Grimaldi’s

The Verdict: Worth the Trip to Brooklyn, With Conditions

The most common misconception about Grimaldi's is that it's a tourist trap riding a famous address. It isn't; but it's also not the late-night pizzeria some visitors expect. With last orders at 9 pm Sunday through Thursday and 10 pm on Fridays and Saturdays, Grimaldi's closes earlier than much of Brooklyn's dining scene. If you're planning a post-show or after-drinks slice run past 9 pm on a weekday, this isn't your spot. Plan around those hours and you get one of the more credibly ranked coal-fired pies in the city, backed by consecutive recognition from Opinionated About Dining's Cheap Eats list in both 2023 and 2024, where it placed #262 in North America.

What You're Booking

Grimaldi's at 1 Front St in DUMBO serves coal-oven Neapolitan-style pizza in a setting that still draws genuine neighborhood regulars alongside visitors. The OAD recognition positions it firmly in the accessible end of the quality spectrum; this is a place where the pizza is the point, not the room or the service theater. The coal-fired method produces a char and crust texture that gas-oven competitors in Manhattan struggle to replicate, which is the central argument for making the trip across the bridge. For food and travel enthusiasts who track technique, that distinction matters. For anyone who doesn't, Artichoke Basille's or Don Antonio are easier Manhattan calls.

It's not the place to go chasing a perfect singular meal; it's the place to go when you want reliably good pizza with a strong sense of place. The DUMBO location adds real value here: the walk from the Manhattan Bridge, the Brooklyn waterfront, the neighborhood itself make the meal feel like more of an event than any comparable slice inside Manhattan.

Timing and Booking

Grimaldi's opens at 11:30 am every day of the week, which makes it one of the better lunch-friendly pizza options in Brooklyn. Booking difficulty is low, this is an easy reservation to secure, which puts it in a different category from the long-queue coal-oven experiences some visitors anticipate. The extended Friday and Saturday hours to 10 pm give those nights a slight advantage for visitors combining dinner with a Brooklyn evening out, but don't count on this as a true late-night option. If you need pizza after 10 pm anywhere in New York, you're looking at slice shops, not sit-down coal-oven pizzerias.

For explorers building a broader New York food itinerary, check our full New York City restaurants guide, New York City bars guide, and New York City hotels guide for context on how Grimaldi's fits into a larger trip.

How It Compares

For the Food Explorer

If you're building a serious pizza itinerary across the US, Grimaldi's sits comfortably alongside regional benchmarks like Ken's Artisan Pizza in Portland and 800 Degrees Pizza in Los Angeles as an example of what coal-fired technique looks like at the New York end of the spectrum. It won't replace the ambition of tasting menus at places like Le Bernardin or Eleven Madison Park, but it's not trying to. Grimaldi's is a reference point for a specific category, within that category it delivers.

Worth pairing with a broader Brooklyn afternoon rather than treating as a standalone destination dinner. Arrive at lunch or early evening, eat well without spending heavily, use the OAD ranking as your confidence anchor. The consistent recognition over two consecutive years from a credentialed list aimed specifically at accessible-price dining is the clearest signal the data offers.

For more New York planning: New York City wineries and New York City experiences round out the picture if you're building a longer itinerary.