The Pizza-Rat Taste-Test: We Let Rodents Try 4 of New York’s Most Popular Slices

An order of the famous original pie, with Italian sausage.

Which just sat there. One rat sniffed around but …

… left without trying anything. Total: 0 slices

Williamsburg Pizza

Motorino

An order of prosciutto di Parma with fragrant oregano.

This rat couldn’t grab a piece fast enough, and kept coming back for more.

The slices went quickly — customers were swarming after all the positive word-of-whisker — but a few scraps were left. Total: 3.8 slices

WINNER: Lombardi’s

The original pie — mozzarella, Romano — with pancetta.

After an exploratory period, one rat took the first slice.

Suddenly the cardboard was crowded with happy diners. Total: 8 slices

*A version of this article appears in the December 14, 2015 issue of New York Magazine