Opinion- Sorry, Buffalo New York’s Pizza Is A Tragic Joke
When you're thinking about some of the "Best Pizza Cities in America," the city of Buffalo shouldn't even be a thought on your radar.
listwithclever.com was determined to find the best pizza cities in America. They reviewed restaurant data, geographical data, and surveyed over 1,000 Americans to get their hottest takes on pizza:
In all, we used multiple metrics, weighted in the following manner:
4x: Pizza reputation (survey of 1,000 Americans)
4x: Online search activity for 25 pizza-related terms ("pizza passion")
2x: Average price of a large cheese pizza
1x: Average price of a large pepperoni pizza
1x: Average Yelp rating for pizza restaurants
1x: Rate of pizza restaurants per 100,000 residents
Here's what they cooked up in the Top 10:
Rank | City | Avg. Price: Large Cheese Pizza | Avg. Price: Large Pepperoni Pizza | Pizza Restaurants per 100,000 Residents | Average Yelp Rating | Pizza Passion Score* | Share of Americans Who Consider It a Top 5 Pizza City |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
- | National average | $18.81 | $21.79 | 8.4 | 4.0 | 65.1 | - |
1 | Detroit, MI | $14.83 | $17.33 | 5.3 | 4.0 | 99.3 | 12% |
2 | Hartford, CT | $15.00 | $18.65 | 15.5 | 4.0 | 90.0 | 8% |
3 | Boston, MA | $17.00 | $20.33 | 12.3 | 4.0 | 83.0 | 15% |
4 | Phoenix, AZ | $14.83 | $19.33 | 3.8 | 4.2 | 73.1 | 17% |
5 | Philadelphia, PA | $18.33 | $22.00 | 11.5 | 4.1 | 84.9 | 13% |
6 | San Diego, CA | $16.33 | $18.33 | 8.9 | 4.2 | 67.2 | 24% |
7 | Denver, CO | $17.67 | $20.50 | 9.5 | 4.1 | 86.7 | 10% |
8 | Miami, FL | $19.32 | $21.65 | 5.1 | 4.2 | 77.3 | 17% |
9 | Buffalo, NY | $23.36 | $27.07 | 17.9 | 3.9 | 85.3 | 18% |
10 | Pittsburgh, PA | $17.00 | $19.42 | 15.3 |
WAIT a minute. New York City didn't even rank that high? Central New York and the Mohawk Valley were completely snubbed in the Top 50. Some how Buffalo got mentioned:
Buffalo is clearly enthusiastic about its pizza, with more than twice as many spots to snag a pie compared to the average city we examined (8.4 per 100,000 people).
Buffalo scored an 85 in our Google Trends metric for searches of pizza-related terms. Its score is 31% higher than the typical city's score (65) largely thanks to its No. 1 ranking for search interest in these three terms: breakfast pizza, tomato pie, and New York-style pizza."
WHAT?!?!?!?!?!......Buffalo ranked high for Tomato Pie? Literally, Utica is the home of tomato pie. How in the world was tomato pie so high in Buffalo?
I'm Going To Be Honest, Buffalo Pizza Is Garbage
Hate me all you want, but Buffalo has zero clue how to make a pizza. The way the city cooks it's pepperoni, and just the overall look, stick to your chicken wings and the dirty side of Niagara Falls.
This author had Buffalo pizza leading up to a Bills tailgate back in 2011. I one million percent confirm that gas station pizza in our region topped the Buffalo style pizza I ate that day. Again, the way the pepperoni was all small and deformed, it made it look like massive zits or a weird nipple on the pizza. The sauce wasn't impressive, and there was no cheese pull. Momma Celeste has a better pizza.
"HOW CAN YOU BASE TASTE ON THAT ONE EXPERIENCE" - Everyone in Buffalo
This is true. I can't even name the place I went too. However, I've been to Buffalo multiple times since that experience and tried pizza time and time again and was let down.
Stick to your chicken wings, stick to your football, and stick to amazing radio stations. Your pizza is not one of the best in the country. Go home you're drunk Bills Mafia.
If you want to argue my thoughts on this, text us on our station app.