Find the kind of pizza your heart and palate desire with the DC Pizza Restaurant Guide.
Living in a city like Washington, DC, you have a lot of options for pizza. What’s especially nice is that our city has many interpretations of pizza from across America and Italy. There’s traditional Neapolitan pizza in Naples, deep-dish Chicago pizza, and even New Haven-style pizza. Head over to the spots below and try their respective pizzas.
chicago style pizza
Pi Pizzeria
Chicago is famous for its deep dish pizza, and for good reason. No other pizza is as decadent as deep dish pizza. But you don’t have to go to Chicago to experience deep dish glory. Go to Pi Pizzeria downtown. Their deep-dosh pizzas are made with an irresistibly thick, chewy cornmeal crust, and the kitchen doesn’t hold back when it comes to cheese and toppings. Western with the addition of mozzarella, ricotta and feta cheese is a cheese dream. Spinach and mushrooms provide earthy notes. Looking for more veggies? Try the Berkeley, which is loaded with veggies like zucchini, peppers, mushrooms, olives and garlic. For those who don’t like deep-dish pizza, Pi Pizzeria also serves thin caste pizza, sticking to the pie theme and serving a delicious deep-dish apple pie for dessert.
Google Maps: 910 F St. NW, DC
Website // Instagram
detroit style pizza
emmy square
The Detroit-style pizza is square-shaped and has a very crispy bottom and a deep-fried cheese crust. In other words, it’s pure heaven. No one makes Detroit-style pizza like Emmy at the DMV. Their decadent pizza is next level. Their margherita has burrata instead of the traditional mozzarella, and their angel pizza is made with truffled mushroom sauce, ricotta cheese, and lots of mushrooms. Emmy’s caters to those with dietary restrictions, with multiple options for vegan and gluten-free crusts.
Google Maps: 1924 DC Northwest 8th Avenue. 1300 4th St SE, DC
Website // Instagram
pupa.Credit: Chris Schwarm
Neapolitan pizza
puppet
Pupatera, which means ‘little doll’, was affectionately named for one of the owner’s grandmothers. The family is from Naples, Italy, so they take traditional Neapolitan pizza very seriously. With eight locations around Washington, DC and Virginia, this pizzeria manufactures its pizzas according to the requirements of the Verace Pizza Napoletana Association to be certified as true Neapolitan pizza. As conditions, the pizza dough must be made with only four ingredients: water, yeast, flour, and sea salt, the pizza must be baked in a wood-fired oven, and the pizza sauce must use tomatoes from San Marzano, Italy. The result is a dreamy pizza. The restaurant’s menu includes a variety of creative dishes, such as spinach pizza with Italian cream sauce, spinach, pine nuts, and roasted red peppers, and tomato artichokes with generous amounts of roasted tomatoes and marinated artichokes, but the best pizza on the menu is simply the Margherita. You can truly taste the smoky, airy dough, fresh buffalo mozzarella, fragrant basil leaves and lusciously sweet dough. Flavorful tomato sauce.
Google Maps: 1801 18th St. NW, DC
Website // Instagram
New Haven style pizza
Pete’s New Haven Style Pizza
With a super-thin, slightly charred crust, Pete’s New Haven-style pizza is hugely popular in the Washington, DC area. The fast-casual pizzeria has a variety of pizzas and even offers the opportunity to build your own pizza with toppings ranging from fried eggplant to banana peppers to vegan meatballs.
Google Maps: 4940 Wisconsin Avenue NW, DC
Website // Instagram
new york style pizza
slice joint
Opened by a former employee of New York City’s famous pizzeria Roberta’s, Slice Joint is a classic New York pizzeria. The pizzas are big and thin and the slices can be folded and eaten, exactly the way New Yorkers like them. The options are simple but fun. Nothing beats a classic cheese, but if you’re feeling more adventurous, try the Pesto Veggie, which substitutes pesto for the tomato sauce and has mozzarella, mushrooms and spinach, or the Fungal, a three-cheese square.
Google Maps: 1401 Pennsylvania Ave SE DC, 20003
Website // Instagram
sicilian pizza
pizza evening
If you love bread, Sicilian pizza is the best pizza for you. At Pizza Serata, located inside Crooked Run’s beer pub, the dough is thick and slow-rising, and creativity is key. Whether it’s a unicorn with tomato, mozzarella, pickled cherry peppers, onions, honey, lemon ricotta and chunky roasted mushrooms, or a classic white with three cheeses and lots of garlic, you’ll be spoiled for choice. Fact: Pair pizza with a delicious beer from Crooked Run. Their IPAs are particularly good.
Google Maps: 550 Morse Street No, DC
Website // Instagram
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