Miami is known for its vibrant culture and diverse culinary scene, but I wanted to see if the city had embraced the art of pizza-making yet. I had serious doubts about this when I first set out to find the best pizza in Miami.
But these doubts turned into hope within my first week of living in Brickell, when the first pizza I tried was at DC Pie Co. While this extremely thin crust pizza isn’t atop any of my best Miami pizza categories, it was certainly good enough to get me excited for this endeavor. And two months later I had settled on this Miami pizza list.
Here are my picks for the best Miami pizza, broken down by pizza style, with some honorable mentions.
If you are a regular of places like Steve’s or Pizza Johnny’s (both are ok slices at a much more reasonable price), then the high prices for most of these might affect your thoughts on them. But I did not use price or affordability as a factor in my list, just my opinions on the best pizza in Miami.
Table of Contents
Best New York Style Pizza in Miami
Miami Slice
Miami Slice opened during the pandemic and immediately went viral on social media for having perhaps the best NY style pizza in Miami (and this is in fact my pick for Miami’s best pizza slice). This quickly led to long lines of people waiting for 5pm when they open.
I stick to the basics and prefer the Margherita or the Pepperoni. But the La Salsera, made with both red and vodka sauce and topped with a pesto drizzle, is the slice that helped make them famous. They also offer a bacon and leek slice and a mushroom truffle. You can add stracciatella to any slice, which is a delicious and popular (but expensive) option. And if you order the pepperoni slice, I highly suggest getting a side of hot honey.
Tip: Get to Miami Slice before 5pm to add your name to the walk-in list and then head across the street to Bunbury wine bar while you wait.
Lucali
Lucali is consistently named as the best pizza in New York as well as among the best pizza in the country. And now they have opened a second location in Miami Beach. While it’s impossible to recreate the original, this location still has the quality that makes it the best pizza in Miami Beach.
Start with a plain pie and add your choice of toppings that include artichoke hearts, portobello mushrooms, peppers, meatballs, pepperoni, sausage, and more. Supplement your pizza with a side dish of meatballs. Or the chicken wings are surprisingly good for a place that really has no business having wings on the menu. If you don’t want pizza, the calzones are a phenomenal choice. There are typically some daily pasta specials, but they offer no reason to deviate from what you should come here for – the pizza and calzones.
Best Neapolitan Pizza in Miami
La Leggenda Pizzeria
Nestled just down the street from most places on the charming Española Way, La Leggenda Pizzeria serves up the best Neapolitan-style pizzas in Miami. Offerings include award-winners such as its Margherita (dubbed the “Best Traditional Pizza in World” by Pizza World Championship in 2012, Parma) and Salame and Bell Peppers (awarded “Best Traditional Pizza in World” by Pizza Challenge in 2012, Las Vegas, NV). Sure, a lot of time has gone by since then, but this is still the place to go for Neapolitan pizza in Miami Beach.
Stanzione 87
Stanzione 87 offers authentic Neapolitan pizzas made with 72-hour fermented dough and cooked in a wood burning oven. While Mister01 and DC Pie Co seem to garner larger crowds, this is probably the best pizza in Brickell.
They offer a large selection of red or white pizzas, with intriguing options like:
- Burrata: homemade mozzarella, basil, parmigiano and olive oil topped with fresh burrata cheese
- Spezzatura: mushrooms, San Danielle prosciutto, and homemade mozzarella with a cream sauce.
- Carbonara: cream, pecorino, black pepper, homemade mozzarella, bacon, and egg yolk
O'Munaciello
O’Munaciello brings the culture of Pizza Verace to Miami with its authentic Neapolitan pizzas. The crust is made with 48-hour leavened dough, topped with carefully selected toppings and cheese, then baked in a wood-fired oven. Its Pizze Classiche such as Quattro Formaggi and Marinara, as well as its Pizze Gourmet such as Carmine and Positano are not to be missed.
Best Square Pizza in Miami
Vice City Pizza
Founded in 2021 by classically trained Chef Carlos Estarita, Vice City Pizza brings Detroit style pizza to the Miami area. If you’re a tourist, it’s highly unlikely you’ll make it out here unless you’re making a trip to the Gulf Coast along the Tamiami Trail. But if you do find yourself heading this way, its well worth the small detour off the highway.
The dough is made with bread flour that is fermented over two days to create a crispy, airy crust, topped with Jersey Fresh tomatoes and house blends of high-quality cheeses.
Try interesting concoctions like the Ron Swanson, made with Neuskey bacon, pepperoni, banana peppers, homemade fennel sausage and Mike’s Hot Honey. Or there is one called The Hash, a brunch style pizza made with mozzarella, potatoes, peppers, pancetta, and egg yolk.
Old Greg's Pizza
Like Miami Slice, Old Greg’s began as a pandemic pop-up pizza shop and became a social media sensation. But in this case, it was their square slices that created the craze. The crust is airy, often described as a focaccia like crust.
Old Greg’s has since found a permanent location near the Design District and added round pizza, appetizers, and hoagies. Though the square pie is still my recommended order, people love the chicken Caesar hoagie (I can’t vouch for this because my taste buds automatically classify anything with Caesar dressing on it as a yuk) but I did like chicken parm hoagie. Old Greg’s round pie would rank in my 2nd tier of NY Style slices, not too far past the one’s I mention above.
Note: Old Greg’s has had some negative reviews related to cost and slow service. While the cost is quite expensive (as it is for most places on this list) I have found that service has improved since the early growing pains of launching the brick-and-mortar location.
Eleventh Street Pizza
Helmed by native New Yorker David Foulquier and his partner, Danielle Hultman, Eleventh Street Pizza specializes in pizzas made using traditional NY-style practices and organic ingredients. The naturally leavened dough is made using a seven-year-old sourdough starter.
Two hippies with a love of pizza spawned their #PizzaAndLove tagline. Similar to Old Greg’s, they also offer a round NY style pizza which is also quite good which I put somewhere in my 2nd tier.
Eleventh Street Pizza is a great spot if you’re a tourist staying in downtown Miami as it’s potentially walkable or just two blocks west of the Metromover station.
Tip: If you want to order a whole pie, I suggest stopping by The Corner, a bar next door with great cocktails, live jazz, and a cool vibe while you wait.
Prince Street Pizza
Like Lucali and Joe’s, Prince Street Pizza expanded to Miami from New York City. And their iconic square slices have been a favorite in NYC for a while. And as much as I still love the Sicilian slices at the original location, I feel the expansion (which also includes several locations in California) has watered down its allure. Maybe there’s nostalgia involved, or maybe they aren’t necessarily trying to exactly recreate the original, but the transformation towards being a chain makes it barely hang onto a position on my list of best Miami pizza.
With that said, Prince Street is still on my list for best Sicilian slices in Miami. The Spicy Spring (their version of pepperoni slice but with Fra Diavolo sauce) is an automatic go-to. Or try something a little more off-the-run with the Spicy Vodka with prosciutto.
Best Pizza in Miami - Honorable Mention
Editor Pizza
Editor Pizza’s signature Brooklyn-style pies feature a dough proofed for 48 hours, then hand-tossed, covered with homemade sauce and topped with local and Italian ingredients. With this winning combination, Editor Pizza serves up tasty 16-inch pizzas such as Prosciutto, made with flavorful slivers of Italian ham dry-aged for 24-months, and Calzone, a folded pizza stuffed with ham, tomato sauce, mozzarella and ricotta.
With a dimmed atmosphere and a full menu of salad, antipasti, pastas, and main entrees, Editor has the feel a restaurant that happens to make good pizza, rather than a pizza shop. And it might have the best pizza in South Beach.
Local Pie
There are a few reasons to make the drive out to Kendall, and Local Pie is one of them. It looks, feels, and truly is a local neighborhood pizza joint. In fact, it’s so local that when I stopped by during a slow afternoon, the owner Eric Huertas asked if I was new to the area as he hadn’t met me before.
I relayed that I had heard he makes the best pizza in Kendall from local food influencer MrEats305, and we proceeded to chat for the next 20 minutes. In this short time, I learned we both have similar aged kids at home and that his wife runs the non-profit coffee shop next door. And I decided that if I ever moved to the area, I was most certainly going to try set up playdates for our kids. Only in my research after this encounter did I also learn that he has donated pizza to local kids’ events and he and his wife are involved in the community. If it sounds like I have a man-crush, it’s probably because I do. But when the word owner has its own keyword in the Google reviews, you know it’s genuine.
If you want to support local businesses, come to Local Pie in Kendall. And make sure to add on an order of the garlic rolls!
Pro Tip: Another reason to drive out to Kendall is Apocalypse BBQ, which is my pick for the best BBQ in the Maimi area.
Mister O1 Extraordinary Pizza
Multiple Locations
Mister O1 Extraordinary Pizza opened its first shop in South Beach in 2014 and has now grown to 13 locations throughout Florida plus a few Texas and even a couple international franchises. Mister 01 (pronounced “Oh-One”) is named such because Chef Renato Viola came to settle in Miami Beach under the O1 Visa category, reserved for those with “Extraordinary Artistic Ability” of internationally acclaimed fame. He achieved this after many years of apprenticing under great Italian pizza makers in his home country and then winning pizza awards of his own.
While they serve traditional pizza here, Mister 01 is known for his star shaped pizzas. These are made with cuts into the crust and then folding them over to create pockets that are filled with ricotta cheese. The most popular of these is the Star Luca, made with spicy salami.
Or for a vegetarian choice, try the Star Michele, made with Italian tomato sauce, ricotta, mozzarella, spinach, zucchini and roasted peppers.
Ben's Pizza
One of the least likely places I expected to find great pizza is nestled in the middle of the touristy Bayside Marketplace of downtown Maimi. But like Times Square, another touristy area that locals avoid like the plague, there are some decent food spots.
Ben’s is a NY style slice only shop and is a good place for a traditional Classic Cheese or Pepperoni Char Cup slice. Since I can’t seem to stop the NY references in this post, I compare Ben’s Pizza to the New York staple of Joe’s Pizza. They are both very solid slices, but I would get them when I’m in the area for convenience’s sake rather than going out of my way for it.
Andiamo! Brick Oven Pizza
Andiamo opened in a converted vintage tire shop in 2001. And that pretty much makes Andiamo the Godfather of pizza joints on this list, which also happens to be the name of one of their most popular pizzas (made with Italian sausage, pepperoni, meatballs, onions, peppers, mushrooms, and olives).
And this longevity means they have built up a loyal customer base over the years.
DC PIE CO.
Dominic Cavagnuolo grew up in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn. Decades later, he helped his cousin open Lucali Miami.
Now out on his own, DC PIE CO.’s brick oven pizza creations are inspired by the Italian food culture of his home in New York. The result is a very thin crust pizza with a signature sauce made fresh daily from locally sourced ingredients and topped with three types of cheeses – Italian imported mozzarella di bufala, fresh mozzarella, and 18-month aged Parmigiano-Reggiano. Fresh basil is then placed on top.
Freehold is a cafe & coffee shop, bar, and hangout spot that also happens to serve the best NY style pizza in Wynwood.
Freehold is currently closed for renovations but is scheduled to reopen in November.
