Guide to the 2024 Best Pizza Lists
The search of this year’s leading national best pizza lists has started early. Did your pizzeria make one of this year’s top pizza lists? Making best pizza in the US, state, region or even world can be a game changer for pizzerias. Be sure to bookmark this guide and visit it often. Bookmark this page. We will be updating it with new pizza lists as they come out.
See which pizzerias are being recognized in the U.S. this year. Each “best pizza” list is based on its own criteria using expert panels, audience votes, reviews or other factors. Here are the biggest pizza lists of 2024 so far:
Eat This, Not That! Ranks Best Slice of Pizza, According to Chefs
Burrata & Hot Honey Pizza, L’Industrie, Brooklyn, NYC
New York slice famed L’Industrie nabs the No. 1 spot on Where to Get The Best Slice of Pizza in America, According to Chefs from Eat This, Not That!, a brand that’s comprised of an award-winning team of journalists and board-certified experts, doctors, nutritionists, chefs, personal trainers, and dietitians who work together to bring you accurate, timely, informative, and actionable content on food, nutrition, dieting, weight loss, health, wellness, and more.
L’Industrie’s pizzas were called “a textural masterpiece.” Also in Top 10 pizza slices spots are Ian’s Pizza in Madison, Wisconsin. Tivoli in Seattle, Wells Brothers Pizza in Racine, Wisconsin, Umberto’s in New York.
Check out the full best pizza slices list at Get The Best Slice of Pizza in America, According to Chefs.
Muhammad Abdul-Hadi, Down North Pizza, Philadelphia, PA
James Beard Awards recognizes Pizzerias, Pizza Chefs
Pizzerias are being recognized in several James Beard Award categories this year. The James Beard Awards are among the nation’s most prestigious honors recognizing leaders in the culinary and food media industries, and those in the broader food systems.
Check out these what pizzerias and pizza chefs are honorees or finalists in the James Beard Awards 2024:
Muhammad Abdul-Hadi, Founder/Owner, Down North Pizza and Down North Foundation, Philadelphia, PA, will receive the Leadership Award for Industry Culture and Practices.
Photo Courtesy of Lovely’s Fifty Fifty
Sarah Minnick, Lovely’s Fifty Fifty, Portland, OR, is a finalist for Outstanding Chef.
Tony Conte, Inferno Pizzeria Napoletana, Darnestown, MD is a finalist for the award for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic.
Honorees and category winners will be announced at the James Beard Awards® ceremonies presented by Capital One held on June 8-10 in Chicago.
Congrats also the James Beard Awards semi-finalists, including:
Chef-owner Tony Conte opened Inferno in 2015. He applies his fine-dining culinary background to his artisanal, wood-fired pizzeria.
Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program — Bufalina, Austin, TX
Best Chef by Region
California — Michael Procaccini and Stefano Procaccini, La Parolaccia, Long Beach, CA
Great Lakes — Salvador Fernandez, Bridges Craft Pizza & Wine Bar, Greencastle, IN
New York State — Scarr Pimentel, Scarr’s Pizza, New York, NY
For more about the honorees and finalists, as well as when the awards ceremony will take place, read Pizzerias, Pizza Chefs recognized at 2024 James Beard Awards.
International Pizza Challenge crowns Best Pizza winners, Pizza Maker of the Year
Tony Cerimele, owner of New Columbus Pizza Company, in Nesquehoning, Pennsylvania, is the 2024 World Champion Pizza Maker of the Year at the International Pizza Challenge during Pizza Expo (March 19-21) in Las Vegas
Pizza makers from pizzerias around the world went head-to-head to find out who makes the best pizza in the world at the International Pizza Challenge (IPC) at Pizza Expo in Las Vegas, March 19-21, 2024. This year’s Challenge included five professional pizza-making divisions and three partner competitions. In all, International Pizza Challenged welcomed 439 unique pizza competitors with a total of about 500 competition spots in the Traditional Pizza, Non-Traditional Pizza, Neapolitan/STG Pizza, Pan Pizza, World’s Best Cheese Slice divisions.
Check out these best pizza winning pizzerias:
- Tony Cerimele, owner of New Columbus Pizza Company, in Nesquehoning, Pennsylvania, is the 2024 World Champion Pizza Maker of the Year and Best Pan Pizza.
- Joe Carlucci, owner of Valentina’s Pizzeria & Wine Bar, Madison, Alabama, captures 2024 Best of the Best Pizza title.
- Andy Huynh, Cowabunga+, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, wins the World’s Best Cheese Slice.
- Vincenzo Santoro, Song e Napule, New York, New York, wins Best Neapolitan Pizza.
- Alex White, Yukon Pizza, Las Vegas, Nevada, wins Best Non-Traditional Pizza.
- Sergio Balderas, Truly Pizza, Dana Point, California, wins wins Best Traditional Pizza.
Regional Best Traditional Pizzas and Best Non-Traditional Pizzas in the Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, Northwest, Southwest and International were also recognized. For more on the International Pizza Challenge and to see more best pizza winners, go to Official International Pizza Challenge 2024 Best Pizza Winners are…
Clever identifies The Best Pizza Cities in America
Clever Real Estate names Denver among the best pizza cities, in addition to Chicago and New York.
Clever’s research went on to rank 50 Pizza Cities, The 15 Best Pizza Cities, Rankings by Category, The 10 Worst Pizza Cities and America’s Pizza Preferences.
According to Clever, they ranked “50 biggest metro areas in the U.S. using the following parameters for each city: Pizza reputation, based on a survey of 1,000 Americans; Rate of pizza restaurants per 100,000 residents; Pizza passion, based on local internet search activity for 34 pizza-related terms (e.g., “pizza near me,” “pizza delivery,” “pan pizza,” etc.); Average Yelp rating for pizza restaurants; Average price of a large cheese pizza; Average price of a large pepperoni pizza; Share of median annual income required to purchase one cheese pizza each week for a year; and Share of median annual income required to purchase one pepperoni pizza each week for a year.”
Go to Clever’s The Best Pizza Cities in America: 2024 Data.
Top 100 Pizza Spots according to Yelp Elites 2024
Yelp has just released its list Top 100 Pizza Spots. Pizzerias on the list were selected by Yelp Elite Squad. Who are these Yelp Elites? According to Yelp’s Support Center, “The Yelp Elite Squad is our way of recognizing people who are active in the Yelp community and role models on and off the Yelp site. Elite-worthiness is based on a number of things, including well-written reviews, high quality photos, a detailed personal profile, and a history of playing well with others.”
Lombardi’s Pizza, New York
For the Top 100 pizza list, Yelp compiled the list according to this: “This is an all-time list of the Top Pizza Spots in the US, according to Yelp Elites. We identified businesses in the pizza category on Yelp, then ranked those spots using a number of factors, including the total volume and number of 5-star reviews each business had that were written by members of the Yelp Elite Squad.”
- Pequod’s Pizzeria, Chicago, Illinois
- Bestia, Los Angeles, California
- Lombardi’s Pizza, New York, New York
Find out who else made the Top 100, go to the Top 100 Pizza Spots according to Yelp Elites 2024.
35 Pizzerias to Watch in 2024
Our 35 pizzerias to watch this year was hand selected by Pizza Today, taking into account factors like total operation, from sales and employee programs to community outreach and marketing. We asked independent pizzeria owners to submit their businesses for consideration in our Pizzerias to Watch list. We received hundreds of outstanding submissions. To name a few:
- Abbiocco Pizzeria, Indianapolis, Indiana AbbioccoPizzeria.com
- Dedham House of Pizza, Dedham, Massachusetts www.dedhamhouseofpizza.com
- Mattenga’s Pizzeria, Schertz, Texas mattengas.com/
- Old Town Pizza, Auburn, California www.otpizza.net
- Slice Pizza & Brew, Birmingham, AL https://www.slicebirmingham.com/
Check out the entire 35 Pizzerias to Watch in 2024 feature.
Stay tuned. More best pizza lists will be added as they are published.
