1215 Lexington Ave and 82nd Street

Somehow, some way, a lot of men named Ray go into the pizza business in New York City. Or at least that’s what they want you to think. Not to get involved in ancient pizza feuds, we’ll just say there was an original followed by many impostors using the name “Ray” in order to lead people to the (false) assumption that they were affiliated, and we will leave it at that. We value our legs.

Anyhow, the subject of our observations here is not the pizza, as we would hope you realize by this point. Being that this is a pizza place, it falls into that grey area between, say, Starbucks (where anyone can walk in and use—or sometimes attempt to live in—a facility), and a nice restaurant (where you’re going to have to be very stealthy or very persuasive in order to relieve yourself without being a paying customer). This particular pizzeria gets points for seeming pretty laid back on the subject, but you never know who’s going to be behind the counter or what kind of mood they may be in. Whether it was luck or just how they are, the staff was very accommodating when the present reviewer requested toilet paper.

As for the bathroom itself, the walls are a swirl of light purple and white, a pattern we must hereby call “grape cream.” It seemed intuitively appropriate for a New York pizzeria. As for the sink, goose neck faucets serve you well by providing some room to move your hands around the sink, and we appreciated it here. However, what we did not appreciate was the soap bar. Putting a bar of soap in a public restroom is like eating in a t-shirt and underwear at a restaurant: both should only be done at home. Additional points were deducted for graffiti on the paper towel dispenser, the lack of paper towels and the dirty garbage lid you had to lift yourself. It had the essentials of cleanliness and room, relative to what you may expect for a pizzeria. All in all, if this were a slice, the crust, cheese and sauce would be pretty good, but some of the toppings were a little off.

Rating: 4.5

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