The Best Places in the United States

New Haven-style pizza has its own rules: thin, coal-fired, slightly charred, and not quite like anything you'd get elsewhere. Modern Apizza has been holding down State Street forever, turning out red and white pies with a crust that blisters and snaps. The Italian Bomb, loaded with cold cuts and vegetables, is the order regulars argue about. A casual, loud, no-fuss pizzeria where the line out front is a feature, not a bug.

The name nods to mother yeast, which tells you where the priorities lie. This Newport pizzeria runs two tracks: sit-down Neapolitan rounds with a proper table and a drink, or Roman-style slices by the slice for a quick waterfront lunch. The dough gets a long ferment either way, and the toppings lean classic Italian, cold cuts and cheese mostly, with occasional Mediterranean detours. Appetizers, salads, and cooked dishes round out the room-service side.

Assyrian food is one of the rarer cuisines you'll encounter in the country, and this downtown Olympia restaurant may be among a handful of places serving it anywhere. The siblings behind it dug into their ancestral table, where Persian, Iraqi, and Israeli flavors converge in the same bowl. The brick-and-mortar space runs bright blue and gold, hung with family photos. A food truck handles takeout nearby.

Tieton is the kind of blink-and-miss-it apple-country town that rewards the detour, and Nomad is its unlikely anchor, a full-service restaurant with a chef's counter and bar that started as an outdoor gear shop and kept going. The menu roams, pairing larb and bulgogi alongside boeuf bourguignon that reportedly sells out on weekend nights. Named among Washington's best by Seattle Met.

Individually baked focaccia arrives so soft you'll eat more than you mean to, which is a problem when the handmade gnocchi is waiting. This Italian taverna in Walla Walla wine country leans hard into housemade pasta and local farm ingredients, with a short menu of starters, pizza, and steaks rounding things out. The chef grew up here, came back, and made the place her own, and the cooking tastes like it.

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.