The Best Pizza in Chicago

Pan pizza with a ring of caramelized mozzarella baked right into the crust is the move at this West Town pizza shop, which draws from the legacy of Chicago pan legend Burt Katz. The dough is thick and crunchy, built to hold serious amounts of cheese and sauce, finished with fresh mozzarella dolloped on top. Topping combos run from pineapple-jalapeño-bacon to sausage-ricotta situations. Order online ahead; there's also a Berwyn location if you're out that way.

1. Time Out Chicago Pie · The 18 best pizzas in the world right now
2. The Banchets Nominee · Best Pizza
3. The Infatuation #23 · The 25 Best Restaurants In Chicago

1. Time Out Chicago Pie · The 18 best pizzas in the world right now
2. The Banchets Nominee · Best Pizza

The wood-fired oven in this Ravenswood Neapolitan pizzeria burns through dough the way it's done in Naples, leaving a soft, charred crust that folds without argument. The chef trained in Italy and the obsession shows, with many ingredients sourced from there directly. The menu stays traditional, appetizers and desserts rounding out the pizza, and the room has an easy warmth that makes an hour feel like twenty minutes.

1. 50 Top Pizza 2025 · Outstanding Career Achievement · 50 Top Pizza World Special Awards
2. AAA Three Diamonds
3. 50 Top Pizza 50 Top Pizza USA Excellent Pizzerias

A lakeside terrace with a direct view of the water is a strong opening argument for any pizza shop, and Robert's doesn't squander it. The pies have a crispy, well-salted crust and toppings that lean generous rather than restrained, built for sharing. The room itself is airy, anchored by a big bar counter, and the staff treats you like an actual guest. It landed at #8 on 50 Top Pizza USA, which tracks.

1. 50 Top Pizza #26 · 50 Top Pizza World
2. 50 Top Pizza #8 · 50 Top Pizza USA
3. The Banchets Nominee · Best Pizza

Naan as a pizza base, naan as a butter chicken calzone brushed with ghee, naan as the main argument for coming back: this Logan Square Indian restaurant has built a personality around the flatbread, then filled out the menu with Kerala crab curry and chana chaat to prove it isn't a one-trick kitchen. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, with a James Beard semifinalist nod behind it. The exposed brick and long bar make the room feel loose, which matches the cooking.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
2. Eater Chicago’s Best Brunch Restaurants
3. Eater Chicago’s Best Pizza

Pizz'amici is a tavern-style pizza shop in West Town, where the thin, cracker-crisp crust gets charred on the bottom and cut into squares. It's a nostalgic room with a pepperoni Negroni on the menu, plus tall focaccia and sausage and peppers for the old-school completists. Tables go quickly, so plan ahead or order carryout, which is easier than winning the lottery and only slightly less crowded.

1. The Infatuation #10 · The Top-Rated New Restaurants
2. Esquire The Best New Restaurants in America
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Bungalow is the Logan Square brewpub where the beer runs on wild yeast and the wine is made with as little intervention as the law allows. Tavern-style thin-crust pizza shows up on Tuesdays, cut in squares, but the toppings come from regional farms and the sauces wander off script. Order a pepperoni pie here and you'll feel like you've missed the point. The Beard folks named the beverage program a semifinalist in 2024.

1. The Banchets Nominee · Best Neighborhood Restaurant
2. Bon Appétit America's Best New Restaurants
3. James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program

1. Time Out #9 · The 25 best restaurants in Chicago
2. Eater Chicago’s Best Tavern-Style Thin-Crust Pizza Restaurants
3. Eater Chicago’s Best Pizza

The dough ferments for a full week before anyone slides a pizza into the oven, which is an unusual amount of patience for a shoe-box takeout counter in suburban Chicago. The result is a tavern-style pie where even the center squares crack, the sauce runs deep, and the Italian sausage stays juicy. The New York Times put it on their Chicago list. Get there early on weekends; it sells out by 5:30.

1. The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Chicago Right Now
2. Eater The Best Places to Eat in Suburban Chicago

1. AAA Approved
2. Eater Chicago’s Best Deep-Dish Pizza

Roman-style pizza cooked in electric deck ovens is the whole idea at this Andersonville neighborhood pizzeria, and the pies come out oblong, puffy, and blistered with a bubble-like crunch. The kitchen makes all its pasta in-house too, so this is more than a one-trick spot. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, and the unfussy room fills up fast with people who figured that out early.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

A long, slow ferment gives the NY-style crust at this Montrose Avenue slice shop a chew and crispness that makes the whole thing feel intentional rather than accidental. Jimmy's also does a square pan style for those who prefer their dough a little softer inside. 50 Top Pizza ranked it among the top slice shops in the country. Order a pepperoni, grab a seat, and try not to already be thinking about the next slice.

1. 50 Top Pizza #13 · 50 Top Pizza Slice USA
2. Eater Chicago’s Best Pizza

1. The Banchets Nominee · Best Pizza

Pizza Dada is a New York-style slice counter tucked inside the Sterling Food Hall, which makes it the Loop's answer to the question "what if lunch weren't a sandwich." The slices are big enough that two could pass for a meal, with a charred crust and a zippy sauce. Whole pies are available too, and sharing remains strictly optional. Expect office badges, lanyards, and people eating over paper plates.

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The move here is the caramelized crust, where cheese climbs the edge of the pan and turns amber in the oven, somewhere between crispy and deeply fragrant. Pequod's has been doing deep-dish this way since the 1970s, and the result is a pizza that's almost architectural: soft dough, abundant fillings, a bold, substantial bite. It's a no-frills Chicago pizzeria where getting a table takes patience and the slices arrive hot enough to require some too.

1. 50 Top Pizza 50 Top Pizza USA Excellent Pizzerias
2. Eater Chicago’s Best Deep-Dish Pizza

1. AAA Three Diamonds

Empty tomato sauce cans double as pizza stands here, which tells you most of what you need to know about Coalfire's personality. It's a coal-fired pizza spot on West Grand where the 800-degree oven does the heavy lifting, producing thin, blistered crusts with those charred edges that take years of patience to fake. The open kitchen keeps pie production visible from anywhere in the snug dining room, and the Michelin Guide has taken notice.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

Tucked into an alley in Ukrainian Village, this outdoor pizza spot from chef Noah Sandoval runs on pan pizzas, sandwiches, and salads eaten at garden tables strung with hanging plants. When the weather turns, takeaway is the move. The Michelin Guide has taken notice, which feels appropriate for a place that manages to be genuinely casual without coasting on it.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

Dimmi Dimmi is a corner Italian spot in Lincoln Park that took over a three-decade neighborhood fixture and somehow kept the regulars from rioting. The tavern-style pizzas have crackly edges and come cut in squares, and the handmade pastas hold their own beside them. It's a sit-down dinner, so book ahead, or try your luck at a weekday lunch, which is when the people who know things tend to walk in.

1. Eater Lincoln Park’s Best Restaurants
2. Eater Chicago’s Best Tavern-Style Thin-Crust Pizza Restaurants
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The name comes from an obscure white Campanian grape variety, which tells you everything about how seriously this Lakeview spot takes its Southern Italian bona fides. It's a Neapolitan pizza restaurant, wood-fired and traditionally minded, with a patio that leans into the convivial-trattoria feeling. The crust has the soft, charred-edge character the style calls for. 50 Top Pizza USA has taken notice, landing it at number 43 on their national list.

1. 50 Top Pizza #43 · 50 Top Pizza USA

Long-fermented dough is the whole point at this casual Lincoln Park pizzeria, where the crust is meant to be light enough that a second slice doesn't feel like a moral failing. The round pies lean classic but wander happily, and the all-day format means sandwiches and salads fill out the menu for those not committed to pizza before noon. Relaxed neighborhood room, no dress code implied.

1. 50 Top Pizza 50 Top Pizza USA Excellent Pizzerias

This Edgewater pizza shop does deep-dish on a sourdough crust that borrows from a Greek bread called lagana, then turns around and makes cracker-thin tavern pies from the same dough. There's barely any seating and the oven is small, so most people order online and take it home, where an uncut pizza stays crunchy. Eater has put it on its lists for deep-dish, thin-crust, and best pizza overall.

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Deep-Dish Pizza
2. Eater Chicago’s Best Tavern-Style Thin-Crust Pizza Restaurants
3. Eater Chicago’s Best Pizza

Flo & Santos is a South Loop pub that can't pick a lane, so it picked three: tavern-style thin-crust pizza, Polish comfort food, and a beer garden with daily specials. Order the pie with kielbasa and sauerkraut and a pierogi sampler on the side, and your cardiologist will lose track of the subplots. Casual, reasonably priced, and equally happy to see you in a work shirt or a ballgame jersey.

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This Pilsen pizza-and-coffee spot wears its owners' Filipino and Mexican roots on the crust, most memorably with longganisa and giardiniera together on a tavern-style pie. The menu includes pan pies and slices, plus coffee drinks from the people behind Side Practice, so you can have breakfast and dinner in one visit. It tends to sell out, which is the polite way of saying go early and bring a plan B.

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Tavern-Style Thin-Crust Pizza Restaurants
2. Eater Chicago’s Best Pizza

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Tavern-Style Thin-Crust Pizza Restaurants
2. Eater Chicago’s Best Pizza

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Tavern-Style Thin-Crust Pizza Restaurants
2. Eater Chicago’s Best Pizza

Uncle Jerry's is a casual deep-dish pizzeria in Cary, tucked inside a butcher shop, so the sausage on your pie was probably made a few feet away and the steak case sits right there as a quiet reminder of your priorities. The crust runs neither thick nor thin, the sauce leans a little sweet, and the pepperoni comes cupped. The beer list is solid, and the drive from Chicago is about an hour.

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Zarella is a River North tavern-style pizzeria run by the Boka group, which means the thin, cornmeal-dusted pies come with a cocktail menu and a downstairs speakeasy lounge. Two well-known Chicago chefs developed the crusts, and the toppings include mortadella and all-beef pepperoni, so expect River North prices for what is, technically, bar pizza. Eater has named it among the city's best tavern-style pizza spots.

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Tavern-Style Thin-Crust Pizza Restaurants
2. Eater The Best Restaurants in River North

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Deep-Dish Pizza

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Pizza

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Tavern-Style Thin-Crust Pizza Restaurants

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Pizza

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Deep-Dish Pizza

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Tavern-Style Thin-Crust Pizza Restaurants

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Tavern-Style Thin-Crust Pizza Restaurants

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Deep-Dish Pizza

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Tavern-Style Thin-Crust Pizza Restaurants

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Pizza

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Tavern-Style Thin-Crust Pizza Restaurants

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Pizza

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Pizza

Pizza Matta is a small Logan Square pizzeria from the team behind Giant and Chef's Special, which tells you the people running it have opinions about pie. You build your own 16-inch pizza from red, white, or green sauce, then pile on things like mortadella or caramelized pineapple, no judgment. Seating is limited, so order online and take the whole project home. Eater has it on its list of Chicago's tavern-style thin-crust spots.

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Tavern-Style Thin-Crust Pizza Restaurants

Professor Pizza is a casual West Town pizzeria run by a competitive pizza maker, which means the pies come with a résumé. The tavern-style thin crust cuts to cracker-snap, and the deluxe pepperoni gets hot honey and whipped ricotta, as if the sausage needed a little more going on. The Grand Avenue spot adds two more pie styles, and the pizzas turn up backstage at comedy clubs around town. Eater includes it among Chicago's best tavern-style thin-crust spots.

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Tavern-Style Thin-Crust Pizza Restaurants

Detroit-style squares with names like Sausage Singularity come out of this space-themed pizzeria on Elston, where the kitchen leans hard into technique. The crust is the point: crispy-edged, airy inside, the way a proper Detroit pie should land. Toppings skew eclectic, and the combinations are stranger and better than they sound. Order online for pickup, which is half the charm of a slice shop that takes itself just seriously enough.

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Pizza

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Deep-Dish Pizza

Villa Nova is a no-frills, family-run pizzeria in suburban Stickney, the kind of place where the pie arrives square-cut, the way thin-crust tavern pizza is supposed to. The sausage is fennel-forward and left in chunky, meatball-ish clumps, which is a bold choice for a topping and a good one. It's been around forever, so expect regulars who haven't looked at the menu in years. Eater included it among Chicago's best tavern-style thin-crust spots.

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Tavern-Style Thin-Crust Pizza Restaurants

WG Pizzas is a Lakeview tavern-style pizzeria, a spin-off of an old suburban Highwood joint that has been feeding Lake County for ages. The crust is cut thin but keeps a few proud bubbles at the edges, so it lands chewier than the cracker-crisp stuff, closer to what South Side spots turn out. Order online, grab a BLT pie, and mind the monthly chef takeovers, which are a good excuse to pretend you planned ahead.

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Tavern-Style Thin-Crust Pizza Restaurants

The thin, foldable crust at this New York-style slice shop on Clark leans into toppings that have no business being this interesting, truffled mushrooms and bacon jam among them. Grandma-style pies round out the menu, and the whole operation is BYOB, which keeps things relaxed and cheap. Eater named it one of Chicago's best pizza spots. Order online before you go.

1. Eater Chicago’s Best Pizza