London's best restaurants for pizza

Discover where to find seriously good pizzas in London

This Italian staple has been elevated far beyond its humble roots. We’ve tried and tested the very best pizza and give you our top ten of London pizzerias. Do you agree with the choices? Use the comments box below or tweet your suggestions.

Santa Maria

Santa Maria

  • Rated as: 5/5
  • Price band: 1/4
  • Critics choice

Lucky Ealing to harbour such a perfectly formed little gem as Santa Maria. Within months of its opening in 2010, this Neapolitan pizzeria was nominated for Best Cheap Eats in our annual Eating & Drinking Awards. Everything, from the quality ingredients to the super-swift firing in the authentic wood oven, is Italian-imported, giving Ealing an experience as close as possible to that you’d enjoy at a streetside table in Naples, apart from the hooting cars and the heat. The secret

  1. 15 St Mary's Road, W5 5RA
  2. Main courses £5.45-£10.55
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Pizza East Shoreditch

  • Rated as: 4/5
  • Price band: 2/4
  • Critics choice

Shoreditch is the new Soho. There’s never been clearer evidence of this than the stead acquisition of chunks of Shoreditch by the Soho House Group, first with the construction of Shoreditch House private members’ club, then the more recent takeover of the Hoxton Grill inside the Hoxton Hotel. Their latest place is Pizza East, in the big warehouse space that used to be the T Bar. The grimy entrance stairwell remains the same, complete with bouncer on the door. Inside it still

  1. 56 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6JJ
  2. Main courses £8-£18
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Franco Manca

  • Rated as: 4/5
  • Price band: 1/4
  • Critics choice

One of the originators of Brixton’s über-cool market scene, Franco Manca is a study in the importance of keeping it simple. Although no longer run by the original founders, the restaurant still pays homage to the best Neapolitan pizzerias, serving delicious slow-rise sourdough-crust pizzas that are topped with simple sauce, top-notch British-sourced, Italian-style cheese, cured meats and seasonal vegetables, and cooked for 40 seconds at high temperature in a brick oven. The

  1. 4 Market Row, Electric Lane, SW9 8LD
  2. Main courses £5-£7.50
More info
Mimo La Bufula

Mimmo La Bufala

  • Rated as: 4/5
  • Price band: 2/4
  • Critics choice

This neighbourhood restaurant opened in 2005 as Fratelli La Bufala, but early in 2012 changed its name to Mimmo La Bufala – in honour of the exuberant owner, Mimmo. Posters of Sophia Loren and Fellini adorn the walls, and the bar is decorated with Italian keepsakes such as a model Ducati and a ‘Ferraris only’ parking sign, but in general the place decorated in tasteful shades of cream. The dining rooms are divided into distinct areas, linked by a large, white-tiled wood-burning

  1. 45A South End Road, NW3 2QB
  2. Main courses £8-£29. Set lunch (Fri) £9.50 2...
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Princi

  • Rated as: 4/5
  • Price band: 1/4
  • Critics choice

Introduced to London by Alan Yau in 2008, this smart outpost of a Milanese bakery chain remains a popular all-day option. It’s an airy, good-looking room, with a sandstone interior, long black marble counters and a (slightly odd) water feature that runs the length of one wall. The food is varied enough to keep diners coming back for more: as well as cakes, pastries and breads, there’s a choice of filled focaccia (parma ham, say, or mortadella), hot dishes (lasagne, aubergine

  1. 135 Wardour Street, W1F 0UT
  2. Main courses £5-£12
More info

Al Parco

  • Rated as: 4/5
  • Price band: 1/4

Walkers coming off Hampstead Heath could do worse than pop in here for a generously portioned, thin-crust pizza fresh from the oven. Al Parco is a small, unassuming outfit turning a decent trade amid a clutter of books and bendy lamps, and walls dotted with old photos of Italian screen legends. The back section is an odd extension that feels like someone’s conservatory, and overlooks a triangle of turf between the Heath and nearby houses. The pizzas are numerous – including a

  1. 2 Highgate West Hill, N6 6JS
  2. Main courses £3.10-£3.20. Set tea (Mon, Sat,...
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Due Sardi

  • Rated as: 4/5
  • Price band: 1/4

This tiny takeaway kitchen (just a couple of counter seats) serves pizza plus a few Sardinian specialities – spaghetti bottarga (mullet roe), crespelle Due Sardi (ricotta and spinach pancakes) – to the barflies of the cool, dressed-down bar next door, Dreambagsjaguarshoes, between noon and 10pm. Slightly sour, chewy dough provides great contrast to intensely tomatoey passata in the margherita, and we were pleased to taste the finely chopped basil before we saw it– a scatter of

  1. Dreambagsjaguarshoes, 32 Kingsland Road, E2 8DA
  2. Pizza: around £7.50
More info

Gowlett

  • Rated as: 4/5
  • Price band: 1/4

We’re glad to see that a nod from the New York Times as ‘the best off-the-beaten-path pub’ hasn’t gone to the head of this unassuming south London local. The Gowlett remains the same appealing boozer, tucked down a residential street, with its battered banquettes, dim lighting, friendly bar staff, relaxed locals, great ales, pool table, unconventional pub quiz and vinyl-spinning DJs. What’s still a puzzle is how such a place continues to turn out such great pizzas. A stone-bake

  1. 62 Gowlett Road, SE15 4HY
  2. Main courses £8-£10
More info

Il Bordello

  • Rated as: 4/5

A lovely, unpretentious little Italian, buzzing and near capacity on a weeknight, Il Bordello delivers on quality, and certainly delivers on quantity: the pizzas are larger than the dinner plate they arrive on. The choice runs from margherita to adriatico (with smoked salmon and rocket); the house pizza, the Il Bordello, sports tomato, mozzarella, artichoke, red and green peppers and parma ham. Antipasto was an eclectic mix of salami, cured ham, tinned tuna, marie rose sauce, an

  1. 81 Wapping High Street, E1W 2YN
  2. Main courses £8.45-£29.95
More info

Mulberry Street

  • Rated as: 4/5
  • Price band: 3/4

Don’t expect to leave this modern, clean-cut, diner-style restaurant any more enlightened as to what makes a pizza ‘New York’ in style. What matters is that the main act is well thought out, with a thin crust and a chewy base. This crisp outer ring surrounds a smattering of almost anonymous sauce topped by a thin layer of evenly spread cheese – neither intrusive enough to take away from the fresh, chunky toppings. Starters span both ends of the satisfaction spectrum, from dismal

  1. 84 Westbourne Grove, W2 5RT
  2. Main courses £7.55-£14.95
More info
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Comments & ratings

Rated as: 0/5 (0 ratings)

  • I know that north London stops at Hampstead/Highgate, but if there were somewhere further north - some imaginary place called, say, Palmers Green, then Rimini could be a brilliant authentic Italian pizzeria there with a fantastic oven, great crusts, sauces, topping, prices and service - whole families could go there happily for years and never get a bad pizza. Nonsense, of course.

    Chris Fri Apr 23 2010
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  • HELL PIZZA is THE BEST

    shakira Fri Apr 23 2010
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  • Interesting how none of the "judges" is Italian....They should have a say about this essential matter, right?

    lucy Fri Apr 23 2010
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  • La Porchetta in Soho all the way... Time Out it doesn't sound like you fully explored all options....I cant believe it''s not listed!

    Rouge Fri Apr 23 2010
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  • There seems to be a lot of criticism from time out editors on each restaurant, so how can this really be a feature about London's Best Pizza? If Story Deli is £13 for a margherita, with aloof service and little more than a 'naked crust', why is time out promoting it? Surely in your many years as food critics, you've remembered an amazing pizza along the way? The feature should be about reviewing the 'big name' pizza restaurants and seeing if they're any good, not compromising over being given a free lunch.

    Natasha Thu Apr 22 2010
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  • well obviously guys noone tried Santa Maria yet. it's definitely the best pizza in London. and the owners are neapolitan...and it's the real thing! it's tiny and cosy, the pizza is amazing and cheap and they play some great music. it's definitely wortha try. don't judge before you try, they have just opened but i'm sure they are gonna be succesfull. prepare to cueue!!

    lorenzo Thu Apr 22 2010
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  • La Porchetta in Muswell Hill....no brainer......massive pizzas...great flavour.....lively atmosphere and dirt cheap!!

    Ronnie Romei Thu Apr 22 2010
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  • The best pizzas in south London, and maybe all of London, are at Double Espresso in Balham High Road (near the station). Dough prepared and spun lovingly in front of you to make a perfect thin and crispy base. The pasta is amazing, too, and the staff a delight. I almost forgot - very reasonable prices. What more could you want? I've been going for years, and never disappointed.

    Constantine Thu Apr 22 2010
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  • I can't believe that Oregano in Islington is not included. Probably because it's a hidden gem off the main drag that is Upper Street (St Albans Place, between the Euphorium bakery and Masala Zone).

    Neil Mc Thu Apr 22 2010
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  • I am sure these are fine and will have to check some out on my next visit but hands down my favorite is Pizza Veneziana at Pizza Express......and each bite goes toward a good cause to save the canals of Venice, Italy. Mangia!

    Lisa at Wanderlust Women Travel Thu Apr 22 2010
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