One night, before heading to a Broadway show, Steve and I stopped by See No Evil, a tiny pizza restaurant tucked away below street level, inside the 50th Street subway station. There’s a sign by the stairs, but if you’re not looking for it, you’ll likely walk right past. It feels a little like stumbling upon a speakeasy, if speakeasies served really good pizza and arancini instead of cocktails.
The place is small with low ceilings and cozy in a loud New York City kind of way. Tables are packed close together, and from every seat you’ve got a full view into the open kitchen. I always find it reassuring to see that the food is actually being made from scratch, and it smelled amazing in there.
I’m pretty sure we ordered arancini to start, though I can’t find any photos on my phone, so I might have dreamt that part. What I do know is that we ordered two pizzas:
FUNGHI – mushrooms, panna, roasted garlic, Parmigiano, fontina, arugula, lemon
HELL PIE – sauce, hot soppressata, pepperoni, smoked mozzarella, pecorino, Calabrian chili
The pizzas were really good. They were flavorful and clearly made with quality ingredients. The Hell Pie was my favorite. The staff warned us it was spicy, but to me the heat level was just perfect. Steve preferred the Funghi, which was more mellow, though slightly heavy on the arugula topping if you ask me.
Size-wise, the pizzas were on the smaller side, and both of us thought the crust-to-topping ratio leaned a little too heavy on the crust. Especially the Funghi, which had Steve stacking a little mountain of pizza crust on the side of his plate (he doesn’t eat crust).
So, is See No Evil worth it? The setting is fun, and the subway location makes it feel like a secret. Prices are a bit steep (our pizzas were $27 and $29), but hey, it’s Midtown Manhattan. While I wouldn’t call it a must-go, it’s definitely worth a visit—especially if you’re already in the area and up for a slice of underground pizza culture. Literally.
I found out after our visit that their soft-serve dessert with olive oil and salt is a thing, would’ve loved to try that! So yes, I guess there’ll be a next time.
See No Evil, 210 W 50th St Concourse #1, New York, NY 10019, United States
