When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore. And what greater love is there than the passion which humanity has for pizza? With a heritage that dates back as far as the 10th century, pizza has a storied place in food history. Just last year, the Neapolitan art of pizza spinning (known as 'pizzaiuolo') was awarded Unesco status as an "intangible heritage". So, yeah, when it comes to the best places to eat pizza on the planet, rest assured that Naples is pretty high on the list.
Chances are also fairly hight hat pizza has got a fairly significant place in your own food memories, too. Pizza is the food eaten over spilled secrets at sleepovers. The food of "just moved in". The food of "just broke up". The food of "just lost three stone". The food of "just gained back three stone – really shouldn't have eaten so much pizza".
No matter where in the world you're from, you've probably eaten pizza. And a good deal of it. It's become an international culinary currency and multiple cities from Naples, Italy to New York to Chicago all claim to have the greatest pizza on the planet. While London is pretty far from the historical birthplace of the hugely popular fast food, we'd confidently suggest that London pizza, too, provides some of the finest slices in the world. Yeah, the calibre of London pizza means some of the best places to get pizza in the UK are in this very city.
It's now easier than ever to get really good London pizza made with real deal San Marzano tomatoes and milky fresh mozz. The tricky part? Working out where next to get your pepperoni or – dare we say it – ham and pineapple fix. To help you make your next pizza party a belter, we've combined a list of the upper crust of London's pizzerias.
Whether your hankering for straight up margarita or something more exotic, there's something for everyone in this round up of the best London pizza. In, of course, no particular order.
London pizza: 22 of the City's best slices
1.Pizzeria Mozza
Treehouse Hotel, 4-5 Langham Place, W1B 3DG
Milo Brown Photography
Pizzeria Mozza is a new London pizza outpost from chef Nancy Silverton. And if her name isn't that familiar to you, allow us to fill you in, because she's kind of great. In fact, we have a bit of a brain crush on Nancy: she helped kickstart the artisan bread movement in the US; she was listed as one of the most innovative women in food and drink by both Fortune and Food & Wine magazines; she won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef; and she has an episode of Netflix's Chef's Table dedicated to her. Yep, she's pretty amazing alright – and so is her pizza. The secret? A dough recipe like no other, that's absolutely packed with texture and flavour and tastes different to anything we've had recently (and we've eaten a lot of pizza). There are loads of different topping combinations to choose from, but we can tell you now that the fennel sausage one is very good. So is the PLT, with pancetta affumicata, guanciale, onion cream, roasted tomato, rucola and aioli. So is the funghi misti, with taleggio, fior di latte and thyme. You get the picture. And that's not all: Nancy's Chopped Salad is the perfect foil to the richness of the dough; while the desserts are knock-out good.
2. Flat Earth Pizza
The Railway Tavern, 2 St Jude St, N16 8JT
The pizza at Flat Earth is more than just a pie: it turns preconceptions on their heads, from base to sauce to topping. Founders Rich and Sarah asked themselves all sorts of philosophical questions when they were thinking about setting up there own shop, like "What if there was no meat?", "What if we didn't make the base from refined flour?", "What if we used the whole veg?" and "What if pizza wasn't junk food?" And we're glad they did the deep thinking for us, as it leaves us to rock up and order one (or several) of their seasonal smash hits, like the Hackney Hot, with sweet pickled beetroot, rhubarb compote, chillis, Somerset cheese, chilli salsa and tomato; or the samphire and cheddar, with foraged and pickled Essex samphire, Somerset cheddar and caramelised onion passatta. 1000 times yes.
3. 400 Rabbits
Various
Beer and pizza. Pizza and beer. There aren't many more harmonious combinations out there, and there aren't many better places to get your fill of both these fermented goodies than 400 Rabbits. Named after the 400 rabbit gods that were, according to Aztec folklore, birthed out of a love affair between the goddess of alcohol and the god of fermentation, 400 Rabbits produce some truly sublime sourdough pizza at its Crystal Palace and Nunhead premises. The pizzas are cooked to chewy, charred perfection in a wood-fired oven; topped with San Marzano D.O.P. tomatoes, fior di latte mozzarella, and top seasonal British ingredients. And with charcuterie sourced from pig people Cannon & Cannon, options like the Iberico chorizo pizza are hard to beat. What are you waiting for? Hop to it.
4. Baz + Fred
68 Union Street, SE1 1TD
Pizza from Baz + Fred
Starting life as a mobile catering business, Baz + Fred has been churning out quality stone-baked pizzas to brides, grooms, and festival-goers since 2012. Created by young chefs Baz and (surprise, surprise) Fred, the two got their own permanent pizza kitchen at popular foodie hub Flat Iron square in 2016. Success for the two has been pretty much non-stop since then. What sets Baz + Fred apart from London's busy pizza crowd is the specialised Chadwick ovens they use to cook their creations. Though they may look like something out of the future, these flying saucer-esque ovens can replicate the scorching temperatures of a traditional full-sized brick pizza oven and cook an entire pizza in around 3 minutes. The result is a traditional-tasting slice that's light on the faff and heavy on the flavour.
5. L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele
199 Baker Street, NW1 6UY
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Now, Baker Street doesn't have much in common in with Naples (at least, there's not a volcano that we know of in N16) but the two can both claim to be home to the very same iconic pizza joint. As the sole London pizza branch of L'Antica Pizzeria de Michele, which first opened up shop in Naples all the way back in 1906, this is pizza with a pedigree. It's pizza to be eaten in silence, contemplating over the works of Da Vinci, not Dan Brown. And with queues at the door often lasting around 45 minutes, it's pizza that's worth waiting for. Offering only two options in the marinara and the margherita, we'd highly recommend you bite the (delicious) bullet and get them both. Not only will you hard-pressed to find a more authentic pizza experience in the capital, but by the time you actually get your pizza, you'll sorely regret not having ordered another.
6. Pizza Union
Various
Pizza Union
Pizza Union
Photography: Charlie McKay
Pizza Union
Photography: Charlie McKay
Pizza Union
Photography: Charlie McKay
Pizza Union
Photography: Charlie McKay
Pizza Union
Photography: Charlie McKay
Pizza Union
Photography: Charlie McKay
Pizza Union
Photography: Charlie McKay
Pizza Union
Photography: Charlie McKay
Pizza Union
Photography: Charlie McKay
Pizza Union
Photography: Charlie McKay
Despite all its fancy (pepper) bells and whistles, pizza is still, at its very core, intended to be a fast and cheap food. It's a staple of student diets all over the globe for that very reason. But just because something is fast and cheap, doesn't mean it necessarily has to taste like it. Pizza Union proves just that by providing super fast London pizza that still tastes super great. Which is pretty impressive considering that the margherita costs only £3.95. Yes, just let that sink in. You can get an entire thin and crispy 12" pizza for £3.95. You can't get anything in London for that price. And with outlets at Spitalfields, King's Cross, Aldgate, and Dalston, we wholeheartedly embrace the Pizza Union takeover. Long may pizza stay cheap and delicious.
7. Santa Maria
Various
Santa Maria
Photography: Tom Bowles
Santa Maria
Photography: Tom Bowles
Santa Maria
Photography: Tom Bowles
Santa Maria
Photography: Tom Bowles
Santa Maria
Photography: Tom Bowles
Santa Maria co-founders, Angelo Ambrosio and Pasquale Chinchio
Photography: Tom Bowles
Santa Maria
Photography: Tom Bowles
Santa Maria
Photography: Tom Bowles
Santa Maria
Photography: Tom Bowles
Santa Maria
Photography: Tom Bowles
Santa Maria
Photography: Tom Bowles
Santa Maria
Photography: Tom Bowles
Santa Maria
Photography: Tom Bowles
Santa Maria is a Neapolitan pizza place run by Neapolitans Angelo Ambrosio and Pasquale Chinchio. That, in itself, is a very good sign. Santa Maria only uses San Marzano tomato sauce with a D.O.P. certification and artisanal fior di latte cheese all the way from Campania. Another encouraging sign: a meal at Santa Maria is perhaps the closest you'll get to a Naples pizza experience without actually booking flights overseas. And if you're looking for a sign from the pizza gods: go there now. Not wanting to get lost in the shuffle of the latest food trends, Santa Maria has even got vegan pizzas on the menu. And although this may seem like a sacrilege, all sins are forgiven once you actually try one of their non-vegan offerings. Because holy moly they're good. Santa Maria's San Francesco – which is topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella, peppers, courgettes, aubergines, and parmesan – will make you an immediate convert.
8. Pizza Pilgrims
Various
Having opened up numerous outlets around the city we call home, the people at Pizza Pilgrims have made your weekly pilgrimage to the good temple pizza all the more easier. Founders James and Thom Elliot first decided to bring the artistry of pizza-making to London after conducting their very own dough-based pilgrimage around Italy. As such, Pizza Pilgrims specialises in the traditional stuff but has managed to combine those Italian influences with London's cosmopolitan leanings to great success. It's hard to go wrong with a box of the double pepperoni – a beautiful polka-dotted pizza with two kinds of pepperoni, tomato, fior di latte, Parmesan, basil olive oil and a drizzle of hot and sweet spicy honey. You can't get much more London than that, and like everything else that Pizza Pilgrims has on offer, it's very, very good.
9. Manifesto
148 Northcote Road, SW11 6RD
View on Instagram
Look past all the trendy bells and whistles and it's not difficult to see why we've deemed Manifesto as one of London's best places to get pizza. Pizzas like the 'Apollo 13' (because it's got rocket, geddit?) and the 'Moose' (because it's got ham mousse, geddit?) might sound a bit out-there and, yes, Manifesto does do a black-based pizza that uses black vegetable carbon dough. But wait! Manifesto also ensures that all its ingredients come from only the very best Italian sources. That means Pugliese mozzarella, Molino Pasini flour, Taggiasca olives, pedrazzoli ham. And those kookily named pizzas? They're as classic as they come.
10. Crust Bros
113 Waterloo Road, SE1 8UL
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Have you ever gone into a Subway and thought: "I wish I could do this with pizza instead of shitty bread and deli meat?". Crust Bros founder Joe Moore has, and he’s gone and done something about it, too. This Waterloo pizzeria's "Fix Your Own" pizza gimmick is an obvious draw for those who love to have control over every intimate aspect of their lives. However, the reason we keep coming back (and the reason we think it's one of the best places to get pizza) is its satisfying simplicity. One could easily go overboard with all the tempting toppings available – anchovies, burrata and goat's cheese?! – though that's part of Crust Bros' beauty. Every pizza is as good as you can make it. If you mess up your dinner, you’ve only got yourself to blame. Plus, the ricotta stuffed crust? Oh, brother is that good.
11. Sacro Cuore
45 Chamberlayne Road, NW10 3NB
View on Instagram
Eating pizza really shouldn't be a pretentious affair. You shouldn't have to shave an entire peking duck and douse a pizza in truffle oil to elevate it to something that classifies as "fine-dining". The key to a good pizza is in the friendly assembly of all its ingredients. Each topping should contribute to, rather than detract from, the overall pizza-eating experience. Sacro Cuore is a Neapolitan-style pizzeria that understands that. With a rustic wood-fired oven firing up its hearth in Kensal Rise, Sacro Cuore has a simple, no frills approach. It just makes damn good pizza. The salsiccia and friarielli (Neapolitan wild broccoli) is perhaps the greatest vessel for delivering broccoli to one's stomach that we've discovered yet.
12. Made of Dough
182 Belleden Rd, SE15 4BW
A simple lean dough recipe that involves a 60-hour fermentation process may not be the exciting origin story you were hoping for from the dough of a pizzeria literally named Made of Dough, but there are plenty more reasons to be excited about this Peckham pizza palace. With six of those specific reasons being the six different types of pizzas available. While all of the pizzas are saucy and sapid in equal measure, the merguez is our stand-out pick. It comes with lamb merguez – locally sourced from the Flock & Herd butchery down the road – san marzano tomatoes, cavolo nero, red onion, rosemary and fior di latte cheese. Round off your meal with a Motherf***king (their words, not ours) peanut butter & vanilla milkshake for a true feast. The best part of it all? At such an affordable price, you don't even have to be made of dough to enjoy the Made of Dough experience.
13. Yard Sale
Various
What started with an oven in Yard Sale founder Johnnie Tate's back yard in Clapton has since become a London pizza staple. There are currently four Yard Sale pizza outlets, providing consistent crusts and dangerously addictive toppings, across the city. A fifth is set to open in Fulham this year. Inventive names like Cheesus Walks, Harlamb Shake, and Cour Blimey are all certainly memorable. But it's the quality of the pizza that will have you coming back again. And again. And again. Get one of their many dips to give your pizza bones some much-needed company and we can guarantee you won't regret it.
14. Zia Lucia
61 Blythe Road, W14 0HP
Zia Lucia isn't just an independently owned neighbourhood pizzeria, she's also an actual real-life person. Founders Claudio Vescovo and Gianluca D'Angelo got the inspiration for their little Italian import from Gianluca's aunt, Lucia, and her commitment to feeding her hungry family members. That inviting, stomach-filling ethos is present in spades (and slices) on Hammersmith's Blythe Road – undoubtedly one of the best places to get pizza in London. Zia Lucia's pizza doughs are slow fermented for 48 hours and baked in hand-crafted wood-fired ovens. That time and effort is well worth it for the final, piping-hot, cheese-topped product. The best named pizza on the menu? That prize goes to the Andrea Pirlo.
15. Circolo Popolare
40-41 Rathbone Place, W1T 1HX
As something of an enfant terrible in Fitzrovia's otherwise well-behaved, buttoned-up dining scene, Circolo Popolare doesn't do anything quietly
As something of an enfant terrible in Fitzrovia's otherwise well-behaved, buttoned-up dining scene, Circolo Popolare doesn't do anything quietly
As something of an enfant terrible in Fitzrovia's otherwise well-behaved, buttoned-up dining scene, Circolo Popolare doesn't do anything quietly
As something of an enfant terrible in Fitzrovia's otherwise well-behaved, buttoned-up dining scene, Circolo Popolare doesn't do anything quietly
As something of an enfant terrible in Fitzrovia's otherwise well-behaved, buttoned-up dining scene, Circolo Popolare doesn't do anything quietly
As something of an enfant terrible in Fitzrovia's otherwise well-behaved, buttoned-up dining scene, Circolo Popolare doesn't do anything quietly. And the pizza it serves is suitably loud. Neapolitan-style pizzas with names like 'John Malkofish' (tuna ragu, fior di latte, taggiasche olives, mozzarella di bufala, chives) and 'I Wanna Nduja' (San Marzano tomato, smoked mozz, nduja, salsiccia picante, chilli) hit you in your gob with their bold flavour combinations. Our pick of the bunch, however, is the more delicate carpaccio pizza; a light crunchy crust topped with parmigiano flakes, carpaccio (duh), and salad. The option to order a huge double pizza for £14 per person is yet another homage to excess that Circolo excels at. This isn't where you come for a quiet night, but the lively atmosphere is also undoubtedly what makes Circolo one of the best London pizza joints in the city.
16. Pizza 1889
Lower Road, SE16 7LR
View on Instagram
A shipping container in a Surrey Quays shopping centre car park might not be the first place you think of when it comes to finding London's finest slices. But, then again, life works in mysterious ways, doesn't it? Because Pizza 1889 is – despite its location – one of the best places to get pizza in the city. From the quality dough and rich tomato sauce (both made on-site) to the wonderful domed brick oven used to cook the pizza, everything at Pizza 1889 is created with a tender care and attention to detail. Besides, the option to get the joint's signature Margherita 1889 for just £4.50? We'll take two, thanks.
17. Theo's
2 Grove Lane, SE5 8SY
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Do you want to get stuck into Neapolitan-style, sourdough pizzas served piping hot from a wood-fired oven? Silly question, really. Do you want to eat said pizza in a friendly, laid back atmosphere that'll have your Instagram trigger finger twitching to get some snaps? Silly question again. Theo's is the place for you. Founded in Camberwell in 2015 with a second site opening in Elephant & Castle late last year, the South East institution's menu of antipasti, pizza, panuozzo and dessert changes weekly to ensure that only the freshest produce is allowed to take up real estate in your stomach. All of the pizzas are obviously slappers but the chestnut mushroom white pizza is truly something else.
18. Franco Manca
Various
No, Franco Manca isn't a dark horse or a hidden gem, but it's an absolute mustang in the pizza department that hasn't seen its shine dim over the years
No, Franco Manca isn't a dark horse or a hidden gem, but it's an absolute mustang in the pizza department that hasn't seen its shine dim over the years
No, Franco Manca isn't a dark horse or a hidden gem, but it's an absolute mustang in the pizza department that hasn't seen its shine dim over the years
No, Franco Manca isn't a dark horse or a hidden gem, but it's an absolute mustang in the pizza department that hasn't seen its shine dim over the years
No, Franco Manca isn't a dark horse or a hidden gem, but it's an absolute mustang in the pizza department that hasn't seen its shine dim over the years
Franco Manca is pretty much the reason that sourdough pizza is now a thing. That tangy, airy crust you've almost come to expect from a pizza dough was partly popularised thanks to this consistently cracking London pizza chain. Pizza start from as little as £5 – an impressive feat considering all of Franco's dough is made daily and it incorporates a host of seasonal ingredients sourced from small suppliers across Italy and the UK – and the delicious end-product speaks for itself. No, Franco Manca isn't a dark horse or a hidden gem that you’ll be smug about discovering before your mates, but it's an absolute mustang in the pizza department that hasn't seen its shine dim over the years.
19. Pizzeria Pappagone
131 Stroud Green Road, N4 3PX
View on Instagram
Pizzeria Pappagone is a family-run Italian restaurant that makes us feel all lovely on the inside. You know those restaurants you can go to time and time again because you know that everything there is made with that extra bit of love? Pappagone is that sort of restaurant; eating there being the North London culinary equivalent of watching your favourite Disney film for the hundredth time over. The pizza menu here is long. Very long. But we've yet to be let down by any of the thin hot wheels that come out of PP's wood-fired oven. Pizzeria Pappagone has been the business for over two decades, and that esteemed legacy alone is why we've deemed it worthy of being on this list.
20. The Pizza Room
2a Grove Road, E3 5AX
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Cosy doesn't do The Pizza Room justice, to be honest. This warm, inviting and… well… fairly tiddly Mile End pizzeria is one of the best places to get pizza in the capital for a number of reasons. Proving its dough for 72 hours, The Pizza Room is manned by knowledgeable and expert pizzaiolos who ensure that every pie that comes out of the traditional clay oven has the perfect mix of char and chew. Bite into a slice and you can instantly taste the tang of Ponticorvo mozzarella playing off the homemade tomato sauce with a gleeful endeavour. Don’t be afraid to venture outside your margherita comfort zone as The Pizza Room also does a fire calzone.
21. Voodoo Ray's
Various
Voodoo Ray's specialises in slinging out generous slices of its 22" New York-style pizzas at its Dalston, Peckham, and Boxpark premises. The real difference in Voodoo Ray's post and pre-drink food of the Gods is the provenance of the ingredients. Voodoo Ray's imports San Marzano tomatoes for its sauce, Caputo flour for its bases, and creamy buffalo and fior di latte mozzarellas for its cheese. Simply put: Voodoo Ray's care. And considering that two of the joint's whopping slices are equivalent to a whole 11" pizza while being only a fraction of the price, so should you, too.
22. Homeslice
Various
Perhaps the most prolific of the London pizza by-the-slice outlets, Homeslice's several locations across the city prove its ever-growing popularity with everyone from ambitious bankers to the craft beer and industrial techno crowd. We can certainly vouch for the quality of Ry Jessup and Mark Wogan's beautiful mozzarella-mop-topped brainchild, having sampled our fair share of their giant wood-fired pizzas over the years. Order a 20" pizza to split between you and your homies or simply grab a £4 slice from a menu that includes the likes of ambitious spiced lamb, savoy cabbage, and sumac yoghurt-topped creations.
23. Princi
135 Wardour Street, W1F 0UT
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Milanese bakery chain, Princi, unsurprisingly does a pretty great job at serving over-the-counter Milanese style slices of pizza. We’ll be the first to admit that Princi isn't cheap but that's not the reason why we've chucked it on this list of the best places to get pizza in London. The reason we've put it in this guide is its speck and potato focaccia slice. Burdened by mozzarella, speck, brie, rosemary potatoes, crescenza and a generous glug of olive oil, it's one of the better lunch-time options you'll find in Soho.
