The 24 Best Pizza Places in Pittsburgh

Pizza in Pittsburgh is serious business

Asking someone their favorite pizza place always inspires a lively debate, and preferences on crust (chewy or crispy), cheese (lots or little, cooked or cold) and everything can vary 90 different ways in our 90 signature neighborhoods.

That's why we've put together this roundup of a dozen or two of our local pizza joints in Pittsburgh worth arguing over. Whether you’re in the mood for a single slice or a whole pie, Pittsburgh has a pizza for you.

Aiello's Pizza

Squirrel Hill

Located in the heart of Squirrel Hill, Aiello’s is one of many restaurants, cafés, coffee shops, bakeries and more on the main drag of Murray Ave. Aiello’s offers a large menu with gourmet pizzas, calzones, strombolis, hoagies, pepperoni rolls (a local favorite) and more! Enjoy dining in with an array of craft beer options to try or take home your pizza AND a six pack of delicious local brews.

Caliente Pizza & Draft House

Bloomfield, Crafton, Hampton, Mt. Lebanon, Aspinwall, Monroeville & Sewickley

Caliente opened its first location in Bloomfield in 2012 “with a handshake” and has since grown in locations and popularity. Most locations offer a restaurant atmosphere with a full menu including appetizers, salads, sandwiches and, of course, – PIZZA! Their perfectly crafted pizza and many awards speak for themselves.

Caliente Pizza is also a fixture at PNC Park and PPG Paints Arena for Pirates and Penguins games!

Driftwood Oven

Lawrenceville

What started in 2015 as a food truck whipping up woodfired pizzas at local breweries quickly became a brick and mortar in 2017. Today, Driftwood Oven offers a unique artisan sourdough pizza and baked goods at its home in Lawrenceville. Featuring an eclectic menu, choose between thin, New York-style pizza or thick, square-cut Roman Style, both made on a sourdough crust.

Don’t forget to grab fresh baked goods starting at 9 a.m. every Saturday and Sunday!

Fiori’s Pizzaria

Brookline & McMurray

Arguably one of the most popular pizza spots in Pittsburgh, Fiori’s checks all the boxes for the diehard pizza lover. Since opening its original location on Capital Ave. in Brookline in 1979, Fiori’s has been serving the Pittsburgh community authentic Italian style pizza for more 40 years. Fiori’s opened a second location in McMurray in 2013, offering a typical pizza shop menu of pizza, wings, appetizers, hoagies, salads, pastas and more.

Iron Born Pizza

Strip District & Millvale

A pizza style unlike the rest on this list, but one that cannot be missed in Pittsburgh! Iron Born serves a thick, Detroit-style pizza that is unforgettable. Created with fresh, homemade ingredients like its garlic oil and pickled banana peppers, this pizza takes Sicilian-style to the next level with the sauce and toppings on top of the cheese. Pick up one of the specialty pies at both Iron Born locations in Millvale and the Strip District. And don’t forget to try one of the tasty pastas and sides, too!

Mineo's Pizza House

Squirrel Hill, Mt. Lebanon & Allison Park

Mineo’s is considered a Pittsburgh-family tradition. The original location opened in Squirrel Hill in 1958 (just a few doors down from Aiello’s – there’s history there, Google it!) and has been serving homemade dough and sauce from Italian tomatoes - plus a signature cheese blend that is hand grated daily - since the beginning.

Pizza Lupo

Lawrenceville

When you're walking through Upper Lawrenceville, follow your nose to one of the most buzzed about pizzerias in the Burgh. Their round zas are known for crispy crust and just the right amount of dough to hold all their toppings, but the true standout here are the grandma pies. These thin, rectangular pan pizzas hearken back to a classic Italian housewife meal, and Pizza Lupo has perfected this trendy pie.

Try their upside down version with the cheese on bottom and sauce on top for a one-of-a-kind bite.

Pizzeria Davide

Strip District, Carnegie & Robinson

Foodies in-the-know already flock to DiAnoia's for their signature Italian food, but did you know their pizza was so popular it spun out into it's own series of pizzerias?

Grab this to-die-for takes on Old World (sharp cheese on the bottom, sauce in the middle and fresh basil and parm on top) or NY styles, all made with dough from imported Italian flour, hand-made sauces and locally made toppings.

Spak Brothers

Garfield

Vegan and gluten-free pizza options can sometimes be an afterthought, but Spak Brothers has been crushing it for years. But don't take it from this carnivore; my vegan friends always request to add this stop to their itinerary each time they visit.

Besides the incredible za, check out their full menu of seitan wings, vegan breadsticks, cajun blackened tempeh subs, vegan calzones and even vegan ice cream (provided by Sugar Spell Scoops), all of which make this a top stop for takeout and delivery.

Mercurio's

Shadyside & Fox Chapel

When I close my eyes and take a bit of Mercurio's famous neapolitan pizza, I'm instantly transported back to the streets of Rome. This is Italian pizza as authentic as it gets.

I recommend starting with just their marinara to savor the perfectly cooked crust and tomato sauce, then moving on to their incredible takes on porchetta, funghi and calabrese styles. Remember, this place started as a gelateria and their frozen treats make a perfect end to your meal. Or a sweet beginning, I'm not your mom.

Beto's Pizza

Beechview/Banksview

Let the debate begin. Beto's makes national headlines for their unique style of cuts of pizza served with bubbling hot crust and sauce, but the rest of the ingredients piled cold on top.

Is this pizza sacrilege? Is this even pizza? You be the judge. Beto's has been making headlines since it opened in 1953, and is sure to be the focal point of pizza puritanism for decades to come.

Benny Fierro's

South Side

Giant 28" pizzas. NY style slices as big as your head. Yeah, this is the pizza you're looking for.

Night owls, this place knows exactly what it's doing, and is open until midnight on weeknights and 2 a.m. on weekends, making it the ideal stop for a hangover-reducing slice or two.

Shelly Pie

Turtle Creek

First off, be sure to be an authentic Pittsburgher and pronounce this town name like crick instead of creek. Second, don't expect to find this on your every day Yelp lineup: Shelly Pie is an incredible hidden gem on the east side of the city.

The pizza here is gigantic and available in traditional and Sicilian styles, both with lots of chewy, delicious crust. This is also a full-service, sit-down restaurant full of Italian-American favorites, so make sure to grab some stuffed banana peppers, eggplant parm hoagie and a variety of pasta dishes. Mangia!

Police Station Pizza

Ambridge

West-siders, we got you covered, too. Police Station Pizza offers up delicious square cut Sicilian by the slice. Their dough is thick, the sauce is even thicker and the line starts early for this neighborhood gem for a very good reason.

Order by the slice or take home a whole cooked or uncooked pizza and do it yourself. The pie's the limit ;)

Vincent's Pizza Park

Forest Hills/Braddock

The famous Vinnie Pie here is a bite I remember from the pizzerias I grew up with it. There's nothing fancy here and that's the point: delicious pizza piled with simple toppings leaving behind a trail of grease that's a feature.

Put down the avocado toast and be ready to indulge, because Vincent's may be one of the last places on the planet that serves up a slice that can still slide right off the plate.

Ephesus Mediterranean Restaurant

Downtown & Oakland

Ephesus is one of those places in the heart of Downtown you may walk by 10 times before going in and trying. Once you do, however, their pizza quickly becomes ones of your favorites in the city.

The traditional pizza here is a stellar deal for the busy lunch rush crowd, but the real gems here the gourmet pizzas with Mediterranean flair like their lamb skewer topped kebab piza, falafel pie as well as authentic pide, a flatbread of Turkish origin.

Giovanni's

Downtown

Sixth Street is a foodie haven of top-ranked restaurants and celebrated cuisine from around the world. But don't be surprised if you skip all the fancy food and just find yourself saddling up for a slice at Giovanni's instead.

Giovanni's is pizza perfected and at a fantastic location that makes it easy to meet up at before heading to a Pirates game, out to see a show in the Cultural District or just for a quick lunch for the business crowd. They make my favorite pickle pizza in the city with bacon, onions, provolone and lots of pickles packed into each slice.

Papa J's Twin Plaza

Strip District

Papa J's gets back to the core of what makes pizza so universally loved with their Roman-style street pizza that's delicious and fun to eat! Watch as your slice is cut with an oversized pair of scissors, folded and wrapped in wax paper as you enjoy shopping this unique neighborhood.

There's flavors authentic and out there to enjoy, from classic margherita and mushroom to exotic mortadella w/ pistachio, banana pepper and mascarpone or red hot buffalo chicken with hot honey and gorgonzola..

Bella Notte

Strip District

When I finally have my car filled with cheese, fish, breads and all of the amazing flavors of the Strip, my family and I's tradition is always to grab lunch at Bella Notte before we head home.

Expect old-school booths, cold Iron City beer and fantastic slices of thin crust, red-sauced goodness. My favorite is to sit in the booths near their pizza ovens and be mesmerized as I watch the dough balls become perfect disks as they're tossed through the air. Pro-Tip: You can get Sunseri's famous pepperoni rolls right on the menu here, as well for an all-star appetizer.

East End Chewing

Mt. Lebanon & Larimer

It is such a nice bonus when a brewery has food, and even better when the menu alone is worth coming back for! Part of the storied East End Brewing, their pizza in-pub restaurant East End Chewing has quickly found its way into my rotation of pizza I crave.

There's a long list of Sicilian-style favorites, available in increments of one, three or six slices, but be sure to follow their Instagram for their new pizza of the week which launches every Wednesday. Truly out of this world pies with exotic toppings like berbere spiced chickpeas on the Shiro Wat, spicy cauliflower on the Drop It Like It's Hot, or hot honey cream cheese on The Sheryl make each trip special, and a challenge to pair perfectly with an East End brew.

Blue Sparrow at Dancing Gnome Brewery

Sharpsburg

Let's keep the good pizza + brews combos going as we venture to Blue Sparrow, a 1956 Greyhound Bus turned into street food wonderland specializing in wood-fired pizzas with international flair.

Their fungus amongus pie of roasted wild mushrooms, truffle pecorino and garlic citrus oil is my go-to, but feel free to branch out to their namesake The Sparrow (pepperoni, basil pesto, hot honey and pickled banana peppers) or War Pigs (miso braised pork belly w/ napa kimchi) for some other great creations.

Sarafino's

Crafton

There's butcher paper as your table cloth. You bring your own wine. The line wraps around the building. Welcome to the old school charm backed up by a tremendous menu at Sarafino's.

Joey's famous pies are thin crust and baked to perfection, making them great as an appetizer or main course. And be sure to get their beans and greens, a menu item so popular it was featured on Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods.

Pizza Palermo

Crafton, Shadyside, Penn Hills, Turtle Creek, Cranberry

With five locations spanning every direction from the city, Pizza Palermo serves up an authentic slice of the city no matter where you visit. It's a simple recipe of homemade sauce, a great dough and fresh ingredients that keep you calling them every time you need takeout.

But I also want to give us a special shoutout to their rolls, which takes their dough, wraps it around the filling of your choice and is then baked to a golden-brown perfection. Yum!

Black Lotus Pizza

Lawrenceville

Self-styling itself as a "gaming pizzeria," Black Lotus is a community hub welcoming tabletop gamers for Dungeons & Dragons sessions, board games, Magic The Gathering and more to play and chow down.

Have your next friend group meet-up at this happening spot and don't be afraid to stay for a few hours. They'll keep the nerdy named dishes (Power Rangers, Meatcraft and Surf Ninjas are a few of our favorite), local pierogi and homemade cookies coming.

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Jared B.

Author

Jared B.

Enthusiastic Pittsburgher

Always in search of the next great craft beer and arcade. Can be found in the Supporters Section of Pittsburgh Riverhounds games and at whatever festival is happening in the city.

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