empire slice house

great pizza!. we went this past friday and got two slices: the mca and lady liberty. both were good, but we really enjoyed the mca. we'll defn be back to try more!

a new favorite in the plaza district. aside from serving up awesome slices of pizza and more, empire slice house is a great place to chill out and knock back a couple of cold ones at the bar or out on the patio. brushed with garlic butter and sprinkled with fresh parmesan and parsley, the 16th st. garlic knots are a great way to start a meal. we would go back just to have them with one of the many beers they have available. of course, the main attraction is the pizza. the notorious p.i.g. is topped with bacon, pepperoni, sausage,capicola and canadian bacon. after one bite, it was pretty clear why this is a house favorite. the fat tony (topped with sausage, red onion and ricotta) was not bad at all. the teflon don (topped with bell peppers, onion,canadian bacon, pepperoni, sausage and kalamata olives) is quite a substantial slice as well. with a great atmosphere and wonderful people (thanks lee and bernie), empire slice house has quickly become one of our favorite spots.

had it five times since they opened. delicious. probably the best pizza in the metro sans pizza shuttle in norman. actually, probably better pizza than pizza shuttle, but shuttle will sell you a large for like nine bucks.

anyway, give empire a try. good pizza, nice beer selection, and a great addition to the neighborhood.

empire slice house is the newest culinary addition to the nw 16th st plaza district.  they offer a reasonable facsimile of new york style pizza in several traditional, and not so traditional, styles in a clean, modern space.  not bad seeing as it was a laundromat in it’s past life.  and with walls plastered with posters ranging from inxs to chuck norris’ foray into the cop/dog genre, “ top dog, ” and pizza names like mca, doug e. fresh, and notorious p.i.g., there’s little doubt that the interior decoration came from the mind of a fellow gen-xer. i’ve seen reviews about bad service, but in all my visits i’ve not experienced any problems.  the only service related problem i had was how long it takes to get a slice.  in ny you can walk in and have a slice in your hand in less than 3 minutes if there’s not a line.  at empire i wait an average of about 15 minutes after ordering, once even longer. the problem seems to be that they are handling both the full pie orders and the slice or

a special place. i had been having a terrible day. i had been screamed at at work by my boss. i was in no mood when i got home but my wife had to pick another fight. she was mad at me for the usual stuff, working too late, not spending enough time with her, etc. i think we had both been wondering for a while if this whole thing was actually going to work. i was at a low point and really considering giving up. we decided to try out empire after hearing other people say really good things about. and then it happened. we walked through the doors and saw that they were playing hellboy ii: the golden army on the tvs. to most people, this is just another excellent ron perlman film. but to my wife and i it is something completely different. our first date was to go see hellboy ii. as soon as we saw it on the tvs it was like we had been transported back to that magical night in july of 2008. it made us remember why we fell in love in the first place. it was as if all the fights we had been having recently had been erased and we were back on our honeymoon. we talked a long time that evening and now things are as good between us as they ever have been.

empire slice house saved my marriage.

also, the pepperoni pizza was great.

5/5 stars!

today is my third try .... .... today is my third try ....
hot delicious pizza pie out of the oven
great music
awesome service
fantastic atmosphere
the ones who have posted on here that are negative reviews need to try it again
and order it fresh out of the oven be nice and enjoy


-----24 sep, 2013-----

this place is awesome !today is my second try and it was better than the first try - had a huge slice of pepperoni and a caesar salad -it was delicious -this is a new place


-----21 sep, 2013-----

this place is awesome! it's fun great location and the food is amazing!!
good work avery and rachel i'm coming back as soon as i get a day off!

not nyc pizza. i grew in nyc and have eaten an untold number of slices of the real thing. (in nyc offering pizza by the slice is standard.) therefore, i am extremely critical when i read that a pizzeria claims to have ny pizza out here in the midwest, and this was no different.

empire falls into the same predictable, trap that so many pizzerias do; their ovens aren't hot enough. this is alarming when you consider that that "real" nyc pizza taste is 98% related to how the crust is prepared. empire's crust was lacking the typical crispiness and color that a real nyc pie has. it is pretty good for midwest pizza, but it would be about a 4/10 in nyc. again, this may come across as super critical, but with a name like "empire," a statue of liberty by the front door, and the promise of an authentic pie, you've set the bar pretty high for yourself. i would place empire somewhere around italia express in terms of flavor.

the menu also needs to be explicit about which beers are in cans and which are on tap. it is also completely ridiculous to not automatically bring a glass for any beer in a can. beer, much like wine, is tasted with the nose almost as much as the mouth.

all in all the place screams of style over substance. it will be a hit for the young 20-somethings looking for a place to hangout. however, most other people looking for pizza and a beer might have to look elsewhere. the prices are pretty steep, but i am assuming this is a function of their location and clientele. one pepperoni pie, garlic knots, and two cans of beer ran us $43 with tip. that's a little high brow for such typically blue collar food.

disappointed.. we went to empire just a few days after they opened, so i will admit that some of our problems might just be because they are still working through the kinks of opening a new restaurant. however, there were a lot of kinks. we got there, immediately sat, and our waitress was very friendly. i followed empire on instagram before they opened, where they advertised 120 beers. we sat down and saw the impressive beer selection, but when we went to order, we were told by our server that they didn't have either of the beers we wanted. she pulled out a photocopy of the beer list, with only half of the beers highlighted, indicating the ones they had available. of course, all the beers we were interested in, they didn't have but whatever. we ordered the garlic knots and they were great. our beers came out in cans, no glasses or offer to get some. we each ordered a slice of pizza. they were delicious, but they took sooo long to get to us. like, 25 minutes to give us two slices of pizza. the pizza was fantastic. afterwards, we wanted dessert and asked our waitress for the selection. she told us they usually had canollis but she would have to check if they had any today. she went to check and they had none. i didn't ask why, but come on. no dessert at all? because we couldn't have dessert, we ordered another round of beers. while the first beers came out in a timely fashion, the second round took a solid 15 minutes to get to us. they were just cans of beer! goodness, just grab them, it's not like a mixed drink that could take time to make. they finally got to us, again no glasses. i ordered a young's double chocolate stout, which i love. a restaurant that prides itself on it's beer should know that, with the exception of cheap awful beers, most beer doesn't get served ice cold. in fact, the can of young's says it's not meant to be served that cold. my beer was so ice cold that i could barely taste it, and what i could taste was covered up with the taste of aluminum from the can. because the food was good, we will probably be back, but not for several months so they can hopefully get things together.

the pizza is good enough to almost overlook the fact that the waitstaff would rather serve their fellow hipsters than a lame mom with her kids. almost.

this is an amazing place! the pizzas are huge and can feed an army. they also taste delicious. i know i'll be back to hang out on the patio.

great atmosphere and food!! none other like it in the city, by the slice

ok pizza but too overpriced. i couldn't believe the prices here. they only have one size of pizza and it starts at $19 for a pepperoni and goes up from there. we got a pepperoni, garlic knots and two beers. the garlic knots (the cheapest thing you can buy in nyc) were $6 for just five pieces. we thought the beer prices were fine ($5) until they brought it out and our beer was in cans. we get a large glass on tap downtown for that much.

the pizza was fine. good sauce and like a new york pizza with its toppings, but the crust isn't cooked quite long or hot enough to get that new york crispness. the garlic knots were tasty. if it were $12-$14 a pie i'd go back but it's just not worth the price right now.