When we originally wrote this guide, LA was not a pizza town. Now we’re surrounded by more new and incredible places than bitter New York transplants know what to do with. Before you scroll, you should know that we’re only considering the pizzas themselves—not the restaurants overall (if you want to know how we feel about those, read their full reviews). Now go eat some perfect pizza.
THE SPOTS
Phoenix’s most famous pizzeria came to DTLA to do what it's always done best: make the thinnest pies imaginable without compromising any bready chew. Crust is king here. Their 18-hour fermented dough gives off a distinct yeasty tang and each slice manages to fold easily despite its wafer-thin, crispy bottom. Get the Sonny Boy with soppressata and silky marinara or the Rosa with pistachio, rosemary, and pungent parmesan. Pizzeria Bianco’s dinner reservations can be tough to find, but their daytime spin-off Pane Bianco has by-the-slice offerings for a quick lunch nearby. These aren’t exactly the same famed pies from the dinner menu, but they'll scratch the itch.
Pijja Palace's medium-thick pies speckled with brown, bubbling cheese look like something you’d find at Chuck E. Cheese but with a Desi twist. When the pizza comes out at this Indian sports bar in Silver Lake, your nose gets whacked with tandoori-roasted onions and a buttery makhini sauce we believe the restaurant should sell by the jar. Get the green chutney pijja, which is essentially a cheese pizza with tomato sauce made from dried fenugreek leaves, then slathered in lively, green chile chutney and dusted with a coarsely ground masala mix.
There's been a serious proliferation of Detroit-style pizza shops in LA since 2020. But as places continue to open, it’s becoming more difficult to know which ones are doing the style justice and which ones are just cashing in on the trend. Quarter Sheets falls into the first camp. The former pop-up now resides in a small space in Echo Park with a rabid follower base (us included). Their crispy, focaccia-like crust has inch-high edges that crackle and snap under each bite, while the pillowy interior soaks up the sweet red sauce that’s striped across the top. Be sure to get whatever the housemade dessert is that day, too.
At this point, riffing on New York-style pie is about as common as exhaling carbon dioxide. But Secret Pizza is the only LA spot on par with East Coast slice joints. This pick-up-only operation in Montecito Heights—run by a New Jersey transplant—makes us want to call Infatuation NYC to brag. Each slice folds with a distinct crunch. Soft, springy edges won’t cut the roof of your mouth. The pies at this one-man show have nothing to hide. Aside from the occasional pepperoni, we don't even like to add toppings—just sweet, slightly acidic tomato sauce and fresh mozz. (What else do you need?) There’s a link in their Instagram bio for easy pre-ordering and a patio in front of the shop where you can dive into your pizza right away.
The Westside is pretty underrepresented in the LA Pizza Olympics, but that doesn’t matter because Santa Monica has Milo & Olive. This sourdough pizzeria works equally well for weeknight dinners with friends as it does for dates, but we'd be lying if we didn't tell you it's a go-to Westside takeout crutch. Order the mushroom pie, which comes sprinkled with lemon zest and parmesan, or the pork sausage pizza if you're looking for a tomato base. Oh, and garlic knots are required by law.
Located in that busy intersection of Sunset Blvd., between the 76 station and Mohawk Bend, Cosa Buona is a casual neighborhood hangout that serves puffy-crusted pizza designed by the chef who also runs Silver Lake star Alimento. Each pie is properly blistered and chewy, with topping combinations that aren’t trying to do backflips or steal the spotlight (but are nevertheless excellent, ranging from a classic margherita to a sausage pie with mustard greens and slightly spicy chilis). Order a side of smoked mozzarella sticks along with your pie if you know what’s good for you.
The crust on Ronan’s Neapolitan pizza is perfectly-charred and slightly chewy, with ingredients that are ideally rationed across every slice. Start your meal at this West Hollywood spot with the margherita for a showcase of Ronan’s expertise at its simplest, then move on to much wilder, ingenious creations like the Philippe's-inspired French dip calzone, stuffed with rare roast beef and hot mustard. These are precisely engineered pies: the guanciale and ricotta-topped Sweet Cheeks is the perfect combination of sweet and spicy.
Opened by the co-owner of Hatchet Hall and the former executive chef at L&E Oyster, Little Coyote in Long Beach feels like a true throwback, the kind of casual pizza place that suburban kids begged their moms to stop at after picking up a VHS from Blockbuster. The pizza itself comes closest to New York-style, with massive slices, crispy thin crus, and classic toppings that range from pepperoni to sausage and mushrooms. Of them all, the white pizza—with spinach, ricotta, and mozzarella—is our favorite on the menu.
Sometimes we want chewy, nicely charred Neapolitan pizza and we want it fast. This is what Pizzeria Sei does best. The bare-bones Pico-Robertson restaurant has a small menu of seven slightly puffy, crimped-edge pies, including a briny but not-too-salty Napoletana with capers and anchovies, and the Bismarck, which balances prosciutto cotto, egg, and fior di latte but is never too decadent. Grabbing a seat here usually means sitting at the bar around the dome-shaped oven as you watch your pizza blister to life in a matter of minutes, making it easy to be out the door in well under an hour.
At Thai Curry Pizza in Long Beach, you'll encounter pies that sound chaotic in theory, but taste extremely right in practice. Alongside takeout staples like papaya salad and pad see ew, this strip mall gem offers mashups that layer Southeast Asian flavors onto crispy leopard-spotted crusts. The tom yum pizza in particular is a masterpiece, topped with gooey mozzarella, mushrooms, tomatoes, cilantro, and just enough tom yum paste to create a spicy-sour pop. Dip any leftover crust into their panang curry sauce, which you can (and should) add on the side for $2. There are a couple of tables in the dining room, but most people take their orders home or to a nearby beachfront park, where they can lay horizontally and ponder what other promising food remixes should see the light of day.
This small Argentinian market in Glendale really has it all—wine, pastries, empanadas, and a butcher—but while doing some light grocery shopping, make sure you prioritize the fugazzeta. It’s an Argentine stuffed-crust pizza with generous amounts of ham, cheese, and cooked onions spread on top, plus more ham and molten cheese tucked inside. They offer a cook-at-home version, but if you want it piping hot for takeout, call ahead—it takes about a half-hour in the oven to cook.
The Valley has plenty of old-school pizzerias with devoted followings and fans who bicker over which is best. We're loyal to Dino’s. With over 38 specialty pizzas, the menu at this Burbank classic can feel a bit overwhelming, so we’ll narrow it down: get the lasagna pizza topped with Italian sausage, meatballs, and whipped ricotta. It’s a pizza that could easily be messy, but the expert placement of toppings and a crispy, medium-thick crust keeps it all in harmony. Dino’s runs a swift takeout operation, but make time to eat in their kitschy dining room that feels like a sunroom at someone's grandparents' fishing cabin.
The toppings on Apollonia’s round, thin-crust pies are way more exciting than your standard offerings, like a spicy arrabbiata sauce and “exotic sausages” made with lamb, duck, and something called “chicken tequila.” (Buzz not included.) But the off-menu pepperoni square pie is the real reason you should drive across town to this Mid-Wilshire spot. Don’t let the $40 price scare you away—this accounts for 10x14 inches of crackly, marinara-drenched gold. The deeply charred crust has a spongy, light interior, and one of these babies can easily feed three people. No modifications are accepted because no modifications are needed.
If you’ve ever wondered what might happen if someone combined a relatively thin grandma-style center with thicker, Sicilian-style crusts, first off, let’s be friends. Secondly, De La Nonna in the Arts District is pulling the hybrid off. The focaccia-like pies here have a hefty, golden-crisp base topped with layers of sauce and cheese. Pizza purists' favorites (namely margherita with fresh mozzarella) are done well, but De La Nonna also nails busier combos like roasted Japanese sweet potato with dollops of tangy pesto or charred kale and pancetta. Add a massive patio, the occasional live DJ set, and a stellar drink menu and you’ve got a low-key pizza party.
We first became obsessed with LaSorted’s brick-oven pizza during their limited run as a pop-up in 2020. These days, you’ll find them at a takeout window in Silver Lake, a space they share with one of our favorite bakeries, Gemini Bakeshop. Maybe it’s the new brick-and-mortar digs, or the power that comes with being so close to Dodger Stadium, but the latest iteration of LaSorted's (like Lasorda, get it?) has earned a place in the LA pizza pantheon as well as our stomachs. The crust is perfectly chewy and bubbly, and toppings range from burrata to artichoke pesto to giardiniera. Our top pick is the “Spicy, But Oh, So Sweet Boy,” a version of the now-ubiquitous pepperoni and hot honey combo set off with Fresno chiles and fresh garlic.
Prime Pizza offers pizza by-the-slice at the original tiny shop on Fairfax or their new locations in Little Tokyo, Burbank and the Westside, but it can honestly be hit or miss. So use Prime for what it does best: delivery. And if you live near one of those areas listed above, there probably isn’t a better option when it comes to unfussy, high-quality pizza brought to your door. At around $28 for a large pie, these babies are massive (and delicious) and could easily feed three or four people depending on sobriety levels. The sausage and kale pizza is easily the best option on the menu.
There’s a reason this Italian restaurant in Hollywood has been cooking pizza since the 19th century (the original is located in Naples, Italy): their chewy, bubbly-crusted Neapolitan-style pies are spot on. If it’s your first visit, go for the margherita (skip the extra cheese, it throws the whole thing off) because it’s the basis for all other pizzas at L’Antica. That said, our favorite is the Bianca—no sauce, double mozzarella, pecorino, and basil. It’s cheesy, oil-drenched greatness that almost makes you forget how mediocre the non-pizza dishes are here.
The artist formerly known as Bootleg Pizza has a new name and a new location in Culver City, but the pies at Little Dynamite’s order-at-counter shop are every bit as decadent as when we first tried them. You could argue about whether these hefty squares are Sicilian, Detroit, or traditional pan-style pizza, but we’d say they’re a mix of all three: heavy on the tomato sauce, paved with a thick layer of gooey mozzarella, and sporting a crispy, inch-thick crust and soft interior that tastes like biting into a pizza pillow. Pies rotate frequently—they're topped with everything from honey to sliced lemons—but the pepperoni-covered “Pep’d Up” never lets us down.
Side Pie started as a pandemic-era pop-up operating out of someone’s personal backyard in Altadena. These days, it’s moved down the street to a restaurant space with a huge back patio complete with string lights, a stage for live music, and a wood-fired pizza oven. Unlike similar shops around town, Side Pie’s pizzas come with a thin, crispy crust and slices are cut so large we advise you to tilt your head while you eat. The pepperoni, ricotta, and basil-topped “Altadena” is our favorite option, but we also love the “Kevin Lyman.” It’s essentially their version of a white pie and comes with a light cream base and topped with ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, and garlic. Pre-order through their website or by texting (707) SIDE-PIE.
