Los Angeles may not be famous for its pizza—but it ought to be.
The tradition of exceptional pies dates back to the late 1930s and early 1940s when Italian immigrant families brought the traditional New York and Neopolitan styles west. In 1980 Chef Ed LaDou broke the mold by adding things like barbecue sauce and grilled chicken to pizzas at Wolfgang Puck's Beverly Hills staple Spago. In 1985, he developed the menu for the California Pizza Kitchen flagship location, which spawned a franchise of fun and flavorful pizzas around the world.
Though some pizza purists prefer to keep things simple, Los Angeles's pizza game is as diverse as its population. The city's boundaryless, rule-breaking approach to crafting a great pie makes for excitingepicurean experiences from respected pastry chefs to generational slice-slingers alike. The Southern California climate is ideal for most doughs, vegan cauliflower crusts can coexist alongside cheese-filled deep dish, and regional aesthetics are imported from Pittsburgh, Detroit, Brooklyn, Tokyo, and Brazil. What might be considered sacrilege elsewhere is welcome here, where the cuisine is only limited by the imagination.
Patsy D’Amore’s at the Los Angeles Farmers' Market and Barone's Family Italian Restaurant in Valley Glen serve some of the most iconic slices in L.A., but pizza fans should branch out to try other exciting options offered around the city. Here are the 15 best pizza restaurants in Los Angeles.
Best Pizza in West Hollywood
DTown Pizzeria
Pizza style: World-champion Detroit-style slices tucked inside a WeHo mini-mall
Native Michigander and pizza maker Ryan Ososky saw the dearth of Detroit-style pizza in L.A. as destiny. He first experimented with his square pan pizzas at the now-closed Church Key and created a vegan version at Nic's on Beverly. Ososky currently boasts his own spot serving some of the best Detroit-style pizza in Los Angeles, hidden inside an unassuming Vietnamese restaurant, Phorage, in a strip of retail on the East side of West Hollywood. Using brick ovens and Wisconsin brick cheese, DTown Pizzeria's slices are crisp at the crust with flavors ranging from a classic with a red racing-stripe of sauce and oregano to the World Champion Resolution, topped with shaved Japanese A5 Wagyu beef tenderloin, pickled red onions, black truffle, and scallions.
Best Pizza in Echo Park
Masa of Echo Park Bakery & Café
Pizza style: Deep-dish straight from Chicago to the heart of Echo Park
Chicagoans Rob Rowe and Rhonda Reynolds brought the Windy City's deep-dish style with them to Masa, a family-owned pizza restaurant in Echo Park marked by wooden tables and plastic tablecloths. There's no pomp and circumstance here, but plan to wait if you want to try some of the best deep-dish pizza in Los Angeles—these two-inch-deep cornmeal crusts take 40 minutes to an hour to prepare. The reward for such patience is clearly worth it, as this neighborhood favorite is always popping, especially during Dodgers games.
Best Pizza in Westlake
Grá
Pizza style: Organic, fermented sourdough with toppings both savory and sweet
A hip hangout between Historic Filipinotown and MacArthur Park, almost everything at Grá focuses on the fermented. The organic sourdough pies are pleasingly thin, with seasonal switches and mainstays like the kimchi pizza—best shared alongside a bottle of natural wine while the house DJ spins vinyl. The white pizza with its pistachios, pesto, honey, and ricotta is especially delectable.
Best Pizza in Marina del Rey
Sampa's Gourmet Pizza Cafe
Pizza style: Award-winning Brazilian and Italian pizzas by the pie or slice
São Paulo is said to be the second-largest pizza-consuming city in the world, and Chef Marcus Roberto brings Brazilian flare to his pies. At Sampa’s Gourmet Pizza Co. in Marina del Rey, the São Paulo pie adds white chicken, corn, and a Brazilian soft cheese called catupiry to an otherwise traditional tomato-sauce base with mozzarella and oregano.
Best Pizza in Downtown L.A.
Pizzanista!
Pizza style: Cool New York–style thin crust goes West Coast
Pizzanista! owner and professional skateboarder Salman Agah has created a whole vibe with his Arts Districteatery. The brand has expanded internationally, but the downtown flagship remains worth the wait. If mac ’n’ cheese pizza sounds like your thing, go on Sundays when it's the special. There's even a vegan option, as there are for several of their pies—you can get a Supreme Meat Jesus or Vegan Seitan Meats Jesus on any day of the week.
Best Pizza in Atwater Village
Hail Mary
Pizza style: Boutique wheat crust and far-out flavor combinations
David Wilcox and Guy Tabibian of Gjelina fame found success with their friendly sustainable neighborhood pizza joint, Hail Mary. Check the chalkboard menu with the daily specials; toppings range from marinated radicchio to chorizo (but everything tastes good on their boutique wheat crust). With an open kitchen and a casual atmosphere in Atwater Village, you can watch your dough being tossed and relish in the process before enjoying the finished product.
Best Pizza in Hollywood
L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele
Pizza style: Wood-fired authentic Neapolitan pies
If you want pizza that tastes straight out of Naples, L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele is the closest it gets in L.A. The team from the original Naples location (made famous by Julia Roberts in Eat Pray Love) oversees the West Coast outfit. The ingredients are imported and the handmade, wood-fired oven is encased by glass on the restaurant's tree-filled patio, where those dining in are tucked away from the hustle of Hollywood just blocks away. The original marinara and Margheritas are some of the best Neapolitian-style pizzas in Los Angeles. Don’t sleep on the Pizza Fritta, a Naples street-food staple with deep-fried crust.
Best Pizza in Larchmont
Village Pizzeria
Pizza style: Neighborhood staple with a baker’s crust and fresh-from-Wisconsin mozzarella
Village Pizzeria in Larchmont has a reputation as L.A.'s best New York–style pizza, and while ownership has changed in the last few years, the pizza hasn't. With special house recipes created in a scratch kitchen (including the famed Greek dressing), the handmade baker’s crust complements everything from curl-and-cup pepperoni to the New Haven–inspired clam and garlic. Locals love the New York memorabilia and neon signs on the wall, and Big Apple transplants agree that the Village is the next best thing to home.
Best Pizza in Westwood
Lamonica's NY-Pizza
Pizza style: Brooklyn-made dough shipped to L.A. since 1980
There's something in the water in Brooklyn—and Lamonica’s boasts that New York City tap water is the key to creating their dough, which they X-ray to ensure quality before shipping to their Los Angeles location. UCLAstudents can be found slamming slices of TomBasil or Sicilian Pep on any given day. This grab-and-go-style eatery in Westwood is L.A.’s version of a NYC pop-in slice shop.
Best Pizza in Culver City
Roberta's
Pizza style: Brooklyn chic wood-fired slices in an airy Culver City space
Made famous in its original Bushwick warehouse location, Roberta’s West Coast restaurant landed in L.A.’s chic shopping center Platform in Culver City. Style meets substance in Roberta’s wood-fired crusts, chewy and blistered to Instagrammable perfection. Potential toppings include tracciatella, caciocavallo, and soppressata. Pro tip: If the Bee Sting Pie is on the menu, that’s an immediate must-try.
Best Pizza in Highland Park
Triple Beam
Pizza style: Roman-style al taglio thick squares on the East Side
Triple Beam has a draw as big as its slices. Created by vets from Pizzeria Mozza and Everson Royce Bar, the Roman-style squares are thick and indulgent with seasonal toppings like acorn squash, asparagus, or roasted fennel and sausage with goat cheese. While there's more seating available at the Highland Park location, music lovers catching a show at The Echo can pick up some Triple Beam at the second Echo Park location.
Best Pizza in Pico-Robertson
Pizzeria Sei
Pizza style: A Tokyo-style take on wood-fired pies
Pizzana and Ronan veteran William Joo and his wife Jennifer So bring an Asian interpretation of Neopolitan rounds. Woo pinches the Japanese flour dough to give the crust a bubbly texture like they do in Tokyo and uses an oven fueled with a combination of gas and almondwood that helps give each pizza its own special flare. The seating at Pizzeria Sei is counter-only and the menu is small—but every carefully curated dish is worth a taste. The Bismarck is one of the most popular pies, with its fior di latte, prosciutto cotto, and salty egg.
Best Pizza in Brentwood
Pizzana
Pizza style: Slow-dough artistry brings a tangy flavor to neo-Neopolitan pies
At Pizzana, Michelin Bib Gourmand award–winner Daniele Uditi’s slow-dough tradition allows the organic stone flour to ferment for 48 hours before it’s ready to be touched. Uditi stands by his method, and so do fans who crave his cacio e pepe and carnivero pies. Vegans will love the dairy-free Margherita and funghi adaptations, so good the meat-eaters might want to steal a slice or two. Pizzana has largely been a Westsideventure with brick-and-mortars in Brentwood, West Hollywood, Sherman Oaks, and Silver Lake.
Best Pizza in Hancock Park
Pizzeria Mozza
Pizza style: California ingredients on a perfectly-charred base
Nancy Silverton is famous for her work at the La Brea Bakery and Spago, but her pizza at Mozza might be Silverton’s most groundbreaking creation. Bread has always been her thing, so the pizza dough here makes for a chewy base for fresh and locally sourced toppings. Consistently ranked as one of the best pizzas in the city, it can be hard to get in without a reservation, so plan ahead.
Best Pizza in Mid-Wilshire
Apollonia’s Pizzeria
Pizza style: Sicily-meets-Detroit in an L.A. shopping plaza
Former professional photographer Justin De Leon grew up around L.A. eating pizza in Monterey Park, but with Apollonia’s, he wanted to put his own stamp on a pie. He par-bakes, allowing for square focaccia-like slices to have the thickness of Detroit-style but with a cheesy crown of frisco-ed edges. The rounds are good here too, with mainstays like The Mayor’s Mistress (pepperoni, Italian sausage, and fresh basil) bringing people back to the understated storefront.
Best Pizza in Valley Village
Gorilla Pies
Pizza style: Pittsburgh-inspired slices in the Valley
Gorilla Pies was born when Chef Benjamin Osher (formerly a sous chef at Nobu) couldn’t find anything quite like his favorite Pittsburgh pizza. Born in L.A. but having spent his teenage years in Pennsylvania, Osher blends the best of both cities to create a cheesier pie (thanks to the additional provolone in the mix) and the use of an Earthstone brick oven for plenty of char. The Sierra Bonita, named after the Hollywood street Osher grew up on, pairs pickled fennel and caramelized onion with nasturtiums, as nothing is off limits at Gorilla Pies. (Get it “Gorilla style”—just trust us.)
Los Angeles may not have one style of pizza to call its own, but what it does have is a variety of experimentation and creativity that is in a constant state of evolution. It's the unexpected that keeps people coming to L.A. from all over the world, bringing their open minds (and mouths) with them.
