Hungry for the best pizza in San Francisco? Read on for the inside scoop on our favorite SF pizza restaurants, from Tony's to Square Pie Guys.
Jamie Ferrell - Senior Staff Writer•
If you’re hungry for some of the best pizza in San Francisco, we’ve got you covered with everything from Neapolitan-style to Chicago deep dish. We’re lucky to live amongst pizza royalty including Tony’s, whose authentic Italian pizzas have won accolades around the world; Zante’s, the pioneer of Indian pizza in SF; and Square Pie Guys, which makes some of the best Detroit-style pies in the Bay. SF’s food scene is the gift that keeps on giving, and you can’t call yourself a local until you’ve tried each of these unique SF pizzerias, listed here in no particular order. Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom for a map.
1. Tony’s Pizza Napoletana
This San Francisco staple is easily one of the most famous pizza places in SF, helmed by 13-time World Pizza Champion Tony Gemignani. Tony’s Pizza Napoletana features dozens of diverse pizzas in different styles, ranging from Sicilian, to classic American, to coal-fired, to some of the best gluten-free pizza you’ve ever tried. Find it in the North Beach neighborhood (which tourists often call the “Little Italy” of San Francisco”) among countless other legendary Italian restaurants.
🍕 What to order: If this is your first time at Tony’s, we recommend going with a classic Margherita pizza. It’s won awards including Best Pizza Margherita at the World Cup in Naples, and Best Pizza Romana at the World Championship of Pizza Makers.
🍽️ Learn more: Tony’s Pizza Napoletana
📍 Location: North Beach – 1570 Stockton St, San Francisco, CA
2. Flour + Water Pizzeria
Flour + Water began as a popular pasta destination in the Mission District, but the creative Italian-inspired menu has a loyal pizza following, especially after the restaurant opened its new dedicated pizzeria in North Beach. This mouthwatering Neapolitan-style pizza has a delicious, airy dough with a charred crust. Enjoy unique new toppings every season, such as sungold tomatoes and sweet ricotta.
🍕 What to order: The cacio e pepe, smoky eggplant, and burrata pizzas are all great choices.
🍽️ Learn more: Flour + Water Pizzeria
📍 Locations:
- Flour + Water Pizzeria (North Beach) – 532 Columbus Ave, San Francisco, CA
- Flour + Water Bistro (Mission District) – 702 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA
- Flour + Water Pizza Shop (Mission) – 1533 Stockton St, San Francisco, CA
3. Fiorella
Fiorella specializes in thin-crusted wood-fired Neapolitan pizza, as well as other classic Italian dishes. You’ll love their classic flavors from authentic ingredients including Angelo and Franco Burrata, Calabrian Chilis, and much more. The new Inner Sunset location, which just opened a few years ago, has a cozy fireplace inside and an open-air rooftop deck up top.
🍕 What to order: The Good Neighbor Pie, which comes with spicy salami, meatballs, fennel, sausage, pecorino, provolone, and marinated red onions. Fiorella donates 15% of the sales from this pizza to Argonne Elementary School.
🍽️ Learn more: Fiorella
📍 Locations:
- Fiorella Sunset (Inner Sunset) – 1240 9th Ave, San Francisco, CA 94122
- Fiorella Clement (Central Richmond) – 2339 Clement St, San Francisco, CA 94121
- Fiorella Polk (Russian Hill) – 2238 Polk St, San Francisco, CA 94109
4. Del Popolo
Del Popolo offers incredible Neapolitan-style pizza from Jon Darsky of Flour + Water. The pizzas are delicious straight out of the oven in their restaurant, but they can also be ordered out of a roving food truck with its own wood-fired oven on board. Del Popolo’s price-to-quality ratio is so good that they’ve been recognized as a Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant.
🍕 What to order: The Salami Piccante is a popular choice, topped with tomato, mozzarella, goat horn peppers, and red onion.
🍽️ Reservations: Del Popolo
📍 Location: Union Square – 855 Bush St, San Francisco, CA
5. Capo’s
Deep dish lovers, rejoice! Capo’s has the best deep-dish pizza in San Francisco, coming from Tony Gemignani of Tony’s Pizza Napoletana. Try the house-made Calabrese sausage and fresh pasta Mostaccioli and Ravioli.
🍕 What to order: The Dillinger, a white pie with smoked vodka cream sauce, chicken, bacon, broccolini, artichoke hearts, red bell peppers, and more. It won the “World’s Best Pan Pizza” at the 2014 International Pizza Challenge in Las Vegas.
🍽️ Reservations: Capo’s
📍 Location: North Beach – 641 Vallejo St, San Francisco, CA
6. Square Pie Guys
Square Pie Guys is your home for delicious Detroit-style square pizza that’s perfect for take-out or delivery. These pizza experts have mastered the art of cheesy, crispy edges and exciting flavor combinations. This SF pizzeria is especially unique for its community involvement — they are very active in sponsoring local events and charities across SF and the East Bay.
🍕 What to order: The Big Von with white sauce, Italian sausage, pepperoni, and Mike’s Hot Honey.
📍 Locations:
- SoMa – 1077 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94103
- Fisherman’s Wharf – 845 Beach St, San Francisco, CA 94109
7. Zante Pizza & Indian Cuisine
You read that right: this Indian-style pizza in San Francisco will bring dozens of exciting new flavors to your traditional pizza palette. Their spiced dough is delicious with toppings including masala sauce, cauliflower, spinach, garlic, ginger, eggplant, lamb, tandoori chicken, and much more.
🍕 What to order: Chicken tikka masala sauce pizza topped with spinach, green onions, cilantro, cauliflower, eggplant, and chicken.
🍽️ Reservations: Zante Pizza & Indian Cuisine
📍 Location: Mission District – 3489 Mission St, San Francisco, CA
8. Pizzetta 211
This is a beautiful cozy date spot with equally beautiful pizzas. These 12-inch pies are topped with constantly rotating seasonal ingredients, so you’ll enjoy a new bite every time you stop by. Be sure to try their delicious baked goods while you’re at it! Pizzetta 211 does not take reservations, but if you come on a weekday, especially at lunchtime, you should be able to snag a table.
🍕 What to order: Get the Farm Egg Pizza if they’re serving it that day — it has bacon, corn, cherry tomatoes, and chipotle crème fraîche with an egg cracked on top. Otherwise, the spicy San Marzano tomato pizza with wild arugula and mascarpone is always available.
📍 Location: Richmond – 211 23rd Ave, San Francisco, CA 94121
9. Golden Boy Pizza
Golden Boy is your quintessential late-night pizza. But even during waking hours, it still hits the spot with its affordable, fluffy, foccaccia dough squares available by the sheet or by the slice. Look for the eye-catching “pointing hand” sign for your pre- or post-bar crawl meal in North Beach.
🍕 What to order: Clam and garlic pizza… don’t knock it till you try it!
📍 Location: North Beach – 542 Green St, San Francisco, CA 94133
10. All Good Pizza
If you’re a fan of a cracker-thin slice, look no further than All Good Pizza. These brick-oven pizzas are created from locally sourced ingredients and enjoyed al fresco in a 7,000 square foot beer garden. Come here for good food, good drinks, and immaculate outdoor vibes.
🍕 What to order: We’re partial to the vegetarian mushroom pizza, topped with roasted crimini mushrooms, black truffle salt, mozzarella, grana padano, and baby arugula.
📍 Location: India Basin – 1605 Jerrold Ave, San Francisco, CA 94124
11. Pizzeria Delfina
Pizzeria Delfina’s dog-friendly patio is a delightful place to enjoy their mouthwatering pizzas, which are inspired by both NYC- and Neapolitan-style culinary traditions. The family-owned, farm-to-table restaurant brings a constantly-changing menu selection based on seasonal ingredients, which is beautifully complemented by delicious beers and wines.
🍕 What to order: We’re partial to the Prosciutto Pie with caciocavallo cheese, mozzarella, panna, arugula, and of course Prosciutto di Parma.
🍽️ Reservations: Pizzeria Delfina (Pacific Heights)
📍 Locations:
- Pacific Heights – 2406 California St, San Francisco, CA 94115
- Mission – 3621 18th St, San Francisco, CA 94110
12. Mr. Singh’s Curry Pizza
Indian Pizza is an underrated local trend in the Bay Area food scene, and it was all started by Zante’s back in the ’80s. Mr. Singh’s is one of a handful of local Indian pizza joints that followed in Zante’s footstops, and they’re bringing a fun new ambiance to the Outer Sunset. The casual restaurant feels like a sports bar, with several TVs mounted overhead and a robust menu of Indian-inspired comfort food.
🍕 What to order: Butter Chicken Pizza with creamy curry sauce, mushrooms, butter chicken, red onion, tomatoes, green onion, and cilantro.
📍 Location: Outer Sunset – 2241 Judah St, San Francisco, CA
13. Damnfine Pizza
Damnfine’s pizza is characterized by a three-day, cold-rise process that encourages naturally fermented dough. The wood-fired pizzas span a range of both classic and non-traditional flavors, and the restaurant stands out among other Outer Sunset pizza places for its robust craft co*cktail menu. If you like what you see, consider paying a visit to Damnfine’s nearby coffee shop which is just a few blocks from the beach.
🍕 What to order: We can’t stop thinking about the Potato Pesto pizza, loaded with purple potatoes, pancetta, pesto, mozzarella, parmesan, rosemary, and thyme.
🍽️ Reservations: Damnfine
📍 Location: Outer Sunset – 3410 Judah St, San Francisco, CA
14. Outta Sight
Outta Sight popped up during the pandemic with doorstep drop-offs before opening a brick-and-mortar on Larkin Street in 2020. They boast a unique menu of “San Francisco-style pizza,” with plenty of offbeat flavors on rotation. The announcement of their new Chinatown location is drawing plenty of excitement, with hints at new toppings inspired by Peking duck and dim sum.
🍕 What to order: This is a great place to go for a classic pepperoni slice with marinara, fresh and aged mozzarella, basil, dry jack cheese.
📍 Locations:
- Tenderloin – 422 Larkin St, San Francisco, CA
- Chinatown – 643 Clay St, San Francisco CA (projected opening date in September 2024)
15. Little Star Pizza
As one of the first restaurants to open on Divisadero back in 2004, Little Star is a quiet legend in the San Francisco pizza scene. They’re best known for serving up immaculate Chicago deep-dish style pizzas, but you’ll find a nice selection of thin-crust options, too.
🍕 What to order: The classic deep dish pizza doesn’t disappoint with familiar flavors including sausage and mushrooms. But look out for some offbeat flavors on rotation, such as the roasted yellow squash deep dish with sundried tomatoes, roasted garlic, and goat cheese.
📍 Locations:
- NoPa/Alamo Square – 846 Divisadero St, San Francisco, CA
- Mission – 400 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA
Whether you’re craving Zante’s signature Indian pizza or a late-night slice at Golden Boy, you’ll find some of the best pizza in San Francisco at these tried-and-true SF restaurants. Where will you visit first?
See also: 20 exceptional ramen restaurants in San Francisco
Tags:italian food, pizza
