Pizza Rankings

Tommy

Just a Millennial living in the real world...

Updated 3/8/24:

Added:

Pizzerio Serio

As some may know, I am a HUGE FOODIE!!! If there are some foods that I cannot live without, they would be pizza, burgers, pasta, BBQ, and cheese. Yeah all of the carbs… That’s why I work out a ton and run marathons. I literally run to eat!

Since 2014, I have been on a journey to find the best pizza in the U.S. Luckily, I live in Chicago where there are some amazing pizza places and home of deep dish. Even though I love deep dish pizza, I found that I prefer thin crust pizza after visiting NYC as I know I won’t go into a food coma after eating pizza… I’ve based my list on the Daily Meal’s top 101 pizzas in America, which is updated annually.

Methodology

My methodology consists of a 0-10 rating system and the criteria is based on crust, cheese, sauce, and toppings. Then I calculate an average score. If the scores are tied, then I compare the places head to head based on which pizza I would rather eat. I differentiate rankings thin crust and deep dish so you are comparing apples to apples.

Top 5 Overall:

1.) Patsy’s Pizzeria: We have a new #1 with my 3rd visit to NYC! My first two visits were doing the touristy things when I was younger and my third visit was the Pizza Tour where I went to 6 pizza joints within a 72 hours. Patsy’s Pizzeria is one of the oldest pizza restaurants in the US as it was founded in 1933 and its coal fire style. Here are some interesting facts about the place in this YouTube video. I should have ordered a full pie as it was that delicious, but I went with slices as I knew how many calories I would consume that weekend.

I went to the original location off of 1st Ave. in Harlem. They have a sit-down restaurant and a window for pick-up/slices. I ordered two slices as they were a little bit smaller and I was already pretty full since this was my 5th and 6th slice of the day before 4pm. Prices were also cheap too, at about $4/slice, and it’s cash only. The crust was soft, fluffy, and had a great flavor/texture. The sauce was definitely the best sauce I have ever had and it had a nice sauce to cheese ratio. The sauce had a light tang and it was very flavorful. It might have been the prettiest sauce I ever did see! The cheese was great as well! Overall, this is a slice that I could eat all day! It was definitely the best sauce I have ever had and I think it was one of the best crusts I have had. Definitely worth a stop and I will have to try a full pie next time!

2.) John’s of Bleecker Street: John’s was the top rated pizza by El Presidente of Barstool Sports so of course this was on my list. John’s is located in West Village, which is a great neighborhood for trendy restaurants and designer boutiques. Bleecker Street Pizza is right around the corner and Joe’s Pizza is also located within a 3 minute walk. Washington Square Park is also a nice place to visit and sit down. John’s only serves full pies and they don’t take reservations. I ordered a pie to be ready by 5pm on a Sunday and it was ready on time. There was a small line of people waiting to sit down, but it was like a 20 minute wait so not too bad before rush hour. They are definitely a well oiled machine and kept the line moving while I was waiting for my pie.

The pizza was surprisingly very light, but it looked a lot heavier with the crust. From a fullness standpoint, it was very similar to Patsy’s. The crust was soft and fluffy and not super crispy. The sauce was great, but it didn’t beat Patsy’s. It wasn’t super tangy and was more rich/acidic. The cheese was very gooey with a decent cheese pull. The pepperoni was great, but it was pretty much your standard 8 pepperoni and nothing spectacular. John’s is definitely worth trying, but I would rather have Patsy’s and that’s just my opinion. John’s beats Di Fara on crust, sauce, and price (even though price is not in my methodology).

3.) Di Fara Pizza: Located in Brooklyn at J Avenue and E. 15th St. This pizza joint is ranked 16th best pizzas in the nation and El Presidente at Barstool Sports rated Di Fara as one of his top pizza places in the U.S. It used to be rated in the top 5 in the nation per the Daily Meal. The owner, Dom, hand-makes his pizzas from scratch every day. My fraternity brother and I visited here on a Friday during Memorial Day Weekend in 2016. We ordered the Classic Pie with sausage, pepper, mushroom, and onions, which was $34. Yes, pricey, but you pay for what you get and it was about 17 inches so a large size. We visited on a Friday at lunchtime and we only waited like 20 minutes. But during peak times on weekends, the wait can be hours long. Everything about the pizza was amazing. The crust was slightly burnt, but very crispy with zero flop. The cheese was melted and did not come off the pie when eating. The sauce was not too overwhelming and not sloppy. But the best part were the toppings. Most of the toppings are imported from Italy and I don’t think I have ever had fresher toppings on a pizza before. The green peppers and onions were so fresh that they crunched in my mouth. Hands down the best toppings I have ever had on a pizza. This is why Di Fara is ranked in the top 5.

4.) Roberta’s Pizza: Also located in Brooklyn at Moore St. and Bogart St. Ranked 25th by the Daily Meal. We ordered a Margherita Pie and the White Guy Pie, which had Mozzarella, ricotta, garlic, and olive oil. Both pies were $16 and were about 9 inches. So a lot cheaper than Di Fara. Roberta’s had a very cool atmosphere. Their restaurant was inside and small, but they had a massive beer garden with 2 bars. So me and my fraternity brother decided to order our pizzas from the bakery and we got seats at the communal tables to drink some pitchers of beer. The wait was about an hour as this was a Saturday night, but we killed time over the pitchers. Both pies were amazing. If I were to go back I would try the Bee Sting and the Axl Rosenberg.

5.) Tony’s Pizza Napoletana: We have a new #5! I’m usually always skeptical about places with super long wait times. Like are they actually worth it. On a Sunday night over Labor Day Weekend, it was easily 2.5 hours. They have a waitlist where you enter your number and their website has live updating, which is great as the wait times can be extremely long. We put our name in, but we ended going somewhere else and we were walking around the North Beach neighborhood, which was a pretty nice area with lots of restaurants and bars. We walked past Tony’s and I didn’t know that they had a slice shop so I decided to stop by to do a pizza review. Lucky me because their was no line when I arrived, but the line got long when I got my pizza.

Tony’s Pizza is highly ranked in the US and the world. One of my fraternity brothers messaged me on Insta telling me that I had to try it so I did. What’s probably most impressive about Tony’s is that they don’t serve just one style of pizza, but rather they serve a lot of different styles including Neapolitan, Sicilian, Detroit, Grandma, Coal-Fire, and more.

I ordered a slice of pepperoni and it was NYC style, not Neapolitan. Crust was pretty much cooked to perfection with a crispy undercarriage and zero flop. Crust was doughy and had amazing flavor overall. Reminded me of Joe’s Pizza in NYC. Cheese was melt in your mouth/gooey with strong flavor and a nice cheese pull. I actually think it was the best cheese I have ever had on a pie. Sauce was tangy, but the worst part of the slice. A tad watered down and it needed to be a better sauce to cheese ratio. Cheese ratio was great, but the sauce portion wasn’t great. The pepperoni was spectacular with loads of flavor and it definitely had a kick. Definitely don’t get if you can’t handle spicy. Imagine Joe’s crust and Prince Street Pizza’s pepperoni on their Spicy Spring Slice. Tony’s had an amazing slice overall. It definitely lived up to the hype and a top 5 ranking!

Top Thin Crust:

Top 5 Deep Dish:

1.) Lou Malnati’s: My favorite deep dish pizza in Chicago. Ranked 9th by the Daily Meal. Lou’s has 56 locations around the Chicagoland area and 4 in Arizona and 2 in Wisconsin.

Lou’s cornicione (the outer edge or rim of a slice of pizza) is different from other deep dish pizzas as it is very crispy. People who do not like tomato chunks will not like Lou’s. Lou’s sauce has big tomato chunks in it, but I love their sauce. It’s pretty tangy, a little sweet, and I love the tomato chunks. My favorite toppings from Lou’s are sausage, pepperoni, spinach mix, and their buttercrust. Their sausage is not very spicy and they give you very generous patties of meat. Their spinach mix is mixed with garlic, basil, and onions which is delicious and is a go-to topping for me. Lou’s is the King of Deep Dish for me!

2.) The Art of Pizza: The Art of Pizza is located in Lakeview at Ashland and Nelson. It was rated by the Chicago Tribune as the best deep dish in Chicago back around 2016. The Art of Pizza is BYOB and also serves pizza by the slice, which is a plus as there are very few pizza by the slice joints in Chicago.

The pizza is a thing of beauty. The crust is flaky and is not super dry like Giordano’s. The best part of the pizza is the sauce as it has a basil mix and it is sweeter than most sauces. The toppings are delicious, but they aren’t as good as Pequod’s or Lou’s. Overall, I definitely see why the Chicago Tribune liked it so much and is in the elite category of deep dish pies in Chicago.

3.) My Pi Pizza: My Pie Pizza is located in Bucktown and is rated as one of the best deep dish pizzas in the city. I ordered this pie for delivery for the Super Bowl LVI. This pi did not disappoint! It wasn’t super hot as I ordered delivery in winter and it would be way better fresh out of the oven. But it was still that good.

Similar to their thin crust pizza, the crust is very crispy, which I love. However, it was a tad dry. The cheese is solid and better than average as it’s from Wisconsin. In my opinion, the best part of the pizza is the sauce. I love their sauce! It is very sweet and a little tangy. The pepperoni was very good as well and their toppings overall are of high quality. Overall, the pizza isn’t as good as the top 2 deep dish pies on my list, but it is definitely in the upper echelon.

4.) Pequod’s Pizza: Ranked 4th by the Daily Meal. Over the past 5 years, Pequod’s has exploded in Chicago. They are notorious for their caramelized cheese cornicione. Pequod’s has two locations, one in Lincoln Park and one in Morton Grove. They are an official Blackhawks game watch bar too. I will admit that when they are on, they can easily be the best deep dish pizza, but I think they are overrated. I was first introduced to Pequod’s back in 2013 after a Blackhawks game before they got big. Ever since they exploded in popularity, I feel that their quality/consistency has gone downhill. The last two times, I’ve been there, they completely burnt their pizzas and we had to send them back. These pies take 45 minutes to an hour to make so we were there for almost 3 hours. The caramelized cornicione is amazing and you have to order extra cheese as a topping as that extra cheese goes in the cornicione. But their crust just isn’t that great and is average at best. Sometimes the bottom crust is burnt and it really lacks flavor. Their sauce is very tangy and watery, which makes eating the pizza a mess. The best part about Pequod’s is their toppings and I think they have the best toppings in the city. Their pepperoni, sausage, green peppers, onions, and jalapeños are my go-to’s. A couple of other things to note. They have a lunch special where you get a 7″ deep dish pizza and a soda for $5.95 offered from 11am-3pm. Also, the wait for a table can be hours during peak times. Make sure you sign up for priority seating as the wait time is usually an hour or less. Since the pies take about an hour to make, you can pre-order your pizzas so the wait for the pizzas will be less time when you get seated. Pequod’s is very good when they are on, but I still prefer Lou’s.

5.) Gino’s East: I’ve been a fan of Gino’s East ever since middle school and is the first deep dish pizza I have ever had as there is a location in Libertyville, which is near where I grew up. Then Adam Richman of Man vs. Food introduced me to the Meaty Legend, which has pepperoni, sausage, bacon, and Canadian bacon on it. It’s incredible! The Chicago Fire is another excellent specialty pizza. Gino’s is known for their cornmeal crust, which is a turnoff for most people and there is a brewery/comedy club at their LaSalle St. location. Their ingredients and sauce aren’t as good as the other top 3 on this list, but Gino’s East is still excellent pizza.