FLORINA Pizzeria & Paninoteca

Fantastic New York style pizza, probably the best homegrown take on it in the Greater Boston area. These slices made this New Jersey pizza fanatic very happy. For the regular pie, they do the "one slice is actually two slices" thing that I've only ever encountered in Boston, so just beware that one slice is actually quite a lot of 'za. Four stars overall instead of five due to the limited hours. (Closed weekends and by 8pm on weekdays? Really?? Just a reminder that you're actually in Boston and not in NYC.)

Legitimately some of the best pizza I’ve ever had, this has become my go-to spot. The portions are very large for a great price, I honestly can’t recommend this enough!! This is actually the first restaurant that has ever inspired me to come leave a rating on Google

Great value for really solid pizza. I only docked a star because one of our slices was so, so floppy - it was just soupy and falling apart. For about $12 for two slices (and a free drink for purchasing two slices) it was a great lunch.

Great little pizza restaurant near the city center. Good pizza, low prices ($5 for a quarter of any pizza) and friendly staff. Staff member even let me use the shops private toilet when I asked.

There is a short, highly celebrated (and much argued-over) list of Boston-area pizza joints slinging pies that truly honor, or in their own way, challenge the grand pizza traditions of Naples, New Haven, or NYC, for example. Florina makes a bid for the latter. A single bite of their thin crust slice, in my case, with a rich red sauce base, the thinnest rings of sweet onion, festooned with oblong cross-sections of Italian fennel sausage, immediately transports you to a sepia-toned world of flavor where all the great pizzaiolos are from. The crust is unbelievable: a delicate, crisp bottom that holds its shape but still has a good chew at the edge. Kissed by the oven and a dusting of cornmeal but not blackened or sooty underneath. The sauce is aromatic; sweet but not sugary. A sprinkle of Italian herbs or pepper flake would not likely enhance it. (They have an arrabbiata too, for those seeking a bit more heat.) Toppings are distributed generously, as is a blend of high quality mozzarella cheese, though neither so heavily that the pizza swims with grease. (Can’t speak for the ‘roni.) This is a rare pizza that, as others have mentioned, also comes at a very good value, considering a quarter of an 18” pie was $5.88 with tax: two huge slices worth. It is a precious little miracle. I will be coming more often.