The Best Pizza Places In Austin

Austin might be best known for its barbecue, but hiding in the smoky, brisket-shaped shadows of the city are a ton of great spots to grab some pizza. And the great thing about Austin not having a distinct style is that we get to enjoy them all. We’ve eaten a concerning number of slices and pies to bring you our guide to the very best pizza that Austin has to offer, from wood-fired Neapolitan pies and crispy Roman slices, to enough Detroit-style pizzas to easily feed ten wolf packs, a hungry soccer team, or both. So here now, our definitive guide to the best pizza in Austin.

THE SPOTS

At Bufalina, a pizzeria and natural wine spot in East Austin, the pizzas are classically Neapolitan, with options like marinaras and margheritas, but we can’t help but order the spicy red pie with double garlic, double parmesan, and chili flakes. If you’re in the mood for something a little less traditional, there are very delicious options like a creamy white taleggio pie with sausage and scallions. There’s also a second location, Bufalina Due, further north in Brentwood with a similar menu.

There aren’t too many spots in Austin that are better for enjoying some pizza on a picnic table outside than Little Deli, located in a quiet shopping center in Crestview. There’s not much else in the area, other than The Violet Crown where you can pick up wine next door (it's BYOB here), but you’ll still find the place packed with locals on any given night. The pies are about as classic Jersey-style as they come—thin, foldable, and just a bit crispy. And yes, we know this is a pizza guide, but they also make one of our favorite pastrami sandwiches in town.

For a lot of folks living in Austin, Pieous is a pit stop on the way to Jester King or Dripping Springs. But for us, it’s worth the 30-minute drive from downtown for the pizza alone. Chewy and slightly blistered, the Neapolitan pies here are exactly what we visualize when we close our eyes and think about pizza, which happens more than we’d care to admit. Grab some pastrami as an appetizer, and then choose from over a dozen different pre-selected topping combinations, ranging from margherita and pepperoni to pepper marmalade and roasted brussels sprouts.

The first thing you’ll notice when you walk up to Side Eye Pie’s trailer at Meanwhile Brewing in South Austin is the giant, wood-fired oven bolted onto the end. It’s what gives the pizzas coming out of Side Eye Pie their signature blistered and chewy crust and floppy center, while also making the whole place look like a tiny little rocket ship. The pies here lean Neapolitan in style, with toppings ranging from classic mozzarella and basil, to a mushroom pizza topped with parma cream and some funky fontina cheese. And whether you find yourself on Team Ranch or Team Marinara for your crust pairings, we recommend getting a side of hot honey—it’s an excellent accompaniment to those blistered bits of crust.

Via 313’s signature Detroit-style pies have become a rectangular staple in Austin since 2011, and to this day they serve the same purpose as they always have—to soak up drinks during a night out. And with over half a dozen locations in the Austin area, there's a good chance you're not too far from one right now. Their pizza is thick-crusted but still nice and airy inside, with a lacy cheese skirt around the edges. We usually go with the Detroiter here—with pepperoni under and over the cheese—but we’re also fans of The Cadillac with gorgonzola, fig preserves, prosciutto, and balsamic. It can take a while when they’re busy, so plan accordingly, or just order online and strut through the crowd to the front like the VIP you are. 

Pinthouse Pizza is home to one of our favorite beers in all of Austin. But more importantly, it’s also where you’ll find some of the best pizza in town. Stylistically, it’s somewhere between a New York pie and a Neapolitan, but they just call it “hand-crafted.” They don’t offer slices, but they do make personal 10” pies, and they’re especially good topped with pepperoni and fresh basil. They have a few locations across town—the original on Burnet Road, one near Sunset Valley, and another in Round Rock—plus a spin-off called Pinthouse Brewing serving a different menu (and Sicilian-style pies that we also like, but not quite as much).

The pies at Pizzeria Grata lean Neapolitan, but with a crispier base, and a chew that we think about often. We like the sweet and spicy pizza that comes topped with sweet bacon marmalade and hot pepper relish. Pizzeria Grata is currently located inside of a mini food hall on South Lamar at Menchaca. 

Close to Dripping Springs, on a massive plot of land, Jester King has made a name for itself by brewing spontaneously fermented beers with wild yeast. So it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the pizza program here follows the same philosophy. Most of the ingredients are locally foraged or farmed—expect to find lots of seasonal, regional vegetables and herbs—and the dough is fermented with yeast from the surrounding area. As for the pizza itself—expect a soft, floppy center and a chewy, blistered crust that could hold its own against the best Neapolitan joints in town. It’s worth making the drive for the beers and the space alone, but the pizzas just sweeten the deal. 

With a hip hop-fueled playlist, dim red lights, and plenty of wine to go around, at Sammataro on West 10th Street you’ll probably feel more like you’re in a hot new nightclub than a neighborhood pizza joint. The pizzas here are on the more well-done side, with a blistered crust and a soft center, kind of like a hybrid between a New York and Neapolitan pie. They’re pricey, too, but it’s also a style that’s different from just about everywhere else in town. If you’d rather eat at home, you can order takeout from the East Side trailer where they got their start. You’ll just have to provide the lighting, music, and wine for yourself at home. 

Even on the busiest of Saturday nights, we’re willing to brave the South Congress crowds for a visit to Home Slice. The inside feels decidedly old-school—colorful, lively, and packed full of tables. If you have friends from the east coast that never stop talking about “what pizza is supposed to taste like,” this is probably one of the few places that’ll quiet them down, at least for a few minutes. They also have a second location in North Loop that offers most of the same menu, plus Sicilian pies, but the New York-style is the way to go. 

Not a lot of places can pull off as many pizza types as Pedroso’s does, and the fact that they do it all so well out of a tiny trailer is an achievement that should be celebrated. You can get a New York pizza, with a perfectly thin and chewy crust, or get it American-style for a bit more sauce and heft. And if you’re a fan of rectangles over circles, you can even get a square-cut Grandma-style. The best part of it all is that it’s parked outside of The Night Owl, a bar near Burnet and Ohlen Road, where you can grab a drink while you wait, or just bring your pizza inside (there are also a couple picnic tables outside). 

Located in a busy shopping center in West Lake Hills, Baldinucci’s giant glass viewing area is full of whole pizzas and pre-cut slices that allow you to window shop before pointing at the piece (or eight) that you want. They serve round pies, but we can’t get enough of their puffy Roman squares, preferably topped with whipped ricotta and a pile of mushrooms. With an incredible crunch and pillowy interior, it feels like some laws of science are being defied. 

The bar pies at Oddwood are exactly what you want accompanying your beer—extra-thin, crackly, and cheesy enough to be a dad joke. They’re on the smaller side, but with many toppings available, you can grab a couple of different options to pair with the many beers on draft (we like their IPAs and saisons). You can order pizza for takeout here, but this is one of the few spots where we’d recommend eating on-site—partially because the pizza is best piping hot, but also to enjoy their comfortable living room-like interior, with lots of wood, cozy lighting, and retro video games. 

From the restaurant group behind Sammie's Italian—and conveniently, right next door on West 6th—is Favorite Pizza, a retro pizzeria. It’s all exuberantly 1980s-themed, with formica countertops, tons of New York Mets memorabilia, Pizza Hut-like tiffany swag lamps, and a disco ball in the bathroom. What they’ve pulled off here is miraculous, a near-perfect facsimile of a NYC slice joint. As you might expect, they make a pretty classic New York-style pizza: big slices, crisp along the edges, yet soft and pliable enough to be folded in half. 

Sort of a cross between focaccia and a New York-style pie, the wood-fired pizzas at Pecan Square Cafe in Clarksville are oblong, lightly charred, and electrifying. There is no pizza quite like it in Austin. Pecan Square’s menu is seasonal and local, so naturally the pizzas change from month to month—more reason to pop back in and try more of them, especially the grilled kale sausage pizza with Bianco tomatoes, fontina, and black olives.