New York City Pizza — Restaurant in Charleston

About 3 years ago my kids went to this restaurant with their grandfather and brought me home a calzone to try. It was so delicious that we never forgot about it. We are from out of town. He is from Ohio. Because we enjoyed the food so much last time, today they were able to go back to Charleston and eat there again. This time I had two calzones. Blech! Not even close to the quality and flavors of 3 years ago. The food was bland, the crust tasted like a burnt biscuit, the tomato sauce was watery with no flavor whatsoever. Didn't even have a tomato flavor! Their grandfather paid $74.69 for 2 calzones and a stromboli. Way overpriced for low quality food without any flavor. The service was mediocre on the verge of non existent and the establishment was dirty. They were not acknowledged right away and the staff seemed very lazy and not wanting to be there. Most of the time they stayed in the back and the waitress was more interested in flirting with the chef than serving her customers.Tables were not clean and the bathroom was a mess. Do not use!!! My daughter had to clean her own table. I thought there had to be new regulations for the sanitation since the Covid19 pandemic. But from the looks of the restaurant, you wouldn't know it. I'm surprised they are even able to operate. Do not come here. My daughter said she will never go back there again. It's a shame because the first time was fabulous. Obviously they have had a change in menu and the cleanliness went down for the worst. I would give it a negative 50 stars, but it won't allow me to do that. Blech! I feel nauseous since I tasted the calzones. I say tasted because I couldn't even eat it all. Bad service, dirty establishment, defunk food, waste of time and money....

Four of us ate at NYCP for dinner in Downtown Charleston. We will be back again! It was a Monday night so the restaurant was not too crowded. The interior is relaxed with a few high top booths near pizza ovens (that's where we sat). Had a great server named, Matt. He was very friendly, there when you needed a drink refilled or a plate taken away. Matt joked around with us when he realized we were open to that type of banter.

The other area of the NYCP has tables and stools at the bar for solo diners. A larger group of 15 people came in and sat on the other side and were having a good time drinking, eating and talking loud. I like a place that has a relaxed fun vibe so this was fine with us.

We ordered the NYCP Special in thin crust. It was hot out of the oven and the ingredients were fresh. Sausage, Mushrooms, Peppers and onions. The crust was not too crunchy, but firm to the bite. The cheese was perfect! Not too much and not so thin you can read your iPad through it. The drinks from the bar were larger pours in good sized glasses. Service was prompt, but not nagging (some places make you feel they want you to eat and get the hell out). NYCP lets you hang out and chat after eating without moving you off the table.

We had garlic herb breadsticks with marinara sauce and they were good, but not great like the pizza. Personal likes apply.

Recommend if you like a chill place to eat with friendly staff and good pizza.

Note: We came straight to the restaurant from our condo. No one in our group used the restrooms. I will check this out next time I visit. I do not like bathrooms that are poorly maintained. That could change the...

We stopped in on a Sunday evening, and were told to seat ourselves. Many tables were dirty, so our clean choices were next to the door on a cold night or next to the pizza kitchen (we did not sit next to the door.) The server let us sit a bit too long before bringing menus and again too long before taking a drink order, but took our food order when she brought our beers. I ordered the Marco Polo salad and my boyfriend ordered a 12" Italian sub with fries. Then we waited. And waited. And waited. My boyfriend's beer was empty, but we did not see our server again until, 30 minutes later, she plopped our food in front of us and left. We had no silverware. I ordered a salad. I was fortunate enough to flag her down right away (we actually saw her this time), but, again, she left without asking if we needed anything and before we got a chance to tell her.

My salad was delicious. My boyfriend's sub was a 6" not the 12" he ordered. It was also skimpy on the meat. The bread was delicious though. When she finally stopped long enough to ask if we needed anything, all we wanted was the bill. When the bill came, she had charged a full sub, I got up and tracked her down to address the error.

My point here is to alert the owner to the money this woman is costing him. We wanted more beer. We wanted to buy a full sub. We were going to order dessert - we went somewhere else. Her ineptitude lost him around $30 in additional sales. How many other customers has he lost sales with? And how many others were cheated on mis-rung orders and have a bad impression of his place?

Summary: good food,...