Finding the best restaurant in Upper West Side for a group where nobody eats the same way is less about the food being good and more about the menu being wide. Two Boots on West 71st Street solves a specific problem: one vegan, one gluten-free, one kid who only wants plain cheese, and one person who wants shrimp and crawfish on a slice. That combination breaks most menus. It doesn’t break this one.
This is a guide to building an order that actually works for a mixed table — what to pick, how to size it, and how to avoid the negotiation that usually happens on the sidewalk before anyone commits to a door.
Key takeaways
- Order by the slice, not by the pie. For a mixed table, this is the single move that removes the negotiation — four people can order four different things and still eat at the same time.
- The vegan menu is a parallel menu, not an accommodation. Roughly eight distinct vegan pies with their own sauces and builds, using Daiya non-dairy cheese and vegan ricotta.
- Gluten-free crust is available. Ask about shared prep and oven handling if the restriction is celiac rather than preference.
- Two small pies beat one large one. For groups over five with mixed needs, two 10-inch pies work better than an 18-inch nobody fully wants.
- The crust is cornmeal-dusted. Grainy crunch on the bottom, not a standard fold-and-walk New York slice — worth knowing in advance if someone at your table is texture-sensitive.
- Where: 70 West 71st Street, between Columbus and Central Park West, a few minutes from the 72nd Street 1/2/3 stop.
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What “picky” usually means at a table of four
The word covers at least four different situations, and they don’t have the same fix.
There’s dietary restriction — vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free. These aren’t preferences and they can’t be worked around by scraping something off. There’s texture and heat aversion, the person who won’t eat anything spicy or anything with an unfamiliar mouthfeel. There’s kid-plain, where the ceiling is cheese and possibly pepperoni. And there’s adventure appetite — the person who is bored by all of the above and wants the strangest thing on the board.
A menu that handles one or two of these is common. A menu that handles all four at the same table, from the same kitchen, without anyone eating a sad side salad, is rarer than it should be on the Upper West Side.
Why the format matters more than the menu
Two structural things do most of the work here.
Slices, not just pies
Ordering by the slice means the table isn’t voting. Nobody has to win. Four people can order four completely different things and eat at the same time, which removes the single most common source of friction in group ordering — the moment where one person’s restriction quietly determines what everyone else eats.
This is the difference between a restaurant that accommodates a picky eater and one where the picky eater isn’t a problem to be solved. If you’re looking for the best restaurant in Upper West Side for a group that can’t agree, by-the-slice ordering is the feature to look for before you look at anything else.
Three pie sizes when you do want a whole pie
For groups who’d rather share, pies come in 10-inch, 14-inch, and 18-inch. That range matters because it lets you split the table into two smaller orders instead of forcing one compromise pie. Two 10-inch pies — one vegan, one meat — often costs less friction than one 18-inch that half the table picks at.
Matching the restriction to the order
Here’s the practical mapping. This is the table to screenshot before you go.
| The person at your table | What they can order | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Vegan | V for Vegan, Vegan Cleo, Super Vegan, Vegan Larry Tate, Vegan Mr. Pink, Vegan Tony Clifton, The VCBGB, Earth Mother | Daiya non-dairy cheese and vegan ricotta; this is a full program, not one token pie |
| Gluten-free | Gluten-free crust is available | Ask about shared-oven handling if the restriction is celiac rather than preference |
| Dairy-free but not vegan | Any of the vegan pies above | The vegan slices are the dairy-free path; they’re built that way from the start |
| Won’t eat spicy | Larry Tate, The Meg, Grandma Bess, Mel Cooley, plain cheese | Spicy items are marked on the menu, so this is easy to navigate at the counter |
| Kid-plain | Plain cheese, Grandma Bess | Grandma Bess is a thin square Sicilian — tomato, basil, mozzarella, nothing weird |
| Wants the strange thing | The Bayou Beast, The Dude, Night Tripper, The Bird | Shrimp and crawfish, Cajun cheeseburger, jalapeño pesto, buffalo chicken |
| Vegetarian but not vegan | Tony Clifton, Emily Litella, Animal Collective, Larry Tate | Cheese-inclusive vegetarian options are separate from the vegan list |
The important line in that table is the vegan row. Eight distinct vegan options is not an accommodation — it’s a parallel menu. The person in your group who usually gets one choice, or gets told the kitchen can leave the cheese off, gets the same range as everyone else.
The vegan program, specifically
This is worth its own section because it’s the thing most likely to change where your group ends up eating.
Most pizzerias treat vegan as subtraction: here is our menu, minus cheese. Two Boots treats it as its own build. Vegan Cleo runs vegan sausage with roasted peppers and red onion. Super Vegan layers broccoli, artichokes, red onion, shiitake mushrooms, two pestos, and vegan ricotta. The VCBGB is vegan chicken, broccoli, garlic, and basil pesto. Vegan Larry Tate is spinach, plum tomatoes, and garlic with vegan ricotta.
These aren’t the same pie four times. They have different sauces, different textures, different reasons to exist. If the vegan at your table has spent years eating the one available option everywhere they go, this is the practical difference.
Earth Mother — spinach, roasted garlic, roasted peppers, wild mushrooms, red onion, marinara — is marked vegan and reads as a straightforward veggie pie, which makes it a useful bridge order. It’s the one that non-vegans at the table will also eat without noticing they’re doing it.
Three common table situations
| Your group | Suggested order | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Four adults, one vegan, one who won’t eat spicy | Slices, not a pie — one vegan slice, one Larry Tate, two dealer’s choice | Nobody negotiates; everyone eats at the same time |
| Two adults, two kids under ten | One 14-inch plain or Grandma Bess, plus one adult specialty slice each | Kids get the safe pie; adults don’t eat kid food |
| Six people, mixed everything, sharing | Two 10-inch pies (one vegan, one meat) plus garlic knots for the middle | Splits the table into two orders instead of one impossible compromise |
That third row is the one people get wrong most often. The instinct with a group of six is to order one 18-inch pie and let everyone take what they want. In practice it means the vegan eats crust. Two smaller pies is the better structure, even when it looks like more work.
Garlic knots are the neutral ground in all three scenarios — they’re the thing that hits the table first and stops the ordering conversation from continuing into the meal.
The crust question
One thing to flag before you go, because it’s genuinely divisive: the crust is cornmeal-dusted, which gives it a grainy crunch on the bottom that traditional New York slice crust doesn’t have. People who love it really love it. People expecting a standard fold-and-walk slice sometimes don’t.
If your group includes a texture-sensitive eater, this is worth knowing in advance rather than discovering at the table. It’s not a subtle difference.
Ordering ahead versus walking in
For a mixed order, calling ahead or ordering online is usually the better move. Not because the wait is long, but because a six-slice order with four modifications is easier to get right when nobody is standing at a counter deciding under pressure.
Walking in works well for two or three people. It works less well for a group where someone is going to want to read the whole menu before committing — and the menu here rewards reading, since half the pies have backstories attached to their names.
Getting there
Two Boots Upper West Side is at 70 West 71st Street, between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West. That puts it a few minutes from the 72nd Street stop on the 1, 2, and 3, and within reasonable walking distance of Lincoln Center to the south and the park to the east.
Hours run late on weekend nights and standard on weekdays. Check the current hours on Google before a late trip, since they shift seasonally.
Bring the table that can never agree
You already know who in your group is going to be difficult about it. Bring them anyway.
Order online for a mixed group — it’s the easiest way to get six slices with four modifications right the first time. Walk in if it’s two or three of you and someone wants to read the whole board before committing. Call ahead at (646) 861-3970 if you’re feeding a crowd, or look at catering if the crowd is a large one.
Two Boots Upper West Side, 70 West 71st Street.
Does Two Boots Upper West Side have vegan pizza?
Yes — eight or so distinct vegan pies and slices, including V for Vegan, Vegan Cleo, Super Vegan, Vegan Larry Tate, Vegan Mr. Pink, Vegan Tony Clifton, The VCBGB, and Earth Mother. They use Daiya non-dairy cheese and vegan ricotta, and each pie is built as its own recipe rather than as a cheese substitution.
Is there a gluten-free crust?
Yes, gluten-free crust is available. If the restriction is celiac rather than preference, ask the staff about shared-oven and prep-surface handling before ordering.
Can we order different slices instead of a whole pie?
Yes. By-the-slice ordering is available, and for a group with mixed dietary needs it’s usually the better structure — everyone gets exactly what they want without the table negotiating a single compromise.
What should we order for kids?
Plain cheese is the reliable floor. Grandma Bess — a thin, square Sicilian with San Marzano tomatoes, garlic, basil, and mozzarella — is the next step up for a kid who’ll tolerate a little more.
What sizes do the pies come in?
Three: 10-inch, 14-inch, and 18-inch. For groups over five with mixed preferences, two 10-inch pies generally work better than one 18-inch.
Is the food spicy?
Some of it. Spicy items are marked on the menu — The Bayou Beast, The Bird, The Divine, Meat the Mets, and Night Tripper among them. Plenty of options carry no heat at all.
Is it good for a group without a reservation?
It’s counter-service and casual, which makes it a practical walk-in for small groups. For larger parties or a complicated order, ordering ahead is smoother.
