Artichoke Basille's Pizza — Restaurant in New York

When you want a slice of pizza and do not give a damn about calories or how spiteful your stomach will be, then by all means, come to Artichoke Basille's. Located right in the heart of the Meatpacking District and next to the High Line is where you'll find this pizzeria. Now Artichoke Basille's is famous for, you guessed it, their artichoke pizza. Drunken NYU students and clubbers from near and far like to frequent this establishment late at night, and I can admit that I have been one of those people. Nonetheless, I have actually been here during the daytime sober, so that my opinion wouldn't be based on my drunken hunger rage.

Anyhow, I came back here one afternoon after a workout at Equinox across the street. Probably not the best post workout food, but what the hell, it's right there. Artichoke Basille's is divided into two areas: dine-in and take-out/pizza by the slice. I wasn't about to sit down and eat a whole pizza pie, so I made my way to the express area. A slice of pizza will run you $5. I decided to go with their classic artichoke of course. The guy took my cash, heated up my slice, and in a matter of minutes, I was ready to rock.

When you get your slice, you'll realize that this thing is pretty huge. No matter why drunkards love this place so much. Anyhow, there are two ways of eating this messy slice. You can opt for the old fashioned way, or use a fork and knife. I prefer just to go with the flow and eat it like a regular slice, but beware, this pizza can get messy. The pizza itself is topped with like an inch thick cream mixed in with artichoke bits. Eating this slice without making a complete mess is an art form in itself. Thankfully, the bread itself is much thicker than your typical thin slice. That way, it can actually hold all the stuff that's going on top of your slice. Taste-wise, it's actually not too bad when you have your initial couple bites. After a while though, you'll start to feel that heaviness in your stomach. I usually can eat quite a bit, but after 1 slice of artichoke pizza, I'm pretty stuffed. How people can manage to eat a whole pie boggles my mind.

Artichoke Basille's is something that you have to try sometime during your stay in NYC. There's not many places that are known for artichoke pizza, for better or for worse. Just make sure to be either incredibly hungry, or else, just stick...

I currently live in the Tampa Bay area, but I'm no stranger to good pizza. Second only to Italy the best pizza in the world can be found in New York City. I speak from experience having lived in both Brooklyn and Queens and having indulged in more than my share of brick oven pizza. Family and I often find ourselves planning trips around restaurants that we'd like to visit when we go back to our hometown particularly those that air on Food Network. We planned a trip to queens over the summer and were determined to check this place out to see if it could live to New York's reputation for have some of the world's tastiest cheesiest pizza. The choice came down to Grimaldi's or Artichoke. While I was a intimately familiar with great pizza my kids had the misfortune of living the prepubescent and adolescent lives in the south where their best attempt at making a pie is comedic. Admittedly it wasn't much on the outside, which is to be expected a hole in the wall in Manhattan comes at a high premium and I suspect Artichoke is no exception. Let's just say that the tight quarters and meager accommodations would actually hurt the rating. Besides, we were there to eat pizza. There are dozens of other establishments that I could've chosen, but while we were home I wanted to give my kids a taste of the pizza in the city from the city. The pizza wasn't the best that I have ever had, but at least it met my expectations. While I could complain about the venue and the prices I won't because I'm reminded of exactly where we were. The rather large portion and authentic taste more than made up for the less than appealing cramped quarters. Experiences vary and I certainly don't want to deter anyone from the dinning experience, but I've had better. Nevertheless, I'll say this about Artichokes, good location, good...

First off, I want to thank the male 👨🏾‍🍳 who worked at the store on Sat, Feb 18 2023 at 11 pm, and he politely helped me get my spare change from the other worker 👨🏼‍🍳 who was stealing customers' money. I had ordered a pepperoni slice from the male worker 👨🏾‍🍳 who then directed another person 👨🏼‍🍳 to charge me while he went to take some of the previous customers' orders and mines from the stove. I ordered a pepperoni slice, and the 👨🏼‍🍳 worker recited a charge of $8.00 for a $5.95 slice. I asked why it was $8.00. He replied because it's fresh pizza. All the ingredients were made here. Blah blah blah. 🤔 But still, why does 5.95 result to a $8.00 with tax? The worker 👨🏼‍🍳 then replied, ok, $7.00, (still not convinced 🙄). I gave him $10, and he gave back $3. No receipt or anything.

Somehow an argument broke out shortly, and the initial 👨🏾‍🍳 worker that took my order found cash-singles stash on the 👨🏼‍🍳 worker as well as in a box of pizza stored on the side. And was calling the police to report the crime[Because I think this may have happened recently too]. And have told folks there were closing the store. And the 👨🏼‍🍳 who was stealing the money was desperately apologizing and begged not to call the police.

I did also report it to the 👨🏾‍🍳 worker, who was livid that I was overcharged and helped give back the additional change.

But what a first-time experience! I couldn't enjoy the pizza as much as I wanted 😩 because of the whole ordeal. But I will be back again.

I hope never to meet the worker robbing customers and the food chain. But I will be back and try again

Thanks again to the 👨🏾‍🍳 who helped sort everything. Thank you! Thank you!!

*Beware, pepperoni pizza slices are not $8 each...