Whether you're talking about Neapolitan, sourdough, deep-dish pie, stuffed crust or calzone, pizza is a universal language. And there are very few occasions when a pizza wouldn't fit the bill — it's great with mates, it's great with dates and you can even get it in fancy Italian restaurants, too. But we're not the only one to hold this opinion, which is probably why Toronto is stuffed to the gills with brilliant pizza places dishing up all kinds of slices to hungry city dwellers.
And it stands to reason that in a city that's as food-focused as Toronto, you'd find some seriously good pizza. Take all that culinary creativity, chuck it at a dish that's stood the test of time and the results were always going to be mind-bendingly delicious. And, let's face it — even when you have all the gear and all the pizza recipe ideas, you're never going to be able to beat one made by a true pizzaiolo.
Whether you're after age-old classics; full-frontal and fully loaded; or gluten-free pizza that still delivers on taste, these pizzas are where it's at. And they're all available to order for takeout or delivery, so no disappointments here. Without further ado, here are the best places to eat pizza in Toronto.
22 places serving up the best pizza in Toronto
Pizzeria Badiali
181 Dovercourt Road
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There's always a lineup outside this West Queen West spot, and for good reason. Pizzeria Badiali's New York slices are right in the running for some of the best pizza in the city. Three chef pals who met while working at Bar Isabel turned this former cafe into a Trinity Bellwoods staple for pepperoni pies and burrata marinara variations of the favourite snack. Ordering a full pizza and eating a slice while you wait is the ultimate power move.
Slowhand Sourdough Pizza
99 Pape Ave.
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Italy and Detroit might not seem like they have much in common, but they've both provided inspiration for one of the city's top pizza makers. Chef Brett Feeley is obsessed with making the perfect, airy sourdough pan pizza — which is lucky, because we're equally obsessed with eating them. This east-end spot is yet another pandemic pizza success story and with options like the Pineapple Express and the Fungus Amongus, we can't wait to work our way through the menu.
One Night Only
581 Pape Ave.
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After a pandemic foray into pizza — and despite its moniker — One Night Only is here to stay. The former pop-up grew roots between Leslieville and the Danforth after Luke and Brianna Pollard began delighting their pizza-loving pals (and Instagram) with their once-a-week creations, sold from their back porch. Now, you can grab roasted mushroom, loaded baked potato pizzas and more any day you fancy.
Tutti Matti
364 Adelaide St. W.
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This Entertainment District stalwart might be better known for its wild boar ragu and burrata, but Tutti Matti's wood-fired oven deserves some flowers of its own, thank you very much. Alida Solomon has been making some of the city's best pizza for years now and it's been kind-of-secret, but Toronto deserves to know. Most of the pizza is named after people and memories close to her heart and is every bit as delicious as it is heartfelt.
Salt and Tobacco
521 Parliament St.
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Salt and Tobacco is too often out left of the pizza conversation, but this Cabbagetown classic has been making their brand of Roman-style deliciousness since 2016. Go classic with margherita, calabrese or funghi flavours, or opt for a handful of more out-there variations, like the Lil' Cabbagetown, topped with brussel sprouts, blue cheese and maple syrup.
The Parlour
642 King St. W.
This Vancouver-based, upscale pub has been open for a couple of years on King West and has already made a name for itself when it comes to ‘tricked-out’ pizza. Housed in what used to be a piano factory, the space is huge and B.C. (before COVID) would be bumping with patrons sipping boozy punch bowls and munching glorious personal pies.
The pizza dough is fermented for three days before it gets fired in their impressive dual gas and wood rotating oven. The Goldmember, topped with Gruyère, caramelized onions, mushroom duxelle, Yukon gold potatoes and truffle oil, is one of our all-time favourites. Don’t skip the Yaletown pizza for a tasty, sushi-inspired combination of ahi tuna, avocado, cilantro and spicy aioli (sounds weird but it totally works). Plus, they have one of the city’s best gluten-free crusts.
North of Brooklyn Pizzeria
Multiple locations
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With five locations across the city, it’s easy to get your hands, or mouth, on North of Brooklyn’s New York style pies. Go for the Killer Bee, a flavourful combo of Calabrese sausage, pickled red onions and oregano with honey and jalapenos for a sweet and spicy kick.
For something completely out there, the special Philly Cheese Steak sees two fast food faves rolled into one. This pizza is loaded with shaved sirloin, onions and bell peppers, then drizzled with ooey gooey Cheez Whiz.
Descendant
1168 Queen St. E.
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In the wise words of Eric Prydz, "Put your hands up for Detroit (-style pizza)". That's what he said, right? And now that we've sampled plenty of the stuff at new kids on the block Descendant, we can see why.
First things first: what is Detroit-style pizza, you ask? It's two-day proofed dough that gets slung into an oiled frying pan, and then generously piled with toppings to order — with the result that the crust is super-caramelized, but still light, and packed full of flavour — and the tomato sauce being poured over the top.
And if that weren't enough, Descendant's toppings are dangerously alluring, from the Gatt Daddy (house-made fennel sausage, Mama Lil's Peppers, red onion, sauce, basil aioli, fresh parsley and basil) to Electric Avenue, piled high with jerk chicken, fresh pineapple and lime aioli. Oh, and most importantly: these pizzas are square, and boy do we like it.
Pizzeria Libretto
Multiple locations
What started as a neighbourhood spot on Ossington for wood fired Neapolitan pizza has grown into five locations across the city with menus that offer different styles of pizza like Sicilian and Neo-NY, with options like house-made Vegan cheese and a gluten-free crust that’s so good it practically started a revolution.
If you’re going traditional, their Neapolitan Margherita with mozzarella, parmigiana and basil never disappoints. If you want classic, try their thick and crispy Neo-NY version. Always ask what their weekly feature is — who knows, you might just get lucky with a duck confit pizza.
For the rest of 2020, proceeds from their weekly pizza features go to Food Share, a non-profit organization that brings healthy food and food education to communities.
General Assembly Pizza
331 Adelaide St W
General Assembly opened its doors in 2017 and quickly struck gold by fusing their old world technique of using naturally leavened dough and hand-crushed sauce with new world flavour. The result is truly one-of-a-kind, scrumptious pies that don’t leave you feeling bloated or “blah.”
Their menu ranges from twists-on-classics like their Loving Cup with tomato sauce, aged mozzarella and natural pepperoni to the completely vegan Fern Gully with oyster and cremini mushrooms, caramelized onions, walnuts and herb oil. GA is also home to the world's first pizza subscription service which lets Torontonians enjoy free monthly delivery of their frozen pies, which cook in under 10 minutes.
Bar Poet
1090 Queen St. W.
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Decked out with twinkling lights and fake trees, this hip spot on Queen West makes the indoors feel like outdoors. But if you can’t make it into the bar, the pizzas are well worth ordering for pick up or delivery.
Meat eaters will find plenty to love here with options like the ‘Nduja Sausage, Summer Sausage and the Vintage, topped with prosciutto and fior di latte. Our favourite is the Microdose, a garlic cream sauce pizza covered in mozzarella, mushrooms, caramelized onions and arugula, drizzled with a balsamic reduction.
At 12 inches, their personal pizzas are large enough to fill you up, tell yourself you’ll save the rest for later and then cave and eat the whole thing anyways because it tastes so damn good.
Conzo's Pizza
1279 Bloor St. W.
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Earlier this year, the team behind beloved American-Italian pasta spot Sugo opened up sister restaurant Conzo’s Pizza right next door. Inspiration for the pies comes from New York, among other places. Pizzas here come with a thick, crispy crust and a thin base loaded with sauce — we’d forgive you for eating this one with a knife and fork. Keep an eye out for specials like the rosé pizza, which was already brought back once by popular demand.
Fabbrica
66 Wellington St. W.
The pizza at Fabbrica was painstakingly created after months of research went into figuring out what makes the perfect dough. Unlike their North York location, which cooks its pizza at a higher heat, Fabbrica downtown uses a different grind of flour for a Roman style, focaccia-esque base that is refrigerated for up to 72 hours and grows up to three times in size.
The Fourth Man in the Fire
832 Dundas W
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Usually part of the fun of the Fourth Man in the Fire is soaking up the atmosphere of the restaurant, decked out to look and feel like a proper old-school pizzeria — signed celeb photos, dark wood furniture, walls painted an olive green, checkered floors, not to mention the fact that you press a button on your table to get the booze trolley rolled over to you.
Of course, you can't do that right now, but thankfully you can still get your chops around their classic pizzas because they're offering delivery through UberEats, DoorDash and ChowNow. That's 18 inches of pizza smothered in San Marzano tomato sauce, and toppings that range from house-made honey to house-made sausage, as well as meatball subs, mozzarella sticks and seriously good ice cream. Now all we need to do is train our S.O. to bring us booze on demand and we're sorted...
thefourthmaninthefirepizzeria.com
Maker
Various locations
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Matty Matheson played a hand in the, erm, making of Maker — so you know it's going to be good. In fact, it's so good that despite the COVID lockdown, the pizza joint has opened two new locations, making it easy than ever to scoff their pies. The menu has been trimmed down to make it easy to run during the pandemic, but with options like the Napoli Dynamite (house-made Italian sausage, green olives, pickled jalapeños, roasted red peppers, organic mozzarella, parmesan, sea salt, organic tomato sauce) and the Tea with Broccolini (rapini, broccolini, mozzarella, bufala mozzarella, parmesan, lemon chili vinaigrette, chilies, fresh garlic, sea salt, pepper, lemon zest, egg) still on the menu, we can't say we mind too much.
Blondies
Various locations
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There’s something about Blondies' cotton-candy pink pizza boxes that really get the people going — just wait until you try what’s inside. From the folks behind the Food Dudes, Blondies is a pizza chain with a neighbourhood feel.
Perhaps it’s the local flour used for the hand-stretched dough or the made-from-scratch blonde (white) sauce or that creamy buttermilk jalapeño dipping sauce. Whatever it is, the pizza here is fire. If the names don’t make your day, the pizza sure will. Our favourite to say and eat is the Dra…Drake was Here with bacon, pineapple, preen pepper, BBQ sauce and bianco DiNapoli tomato sauce. As for blondes, you can’t go wrong with the Fast Times in Fresno with salami, sweet fennel, rosemary, parmesan and alfredo sauce.
Superpoint
184 Ossington Avenue
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California export Superpoint specializes in the holiest of trinities: pasta, pizza and wine. And we're definitely thanking God for these pies and their toppings — squash is carved into flowers, before being topped with 'nudja and garlic cream; creamily collapsing burrata is scattered with confit chilli, shallot and pesto. Elsewhere, the focus is on biodynamic wines and farm-fresh, locally sourced ingredients. Amen to that.
Planta
1221 Bay Street
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Planta is, as you might have guessed, all about plants, and cooking in a way that's both delicious and good for the environment. Chef David Lee set out to bring a fine-dining feel to plant-based cooking, and his idea has proved so popular that Planta has several different outposts and concepts in both Toronto and Miami.
This being a pizza round-up and all, you won't be surprised to read that we're zeroing in on the vegan pies: from the Shroomami (mushrooms, squash, cashew mozzarella, arugula, lemon truffle oil) to the Bianca (roasted rosemary potatoes, kale, olives, capers, hot chili oil, cashew mozzarella, onions), each concoction is as delicious as the last — and you can get them all on gluten-free bases, too.
Sud Forno
Various locations
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You can get curbside pickup and delivery from Sud Forno from 8 a.m. every day — which means pizza for breakfast, baby! Most people would probably start their day with one of Sud Forno's house-baked breads or croissants made with jam, but we say there's no better way to start the day than with a slice of porchetta pizza bianca with mozzarella buffala, house-made porchetta, potato chips and rosemary. You can order pizzas by the third-metre, half-metre and the metre too. Sud Forno, we salute you.
Piano Piano
88 Harbord St
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Piano piano means slowly slowly in Italian. But when you see the menu at the restaurant of the same name, you won't be moving slowly at all. Warm up with smoked burrata, served with romesco verde and pickled grapes; nibble on cavatelli smothered in oyster-scented ruffles and parmigiana; then settle in for the long haul with a whopping great pizza.
They all look sensational, but the two that caught our attention were the Sweet Hornet (fior di latte, spicy soppressata, black olives, Dru's Hot Honey) and the Bitter (fior di latte, parmigiano, kale, dandelion, garlic, chili, lemon). Still got space? How about a salted fudge cookie? What about six salted fudge cookies? Pick up on-site at Harbord Street or get your food delivered through UberEats.
Pizza e Pazzi
1182 St. Clair Ave. W.
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If we can't be in Naples, we can at least get the very next best thing. This St. Clair spot is one of only a handful of Toronto restaurants with a Vera Pizza Napoletana certification, an organization from Naples who certify Neapolitan pizzerias (sidenote: where do we apply for this position?). Every inch of their "flame-licked" dough, doused in ample zingy San Marzano, guarantees the Italian seal of approval. PSA: Their salads and pasta dishes are equally as addictive.
Queen Margherita
Various locations
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Neapolitan pizza and ethically sourced ingredients are the order of the day at this trendy pizza restaurant that has a trio of spots around the city. We likey, we likey a lot. They pride themselves on authenticity, using Italian tomatoes and 00 flour as the base for their pies, whether that be the Dominator (fennel sausage, spicy rapini, smoked mozzarella) or the Good Marianna (fior de latte, anchovy, roasted tomato, garlic, black pepper).
