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All Reader Reviews of...

Motorino

349 E. 12th St., New York, NY, 10003
nr. First Ave.
212-777-2644

Avg. Rating

7
Food: 7
Service: 6
Décor: 7
"Recommended"

Average Reader Rating on a Scale of 10.

75% would go back.

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The best pizza in New York City

By 1000dinners on 10/2/2011

  • Overall Rating: 9
  • Food: 10
  • Service: 8
  • Décor: 9
  • Yes, I would go back!

A bold claim, I'm aware. But I thought about what I considered the best pizza in the city, and then realized Motorino was better. The only pizza I'd ever tasted that rivaled this was made in a pizza oven in someone's backyard. It was built by a guy from Napoli who specializes in pizza oven construction. That oven got to about 700 degrees and the little pizza doughs cooked perfection in about a minute. The dough was pefect, which is a key deciding factor for me. Crust makes all the difference. It's soft, pillowy, a little chewy and has those lovely oven crisped sun-spots. Motorino's oven creates a similar pie because this was the closest I've ever come to that backyard pizza oven. The picture on the website is true to form. The pizzas look that amazing. My problem in photography stems from my camera phone. And it's super dark in there. I had the brussels sprout and pancetta for $16. They have a handful of other custom pies like this, and a build your own option that starts with an $8 base and $3 for each additional topping. It's a technically a personal size somewhat larger than 12" but smaller than 18". Basically enough for a leftovers dinner the next night.

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34 out of 64 people found this review helpful.

Will Never Return

By MkII on 8/17/2011

  • Overall Rating: 2
  • Food: 3
  • Service: 1
  • Décor: 3
  • No, I would not go back!

"Best pizza in New York"? Hardly. It was just moderately good brick-oven pizza. Very doughy, and the sauce was tasteless. That cheap place that was on St Mark's for a while was just as good. Veloce or any number of other places are better. The "mixed green salad" was a joke - a tasteless bowl of lawn clippings. Worse, however, were the rude and inattentive staff, despite the fact that we were the only customers in the place (we were told "the crowd just left"). Not once did anyone check on us after the order arrived. Finally, blasting hip-hop music at top volume here simply made no sense. The last nail in the coffin: overpriced for the quality. Awful.

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35 out of 74 people found this review helpful.

Brussels Sprout Pizza? Only at Motorino.

By kml408 on 6/24/2010

  • Overall Rating: 7
  • Food: 7
  • Service: 8
  • Décor: 8
  • Yes, I would go back!

The crowd is young, hip, and full of energy. The lights are very dim. The space is cozy and warm. The marble tables and wooden seats and benches are down-to-earth, yet mindful of New Yorkers' tastes. The servers are relaxed and dressed in black t-shirts. Essentially, it's an inviting restaurant. Firstly, let me just say that Motorino needs to get some new knives or change their pizza recipe (probably the former). I was having the hardest time cutting my slice into bite-size pieces with their dull knife. OKAY! Now that that's out in the open... Our first pizza was the Brussels Sprout pizza with pancetta, mozzarella, garlic, and pecorino. Chris was not loving the idea of brussels sprouts near any kind of pizza, but by the time it got to our table and into his mouth, he was sold (if only until the other 2 pizzas arrived). Thank goodness for pancetta, because that stuff makes everything taste great. It wasn't too fatty either! The brussels spouts were chopped up and thinly spread across the pizza giving every bite a little crunch (mmm). The cheese wasn't overwhelmingly thick or greasy, but it added to the gooeyness that was our undercooked crust. For some reason, the bottom of our pizza was mushy. I don't think that's how any pizza should be, but perhaps the pizza man was trying too hard to impress us with his thin pizzas. I just don't know. Regardless, taste-wise, Motorino rocked. Read more at www.lestorydefood.com Follow on Twitter @lestorydefood

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34 out of 72 people found this review helpful.

Love It

By bugginboy on 12/21/2009

  • Overall Rating: 8
  • Food: 9
  • Service: 8
  • Décor: 6
  • Yes, I would go back!

The one in Williamsburg is pound for pound a better value - the lunch deal where you get a big ass bowl of soup along with the pizza has to be the best in the city, and the space is bigger. Relativity aside, the EV outlet is still a great deal, they make delicious pizza, serve it quickly and the staff is nice. 'Nuff said.

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60 out of 113 people found this review helpful.

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