Family owned and operated Rizzo’s Fine Pizza Co., established in 1959—its flagship shop located in the heart of Astoria, Queens—with their unique thin crust Sicilian squares placing them on the “best pizzas in America list,” opened a full-service dine-in restaurant on the Lower East Side. Both Sicilian squares and Neopolitan round pies will be served with a choice of 35 toppings, using only the freshest ingredients, and many featuring the family’s popular tangy homemade red sauce and ricotta cheese, made and prepared on premises. Calzoni, stromboli, salads and Rizzo’s addictive cannoli, nutella pizetta and garlic knots are on the menu as well, along with a rotating portfolio of fine beers and wines.

The décor of the restaurant harks back to the original shop still located on Steinway Street, with pieces of cookware used back in 1959 hung as tributary art on the walls. The staff consists of the Rizzo family—second and third-generation—and some close family friends, providing guests with a warm, welcoming dining experience, and promise of great food, friendship and service. The Rizzo family is proud to be counted among New York’s best pizza makers, serving some of the finest, authentic New York style Italian cuisine the city has to offer. Their unique brand of thin crust pizza, savory garlic knots and cannoli with freshly whipped homemade ricotta have been recognized by many food critics. Earlier this year Rizzo’s ranked 63 in The Daily Meal’s “101 Best Pizzas in America 2013” and has been featured on Z100’s Pizza Friday segment with Elvis Duran and the Morning Show. The Rizzo family characterizes their pizza as: “Inexpensive, unpretentious, and anything but ordinary.” So far, they’ve been living up to that standard.