The Best Places in the United States

A cocktail bar beside the oven is the first signal that PizzBurgh is doing something a bit different. This Messina pizzeria runs through the full format card, red, white, fried, pala, padellino, and the big wheel-shaped ruota di carro, all built on high-hydration doughs with long fermentation times that keep things soft without going slack. The outdoor terrace fills up quickly, and 50 Top Pizza lists it among Italy's excellent pizzerias.

A family-run pizzeria in the Veneto with a tight menu of around twenty pies, which is a deliberate choice: the Cuomos clearly decided that a shorter list and better dough beats exhausting everyone with options. You can go classic Neapolitan with a thick, pillowy crust or lean into a crisper thin version, and the toppings balance tradition with a few seasonal surprises. The fried starters are worth ordering while you wait.

Pan pizza is the move at this Berkeley slice shop, where the chef cycles through New York, Sicilian, Detroit, and Grandma styles depending on what she's feeling. The dough is the point, soft with a good crisp edge, and the toppings stay fresh and unfussy enough not to compete with it. The blue-painted room is cozy without trying too hard. Save room for the Sicilian cannoli.

Wood-fired pizza in a lively Durham spot where the crust stays light and the toppings lean seasonal and a little unexpected. The open kitchen anchors the room, and the bar keeps things social. Yukon Gold potatoes with bagna cauda on a pizza sounds like a dare, but the kitchen commits. A solid gluten-free option exists for those who usually have to make peace with sad alternatives. Named among 50 Top Pizza USA's Excellent Pizzerias.

Marc Vetri is a name Philadelphians say with some reverence, and this casual pizza spot carries the family flag across a few Pennsylvania locations. The wood-fired pies come round or by the meter, with a dough that stays light without making a fuss about it. The menu runs from straight Italian classics toward a few fusion detours, and the salads are more interesting than they have any obligation to be. A pizza kit to take home rounds things out nicely.

A wood-fired oven anchors this craft brewery and Italian-American pizzeria tucked along Route 611 in the Pocono Mountains, where the logic is simple: hand-stretched pizza and house-brewed beer belong together. The room runs to natural wood and a relaxed, rustic vibe, and the menu leans into it with topped-up pies like the Molta Carne alongside gooey white options. Named among 50 Top Pizza USA's Excellent Pizzerias, so the oven is pulling its weight.

A wood-fired oven big enough to anchor the room sets the tone at this Neapolitan pizza restaurant in Scottsdale, where the dough is certified by the Verace Pizza Napoletana Association, which is Naples's way of saying they're watching. The menu fans out across Italian regional cooking, with a lean toward pasta, but the Margherita is the honest measure of the place. Outdoor spaces and a lively room mean the noise level is part of the deal.

The bar room here was once a pharmacy, and the old apothecary shelves now hold bottles of wine and spirits where the remedies used to be. It's a multi-floor pizza and pasta spot in Jersey City with a rooftop that looks back at the New York skyline you just escaped. The pizzas follow Italian tradition, the spaghetti has its fans, and the music keeps the whole thing moving at a pace that feels deliberately un-Manhattan.

The sidewinder fries alone explain a lot about this casual coastal restaurant in Pacific Beach, where smashburgers and clam chowder come out with the kind of care you'd expect somewhere far more serious. The seafood traces back to the nearby Quinault Indian Nation, cocktails are good, and the kids menu is apparently a hit with people who eat off the kids menu.

Wood-fired pizza in Key West, where the oven does the explaining: the crust comes out with that particular chew and char that only live fire produces. Roostica is a casual pizza spot running a full menu of red and white pies alongside antipasti, salads, and sandwiches, with Sicilian cannoli for anyone with room and Italian wines for everyone else. The 50 Top Pizza guide lists it among its USA Excellent Pizzerias.

Wine barrel, shaped booths fill a historic brick mill building that once housed some of Walla Walla's more reverent fine dining. Salted Mill is a casual bar and restaurant now, the kind where locals fill the counter after a long day of tasting and nobody speaks in hushed tones. The menu leans into the mood, with gochujang-glazed swordfish and duck fat fries that make no apologies for themselves.

A Neapolitan pizza and cucina spot on the Upper East Side with large windows that swing open in warm weather, a wine cellar visible from the dining room, and enough space between tables that a conversation stays your own. The crust runs thin and light, the kind that doesn't need a verdict. Croquettes, pasta, and calzones round out the menu, and the staff manages attentive without hovering, which in New York is its own achievement.

A pizzeria on Via Sant'Euplio where the dough is made with ancient Sicilian grains, giving the crust a nuttier, denser character than the Neapolitan style it otherwise follows. You can also order a "cartwheel" format if a standard round feels insufficiently theatrical. Fried starters and a short list of double-cooked fried pizzas fill out the menu, and the wine list pulls from Sicily, Campania, Piedmont, Tuscany, and France, which is serious range for a pizza joint.

Slightly oval pies, sliced into four and built on a crispy, well-balanced crust, are the whole philosophy here. Serious Pie is a wood-warmed pizza restaurant in Seattle's financial district, comfortable enough for a working lunch and relaxed enough for an evening with friends. Private rooms handle the business-event crowd without making the main room feel corporate. The wine list pulls its weight.

A noodle bar tucked into a Lopez Island alleyway, where the chef makes his own ramen and udon and also, apparently, throws his own ceramics, which explains why the bowls are so good-looking. The broth is rich and deeply savory, the eggs are that soft jammy orange that makes everything look intentional. Reserve ahead: the handful of outdoor counter seats and high-tops fill up even when the ferry crossing feels like a bad idea.

The open kitchen anchors the room at this Astoria Italian pizzeria and restaurant, where the vibe sits somewhere between a boisterous family dinner and a proper night out. The menu runs pizzas, pasta, and daily specials alongside a solid wine list, and the kitchen handles all of it without fuss. Dough that holds up under generous toppings, attentive service even when every table is full by six, and a crowd that comes back regularly.

A Redmond pizza shop doing something genuinely tricky: making a Neapolitan-leaning crust that doesn't alienate the kid who just wants pepperoni. The dough is airy and light, and the menu ranges from classics to specials to a Sunday-only New York style, a range designed so that nobody at the table has to negotiate. Named among 50 Top Pizza USA's excellent pizzerias, it draws the kind of crowd where everyone finds something and nobody feels like they compromised.

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.

Six days a week it's a neighborhood bakery slinging coffee and doughnuts in South Philly. On Friday nights, The Bakery quietly pivots to "secret dinners," turning out a short, rotating menu of tall, square pizzas on soft, airy dough with a crackery undercarriage. Seats are few, the menu changes, and the whole operation feels more like eating at a friend's place than a restaurant. Arrive early, or just arrive flexible.

A sourdough pizza shop in a coal-mining hamlet so small that downtown is basically a dive bar, a coffee shop, and this place. The chef makes only so much crust each day, so on summer weekends the kitchen sells out within 90 minutes of opening, and the line forms knowing full well it might not matter. A brussels sprouts and bacon pie has been on the menu since day one and shows no signs of leaving.

Heather Earnhardt's Southern-inflected restaurant now lives inside a historic coastal hotel in Tokeland, having migrated from its Capitol Hill origins. Cozy breakfast anchors the day, surrounded by farmhouse antiques and tchotchkes that feel genuinely accumulated rather than styled. Big buttery biscuits and fried chicken carried over from the original, joined by fried oysters from nearby Willapa Bay and local fish gone cornmeal-and-grits.

Tile walls and an open loft in a converted beauty school bounce noise around a room that stays open later than most of its neighbors on this stretch of Riverside. Wooden City is a casual restaurant with pizza on the menu, though the beet ravioli with goat cheese and pistachio has apparently been converting skeptics, and the blistered peppers with sausage tend to outshine the pies. Seattle Met named it among Washington's best restaurants.

Terracotta details nod to Naples in an otherwise contemporary dining room, which sets the tone for a Neapolitan-leaning pizza shop that takes its craft seriously without taking itself too seriously. The dough is airy and well-cooked, the toppings paired with real intention, and the fried montanarine are quietly worth the detour on their own. Listed among 50 Top Pizza Italy's Excellent Pizzerias, this is Carpi's most convincing argument for staying local.

The menu lists a spicy margarita riff called The Party Lobster, which tells you most of what you need to know about the vibe. Mister Paradise is a cocktail bar in the East Village where the drinks are built with serious technique, clarification, sous-vide, the works, but presented with enough wit and noise that you'd never call it stuffy. Locals land here and stop leaving, which is either a warning or a recommendation depending on your Thursday.

A rooftop hot tub and a beer garden are not the usual inheritance of a roadside motel, but here we are. Basecamp Tahoe South is a revamped, eco-conscious boutique hotel a short walk from the lake, sitting just south of the California-Nevada state line. The two-story structure got a full makeover, and the crowd that filled parking lots with station wagons has been replaced by one that travels with a reusable water bottle.

Four acres of gardens, fire pits, and lawn games spread across what looks, from the parking lot, like a classic roadside motel, the Texas A&M campus is literally across the street. Once inside, though, the industrial-rustic rooms read more boutique hotel than budget stop. The Canteen Bar & Grill pulls in a crowd, with live music outside on weekends, and the Century Square development keeps the surrounding block lively.

Freestanding soaking tubs and velour sofas in the suites signal that Cotton Court is not your average campus-adjacent stay. This boutique hotel near Texas Tech and the Depot District is purpose-built around a central courtyard, with rooms that lean contemporary but keep enough West Texas texture to remind you where you are. Midnight Shift, the on-site bar and restaurant, draws a genuine local crowd, and live music spills into the outdoor lounge on a regular basis.

Vintage Airstream trailers serve as the luxury suites here, which tells you most of what you need to know about El Cosmico. This Marfa camping compound trades standard hotel rooms for trailers, yurts, tepees, and tent pitches spread across the west Texas desert. Wood-fired hot tubs and a communal outdoor kitchen round out the scene. Only one trailer has an indoor shower, so bring your comfort zone and leave it at home.

A hotel that leans into college-town energy rather than coasting on it, the Graduate Bloomington sits just off the Indiana University campus with the kind of design and detail that most properties in this zip code skip entirely. The Graduate chain built its name doing exactly this, turning university neighborhoods into a reason to stay somewhere instead of just somewhere to stay.

A boutique hotel on Main Street in downtown Ketchum, a short drive from Sun Valley's slopes, Hotel Ketchum pulled off a full renovation that makes rustic mountain lodge materials feel genuinely current rather than kitschy. The lobby doubles as a game room and café, rooms come with high-end linens and USB ports, and an outdoor pool and hot tub round things out for guests who've had enough of the cold.