At the 9th Street Manco & Manco counter in Ocean City, most eyes naturally drift toward the thin, round pies spinning out of the oven. Look a little lower on the menu, though, and there it is: “The Sil,” a deep-dish square with a fluffy crust that feels almost rebellious at a boardwalk institution built on thin slices.
That contrast gets at the fun of chasing Sicilian pizza across New Jersey. Some shops bake old-school, no-nonsense squares under blankets of cheese.
Others flip the order with mozzarella beneath bright tomato sauce, play with long-fermented dough, or turn the format into a playground for toppings. The best ones still understand the basic assignment: a crisp bottom, an airy middle, enough sauce to keep every bite interesting, and corners worth negotiating over.
From Ocean City to Belleville and down into Burlington County, these are 10 counters where ordering the square is a very smart move.
1. Manco & Manco Pizza – 9th Street – Ocean City
Ordering Sicilian here feels a little like going to a diner famous for pancakes and asking for the club sandwich—until the first bite proves the detour was justified.
Manco & Manco’s boardwalk identity has long been tied to thin, crisp pizza, but its menu gives the thick stuff its own nickname: “The Sil.” It is a deep-dish, fluffy-crusted square sold both by the cut and as a whole pie.
That makes it an especially easy side quest if everyone else in your group has already committed to the classic round slices. The crust brings considerably more chew and height without turning into a bread brick, and the extra structure makes the cheese-and-sauce combination feel heartier than the standard Manco experience.
Better still, you get to eat it in the middle of the full 9th Street spectacle. This location occupies the restored former Strand Theater, and the open pizza-making action is part of the entertainment: dough moving through the air, pies rotating through the ovens, and a steady flow of sandy families coming off the Boardwalk.
The Sil currently runs $5.25 per cut or $31 for a pie. Summer evenings can get busy, naturally, but this is counter food rather than a reservation situation. Get the square, find a seat, and save room for powdered-sugar zeppoli if the Boardwalk appetite is still winning.
2. Brooklyn Square Pizza – Jackson
The move in Jackson is right there in the restaurant’s name. Brooklyn Square built its identity around hefty rectangular pies, and the Upside Down Square is the one to order when you want the shop’s full argument in a single slice.
Fresh mozzarella goes onto a thick, airy crust before homemade red sauce is spread across the top, with Pecorino Romano finishing things off. Putting the sauce above the cheese is more than a visual trick.
The mozzarella creates a buffer between dough and tomato, helping the base stay sturdy while the sauce remains the first big flavor to register. It is a square that eats substantial without feeling like somebody simply doubled the amount of dough.
Pepperoni people should look at the NJ Square, which takes that same general format and adds cupped pepperoni, while the vodka version swaps in a richer sauce.
The original Upside Down Square is currently listed at $28 for a pie, and the Jackson location on South New Prospect Road works equally well for a quick counter stop or a sit-down meal in the dining room.
Owner Pietro “Peter” Grippo has operated pizza businesses since 2001, and Brooklyn Square has since expanded well beyond Jackson, but this location remains a fitting place to start. Come hungry enough for two styles, because the square is the headliner, but the thinner specialty pies make excellent backup.
3. The Pizza Terminal & Restaurant NJ – Verona
A $2.75 Sicilian slice is increasingly the kind of menu price that makes you check whether you’ve accidentally traveled back several years. At Pizza Terminal in Verona, it is simply part of a sprawling menu that takes square pizza seriously.
You can keep it classic with the standard Sicilian, grab a Mini Sicilian when a slice will not quite do, or turn the thicker crust into a landing pad for practically anything the kitchen can think of.
The specialty Sicilian lineup includes versions with vodka sauce, meatballs, buffalo chicken, baked ziti, cheesesteak, chicken Francese, vegetables, and even an Italian hot dog treatment.
That range could easily become distracting, which is why a plain square is such a useful baseline. It lets the browned bottom, substantial crumb, sauce, and cheese do the work without turning lunch into a toppings experiment.
This is also the kind of neighborhood counter where you can walk in with three people who want completely different things and leave everybody satisfied; traditional slices, Detroit pizza, sandwiches, calzones, and pasta all share the menu.
The shop sits on Bloomfield Avenue and opens at 10 a.m., making it unusually practical for an early lunch.
If you are new to the place, start with the regular Sicilian slice before going deep into the specialty list. Once you know the foundation works, then you can start making questionable-but-fun decisions involving vodka sauce and chicken cutlets.
4. Lillo’s Tomato Pies – Hainesport
You could easily arrive in Hainesport planning to order the tomato pie and leave talking about the Sicilian. That is the hazard at Lillo’s, a family-run shop founded by Lisa, John, and Lillo Paxia with roots in the pizza traditions of Chambersburg, Trenton.
Tomato pies are part of the restaurant’s DNA, and the menu describes its Trenton version in classic upside-down fashion, with cheese below crushed tomato sauce on a thin crust. The Sicilian goes in another direction: thick, square, and built for anyone who wants more chew with lunch.
It is available by the slice for $3.99, so there is no need to choose sides in the thin-versus-thick debate. Order one Sicilian and one tomato-pie slice and settle the matter yourself.
The counter also displays the sort of supporting cast that can sabotage a simple pizza run—in a good way. Mustard slices, old-fashioned pizza, cheesesteaks made with a hefty portion of ribeye, roast pork, and Italian hot dogs all compete for attention.
The shop is on Marne Highway, and its comparatively early closing time makes Lillo’s a better lunch or early-dinner mission than a late-night pizza stop. The dining room leans into an old-school neighborhood-pizzeria feel rather than polished restaurant formality.
That suits the Sicilian perfectly. This is square pizza meant to be eaten hot, casually, and preferably before somebody else at the table asks for your corner piece.
5. La Sicilia – Belleville
The name sets expectations pretty high when the assignment is Sicilian pizza, and this Belleville shop does not dodge them.
La Sicilia explicitly specializes in Sicilian-style pies alongside a much broader Italian menu, and its standard square keeps things pleasantly straightforward: a thick, fluffy base carrying tomato sauce and cheese without needing a gimmick.
This is the kind of slice to choose when what you really want is that classic contrast between a crisp baked exterior and a softer, breadier middle. Regular toppings are available if you want to dress it up, but the plain version makes the most sense on a first visit because there is nowhere for the fundamentals to hide.
La Sicilia also feels more like a full neighborhood Italian kitchen than a pizza-only operation. Homemade pasta dishes, chicken and veal preparations, seafood, sandwiches, calzones, and the popular Palermo pizza all stretch the menu well beyond the display case.
That makes it useful when one person wants a square slice and somebody else has arrived expecting penne vodka. You’ll find it on Washington Avenue, with dine-in, takeout, and delivery all in the mix; current hours generally run through 10 p.m. most weekdays and Saturdays, with a shorter Sunday schedule.
Still, the simplest visit is the best one: walk in hungry, order the Sicilian, and give that thick crust a few minutes to prove why a place called La Sicilia belongs on this list.
6. Italia Pizzeria – Bloomfield
Bloomfield Center has plenty going on around lunchtime, but the appeal of Italia Pizzeria is refreshingly uncomplicated: this is a neighborhood pizza shop where a Sicilian square does not need a backstory or a paragraph of designer toppings.
The kitchen makes pizza fresh daily and serves both New York-style thin crust and Sicilian, so the counter gives you the classic Jersey choice between foldable triangle and substantial square.
Choose the square. What you are after here is old-school proportion—a thicker base capable of supporting plenty of sauce and cheese, with enough crust around the perimeter to make an edge piece worth calling dibs on.
Italia’s broader menu is exactly what you would expect from a dependable local Italian spot: specialty pies, subs, salads, soups, and other familiar comfort-food options, rather than a narrow concept designed around one photogenic pizza. That makes it a useful everyday stop rather than a special-occasion pilgrimage.
The location at 48 Washington Street puts it right in Bloomfield Center, across from Roxy Florist, and the restaurant offers dine-in, takeout, and delivery. Published hours run from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Monday through Saturday, so it fits just as neatly into a workday lunch as it does an easy dinner pickup. Bring someone who always orders a plain thin slice. You take the Sicilian. Then conduct the only comparison that really matters.
7. Teglia Pizza Bar – Montclair
Dough nerds should clear a little extra time for this Montclair stop. Teglia’s squares are built around a slow-rise, fermented dough, and that extra attention shows up in the texture: airy inside, crisp underneath, chewy enough to have character, but far lighter than the thickness suggests.
Owner and chef Joseph Catalano draws on his family’s Sicilian background, while the pizza itself takes cues from Roman-style pan baking. In other words, this is not the red-sauce-shop Sicilian square you grew up grabbing after school.
It is a more deliberate cousin, and that’s precisely why it belongs in the conversation. Start with the Classic Jersey, topped with mozzarella to the edge, tomato sauce, and Sicilian oregano.
For something closer to Sicily in spirit as well as name, the True Sicilian piles on a tomato sauce with capers, onions, anchovies, basil, and green olives, then adds Pecorino, local Toma cheese, breadcrumbs, and olive oil.
The storefront at 438 Bloomfield Avenue is small and strongly geared toward takeaway, so think pizza counter rather than long dinner.
Hours currently begin at noon, with the shop closed Mondays and opening later on Sundays. One practical note: the thicker slices are genuinely filling.
Ordering two because they look manageable in the case is an easy mistake. Start with one, let the crust do its work, and then decide whether you’re actually ready for round two.
8. Angelo’s Pizza – Turnersville
Some pizzas announce themselves with burrata, hot honey, or a paragraph-long ingredient list. Angelo’s Sicilian wins with the phrase “classic square, thick crust pizza with mozzarella & tomato sauce.” That’s the whole pitch, and in a family-run Turnersville shop, it feels exactly right.
Angelo’s has been serving the area since 2000, with Uncle Tony and Angelo behind a neighborhood operation that puts its handmade Sicilian and Grandma pies front and center.
The standard Sicilian Square is currently $20.99 for a full pie, but there is an especially useful option for anyone who does not need an entire tray: the Sicilian Half Pizza is $13.99.
That half-size format is also a smart way to compare the thick square against something else on the menu without committing your refrigerator to three days of leftovers. If you want the maximalist version, the Combo Sicilian loads on pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, green peppers, and onions.
Resist that urge on visit number one. A plain square tells you more about a pizza shop, and Angelo’s version is designed around those basics—crust, tomato, mozzarella, heat.
The Fries Mill Road location is casual, affordable, and built for regulars rather than ceremony. This is the Sicilian you pick up for a game night, family dinner, or Tuesday when cooking has officially been canceled. Sometimes “the move” is not complicated at all.
9. T J’s Pizzeria & Catering – Parlin
The menu may call T-J’s the “Home of the Tavern Pie,” but do not let the thin-crust specialty monopolize your order. This Parlin shop has been family owned and operated since 1987, and the other old-school move on the board is the Sicilian.
Better yet, the current menu still lists a Sicilian slice at $2.50—a price that practically demands adding one to whatever you originally planned to eat. The shop identifies its Sicilian specifically as square style, keeping it separate from its regular and tavern pizzas.
That distinction makes T-J’s especially fun for a mini tasting session: one tavern slice for the thin, crisp end of the spectrum and one Sicilian for the thick, breadier side. Same counter, completely different pizza moods.
The rest of the menu has the lovable sprawl of a long-running Jersey pizzeria, with hot subs, cold subs, cheesesteaks, wraps, panini, pasta, baked dishes, seafood, rolls, and specialty pizzas. There is nothing precious about the setup, and that’s part of the appeal.
The current location is on Bordentown Avenue, and there is a parking lot, so grabbing a couple of slices does not require a downtown parking strategy. Go because the tavern pie gets the marquee treatment, but order a Sicilian square alongside it. At $2.50, curiosity has rarely been this affordable.
10. Francesco Pizzeria-Ristorante – Burlington
High Street in Burlington is the setting for the kind of pizza stop that can quietly turn into dinner. Francesco has been at 351 High Street since around 2009, and its menu stretches well past the slice counter into pasta, chicken, seafood, and full Italian entrées.
Ignore all that for a moment and look for the Sicilian Cheese Pizza Slice. It is described exactly as it should be: a thick, square slice of cheese pizza.
At $3.85, it is also an easy order when you are walking through town and want something more substantial than a thin triangle without committing to the full $20.99 Sicilian pie. What works here is the lack of overcomplication.
There is sauce, cheese, a sturdy square crust, and enough heft to make one slice feel like actual lunch rather than an opening act. If you are staying longer, the restaurant format means you can pair that square with anything from mussels and bruschetta to baked pasta; if you are moving, the slice works perfectly well as a counter grab.
Francesco generally opens by late morning and serves into the evening seven days a week, which makes it one of the more flexible stops on this list. Burlington has plenty worth lingering over, but there are days when the correct sightseeing plan is much simpler: High Street, Sicilian slice, paper plate, done.