresh. At peak hours, they’re slinging pies at such a fast clip, the slices don’t have time to sit under heat lamps or get reheated. Slices go straight from the oven to your paper plate. Cheap and filling, it tastes oddly soulless and corporate.” [Pizza for $1 at St. Marks 2 Brothers Pizza Plus »]

388 Sixth Avenue, (17th/18th) 212-780-0020

“How’s the slice? Well, it tastes something like frozen pizza–the crust is distinctively un-yeasty, the cheese modest in volume, and the sauce nondescript. So what? The diners around me copping their slices were estatic. “Thank you so much,” one woman exclaimed, “I love you 99ȼ Pizza.” Indeed, if you don’t expect it to taste like your favorite slice, it’s totally OK.” [The Cheese Slice at 99ȼ Fresh Pizza in Greenwich Village »]

2 Bros Pizza (East Village/St. Marks Place)

32 Saint Marks Place, (Second/Third avenues) 212-777-0600

“The pizza wasn’t the greatest, but it was a dollar. I’d rate it as not quite as good as 99 Cent Fresh Pizza. If you’re a starving NYU student or a hungry person wandering around the village I give it two thumbs up.”

Mamani (East Village)

151 Avenue A, (9th/10th) 212-420-8574

“Mamani’s pizza has the same thin, airy crust. It’s less filling, but still has a nice crispness and flavor. The cheese and sauce are similarly fine, but nothing to go crazy over. Mamani has a much smaller crowd, which is great if you’re in a hurry, but also means the pizzas aren’t as fresh and hot as they are down the road. The verdict: if you don’t mind a bit of a line, 2 Bros has the edge. But if you like eating in the park, Mamani’s location can’t be beat.” [

99¢ Slices at Papa John’s

We’re not super into chains on Slice, but it’s an open secret that Papa John’s has 99-cent slices in some NYC locations, so I called every PJ’s in Manhattan. Only two do “99¢” slices. That’s in quotes because with tax they’re $1.08.

Two more PJ’s in Manhattan do sell by the slice, but for $1.50 ($1.62 with tax). They’re at 37th b/n Fifth and Madison and at Second Avenue and 90th Street.

The PJ’s at 179th and Broadway in Washington heights sells by the slice but for $2! Who do they think they are, real pizza?

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