The Exclusive New York City Pizzeria That Sells Cheese Pizza For Over $40 A Pie

When it comes to pizza, New York City is arguably best known for its inexpensive single slices of pizza that you can get on practically any street. However, as rising costs continue to impact humble pizza shops (outright killing New York City's $1 slice in recent years), fancy pizzerias with high prices have become incredibly popular in recent years. The clearest example of this trend is Ceres Pizza, a remarkably popular pizzeria in the Little Italy section of Manhattan — which is also the home of Lombardi's, the first licensed pizzeria in America — that sells its cheese pizzas for a whopping $42 a pie. What's more, the restaurant doesn't sell individual slices, meaning that the expensive pie is your only way to discover what all the hype is about.

As far as why the restaurant charges so much for pizza, it all comes down to the remarkable quality of the ingredients that go into each pie. During an episode of First We Feast's "Pro Moves," Adam Richman spoke with the co-owner of Ceres Pizza, Jacob Serebnick. When Richman questioned why the cheese pizza was so expensive, also noting that the Nduja pie costs a whopping $68, Serebnick explained that "everything on the pizza is of the highest quality" and that "the technique itself [is] sound." Naturally, using such premium ingredients to make each 20-inch pizza results in a higher price point.

While it's clear that spending $42 on a pizza is far more expensive than what you'd find at most pizzerias in the country — the average price ranges from about $16 to $20 per large cheese pizza, depending on the region — there's something about Ceres Pizza that makes the high price tag feel more justified. After all, Adam Richman describes the pizza shop as how "fine dining chefs approach the old school New York pizza."

The restaurant first opened in January 2025 by two chefs with experience working at Eleven Madison Park — a restaurant that was able to claim an elusive three stars on the Michelin Guide in 2012. Since then, Ceres has garnered immense levels of hype from customers, with its long wait times and lines down the block giving it an air of exclusivity. A major reason for this hype is the restaurant's one-of-a-kind dough. Made with three different kinds of flour and sourdough starter, the dough is arguably the biggest aspect of what makes Ceres shine. Jacob Serebnick even said so in his aforementioned discussion with Richman, claiming, "The dough is always sort of the star."

Nevertheless, it's important to note that not everyone has bought into the excitement surrounding Ceres Pizza; the high price point has made some hesitant to give it a shot, while others have deemed the restaurant overrated due to how widely praised it has become. However, no one restaurant can please everybody, and the pies at Ceres are the kind of food you need to try yourself to see if they truly live up to the hype.