A small Manhattan pizza joint has been named the new home of the world’s best pizza.
Una Pizza Napoletana, of 175 Orchard St., is a traditional, long-standing, family-run restaurant that has always kept its winning formula to success close to home, promising to never expand or franchise out.
50 Top Pizza, the prestigious Italian ranking guide that crowned Una Pizza Napoletana number one, sends anonymous inspectors around the globe, hoping to fish out some of the finest-tasting pies worthy of recognition. It’s been somewhat of a patient climb to the top for the Manhattan restaurant, having reached second place in 2023, falling short to Naples’ Diego Vitagliano and Caserta’s I Masanielli—both tying for first.
This year marks a rather remarkable moment for Una Pizza Napoletana, which became the first U.S. restaurant to outshine an Italian establishment in the top 50 ranking.
With a deep historic Italian heritage, New York’s pizza culture blends tradition and innovation, which has made it a world-class culinary destination. Una Pizza Napoletana has long set the standard for pizza perfection in the city, orchestrated by owner Anthony Mangieri’s meticulous quality control and proven culinary expertise.
The heart and mission behind Una Pizza Napoletana
This latest accolade is the crowning achievement for Mangieri, whose lifelong quest has been to craft a pizza beloved by people across the world. In 1996, at age 25, Mangieri established the Una Pizza Napoletana name in New Jersey, later moving operations to Manhattan’s East Village.
By 2004, Mangieri wasn’t just drawing large crowds to his pizzeria daily; he was spearheading the revival of Neapolitan-style pizza in New York. This trend saw pizzerias across the city adopt a simpler, more traditional approach to the craft, prioritizing quality and taste over price or convenience. At the dawn of the millennium, New York was ready to adopt a pizza culture capable of standing alongside Italy’s best, as establishments found immense undiscovered potential in offering local artisanal pizza with a focus on simplicity.
There is no doubt that Mangieri was a key player in enticing consumers away from the attractive and affordable commuter pizza market of the past. Since opening Una Pizza Napoletana, the food lover has sworn by a transparent, sit-down pizza experience that ultimately lets nature do most of the talking.
After opening a bakery in 1993 due to insufficient funds to start a full restaurant, Mangieri mastered the fundamentals of baking. Three years later, in 1996, he opened his first pizzeria, offering just two classic variations: the world-renowned Margherita and the Marinara. Back then, each pie was priced at a modest $6. In his early years, Mangieri adopted a breakthrough strategy: serving pizza that was neither avant-garde nor visually complex—it just had to taste exceptional.
In recent years, this simplicity principle has emerged as a transformative force behind the triumph of both neighborhood bistros and international brands. By honing in on a minimalist culinary philosophy that prioritizes quality over quantity—fewer ingredients, less staffing and minimal fuss—restaurants utilizing this approach are achieving operational efficiency while still delivering a dining experience that feels closer than ever to home cooking.
Mangieri is detail obsessed
Mangieri’s promise to customers has paid off as he continues to operate his pizza restaurant with strict quality control and a transparent pizza-making process for all customers to see. The owner’s obsession with perfection is not only the reason he has done so well, but also the principle factor for why he is adamant about never expanding.
At Una Pizza Napoletana, success comes from a locally focused dining experience that speaks for itself. Each ingredient is thoughtfully sourced and prepared to the highest standards. The famous dough, in particular, has garnered acclaim as the foundation to what really sets Mangieri’s food apart.
“At Una, what makes us different is our dough is naturally leavened and highly hydrated, never refrigerated, made with a mixture of many different Italian flours, and I make the dough every day we’re open,” Mangieri told CNN Travel this month.
Small restaurants and businesses face worrisome ‘make-or-break’ year
Small, independent eateries that do not share the global fame of Una Pizza Napoletana have been compelled to consider expansion, franchising or external partnerships, as 2024 has been a “make-or-break” year for millions of small businesses.
Following a survey conducted by Slack in January, a nationwide inquiry found that nearly one-third of small businesses were worried they wouldn’t survive through 2024. Recent data from early September paints an even more worrisome prospect for small restaurants, as Chapter 11 bankruptcies are surging nationwide. Jonathan Carson of bankruptcy services and technology firm Stretto suggested, “A challenging economic environment, post-pandemic recovery issues, rising labor costs, changing consumer habits and inflation have caused more restaurants to struggle in 2024,” speaking to Fox Business earlier this month.
In an interview with Eater in May, Mangieri noted that many early small businesses of the modern day just cannot survive in the traditional one-location, small-staff model his joint makes use of.
“People used to have a restaurant and decide it was what they were going to do for the rest of their lives; they would support their family, try to make a great product, and, when they drop dead, it’d close unless it went to their kids,” he told the outlet.
The demise of the “old way”
Mangieri explains, “That was the old way. Realistically, that’s had to change because of the cost of doing business in major cities. With rent, staff and other little nitty-gritties, people quickly realize they need the support of a restaurant group or investors to take some of that pressure off.”
However, as mentioned previously, Mangieri remains true to his small business vision and methodology, and due to this latest accolade of being awarded the best pizza in the world, his recipe for success is clearly working.
Despite the fact that many restaurants fear they must evolve or perish, consumer preferences are always shifting, and there is encouraging evidence suggesting that higher-cost independent and local eateries could soon outperform big-name chains across the country.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers have warmed to independent restaurant options like never before. In 2022, a NEXT survey of more than 1,000 restaurant customers, found that 64% of restaurant-goers had intentionally chosen local restaurants over chain options. Local pizza joints in particular have always had a knack for staying ahead of the curve in consumer appeal. With only slight variations in price between local and chain pizzas, customers typically gravitate toward the more authentic experience offered by local establishments.
Longing to try a pizza from Una Pizza Napoletana? The restaurant is closed until Oct. 3 while the team visits Italy… but head in to taste the world’s best pizza for yourself after that.
Photo by: Melanie Dunea/Courtesy of Una Pizza Napoletana
