Di Fara Pizza

My mom grew up down the street from this unforgettable pizza joint. How she didn’t know about it until I recently told her is beyond me. If I were her I’d be in mourning for years over a childhood deprived of Di Fara’s cheesy goodness. But anecdote aside, Di Fara’s never ceases to amaze. The pizza is a solid 5 stars, though .5 of that might be the actual experience of picking up a pie/​slice. After an hour+ wait (shorter on weekdays) to see the legend himself clip the freshest basil in town onto pie after pie you will know what I mean. There’s plenty written about this place so I’ll leave you with this…
It’s expensive and time consuming, authentic and delicious; a memorable experience worthy of the trek at least a few times in you lifetime. Bonus points for those of you who bike there to work up an appetite!

Alright, this is coming from a person who thinks Grimaldi sucked! Two bros is better than Grimaldi–
I was under estimate this is gonna be a disappointment. So just to confirm my judgement, we ended up in this place. Got lucky! Line wasn’t too long. Upon ordering, which we planed to get just two slices but for that we have to wait for 45mins, so we decided to get the whole pie which gonna be 50mins. Beside that, I’m a hoarder, in case we need more or incase it’s going to be so good, bla bla bla. The timing is perfect! We got there and it’s ready in two mins. So we enjoy them in the car. Just GREAT! I can say this pizza is GOOOOOODDDD. I thought I never could tell the different but this is what it’s called GREAT pizza. I’m just thankful I could enjoy the creation of the man whose been making this forever.

No offense. pizza is good. but, in no way is it amazing. good luck
screw flanders

«Are you crying, or did you just eat Di Fara Pizza?» my love asked me after we ate. We had a good experience but come on. I’ve eaten much more outstanding pizza in my honest opinion.
Our final bill came to $ 48, adding insult to injury. We got two small sodas, one square whole pizza pie and two slices. The lemon soda from Italy, sour, fizzy, cute bottle almost more enjoyable than the pizza.
The people around us were going crazy. Like it was 1984 & they just got the last Cabbage Patch Kid doll. I heard them: «how’s your slice? Omg it’s soooo good.» Hype.
My love just watched me. I looked at him. We ate. We commented on the sauce. Was good. Crust was burnt, hard and salty. The cheeses looked great when Dom was making the pies, but when he took them out, a burnt smoking oil laden disaster. Broken pizza dreams.
We made friends in line. One had been frequenting DF for 17 years. Before Dom was a rockstar he said. Before the lines. When he made Parm Heros and pasta too. When our new friend lived around the corner. When he was still married. Made me think, this is perhaps nostalgia for some people.
We should have just ordered a couple slices. Without the «secret» word on the street we would have never known it was anyone’s favourite ever at all.

My first slice since getting to NYC and it totally lived up to the hype. You can tell if a place is good from their basic cheese pizza. The sauce tasted fresh with just enough cheese. The crust was crunchy and gave the perfect fold haha. We got lucky and got the last two slices! It was a bit expensive for a slice but definitely worth it. After trying a couple places this past two weeks, still my favorite place to get a slice. I plan on going again before I head back to California.

In retrospect, it probably would have been impossible for Di Fara to live up to the hype, but my pie was still a good pie.
It hit all the right notes for a good pie: crisp yet chewy crust; bright, tasty sauce; gooey cheese (though Di Fara’s vaunted 3 cheese blend didn’t have the distinct light tartness of the mozzarella di bufala that it supposedly includes), and freshly cut basil, all in the right ratios. It just… didn’t do anything special for me. I still consider New Haven pizzas to be the best, and Sally’s plain pie to be the best plain pie in America.
The prices are also pretty ridiculous, as plenty of media outlets have reported. In as saturated a pizza market as New York, there’s simply no way the quality of ingredients at Di Fara’s could merit such a markup. At $ 30 for a plain pie, you’re really paying $ 20 for the pie and $ 10 premium for the feel-​good novelty of watching your pie being made by a wizened, hunched over octogenarian whose been making them almost every day for the past half century.

I… love…pizza… It’s easily my favorite food.
So my BFF (a native New Yorker who knows how much I LOVE PIZZA) planned a pizza tour for us when I went up to visit her. On the list? Lombardi’s, L&B Spumoni Gardens, Grimaldi’s, Rubirosa and Di Fara. We only ended up having time for 3 places that weekend (sad face — we had a wedding to go to). We went to Lombardi’s (had ½ margherita, ½ mushroom), L&B Spumoni Gardens (tried both the round and square) and Di Fara. Di Fara was by far the best of all 3.
So Di Fara opens around 1 on Sundays. We hopped in line by approximately 1:15p and waited about 30 minutes just to order. We originally had plans to just get a slice or two each so we’d have an appetite for a 4^th place for dinner, but finding out the wait time for the actual pizza being over an hour, we ordered a whole square pizza instead. BEST DECISION EVER.
We didn’t actually sit down to eat until 4pm. Which means we waited a total of 2.75 hours for our pizza. I do not regret it, at all. The crust was so flaky and crunchy. Tons of mozzarella, sauce, basil and OIL. They have some hot pepper oil to use, if you’re into that kinda thing. I used some and it just enhanced the already amazing flavors.
I typically prefer thick crust over thin and the square pizza at Di Fara is what I’ll compare all future pizzas to… best pizza I’ve ever had. I’d endure the wait over and over again, no questions! Pizza Tour 2.0 to come…

Food: 4.0÷5.0
Service: 2.0÷5.0
Value: 2.0÷5.0
Décor: 1.0÷5.0
Overall: 3.5÷5.0
A lot of people complain about the long wait at Di Fara. Pro tip: Go on a weekday afternoon. More seriously, some people complain that the pies Dom puts out are no longer as good as they used to be. Others complain about those complainers. They’re both kind of right, but the former more so.
The lines and crowds have gotten shorter and smaller over time, and the pies more expensive, but the quality just isn’t there anymore. Dom doesn’t move as fast as he used to getting pies out and ready to go, and the basil and cheese sprinkling just isn’t the same. Di Fara still serves a tasty pizza that I probably would splurge for once in a while, but I just can’t call today’s product more than a 4 out of 5 on food. And when you’re no longer the best in the biz, or even in the city, I care a lot more that the pies are over thirty bucks and the place needed a thorough cleaning like fifteen years ago. Boys and girls, it pains me to do this. But I’m taking Di Fara down from 5.0÷5.0 to 3.5÷5.0. A part of me just died inside :(

We finally went to this legendary pizzeria on a Sunday afternoon around 4:45p, and there was already a 1 ½ hour wait to be seated. Since we live 2 hours away, we decided to stick around and go for it.
The place is tiny, but the smell of the pizza goes around the block.
We ordered a square pie with prosciutto and sorpressata, with the total being $ 39. The pizza was huge, with 12 pieces enough to satisfy three people. The crust is the best I’ve had in NYC, crunchy and soft at the same time. It’s worth the trip alone. The sauce is beyond flavorful, and the cheese combo (mozzarella and Parmesan) is delicious. This is what you dream of when you crave pizza.
Inside the space is incredibly disorganized, with just a few old chairs and run down communal tables. No silverware, no glasses, no tap water, and barely a few paper towels. The restroom is mostly used by the minimal staff… something you want to see only if you really have to. No alcohol is served, but we saw some people bringing their on booze. They have water bottles and sodas.
What’s tricky about Di Fara is that you can never count on a short wait. For what I’ve read and heard from locals, this place has never low-​peak hours, so you can never come here counting on a short line just because it’s the early afternoon on a week day or the late evening on a Sunday. If you’re coming from far away, it’s a risky choice, because you could get stuck here for hours, and there’s really nowhere else cool to wait.
In addition, they don’t seem to have a very organized way to attend their customers. It’s a 1-​man show — Domenico Di Marco — making every pie, with a 1-​woman show doing everything else. They work super hard, but with obvious limitations.
This is what you get at Di Fara. Amazing but pricey close-​to-​perfect pizza with nothing else to your convenience, and a long wait in front of you, the end of which will always remain debatable.
Cash only.

I got to see the old man make my pizza!!!
If you don’t know about Di Fara yet, he’s one of the oldest pizza maker in Brooklyn and all the pizza that’s place to order are made by him. He’s a 90 year old grandpa and he still insist on making every single pizza! Enough about him, back to the pizza.
Beware of the wait time when you decide you want some Di Fara pizza, it’s a average 1 hour wait even for just a slice of pizza. I ordered the whole pizza and it took 2 hours. I had go find something else to snack on while I wait for the glory to arrive. The pizza itself was delicious! The crest was thin (just how I like it) and the dough was fresh. It is one of the oilier pizzas I’ve ever had tho, the oil leaked through 3 paper plates. But what do you expect when eating a pizza right?! Definitely something to try out if you haven’t already, you can place the order of pizza first and then head over to Conley Island while you wait for the deliciousness to arrive!

Arguably the best pizza around.
We had heard about Di Fara’s from a number of people and read about the lore of an old man making individual pies by hand. Having visited the more trendy pizza joints, we made the hourlong trip to see what the hoopla was about.
The inside of Di Fara’s is pretty run down but the place was still filled at 5 o’clock on a rainy Saturday. The guy at the counter took our order on a yellow legal pad and we found a seat at one of three unkempt tables. It’s a really special experience to see Dom gathering each ingredient, creating every pie to order.
The pizza came out, literally, boiling. The perfect blend of cheese and oil oil were bubbling straight from the oven as the counter-​guy chopped up a bunch of basil onto the pizza. I understand a lot of places bake the pizza with the basil and end up with dry, crunchy leaves. Although I questioned this method, I appreciated the fact that the basil still melded into the pie yet retained a fresh kick. We had half white, half regular with sausage and garlic. Garlic is an interesting ingredient as it’s complete mush when overcooked. Leaving it under yields hard raw garlic. Yet our topping had a great crisp and strong (but not overwhelming) garlic punch. The crust was great too. Nice crisp break along the edges, floppy New York style mess at the center.
Another distinct trait of Di Fara’s is how it leaves your stomach. It’s hard to exercise self-​control around good pizza. Most places will leave you with just as much, if not more, regret and physical discomfort. Not so with Di Fara’s. Ate half a pie without a tinge of the typical bloaty heaviness.
I can understand why people liken it to an art. This is Dom’s trade, his craft, his tradition. I’m not saying I agree but this is damn good pizza. Let’s be realistic; handmade pizza by Dom won’t be around very long. Do yourself a favor and go taste this experience while you can.

Made our way to this little pizza joint before it opened and of course there’s a line! Ordered two slices of the Di Fara classic pizza. 45 minutes later, the slices come out piping hot! Extremely thin and crunchy crust. Sauce is light and taste homemade. The basil sealed the deal for me! Supposedly all the ingredients are imported from Italy. Maybe that’s why the price point is so outrageous. $ 12 for two kinda small slices. Pizza was good but it didn’t make me crave for more.

I can now say that I have watched a master create a masterpiece. We watched Dom make a pizza and it is one of the most mesmerizing experiences. This man cares about pizza. His family cares about pizza. And that makes it one of the most delicious, if not the most delicious, pizzas I have ever had.
Di Fara is old school. It’s a giant throwback to a simpler time, a more delicious time for pizza before gentrification hit. Cash only, orders taken on a notepad in ball point pen, hand poured olive oil, hand cut basil. Everything is done by hand and with all pies made to order, it’s no wonder why the wait is so long. Be prepared for the wait (aka bring snacks).
Re: Di Fara’s classic pie. The balance of flavors is perfect. The crust is what pizza should be. This is Italian pizza. This is not some NYC knock off. This is not some basic thing. This pizza can only be describe as art. There is nothing like a Di Fara pizza. You have to try it. It’s a must. Go now. Don’t hesitate.

Di Fara Pizza is a place off the beaten path in Brooklyn on Avenue J. I must say, greatest NYC pizza!
FOOD: Specialty pie with all the fixings. At $ 34, it is not a cheap bite, but it is definitely worth the experience. You see the basil cut directly on top, there’s sausage, onion, a light Great NYC pizza. The crust is true to Italian pizza. Nice and thin, perfectly crisp to the bite, it’s quite the amazing experience. It’s refreshing and not heavy at all in the stomach, but perfectly crisp and not oily. I still dream of eating this pizza in California, but hey, I guess it gives me something else to look forward to on my next trip to New York.
TIP: Go early and no wait! Came on a Wednesday right as it opened. We even had a spot to sit inside thinking that we came to the wrong place. It’s possible to get this pizza without the crazy waits that people mention on Unilocal.
OTHER TIP: Cash Only.

there is this DEEP SPIRITUAL NEED to find this old man who will make me my pizza and I got it.
The location is literally right off of the Ave J station on the corner. Theres maybe a few tables… but I wouldn’t bring the party in. Sit the most 10 people and it will be cramped. I think you can order straight from the window but I went inside and got my slice.
I ordered the sausage slice and my siblings got the square garlic pizza and sausage/​pepperoni pizza. It took a while to get the order and it is a bit pricey for by the slice. I swear people got their pies before I got my slice!
Once my order was ready, fresh basil is cut onto my slice and a good dash of cheese. The slice is piping hot, like right out of the oven hot and you see the shine… oily shine…
First bite and you can tell the difference between this place and the others. FOR SURE THIN CRUST and the ingredients of the cheese and meat and the crust itself taste so fresh! The basil touch… amazing!
If this place wasn’t so far away… or $ 5 bucks, I would be here everyday!

3 stars for the 3 hour wait.
I’m from Cali, I’ve read stuff all over about difara. We showed up at 12:50 on a Sunday. Line was about. 15 – 20 people deep. So I figured that wasn’t bad.
Sadly I was mistaken. The entire dining area was reserved for a group of about 15 guys. At around. 1:20 the line was then taken to the café that sits just right behind the pizza shop. We were told when we ordered that a whole pie was going to take 1 hour and 30 minutes. I said fine, I came from this far who knows when I’ll be back.
At about the one hour and 15 mark we kept checking back to see when it would be done. Finally around 4:10ish our pie was done. I don’t know if it was the über long wait. But I had set the bar high for this place. I understand he makes them all one by one and they use imported cheeses. However, I couldn’t get into it. Don’t get me wrong the pizza was good «except the charred inedible crust» but I didn’t expect to spend 3 almost 4 hours waiting.
I’ve got this place checked off the list, I just don’t feel that I’d come back if I was ever in the area. Everyone was friendly despite the growing crowd. But don’t come here expecting to sit down and eat all within an hour.

My boyfriend took me from our Los Angeles apartment on a week long vacation to Chicago and New York (he’s originally from nyc) and we had Pizza all the way thru. Trying this place and that leaving Di Fara’s for last… this was the best pizza I have ever had in my life. We waited from 5 pm — 720 pm to eat our pie and it was worth every minute I waited.
Guys, you have to understand there is one man that makes these OG pies so please be patient. Some loud mouth red head with a snaggle tooth and cheap red lip stick was talking shit about the pizza and the patient patrons who were anticipating this foodie delight, trying to ruin everyone’s joy even tho she was waiting for the same pizza. Please be calm and courteous. It’s worth it and if you don’t respect the progress there are a hundred average pizza places on your way home.

Look, Di Fara is really good pizza. It’s sometimes fantastic, even. I’ve had it maybe 10 times and I can say, it’s one of the best pizzas around. But that’s the whole issue with the hype around it. It’s ONE of the best, and there’s many. If you’re from New York City, I recommend you have it at least once. But you’re in New York City. Say you don’t try it once in your life; you’ve still had enough damn good pizza that’s pretty much on the level (barring the awful generic corner pizza shops). If you’re from the outskirts of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, by all means. Make it a priority not to miss this before you head back home.
But you’d have to be straight up NUTS to wait an hour and a half to walk into a place that looks like it hasn’t had an update in 40 years (in a bad way, folks. In a bad way) and to wait up to an hour and a half to have pizza. Last two times we came here, Dom burned half the pizza. Can’t blame him, it’s going to happen to us all one day. The consistency other reviewers talk about is in the past.
Again, it’s good but it’s a great deal of hype. There are at least 5 spots in Brooklyn I can recommend over this one. And Di Fara’s is not simply overpriced; it’s a money grab. You have three employees, not counting the roaches that probably carry the toppings bins in and out of the front counter area Cinderalla-​style. What justifies the most expensive pizza prices in Brooklyn? Hype does.
Go there if you must, scratch it off your list and then get on with your life.

Holy crap does this place live up to expectations. The pizza is hands down the best I have ever had. Cheesy, flavorful sauce & crispy but not dry crust. The Sicilian slice ain’t too shabby either. It’s well worth the price/​trip/​hassle.
If you’re a pizza fanatic you have to try this place. If you’re not a pizza fanatic you have to try this place.

Is this pizza overpiced? Yes.
Will you be waiting for an hour or more? Yes.
Is this the best pizza you will ever eat? Quite possibly Yes.
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Pizza:
Cheese: ¹⁰⁄₁₀
The mozzarella is delicate, perfectly melty, and milky. The extra parmesan sprinkled on adds another layer of texture in the savory oil on top of the slice.
Sauce: ¹⁰⁄₁₀
The tomato sauce is ripe and naturally sweet, with small chunks of plum tomatoes in the sauce. Tastes fresh and full of life, not canned and flat in flavor.
Crust ⁷⁄₁₀
Harder than other crusts I’ve tried. The slice «crunches» when you fold it in half. But I think this is appropriate as it adds a firmer base to hold up all the melty cheese, sauce and olive oil. The only thing I would note is that our pie was a little charred, and the crust could be a little more chewier (personal preference)
Wait Time :1/​10
Expect to wait an hour or more. It’s long and there’s no way to get around that. Really, set aside an afternoon to come here.
Price: ¹⁄₁₀
$ 30 something for a pie, $ 5 – 6 for a slice. Makes the most sense to split a pie with a friend and pay around $ 15 per person.
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The little sprinkle of chopped basil is sweet and peppery. The pizza slices are a little oiler than other slices I’ve had, but note that it’s not a sick, greasy oil. It’s the aromatic and fruity olive oil combined with the sweet oil coming from the cheese. If wait time and price was not an issue, I think we might all agree that this is quite possibly the best slice of Pizza you may ever eat. Is it worth $ 30 for a pie and an hour plus wait? At least once yes.

One of best NY pizzas that I’ve ever had.
You have to get here early & wait in line for the shop to open. Rumor is that if Di Fara himself doesn’t come in that day, they won’t open.
FYI: the wait on your pizza will be long but totally worth it & this place is BYOB
So right after they let you in, you have to put your name down. They will then call you to ask for your order (make sure to order the chili oil on the pizza). Di Fara himself hand makes each pizza & cuts the fresh basil on top of the pizza. There are 3 tables & about 15 chairs, so it’s tight space if you’re planning on eating there.
It’s a very short walk from the J train.

Whether Di Fara is one of the best pizza joints in New York is subjective. Personally, I love their pizza. This place is a MUST go for me every time I come back to New York.
There is always a line no matter what time of the day you come. If you order a slice of pizza, you’ll be in and out relatively quick. If you order a pie, that’ll be an hour wait. Personal advice: make sure you get up there and put in your order and don’t let nobody cut you off and delay you from getting that delicious pizza.
There are a few tables inside where you can sit and enjoy the pizza, but they’re usually occupied by people.
Their pies cost around $ 35 which is totally worth it in my opinion and I want to say they cut it up to about 8 slices total. For one slice of pizza its $ 5. I highly recommend the pie and have leftovers because leftover pizza is da bomb!
Dom makes all the pies himself still for the most part. The pies are made when after you order. Every thing is fresh. The dough, the ingredients… and you can most definitely taste it. Usually, the pies come out a bit burnt, but that’s the allure of the pizza here in my opinion.