L&B Spumoni Gardens is a very well-known New York Italian eatery that began over 80 years ago. If you make a trek to Coney Island for the first time, people tell you that you have to try either the original Di Fara’s pizza or L&B Spumoni Gardens. A friend had gone to Di Fara and said it was just like a regular slice, so I decided to check out the latter. From Coney Island, you can take the yellow line north to stop by 86th St, and then walk about 0.2 m (.032 km north).
Ambiance & Service
When we arrived, they have a front area that has benches. You can order slices and dessert from cashier-like windows. We opted to sit indoors, and they seated us to the side where they had the curtains hung down to block the late afternoon sun.
The service was sporadic, as we had multiple servers and people help us. They were quick at taking our orders, and the pizza slices were served fast. The lasagna surprisingly took a bit of time, and even when they served it, it was lukewarm (luke-cold?).
Food
The world famous L&B Sicilian slices ($4.50 each). There are 2 slices shown here. The bread was similar to an focaccia-type bread, where the middle is quite fluffy. Some of the flavors of the crust reminded me of the buttery texture and flavors of Pizza Hut (which is a good thing). My one major gripe is that there is not enough sauce on top. It was more of a bread first, than pizza with topping arrangement. I had asked if they can serve the vodka version as a slice, and they said they do not offer that.
The Baked Lasagna with Meat ($19.95) was served lukewarm. The pasta was surprisingly decent and cooked to my liking which was a little al dente. The sauce was plenty, and there was sufficient meat in it. I would say this is probably very familiar to a classic NY lasagna dish. There wasn’t anything notable about it, though I was thinking it reminded me of frozen dinner lasagna.
The Housemade Spumoni (kids size at $6.50 per cup) came with layers of pistachio, almond, and chocolate-hazelnut. I originally asked for the $8.50 spumoni to share, but they gave us 2 cups. So instead of $8.50, it costed us $13. I didn’t have the patience to complain or ask, so we just went with it. The spumoni was good, but unfortunately it was not something that was amazing. For the pistachio (green) layers, it had some sort of liqueur in it that gave it more almond-like flavor instead of that super nutty pistachio flavor.
Overall Impression
L&B Spumoni Gardens was mostly a disappointment, and I do not think it’s worth making a special trip to try the food here. As pizza generally gets more competitive especially around the city and aside from price, there’s nothing here that really stands out as worth the time. They opened a branch in Dumbo, so I imagine the flavors will be relatively close to here. I would just level set expectations that now with the competition, it needs to do more to stand out.
Yelp & Google Jabs
I’m a lifelong Brooklynite. I’ve been eating L&B Spumoni Gardens for as long as I can remember, and it remains exactly what it’s supposed to be: loud, crowded, unpretentious, completely its own thing, and ridiculously good.
I think if you live nearby, this can be a great spot to make recurring visits. However for something special, it will likely be disappointing. You will go there thinking, “That’s it?” We have some longtime Brooklyn friends that have mentioned that the restaurant has regressed in quality and flavors the past few years. It’s really best to feed a family since the price to quantity is good.
The dough in the pie was raw and inedible. The sauce was the cheap cloyingly sweet kind. It was all wrong. Nobody wanted to finish their slice.
For this Elitist, I am not sure if that was dough there. That seemed to be the cheese on top that did not melt sufficiently proper. I do agree the sauce was forgettable.
Revisions
- Sep 7, 2026 - Initial revision.