101 Best Pizza Places 2020

Well, this was an interesting year for sure. After March, it was hard to travel to visit pizzerias on our lists. Pizzerias closed, and some reopened. Some adjusted to increased demands for take out or outdoor eating. Some are now open with limited capacity for indoor dining. Pizza tours stopped, online pizza classes became popular. Pizzas were delivered to front line workers. How would it be possible to pick the top 101 pizza places in the US this year? We didn’t know if there would be a new list.

We were excited to see the new list come out in September, right on schedule. This year, the list is slightly different. It’s focused more on women-run and Black-owned businesses, and the list isn’t as focused on the main “pizza cities”. The pizzerias listed on the 101 spread across the US more evenly, as you’ll see below. In many ways this is great to see, however, it also means that we probably won’t get to visit most of them, at least for a while.

101 Best Pizza Places (2020) : places in bold are new to the list in 2020!

#101 Settebello, Salt Lake City, UT
#100 Wilson Pizza and Grill, Kansas City, KS
#99 Adriano’s Brick Oven, Glenwood, IA
#98 DeLuca’s Pizzeria, Hot Springs, AR
#97 Moose’s Tooth Pub and Pizzeria, Anchorage, AK
#96 Pizza Paradiso, Washington DC
#95 Timber Pizza Company, Washington DC
#94 Cloverleaf Pizza, Eastpointe, MI
#93 Jay’s Artisan Pizzeria, Buffalo, NY
#92 Monza Pizza Bar, Charleston, SC
#91 Pizza Stone’d, Las Vegas, NV
#90 Micucci’s Grocery, Portland, ME
#89 Terita’s Pizza, Columbus, OH
#88 Frank and Helen’s, University City, MO
#87 Last Dragon Pizza, Queens, NY
#86 Slab, Portland, ME
#85 CRUST, Miami, FL
#84 Zoli’s NY Pizza, Addison, TX
#83 Inferno Pizzeria Napoletana, Darnestown, MD
#82 Bonci, Chicago, IL
#81 Cuts and Slices, Brooklyn, NY
#80 Pizza di Joey, Baltimore, MD
#79 Pizza Bruno, Orlando, FL
#78 Pizza Delicious, New Orleans, LA
#77 Young Joni, Minneapolis, MN
#76 EVO Pizzeria, Charleston, SC
#75 Chef’s Cut Pizzeria, Louisville, KY
#74 O4W Pizza, Deluth, GA
#73 TriBecca Allie Cafe, Sardis, MS
#72 Ken’s Artisan Pizza, Portland, OR
#71 Zaffiro’s Pizza, Milwaukee, WI
#70 Perreca’s Bakery, Schenectady, NY
#69 Food and Drink, Reno, NV
#68 PizzaLeah, Windsor, CA
#67 Al Forno, Providence, RI
#66 Emmy Squared, Brooklyn, NY
#65 Cheese Board Pizza, Berkeley, CA
#64 Pizza Den, Princeton, NJ
#63 Pizza Shackamaxon, Philadelphia, PA
#62 Pepperoni Ray’s Cafe, New Orleans, LA
#61 Pizza Rock, Las Vegas, NV
#60 Serious Pie, Seattle, WA
#59 Mother Bear’s Pizza, Bloomington, IN
#58 Santillo’s Brick Oven Pizza, Elizabeth, NJ
#57 Loui’s Pizza, Hazel Park, MI
#56 Home Slice Pizza, Austin, TX
#55 Triple Jay’s Pizza, Atlanta, GA
#54 Bambino’s Urban Pizzeria, Colorado Springs, CO
#53 The Missing Brick, Indianapolis, IN
#52 Plant Based Pizzeria, Atlanta, GA
#51 Audrey Jane’s Pizza Garage, Boulder, CO
#50 Metro Pizza, Las Vegas, NV
#49 Scarr’s, NYC, NY
#48 Pizzeria Mozza, Los Angeles, CA
#47 BAR, New Haven, CT
#46 Vito and Nicks, Chicago, IL
#45 Zuppardi’s Apizza, West Haven, CT
#44 Juliana’s Pizza, Brooklyn, NY
#43 Colony Grill, Stamford, CT
#42 Rubirosa, NYC, NY
#41 Cane Rosso, Dallas, TX
#40 Tilton House of Pizza, Tilton, NH
#39 Pizzeria Beddia, Philadelphia, PA
#38 L&B Spumoni Gardens, Brooklyn, NY
#37 Louie and Ernie’s Pizza, Bronx, NY
#36 Star Tavern, Orange, NJ
#35 Supino Pizza, Detroit, MI
#34 DeSano Pizzeria, Nashville, TN
#33 Angelo’s Picnic Pizza, Antioch, TN
#32 L’industrie Pizzeria, Brooklyn, NY
#31 Nomad Pizza Company, Philadelphia, PA
#30 Di Fara, Brooklyn, NY
#29 Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, San Fransisco, CA
#28 Apizza Scholls, Portland, OR
#27 Forno Rossa Pizzeria Napoletana, Chicago, IL
#26 Roberta’s, Brooklyn, NY
#25 Galleria Umberto, Boston, MA
#24 ZuriLee, Brooklyn, NY
#23 Cibo, Phoenix, AZ
#22 Lou Malnati’s, Chicago, IL
#21 Joe’s Pizza, NYC, NY
#20 Pizzeria Delfina, San Fransisco, CA
#19 Lombardi’s, New York, NY
#18 Patsy’s, NYC, NY
#17 Lovely’s Fifty Fifty, Portland, OR
#16 Modern Apizza, New Haven, CT
#15 Paulie Gee’s, Brooklyn, NY
#14 Pizzeria Bianco, Phoenix, AZ
#13 Cart-Driver, Denver, CO
#12 Prince Street Pizza, NYC, NY
#11 Smiling with Hope, Reno, NV
#10 Piece, Chicago, IL
#9 Sally’s Apizza, New Haven, CT
#8 Lucali, Brooklyn, NY
#7 Santarpio’s, Boston, MA
#6 Buddy’s Pizza, Detroit, MI
#5 Slim and Husky’s Pizza Beeria, Nashville, TN
#4 Razza Pizza, Jersey City, NJ
#3 John’s of Bleecker, NYC, NY
#2 Pequod’s, Chicago, IL
#1 Frank Pepe Pizza Napoletana, New Haven, CT

In general, this list is nearly identical to last year’s list. Most of the pizza places that were on the 2019 list have just shifted one spot up or down. There are a few notable differences, though, and 31 new pizzerias, which is many more than in previous years. This is probably because of the efforts of the team to include more diverse locations and owners.

There are also 5 new places that are in the top 25! Usually from year to year we would see one or two, max. In 2019, there were no new top 25 pizzerias. Slim & Husky’s looks good, but is it really top 5 material? I highly doubt that it’s better than some of the other pizzas that have now dropped standing. Smiling with Hope pizza looks legit, though, and has us thinking another trip to Nevada when Covid is over.

Actually, it may be a good time to take another pizza road trip across the midwest. Mom, Dad – want to take the boys for a couple of weeks while we do this??

Other changes: Coalfire, which was as highly ranked as #9, is off the list again. Last year it was solidly at #40. A few of our favorite NYC slice joints and pizzerias have been left off this year – Paulie Gee’s Slice Shop, Mama’s TOO, Totonno’s, Emily (which is so much better than Emmy Squared, in our opinion), and Una Pizza Napoletana. But there are plenty of others still solidly on this year’s list – L’industrie, Louie and Ernie’s, L&B Spumoni, Scarr’s, Lucali, Juliana’s, John’s of Bleecker. Pizzeria Beddia has fallen a bit this year, as has Di Fara. We haven’t been to either recently but they are always on our list of favorites.

And, as always, glad to see that Frank Pepe’s is still at #1. It’s the best pizza in the US, and there’s a reason that it was the one pizza that we drove to pick up during our early months of quarantine, essentially risking our lives. Still not quite sure why Razza is hanging in there near the top, though.