10 standout pizzerias in Southern California

Southern California is deep into its pizza renaissance. If we had to name all of the top-tier pizzerias in the region, we’d end up with a list as long as the Pacific Surfliner. We’ve made some tough choices and picked 10 standout shops where you can score a stellar slice or the perfect pie.

Dtown Pizzeria makes an excellent Detroit-style pizza. Baked in rectangular, blue steel pans (fashioned after utility trays used in the auto industry), they’re thick and fluffy, cut into 4 crispy corner slices. Expect loads of thin, curling pepperoni rounds on the Goomba, and pesto and confit tomatoes on the burrata margherita.

Whatever you get, it’s all about the frico, that crown of crisp cheese that develops when the pizza bakes. No pie shows it off better than the 1946 cheese, modestly topped with Dtown’s Wisconsin brick cheese blend and 2 racing stripes of tomato sauce.

Since opening an outpost of his Phoenix-based pizzerias at Row DTLA in 2022, legendary pizzaiolo Chris Bianco has been wowing Angelenos with his chewy and thin crusts. The Pizzeria Bianco menu is tightly edited with 6 pies and only a few salad and antipasto options. (At lunchtime, you can get sandwiches and slices at his nearby sandwich shop Pane Bianco)

The rosa, with its combo of rosemary, red onions, and pistachios, might be the most lauded pie here. If you love a great white pizza, go for the biancoverde, which marries ricotta and arugula. That simplicity is deceptive. Every pie here is perfectly prepared and exquisitely charred.

L’antica Pizzeria da Michele has been making pies in its home city of Naples, Italy, for more than 150 years. Since opening in 2019 in Hollywood’s former Café des Artistes space (and adding a Belmont Shore location in January 2024), it’s also made a name for itself in L.A.

This is one of the few places in town where you’ll find montanara, a deep-fried pizza and popular Neapolitan street food. You’ll also find plenty of regular pizzas, with thin, chewy crusts.  The caserta doubles up on the fresh mozzarella and adds rapini, sausage, and Calabrian chilies.

Evan Funke’s Beverly Hills temple of Italian cuisine epitomizes high-end dining in L.A., circa 2023. Think gorgeous decor, well-heeled patrons, rigorous attention to detail, and high-quality ingredients. At Funke, the crusts appear to defy basic laws of physics. Almost as thin as a cracker (yes, people say that a lot, but in this case, it’s true), they’re soft, pliable, and, most crucially, not soggy.

The half-dozen on the menu include a margherita, 4-cheese, mushroom, and salami. Try the amalfitana, a white pie brightened with Meyer lemons; or la mortazza, a folded-over round of dough smeared with ricotta and bursting with artfully arranged layers of mortadella, plus a sprinkling of pistachios.

Imagine returning to the no-frills pizza parlor of your childhood to find food that exceeds your nostalgia-steeped memories. You’d have Little Coyote, a pair of much better-than-average neighborhood pizzeria locations offering 10 whole pies in the most popular flavors (cheese, veggie, meat lover, and pineapple express replete with pineapple, bacon, and jalapeño) as well as slices in a few styles.

The crusts are chewy and medium-thick. Order the white pizza, perfect with fierce garlic undercurrents and generous dollops of ricotta. If you’re hankering for something thick, go for the square granny slice. This focaccia dough dusted with oregano and chili flakes, while light and airy, is filling.

Folks Pizzeria is arguably the biggest draw at retail-and-dining complex The Camp. Lines form each night before the 5-year-old pizza joint opens. Its dining room, strewn with colored string lights and kitschy decor, provides a playful setting for artisan pizzas with a thoroughly Californian perspective.

Chef and co-owner Joey Booterbaugh starts with a higher-hydration sourdough base for the 14-inch pies. They emerge from the kitchen’s deck ovens with a darker-than-most cornicione (the crusty outer rim), studded with wide, irregular bubbles.

The airy yet toothsome crust serves as a fabulous foundation for classic, red-sauced pies and white pizzas that showcase seasonal produce, like thinly sliced, SoCal-grown potatoes paired with Taleggio and Fontina cheeses. 

This relatively new addition to the revitalized Lantern District is housed in a sleek, custom-designed building with entirely outdoor seating areas, including a trellis-shaded patio and a rooftop perch with panoramic views. The glassed-in exhibition kitchen is a sparkling stage at Truly Pizza. The culinary team has several World Pizza Champions, including master pizza maker Chris Decker.

Must-order pies include the umami mushroom. The 12-inch Asian-inspired pizza is layered with a creamy onion-and-garlic sauce, smoked mozzarella, and marinated roasted mushrooms on a crisp, flaky crust sprinkled with sesame seeds. For the Sicilian-style pizza, mozzarella, soppressata, Stracciatella cheese, and hot honey top 3-day fermented dough. 

This friendly pizzeria in the burgeoning food town of Oceanside prides itself on making many of its core menu ingredients in-house, including the burrata and mozzarella that gild its pies, along with the porchetta and applewood-smoked sausage that top the hearty butcher block. Allmine even provides atomizers of house-made chili oil to spritz over its pizzas. (Genius!)

Its 3-day fermented dough is also turned into popular starters, including baked pinwheels stuffed with brie or mushrooms, and loaves of crusty bread served with garlic oil and sofrito butter. Look for seasonal salads and accomplished pasta dishes, including a tasty take on lasagna Bolognese draped with Mornay sauce. 

Fashioned from a former post office, Tribute Pizza calls its signature style “Neo-Neapolitan,” which melds New York and Neapolitan pizza techniques. It also offers a more traditional New York pie as well as a thicker grandma pizza, baked in a rectangular pan.

Owner Matthew Lyons, who counts Chris Bianco among his mentors, uses his menu to pay homage to notable pizzerias around the globe, from Brooklyn’s Best Pizza to Pizzeria Brandi in Naples, Italy, the birthplace of the margherita. Don’t miss the wood-fired focaccia served with house-made nduja (spicy, spreadable sausage) or the salads sourced from the nearby farmers markets.

A pop-up-turned-permanent-restaurant within walking distance of Petco Park, TNT Pizza is ostensibly a slice shop, although it distinguishes itself with a variety of styles, from New York to Detroit to the lesser-seen tavern-style, a super thin pizza that comes cut into small squares and features a crunchy, cracker-like crust.

Bold and flavorful topping combinations include the red-sauced house classic loaded with fennel-sausage, roasted peppers, onion, and pepperoncini. For a more esoteric combination, go for corn with cilantro-jalapeño sauce. A plus for the plant-based set: Nearly all its pizzas can be made vegan. 

Candice Woo is a featured contributor to Westways and the founding editor of Eater San Diego, which launched in 2012. 

Elina Shatkin is a journalist, writer, and podcast producer. Before joining KCRW as a producer for Good Food, she was the Food Editor at LAist/KPCC.