America's First Pizzeria Still Fires Coal Ovens in Little Italy
Smoky coal oven crusts land charred at checkered tables inside a Little Italy room open more than a century.
🔥 Coal Oven Original
Lombardi's opened on this Little Italy corner in 1905, and the room still looks the part, with red checkered cloths, stamped tin ceilings, and framed black and white photos crowding the walls. The coal oven does the heavy lifting, blistering thin crusts until the edges char and whole milk mozzarella pools into the tomato sauce. Founder Gennaro Lombardi carried his technique from Naples, and the kitchen has held that same coal fired method for well over a century. Order the classic margherita and watch the cheese pull in long ropes off each slice, scattered with torn basil. Ratings sit at 4.2 across more than 9,000 visits, a rare volume for a room this old. Expect a line down Spring Street on weekends and a table dressed in that unmistakable red and white check.
