Atlanta pizza used to be best defined by its plethora of places with “New York” in their names that catered to relocated northerners. Beyond that, the pizza scene was known for multiple branches of our favorite homegrown hippie pizzeria, Mellow Mushroom, and a smattering of immigrant-owned Greek pizzerias. But when Antico Pizza Napoletana opened nearly 15 years ago, it ushered in a new wave of Neapolitan-inspired spots, and suddenly everyone knows about San Marzano tomatoes, slow-fermented doughs, and beehive ovens imported from Italy. Today, Atlanta is a shining star on the national pizza scene. Read on for our favorite restaurants, available for delivery on DoorDash.
Antico Pizza Napoletana
Atlanta’s pizza revolution dates back to 2009, when Giovanni Di Palma opened this Westside shop for carryout. Soon after, lines went out the door and around the block. Nearly 15 years in, these remarkable pizzas and calzones still thrill, thanks to their impeccable ingredients and airy crusts. The San Gennaro, with its savory marbles of sausage and sweet-spicy peppers, is an old friend that never disappoints.
Nancy’s Pizzeria
This Chicago-based restaurant is most famous for its stuffed deep-dish behemoths that hold an inch or more of gooey cheese between two crusts, with tomato sauce spread over the top, the icing on the cake. But Nancy’s also offers Chicago’s other favorite pizza style — thin-crusted and tavern-cut into squares. True Chicagoans know to lunge for the edges first.
Ecco
This longstanding Italian favorite has signature dishes that regulars love, including the fried goat cheese croquettes with cracked black pepper and honey and the lush pappardelle ribboned with braised pork. But we have a soft spot for the oblong flatbreads that are cut for snacking and sharing. A popular choice offers San Marzano tomatoes and hand-pulled mozzarella, but the one with speck, smoked ricotta, and preserved lemon has personality to burn.
Marietta Pizza Company
Sure, it’s a beautiful thing to build your own pie — maybe pepperoni, onions, and extra cheese on one side and all the veggies on the other? But where else can you build your own slice so that everyone gets precisely what they want? Not only that, but the toppings also include such standouts as fried chicken, artichoke hearts, and fresh ricotta.
Mellow Mushroom
For a generation (or two) of Atlantans, Mellow Mushroom has been synonymous with neighborhood pizza. With its malty crust (also available in a great gluten-free version), mild tomato sauce, and array of nontraditional sauces and toppings, this is the pizza you learned to love as a kid and still crave as an adult. That Funky Q Chicken pie with barbecue sauce hits the spot like nothing else.
Varuni Napoli
Imported tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, and other premium ingredients ennoble the Neapolitan pizzas here, as does the crust, with its crisp-yet-pliant texture. White pizzas — such as the Oro Bianco, with buffalo ricotta, Taleggio cheese, and pancetta — are always good, but spiceheads can never say no to the Porreca Piccante, with its lip-tingling melange of spicy sausages and hot peppers.
Rocky Mountain Pizza
The menu practically shouts game-day delivery, from the 50-count order of wings to the loaded nachos and mini corn dogs. But pizza is the star, and it’s the kind of pizza that is tasty while piping hot at the beginning of the game and still pretty great well into the fourth quarter. They’re small and inexpensive, so order a variety, such as the Allan’s Wing Pizza topped with chicken tenders and buffalo sauce and the Black Diamond, a white pie with bacon and black olives.
Slim & Husky’s Pizza
This Black-owned franchise serves unique oblong-shaped pizzas topped with artisan ingredients and served up with a welcome shot of culture. The punny menu references ’90s hip-hop and R&B tunes and artists. The Smoking Herb Salmon offers a lush combo of smoked salmon, spinach, and mushrooms with white sauce, and trust us when we say you’ll go crazy for the Cee No Green — a meat lover’s like none other.
Firepit Pizza Tavern
Owner Leslie Cohen (winner of the Food Network’s “Cutthroat Kitchen”) and chef Shaun Whitmer put a sophisticated spin on pizza at this Grant Park hang, where the menu of signature pies is complemented by eclectic yums like pesto-slathered street corn and pork belly toast. The spicy Honey Pizza with caramelized onions, capicola, honey ricotta, Calabrian chiles, and basil is pretty irresistible.
Ammazza
On the great wheel of pizza styles, Ammazza lands somewhere between bar pizza and Neapolitan, and we’re here for it. The crust has enough structure and heft to slice up and share, and the topping combinations vary from all the meats at once to wild mushrooms with goat cheese to house-made vegan cashew cheese with spicy Calabrian chiles. Good salads, too, if you’re in want of a side.
Goodfellas Pizza & Wings
This popular franchise offers some serious bang for your buck. The Goodfellas Special, available every day, is what we like to call a weeknight at home with the kids: a 14-inch pizza with two toppings, a 10-piece order of wings, and a big ol’ bottle of soda. You set the table — I’m ordering Goodfellas.
Vinny’s New York Pizza & Grill
Miss your slice shop back in New York? Then Vinny is your new fast-talking friend. You’ll love the crust, thin and foldable, and you’ll love all the options for calzones and strombolis. It even has lasagna and chicken Parm on offer. Best of all, you’ll love the slices, which are available for delivery and endlessly customizable. Fold, eat, repeat.
Emmy Squared
Detroit-style pan pizzas may have become popular in other parts of the country, but they’re still a bit hard to find in Atlanta. Emmy Squared to the rescue! The crust, crunchy with caramelized cheese, is sturdy but airy and a perfect vehicle for the kitchen’s creative toppings. The MVP sports three sauces: creamy vodka sauce, classic red sauce, and garlic-parsley pesto.
Edgewood Pizza
This Old Fourth Ward spot bills itself as the “Home of the King Slice,” which is one of those plate-fillers that must be folded before attempting to eat it. If your appetite isn’t so big or you’d like a little more variety, then have a more modest Queen Slice or two. Also, the restaurant makes a pretty baller double-crust stuffed pizza that is a beauty to behold.
Gio’s Sicilian
This follow-up to Antico Pizza Napoletana specializes in the original pan pizza: the Sicilian. These beauts are rectangular and sturdy and keeeeee-runchy on the bottom. The one with organic tomatoes, Sicilian oregano, and shoestring sweet onions is like a summery Southern tomato pie in pizza form.
Johnny’s New York Style Pizza
This local mini-chain keeps folks from Smyrna to Hapeville in every kind of dough-and-cheese mashup under the pizza umbrella. There are cheesy breadsticks, crescent-shaped stromboli, deluxe calzones filled to bursting, cauliflower and gluten-free crusts, and, of course, the signature New York-style pizzas. With all those choices, can we admit we kinda like the basic-but-perfect pepperoni best?
Brasiliana Pizza
Think about that feeling you had when you first discovered pineapple on pizza, then multiply it by 100, and you’ve got Brazilian pizza. One of the most popular pies here, the Caipira, adds many unlikely but delicious toppings: shredded chicken, bacon, corn kernels, and crisscrosses of Catupiry, a super-creamy, spreadable Brazilian cheese.
Cibo e Beve
Chef Linda Harrell’s Sandy Springs stalwart may be best known for its Italian-American dishes like meatballs in tomato sauce with ricotta and penne alla vodka, so forgive us if we sometimes forget to mention how great the pizzas are — how beautifully puffed the crusts and how high-quality the toppings are. We think the one with fresh baby arugula and silky prosciutto is the star.
The Greek Pizzeria & Gyros
Unlike other Greek pizzerias that use beef gyro meat or hamburger, here, the Greek pizza features loads of chicken gyro, along with feta, kalamata olives, and fresh tomato. Of course, if you’d rather just have a classic pita wrap, you need look no further.
Athens Pizza
This Atlanta classic takes the “Greek” seriously in its specialty pies. We love the vegetarian Santorini, with feta, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, and a not-insignificant hit of fresh garlic. But the Mediterranean, loaded with gyro meat and extra cheese, is the classic go-to so many locals crave.
Plant Based Pizzeria
The name says it all: No animals were harmed or milked in the creation of these lovely pies (which can also be ordered gluten-free). The top seller, the Georgia Peach Pizza, is a sweet-spicy symphony on a spelt crust. Roasted basil pizza sauce, Beyond Sausage, vegan mozzarella, onions, jalapeños, and peaches make very pretty — and healthy — music together.
ATL Night Pizza
So it’s the weekend. Midnight has come and gone, and when the late-night pizza craving hits, you realize our fair city doesn’t have a lot of options. This operation stays open for orders until nearly 2 a.m. on Thursday through Sunday nights and serves up some seriously legit pies, made with slow-fermented dough and premium ingredients. We recommend a Margherita for a relaxed hang and a Hot Honey Pepperoni for a party in full swing.
Pizza Bella
This Sage Hill sleeper serves pizza, wings, big salads, the cheesiest cheese bread, and the butteriest garlic bread, all soft and warm. No wonder it has fueled so many Emory students through so many term papers. The pizzas have more Neapolitan cred than you’d guess, with blistered crusts, San Marzano tomato sauce, and cured meats.
Flippin Pizza
Think of all your favorite Indian dishes, turn them into pizza, and behold: Flippin Pizza. The samosa pie has drizzles of tamarind and cilantro chutney, while the butter chicken features heaps of yogurt-marinated chicken on a base of creamy, buttery tikka sauce. There are good New York-style pies here too, if you’re feeling pepperoni.
PHOTO CREDITS:
Ammazza by Andy Lee
Brasiliana Pizza by Bailey Garrot
Courtesy of Plant Based Pizzeria
Varuni Napoli by 360 Media Inc., Cora Pursley (feature)
Varuni Napoli by Andrew Thomas Lee Photography (article)
Courtesy of Slim & Husky’s
Courtesy of Antico Pizza Napoletana
