Arizona is a major tourist destination with the Grand Canyon, one of the seven wonders of the world that attract millions annually. The stark, stunning beauty of the canyon and surrounding desert landscape is a truly unforgettable sight. Rafting trips, backpacking, and epic hikes abound, and whether you’re a nature lover or a fitness freak, you’ll get all the adventure you seek.
After spending a week or two exploring the Grand Canyon and surviving off canned food and trail mix, I was ready for some R&R. I wanted to treat myself to a relaxing cultural exploration of Arizona’s capital city of Phoenix.
I wanted to find the best pizza spots in Phoenix to celebrate my return to urbanity with a decadent and savory slice. I found a wide variety of pizza styles and pizza restaurants to enjoy in Phoenix and have compiled a list of my favorite places.
The Parlor Pizzeria
1916 E Camelback Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85016
Phone: 602-248-2480
Visit Website
The Parlor Pizzeria is a quaint, rustic Italian eatery and specialty grocer inside an old hair salon in the heart of the Biltmore Area. The beautifully renovated restaurant uses recycled wood and sustainably built practices that reflect their culinary philosophy of sustainable cooking and seasonal, local sourcing.
The kitchen revolves around a wood-burning oven from which they serve Neapolitan-style pizza with perfectly crispy and bubbly thin crusts. They make their dough, pasta, and bread from scratch and offer the freshest ingredients on their seasonally rotating menu.
I loved their Autunnale pizza with prosciutto, sweet potato ricotta, caramelized onion, fig jam, arugula, and salted almonds.
CIBO
603 N 5th Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85003
Phone: 602-441-2697
Visit Website
CIBO is a refined and intimate Italian Bistro in downtown Phoenix, and one of the most romantic settings in town to enjoy fine wine, cocktails, and outstanding authentic Italian fare. The dining space is inside a restored 1913 bungalow that retains rich hardwood flooring, a blazing fireplace, and stained-glass windows.
Their menu revolves around a wood-fired grill and oven, with a wide variety of antipasti, fresh salads, house-made pasta, and delicious Neapolitan-style pizza. Their wide variety of specialty pizzas uses house-made mozzarella and the creamiest bufala I’ve tasted. I had the Lil Peppa with tomato sauce, house-made mozzarella, and spicy pepperoni.
POMO Pizzeria – Downtown Phoenix
705 N 1st St UNIT 120, Phoenix, AZ 85004
Phone: 602-795-2555
Visit Website
Founded and operated by Italian native Stefano Fabbri, POMO Pizzeria is as authentic as Neapolitan pizzerias get. Mr. Fabbri comes from generations of Italian bakers and grew up working as a bread and pizza maker himself.
His heritage and culinary experience bore the first POMO in Scottsdale that garnered wide acclaim and led to four more POMO locations, including one in downtown Phoenix. POMO Pizzeria has a custom-built wood-fired oven that pizzaiolos heat to over 900 degrees to bake pizzas for a mere 90 seconds as per Neapolitan tradition.
They also have a wonderful selection of homemade pasta, salad, soup, and bruschetta. My favorite pizza was the Donna Rosa with mozzarella, pesto sauce, cherry tomatoes, and sauteed shrimp.
Pizzeria Bianco
Multiple Locations
Visit Website
With locations in Central City, Camelback East, and Heritage Square. Pizzeria Bianco is a refined yet inviting Italian pizzeria from James Beard Award-winning Chef Chris Bianco. Chef Bianco started Pizzeria Bianco in 1988 and was a pioneer supporter of the farm-to-table movement.
He even developed a line of organic tomato products that he uses in his award-winning pizzas. The best part is how affordable it all is. Pizzeria Bianco’s stunning wood-fired Neapolitan pizza has received national acclaim, featured in articles from famous publications such as the New York Times, Food and Wine, and ZAGAT.
I must agree that this is seriously life-changing pizza. Try the Wise Guy with wood-roasted onion, house-smoked mozzarella, and fennel sausage.
Lamp Pizzeria
8900 E Pinnacle Peak Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85255
Phone: 480-292-8773
Visit Website
Located inside La Mirada Shopping Center in the Scottsdale area, Lamp Pizzeria is a wood-oven pizzeria and wine bar. Owner and Chef Matt Pilato combines the traditional Neapolitan technique with his own creative style to create an award-winning innovative pizza in a casual yet sophisticated dining space.
Lamp’s pizza crust has the characteristic Neapolitan char and crispness, but the edges have a bit more heft, and the centers are a bit softer and more delicate. I also loved their selection of fresh salads and artisanal wood-fired bread. I enjoyed the Jese’s Girl pie with sliced meatballs, ricotta, and roasted red peppers with crushed chilies on top.
Myke’s Pizza
31 S Robson #103, Mesa, AZ 85210
Phone: 480-687-8526
Visit Website
Myke’s Pizza is a friendly, gourmet neighborhood pizza restaurant in downtown Mesa, offering stunning presentations of wood-fired pizzas, pastries, and specialty dessert pizzas. This hidden gem of a pizzeria uses the freshest cheeses along with Southwest-inspired ingredients to create a fusion of Arizona and Italy in one delectable bite.
Their custom-built wood-fired oven is on display atop a large pile of chopped lumber to keep it at extra hot temperatures throughout the day. They make some seriously delicious freshly-baked cookies, and around the holidays, they make specialty dessert “pizza” pies that are unlike anything I’ve had.
I loved their Chorizo pizza with crushed tomatoes, Manchego, fresh mozzarella, chorizo Serrano, Castelvetrano olives, aged gouda, and pickled radishes.
Forno 301
1616 N Central Ave #104, Phoenix, AZ 85004
Phone: 480-787-5654
Visit Website
Teetering between the Alvarado and Roosevelt neighborhoods, Forno is a cocktail bar, pizzeria, and authentic Italian ristorante in a bustling, contemporary dining space. As per their name, Forno uses a traditional Neapolitan-style wood-burning oven to bake outstanding Neapolitan-style thin-crust pizza.
There’s also a great outdoor patio covered by giant trees to enjoy a delightful dinner or happy hour alfresco. Along with wood-fired pizzas, there’s an ample menu of wood-fired appetizers like eggplant parmesan and meatballs in marinara, along with salads, paninis, and house-made pasta. I enjoyed their white Amici pie with fresh mozzarella, crescenza, provolone, and spicy salami.
La Piazza Al Forno
5803 W Glendale Ave, Glendale, AZ 85301
Phone: 623-847-3301
Visit Website
Located in the heart of Glendale in an old-school brick building with a classic green and white arched awning, La Piazza Al Forno is a family-friendly and trendy neighborhood pizzeria specializing in Neapolitan pizza. Their strict approach to Neapolitan techniques using imported Italian ingredients and piping hot wood-fired brick ovens bestow award-winning pizza that’s been featured on Food Network’s Diners Drive-ins and Dives.
La Piazza’s pizza is VPN certified for utmost Neapolitan authenticity. They also offer a wide selection of antipasti, salads, entrees, pasta, and amazing focaccia. A lesser-known authentic style of Neapolitan pizza is a fried pizza, which La Piazza offers in calzone form, stuffed with salami, ricotta, olives, mozzarella, and San Marzano tomato sauce. It was divine.
CRAFT 64 Scottsdale
6922 E Main St, Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Phone: 480-946-0542
Visit Website
CRAFT 64 Scottsdale is Scottsdale’s go-to spot for local brews, wines, and locally sourced wood-fired pizzas. Owned by four friends and Arizona transplants whose decades of experience as pizza makers master brewers, and sommeliers, CRAFT 64 has an impressive beer and wine program featuring dozens of craft beers brewed on-site or sourced from Arizona microbreweries and natural wines from domestic wineries.
All ingredients for their gourmet wood-fired pizzas come from organic farms right outside of Phoenix. The only thing that isn’t locally sourced is their Italian-imported ovens.
I recommend coming for happy hour to get cheap artisanal beer and glasses of wine, then staying for dinner. I’m a fan of spicy pizza so I enjoyed the Honey Bee with mozzarella, Parmigiano-Reggiano, pepperoni, jalapeno, mesquite honey, and tomato sauce.
Pizzeria Virtù
6952 E Main St, Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Phone: 480-663-9797
Visit Website
Another Scottsdale favorite, Pizzeria Virtu is Chef and owner Gio Osso’s longtime dream come true. Chef Osso’s formal training and certification by the AVPN (Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana) along with decades of hard work in award-winning restaurants instruct his traditional, seasonal, and everchanging pizza menu.
There’s a core menu of small plates and pizza with a weekly rotating menu of wood-fired oven specialties that usually feature grilled meat or fish fillet over house-made pasta.
The pizza list is as traditional as Neapolitan pizza gets and has specialties from various Italian regions. I recommend the Reggio with nduja tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil, spicy sopressata, and pecorino.
La Grande Orange Grocery & Pizzeria
4410 N 40th St, Phoenix, AZ 85018
Phone: 602-840-7777
Visit Website
La Grande Orange Grocery and Pizzeria is a one-stop shop for all your culinary and dining needs. Located in Camelback East, La Grande Orange is a bakery, espresso bar, gelato shop, specialty grocer, and pizzeria with legendary status in the eyes and stomachs of all Phoenix residents.
The friendly, boho-chic vibe in this massive eatery market is a welcoming and fun place to grab breakfast, lunch, dinner, and groceries. Along with food, coffee, beer, wine, and groceries, there’s also a retail shop, so you can spend all day exploring La Grande.
The pizza menu offers a creative array of specialty pizzas that use fresh produce in unique combinations. I enjoyed the Mushroom Party with hand-mixed cheese, sauteed crimini, button, and oyster mushrooms, sweet onion, and shaved fennel.
Hot Daisy Pizza
610 E Roosevelt St UNIT 145, Phoenix, AZ 85004
Phone: 602-840-3644
Visit Website
Located in the heart of Roosevelt, Hot Daisy Pizza is a friendly, fast casual slice shop and craft pizzeria in a really cute, contemporary pizza counter storefront with industrial chic decor. Exposed brick walls are covered with black and white photographs of 50s celebrities, and the modern glass pizza case lies atop a beautiful wood bar.
The pizza glass pizza case is a beautiful and colorful multi-tiered display of stunning wood-fired craft pizza with Neapolitan char but New York-style gargantuan slices. You can choose from the daily variety of slices or order a whole pie to go. I loved their Southwestern-style Corn Baby Elote Pie with roasted corn, cilantro, mozzarella, cotija cheese, and chipotle oil.
Via Della Slice Shop
222 N 5th Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85003
Phone: 602-341-6327
Visit Website
Via Della Slice Shop is a family-owned and run New York-style pizza and slice shop in the heart of downtown Phoenix. Its friendly, casual atmosphere and big-as-your-plate New York slices at affordable prices bring a true taste of the northeast to the southwest.
Via Della has been featured in Phoenix Magazine and Thrillist as the best pizza in Phoenix this year. As per New York tradition, you can get two types of pizza at Via Della Slice Shop, the standard thin-crust giant rounds and the Grandma pie, a square-shaped thick-crust pan pizza.
Pies come by the slice if you want to dine in, but you can also order a large pie that’s made to order. I recommend trying a variety of slices. My favorites were the Vodka slice, the sesame-seed crusted white pie slice, and the deep dish square slice with red sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, basil, and Reggiano.
Base Pizzeria
3115 E Lincoln Dr, Phoenix, AZ 85016
Phone: 602-535-8914
Visit Website
Owned and operated by a family of Phoenix natives, Base Pizzeria celebrates everything local, from ingredients to community outreach. Located in the Biltmore neighborhood where the owners grew up, Base Pizzeria serves wood-fired Neapolitan-style pizzas using organic ingredients from local farmers and purveyors.
The gourmet and vibrant presentation of dishes at Base sets them apart while the organic ingredients set the flavor a step above the competition. I recommend trying one of their incredible salads, chocked full of colorful farm-to-table produce and cheeses. My favorite pizza was the Smelly Date with gorgonzola, fior di latte, crispy prosciutto, dates, arugula, and aged balsamic.
Federal Pizza
5210 N Central Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85012
Phone: 602-795-2520
Visit Website
Named for the old 1950s First Federal Bank building in which it’s located, Federal Pizza is a cool, mid-century modern restaurant and wine and beer bar.
The mix of old and new at this fashionably renovated space makes for a fun and lively happy hour and dinner. There’s even a cool old drive-thru where you can get artisanal pizza and craft beer growlers to-go. You can get wood-fired Neapolitan pizzas or Detroit-style pan pizzas that are dense, square pies with buttery dough.
The creative combinations of toppings on both styles are unique and delicious. My favorite wood-fired Neapolitan was the sweet potato, sage, and ricotta pie. I highly recommend the deep-dish Detroit pan Supremium pizza with salami, soppressata, pepperoncini, sweet drop peppers, olives, wood-fired onions, oregano, and Grana Padano.