With apologies to the band America, at the end of a recent night in Manhattan I found myself singing “I just had a slice at the joint with no name.”

It was near midnight in Manhattan, and I was looking for a new slice. On my mind was the notion that following only good pizza reviews may be giving the Snob a biased look at things. Maybe I needed to experience a bad slice to keep things in perspective?

Spotting a cheap slice and beer place on Macdougal in the Village, I said “Why not?” The block was lively as was the place at number 95 with a sign that simply read “Thin Crust Pizza / $1 Pizza / $2 Beer.” The trendy and pricey Artichoke Pizza loomed in my sights just a few doors away.

While Thin Crust Pizza is all that the sign said, Yelp suggests that this place might be called Slice & Co. However, they show another Slice & Co. on 14th Street and its Google Map photo looks nothing like this location. The only other available info was that the Macdougal site was once an Indian restaurant.  My off-hours phone call reached a generic answering machine message.

Fearless, I sprung for one of their buck slices to feed my blog and hopefully my late night appetite. I have been to a few dollar slice joints, and outside of the nearby Percy Pizza (voted the City’s best for a buck) the results have all been as dismal as I expected.

I gave the guy my Washington and put another one into the tip jar. On first impression, the slice looked OK and tasted kind of OK. If anything, it tasted a little dull. But, then I realized how badly the crust on this slice failed. It tasted dry and flat and did not cook to a decent crispness. The sauce and cheese weren’t that bad, but they were far from being anything special. So let’s face it: to make money at a buck you have to cut costs somewhere or sell a lot of two-dollar beers.

Overall, it wasn’t as awful as I expected it would be. But, then again, while it was manufactured and dressed up to look like it should, it just didn’t have any real pizza pizazz to it. While I can reward them for the construction, I have to slag them for the drabness.

I started thinking about how I would feel if I found this slice in Des Moines, Iowa. I probably would have been blown away. But, this is New York City and not Des Moines. So spring for the extra cash and visit one of the other world class slice joints in the Village. If we start encouraging these sub-par dollar slices, what’s next? Quarter bagels?

PIZZA SNOB RATING *** Better Than Dominos    

Thin Crust Pizza
95 Macdougal Street (between 3rd and Bleecker Streets)
New York, NY 10012 212-255-5090
[no website]