The thing about pizza is that it’s always there for you; it’s easy-going, cosy, and familiar—even when it absolutely scorches the roof of your mouth.
The other thing about pizza is that everyone is an expert. Friendships have no doubt ended in arguments over how much crunch a base ought to have, or how much stretch mozzarella should bring. Sydney has a pretty diverse pizza landscape, drawing in Neapolitan-Approved AVPN pizza, deep-dish pizzas, traditional and trendy pies, plant-based slices, and more.
From classic Neapolitan slices to NYC-style pies, here's where to find the best pizza in Sydney.
Westwood Pizza
Newtown
Newtown’s Westwood has made a name for itself in Sydney's wood-fired pizza game. Owner Mitchell Westwood (whose Sydney resume includes other top-billing pizza joints on this list like Queen Margherita of Savoy and Bella Brutta) prides himself on simplicity and using the highest quality, sustainably sourced Aussie ingredients. As for what you should try from the flavour-packed, minimalist menu served from a retro milk bar front? Anyone who’s had the pleasure will immediately point you in the direction of the garlic-honey pizza made with confit garlic oil, fermented garlic honey, fior di latte cheese, and sheep’s milk pecorino. This spot's walk-in only with limited space (so takeaway is the main game).
Pizzeria Da Alfredo
Glebe
Pizzeria Da Alfredo is the vision of Alfredo Repole who came to Sydney from Naples to start a pizza shop. He had a two-and-a-half tonne oven shipped over in one piece and can still be found every night behind the counter spinning dough into glistening artworks. "I don't have a pizza chef to do pizza for me. I need the pizza to be authentic," he says. These guys are purists. "You’re on the other side of the world but it’s just like home", restaurant manager Nino Di Donato quips to us as we sit down.
Here, they really have a dedication to the craft and a refusal to compromise on anything but the best. While you can order antipasti, pastas, and salads, the real attraction is the pizza—think a gooey mozzarella-topped margherita, a salty number with anchovies, olives and capers, and the classic fried Neopolitan street food, calzone fritta. Simply said, Pizzeria Da Alfredo is a must for any Sydney-based pizza pilgrim.
Bella Brutta
Newtown
At the point where King Street really starts to get into its stride sits Bella Brutta. Run by a crew of seasoned hospitality pros, Bella Brutta isn't about an authentic Italian experience, but it does sling some of the top slices in town, which come out pillowy, crispy, and pocked with splotches of bubbling char. The mortadella and the pepperoni are certainly crowdpleasers, but the big draw here is the clam pizza, with pecorino, fermented chilli, garlic and parsley.
La Coppola
Redfern
La Cappola is a little trattoria dominated by the roaring wood-fired oven where owner Stefano Scopelliti has been impressing locals with his pizzas (and moustache) for three decades. The dishes here take a lot of inspiration from the flavours of Sicily, and tend to bend the rules a little bit away from the traditionalist lean—check out the Melanzana with fried eggplant and Parmigiano, or the Zafferia with spicy pancetta and a knot of burrata on top. La Coppola also makes its own gluten-free dough if you're going with a gluten-intolerant mate.
Matteo
CBD and Double Bay
With the OG Matteo in Double Bay and its slick sister venue Matteo Downtown on Bond Street in the CBD, owners Eddy Levy and Adam Abrams have Sydney in a very dreamy Italian-style stronghold. Each venue has its own style and take on pizza—at the Amalfi-inspired outpost in Double Bay, it's yeast-free, twice-proofed pizzas, while in the city, pizzaiola Marco Terracciano wields techniques he learned in his native Naples. The dough is proofed over 48 hours and cooked in 410° temps for a light, crispy base.
Dimitri’s Pizzeria
Darlinghurst
Dimitri's is all about the 100% sourdough bases, showcasing a mix of traditional combinations as well as their own spins like the Devo with spuds, caramelised onion, house mozzarella, rosemary, herbed ricotta and pancetta, or The Bogan Rosa with marinated onion, rosemary, macadamia, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. There's a fun wine list packed with minimal-intervention drops, as well as local craft brews.
Verace Pizzeria
Macquarie Park
If the Pizza World Championships Australia are anything to go by, one of the best pizzas in the entire world can be found in Macquarie Park. Verace Pizzeria owner Stefano Cirene has put together a world-class team of chefs (and pizza acrobats) from Italy who add more trinkets to the trophy cabinet each year and, look, the proof is in the pizza. They’re not ones to cling to tradition either, offering up specials with eggplant-cream bases or stacked with black truffle. The all-important margherita is the main attraction, but Verace also offers an excellent potato pizza and a prosciutto one, which is a firm local fave.
City Oltra
Haymarket
A general rule for bricks-and-mortar restaurants: if they started life as a pop-up, they're going to be good. So it goes for City Oltra, which began life slinging pizzas as a pop-up outside Poor Toms Gin Hall. Now, City Oltra is pumping out golden discs in the Eddy Avenue precinct tucked under Central Station, serving epic round classic pizzas, deeper square pizzas, and tasty starters and sides (with gluten-free on the cards, too). There's always a special on the go spotlighting super seasonal ingredients, but you can't go wrong with the thicc square-style Salami Squared with salami, caramelised onion, ricotta, chilli and red sauce.
My Mother's Cousin
Bexley North
My Mother's Cousin is Sydney’s pizza palace paying homage to a very real but very secret, immaculately dressed relative with a receding hairline. The pizza and wings parlour is inspired by New York’s pizza culture, which means you will absolutely find a pepperoni spread made with their very own pepperoni (made by an artisan butcher), and a fit-out that emulates the East Coast’s pizza parlours of the '40s and '50s. Expect to find classic pies made to perfection; think 15-inch pepperoni pizzas and others loaded with Italian sausage, prawns and 'nduja, and roasted veggies.
Marta
Rushcutters Bay
Trying to track down a pizza like the one you had in Rome? Marta dishes up true Romana pizzas in a seamless indoor-outdoor, communal-yet-intimate space embodies the energy and theatre of the famous drinking holes in Rome. You can get everything from cacio e pepe to eggplant parmigiana here—but we reckon you can't go past the rectangular pizzas. Sit outside, order a spritz, and tuck into pizzas topped with mortadella and Tuscan kale, spicy salami and mozzarella, and potato and truffle paste and we guarantee you'll be transported back to the capital's cobblestoned streets in no time.
Rosso Pomodoro
Balmain and Bondi Junction
Balmain's much-loved Italian bolthole, Rosso Pomodoro, and its sibling also deserves a nod. Expect all the classics—Margherita, prosciutto, capricciosa—made with the best Italian cheeses, fresh tomato, and cured meats. The Della Casa, topped with fior di latte, Italian sausage, hot salami, spinach, and parmesan, is a particular highlight, and there are four vegan pizzas, too.
Pocket Pizza
Brookvale and Manly
At Pocket Pizza, you can expect red-and-white-checkered tablecloths and vintage neon signage, designed as a salute to NYC's Little Italy. There are vintage arcade games, a cosy retro-style bar, walls plastered with photographs, and stained-glass lampshades. There's a lightly spiced Netflix and Chill pizza with fior di latte, Ndjua, ricotta, salami, chilli, and honey. The margherita pizza with vodka sauce is also a winner, as is the truffle mushroom Funghitown and the Big Mac-inspired Return of the Mac. Pocket Pizza is allergy and vegan-friendly, with gluten-free pizza bases available and a vegan cheese substitute on the menu too.
Rosso Antico Pizza Bar
Newtown
Veteran restaurateur Ricardo Tedesco puts pizza at the heart of everything, including Rosso Antico. His 73-year-old mother owned restaurants around Sydney and still pumps out five kilos of gnocchi each morning by hand. "I grew up in the heydey of [Italian] restaurants in Sydney", he says. "Then I saw a lot of people starting places that steered away from what I consider traditional. When I opened, I wanted to strip it all back and make it as traditional as possible." The passion here is real, with all ingredients except fresh produce brought in from Italy and everything else hand-picked by Tedesco, and it makes for darn good pizza. There are 17 pizzas on the menu—we recommend the Tartufo with fior di latte, Italian sausage, porcini and truffle paste.
Gigi Pizzeria
Enmore
No-nonsense Italian fare is the name of the game at Gigi Pizzeria. A long-time Newtown favourite, Gigi's serves both traditional and gourmet pizzas, cooked up in their giant woodfire oven—and they're completely vegan. Gigi's bases are made in the traditional Neapolitan method, with 'cheese' made in house. Winning pizzas include the Salsiccia e Broccoli with Beyond sausage, garlic and chilli sautéed broccoli, tree nut ricotta, mozzarisella, and green vie parmesan, and the Peperone Rosso that's topped with San Marzano tomato, red capsicum, capers, chilli, olive tapenade and oregano.
Lucio Pizzeria
Darlinghurst and Zetland
Born and raised in Naples, Lucio De Falco isn’t messing around when it comes to bringing truly authentic Italian flavours to Sydney—and he's the vice president Australasia of the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, the ruling body that awards authentic status to Naples-style pizzerias worldwide. At Lucio Pizzeria you’ll find pasta, antipasti, and Italian desserts alongside the hero pizzas. Make sure you order the margherita, which won De Falco first place at the 2018 Campionato Mondiale Della Pizza in Parma, Italy.
DOC Pizza
Surry Hills
Two things we know are bound to spark controversy: whether Sydney is, in fact, a better city than Melbourne and, who makes the best pizza in Sydney. Here to fire up a bit of debate on both topics is DOC., a pizza institution from our rival city that has made its way to the streets of Surry Hills. With pizzas that have been evolving since the late '60s, D.O.C 's approach to pizza is centred on simplicity and authenticity, as well as crispy and springy pizza bases, and simple topping combinations that don’t overload the crust. Think doughy discs loaded with wild mushrooms and truffle oil, chilli prawns, and San Daniele prosciutto and mozzarella.
La Bufala
Mascot
La Bufala boasts an impressively extensive menu of pizzas with every option your hungry heart desires: 13 red-based, 10 white-based, and three calzones, and four vegan pizzas. The magic here is all in the process of making its pizza dough, which is naturally risen for 48 hours. The pizzeria uses Type 1 stone-ground flour which retains the natural element of the wheat husk, making it higher in fibre and easier to digest—something all our stomachs are collectively cheering about right now.
Fermento
Darlinghurst
You can tell by the name that the pizzas at Fermento are the real deal—rich, savoury and truly tasting of the wheat from which they were made. The pizza selection here is topped simply with the best ingredients, in combos like the Gricia-inspired Romana with guanciale, pecorino Romano DOP and cracked pepper, or the summery prawns and zucchini with chilli prawns, semi-dried tomatoes and salsa verde.
Da Orazio Pizza + Porchetta
Bondi
Orazio D'Elia's eponymous Da Orazio slings mighty fine pizza and plenty of vibes. Here, it's all about the Neapolitan woodfired pizza, all the flavours you'd expect from an authentic Italian pizza restaurant like capriccosa, Diavola, and marinara, as well as antipasto plates, a few pasta dishes, salads, and focaccia con porchetta. Next door, you'll find the restaurant's "side bar", Orazietto, which seats 40 and offers the same menus as the adjoining venue—but it is exclusively for walk-ins. So, if you find yourself hungry in Bondi without a booking, make a beeline here.
Queen Margherita Of Savoy
Cronulla
A short stroll from Cronulla Beach sits one of the best pizza restaurants in all of Sydney: Queen Margherita of Savoy. The authentic Neapolitan pizzeria has three very simple rules its patrons must follow in exchange for wonderful pizza: one size only, no pineapple, and no half-half. The bases are meticulously hand-stretched then cooked in a wood-burning oven directly on stone, with a charred crust and base to accentuate its flavours as a chargrill would. On the menu, you’ll find an amazing range of pizze rosse with crushed San Marzano tomatoes, and pizze bianche with for di latte. There are three vegan option pizzas, too.
Angry Tony’s
Darlington and Mascot
Now, great pizza doesn’t have to be traditional. Angry Tony’s is just that: sloppy, down-and-dirty goodness that is the perfect accompaniment to any boozy evening (especially as it's takeaway only). That being said, they take quality seriously here and all produce is locally sourced. Go for the signature Angry Tony which is a total firework of flavour with chipotle, mozzarella, pepperoni, salami, capsicum and chilli flakes, or our personal favourite, the Big Cheese—enough said.
Society Pizzeria
Bondi
Sicilian brother-and-sister team Jonathan Faro and Vittoria Wynne can usually be found cracking jokes with the restaurant's regulars, advising newcomers on what to eat, and of course, serving pizza. That's what makes Society so great. Food-wise, expect Sicilian-style pizza like the Gamberi with prawn and chilli pizza, the Siciliana with fior di latte, eggplant, ricotta and Grana Padano, and the white-based Don Luca with cherry tomatoes, hot cacciatore and ricotta. Our rec: take away and enjoy your pizza by the beach for the best seat in the house.
Amoretti's
Abbotsbury and Narellan
Loaded bruschetta, garlic crusts, camembert pillows, and wild mushroom risotto are all fine things at Abbotsbury's Amoretti's—but, really, you're here for the cheesy, piping-hot wood-fired pies here. This Italian diner serves up some of the best pizza in this pocket of Western Sydney; think garlicky king prawns, rosemary and potato, and prosciutto and figs sprinkled onto dough and thrown into the wood-fired oven until blistering.
Al Taglio
Surry Hills
The pizza at Al Taglio is beautifully crisp with a playful take on toppings, flavour and style. Owner Enrico Sgarbossa learned his trade at the famous Compagnia Della Pizza restaurant on the east coast of Italy but, in spite of this, Enrico is not a traditionalist. He uses type 1 flour, where most others use type 00, giving the pizza a fuller, rougher texture. He tops his bases with things like basil paste, stir-fried leeks, Japanese mayo, and is even a whizz with the vegan cheese, too.
Pizza Madre
Marrickville
Pizza Madre is a little 35-seater from the guys behind that other plant-based Marrickville institution, Two Chaps. Here they’ve constructed a vegetarian pizza joint based on the same principles of using seasonally available local ingredients, and nothing here has meat on it—but you really won't miss it when you take a bite. All the rules are chucked out when it comes to pizza dough, which is made with a blend of three kinds of flour and undergoes a three-day fermentation process with native yeasts for a subtle sourdough tartness. Everything is kept very simple with a concise menu and a tiny selection of drinks.
Vacanza
Surry Hills and Bronte
You can hardly walk through Surry Hills without being bewitched by the smell of some seriously tasty pizza, but Vacanza has managed to hold its own against stiff competition for several years now. Originating in Bronte in 2010, Vacanza was founded by Nick Gilbert, a self-confessed pizza fanatic who learned the art of the pie in Southern Italy and brought his well-honed skills back home. The menus embody the Italian belief that when it comes to toppings, less is more. A favourite around these parts is the Diavola but, for the traditionalists, margherita is what Vacanza does best.
Prefer your pizza Neapolitan-approved? Here's our guide to Sydney's only AVPN pizzas.
Image credit: D.O.C. Pizzeria