The oldest pizzeria in New York is Lombardi’s (1905)
When Gennaro Lombardi founded his pizzeria Lombardi’s in 1905, Little Italy, vendors sold their fruits and vegetables on the streets of the neighborhood that residents called “Mulberry Bend.” Today, 117 years after Gennaro Lombardi opened his restaurant at 53 Spring Street, Little Italy is full of trendy and traditional Italian restaurants. Tourists and New York residents alike travel to Lombardi’s, the first pizzeria in the country according to the Pizza Hall of Fame, for quality ingredients that promise quality food.
Although many have tried to disprove Lombardi’s place as the first pizzeria in America, its title has not officially changed. Pizza researcher Peter Regas claims that Filippo Milone established many grocery stores around the time Lombardi’s opened. These grocery stores would later morph into pizza shops. Gennaro Lombardi allegedly adopted one of these grocery stores-turned-pizza shops, making Milone, not Lombardi, the man who established New York-style pizza. None of this research is confirmed and Lombardi’s continues to tell the same origin story on its website. Lombardi’s is now located at 32 Spring St., New York, New York.