Lombardi’s

When my friend John came to New York on business, he wanted to try some New York style pizza. I’ve been going to Patsy’s and John’s for pizza for the past year since I know they definitely have quality ingredients and great service, but since we were in the Soho area, we decided to give Lombardi’s a try. When I interned in New York a couple years ago, I never had the opportunity to eat at Lombardi’s, even though everyone says it’s the first place you should go for pizza when you visit. I was a little sceptical about their pizza; everyone that visited New York recommended the place, but no one that lived in New York had ever mentioned Lombardi’s…was it a tourist trap?

The pizzeria is on situated on Spring, alongside boutiques, Little Italy tourist traps, and on the edge of Chinatown. When John and I stopped by with a couple of other friends, we waited about 45 minutes before being seated. Understandable since I’ve waited longer for John’s/Patsy’s. Our waiter took our order (large pizza with pancetta, green onions, mushrooms) and another 45 minutes later our pizza arrived:

First bite: ok, this pizza definitely isn’t as good as John’s.

Second bite: chomp chomp, why is this pizza so freaking salty?!

Third bite: …why are there anchovies on the pizza?

Yeah, not only had the pizza taken forever, they didn’t even get the order correct! We were going to ask them to fix it, but we couldn’t get any waiter to come by our table and we were stuck with an anchovy pizza. The waiter never came by to refill our waters and when John ordered a drink at the bar before we were seated, the bartender was extremely rude to him.

I will NEVER go back to Lombardi’s; their service and food are both TERRIBLE!