See No Evil Pizza – New York's finest slice, underground

See No Evil Pizza sits in the concourse of the 50th Street subway station, a short walk from the turnstiles of the 1 train and a few streets north of Times Square. It opened in March 2024, taking over a shuttered Dunkin' Donuts, as the third act from restaurateur Adrien Gallo, who already ran the adjacent cocktail bar Nothing Really Matters and coffee shop Tiny Dancer on the same stretch of underground corridor. Each name nods to a song, and here it is Television's, a wink that fits a dining room built to make commuters stop rather than hurry past. Chef Edward Carew, who cooked previously at Fiamma and Gramercy Tavern before Eleven Madison Park, bakes thin, hybrid Neapolitan-New York pies in electric ovens behind the counter. It holds a MICHELIN Guide selection as of 2025, recognition for a restaurant that turns a stretch of subway tile into one of Midtown's more talked-about pizza counters.

01The room and the setting

The space was once a Dunkin' Donuts outpost on the platform level; designer Little Wing Lee of Studio & Projects reworked it with a deliberate nod to the New York punk scene of the 1970s and '80s, the kind of reference that suits a room built into transit infrastructure rather than a street-level shopfront.

Inside, black-and-white checkered floors, wooden booths and mirrors set the tone, with the restaurant's own soundtrack leaning on guitar-driven rock rather than anything lounge-like. Three electric Marra Forni ovens sit behind the counter, and at roughly 1,000 square feet with 40 seats, tables for two fare better than larger groups when the pre-theatre crowd arrives.

02The chef

Edward Carew runs the kitchen after stints at Fiamma and Gramercy Tavern, then Eleven Madison Park, a trajectory that explains a menu more considered than its subterranean postcode suggests. He co-founded the restaurant with longtime friend Adrien Gallo, who also owns Nothing Really Matters and Tiny Dancer, both on the same concourse.

Insider tip

Book ahead before a Broadway show; the concourse room is small and fills fast pre-curtain.

Gallo, who is coeliac, pushed the menu toward largely gluten-free cooking, working alongside Carew on a kitchen that treats the subway setting as a reason to sharpen standards rather than lower them.

03The cooking

The menu runs on two sides: pizza, and what the kitchen calls "not pizza" – seasonal salads and antipasti drawn from the market. Sardine toast and a seasonal bowl of beans in walnut sauce sit on that side of the card, built to be shared before the pies arrive.

The pizzas themselves are a hybrid of Neapolitan char and New York snap, fired in the Marra Forni ovens and topped with produce the kitchen sources fresh rather than from a standard pizzeria supply list.

04What to order

Start with the Burrata, dressed with summer caponata, pine nuts and intenso olive oil, or the Polenta Fries with herbed aioli. Among the pies, the Bank Robber pairs prosciutto, figs and burrata with parmigiano, while the Hell Pie carries hot soppressata, pepperoni, smoked mozzarella, pecorino and calabrian chili for anyone wanting the kitchen's spiciest word.

The Margherita and the mushroom-led Funghi, finished with lemon and arugula, show the quieter end of the oven's range. Finish with the vanilla soft serve topped with olive oil and sea salt, the dessert the kitchen is best known for, or the buttermilk panna cotta with blueberry compote.

05Wine and drinks

The wine list leans Italian with French detours: glasses run from Sicilian Grillo to Alto Adige Pinot Grigio, Chianti and a short run of Lambrusco, alongside Champagne from Paul Laurent and a Blanc des Noirs from the Champagne house Rive Droite by the bottle.

Cocktails, built by Cyllan Hicks, keep close to the Italian aperitivo register – Aperol Spritz, a Sbagliato Bianco, an Americano Highball – with a low-ABV Negroni and a short list of house lemonades for anyone not drinking.

06The neighbourhood

The restaurant sits a stone's throw from Times Square and the Theater District, making it a practical stop before or after a Broadway curtain rather than a destination requiring a detour. Riders on the downtown 1 train pass the door on their way to the platform, which is precisely the point: a pizzeria built around people who weren't necessarily planning to eat there at all.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.