I've never been much of a Ray's fan myself either, although, I did agree to drive up from Philly with five buddies one night for a true NYC pizza experience and we went to Ray's for that (probably had to do with the fact that it was close to 11 PM and you probably don't want to touch any of the pizza that's left at most other pizza places at that hour of the day), but that was nearly 25 years ago. Much has changed in that time.
In Manhattan, John's is pretty decent, as is Lombardi's. If I'm picking, I'd cross the Brooklyn Bridge and go to Grimaldi's.