There’s an ongoing rivalry on the East Side of Providence between two pizza parlors located directly across the street from one another. Antonio’s and the Shepard Fairey inspired Nice Slice are both vying for pizza supremacy and attracting individual cult-like followings in the process. This food feud has these contenders throwing up their dukes and going straight for the jugular. And as I quickly learned, no matter who you ask, everyone seems to have different opinions of who deserves to be named the best pizza on Thayer Street.

So I thought it would be fun to throw on my black and white striped shirt for the day and referee the action myself like a foodie version of Mills Lane. Let’s get it on!!!

I decided to judge the bout on a few different categories: (1) The Dough / Crust, (2) The Toppings, (3) Overall Quality?

Round #1 – The Dough / Crust

Winner – Nice Slice

Nice Slice uses Whole Wheat Dough with a soft, thin crust. Their version is a healthier and more delicious alternative to Antonio’s which I found to be boring and bland. Overall Antonio’s dough was disguised by the massive amounts of toppings (which I will get into later). Pretty easy to pick the winner of this round…Nice Slice gets the point.

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Round #2 – The Toppings

Winner – Antonio’s

I had to give Antonio’s the edge here for their creative use of toppings and unconventional combinations. Customers can order from a seemingly endless menu with everything from cheese tortellini pizza to an avocado quesadilla pizza (as pictures below). Nice Slice has more traditional offerings (which is not necessarily a bad thing). Their menu is more clear and concise with a little less variety. Due to a bigger selection and more ingredients to choose from, Antonio’s wins the point in this category

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Round #3 – Overall Quality

Winner – Nice Slice

Nice Slice wins this round by K.O. After tasting both Antonio’s and Nice Slice side-by-side, you can definitely taste the difference in terms of quality. Nice Slice undoubtedly uses better, fresher ingredients. In fact, Antonio’s pizza tasted like it was sitting out a while which is the downside of offering so many different varieties.

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So it’s Nice Slice by a round and we think you’ll agree. In the end, it’s quality over quantity. Yes Antonio’s slings dollar slices like blue-top dealers in The Wire, but in the end, you’ll be looking down at a paper of cafeteria pizza.

Nickel up and venture onto the pizza promise land known as Nice Slice.