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GuideUpdated July 14, 2026

15 Best Pizza Restaurants in Chicago

15 Chicago pizza spots worth planning around — from wood-fired Neapolitan to New York-style slices.

The best pizza restaurants in Chicago are Zarella Pizzeria & Taverna, Pizzeria Portofino, Gino's East, and more. Start with Zarella Pizzeria & Taverna if you want the strongest overall first pick.

By James Whitfield•15 ranked picks•Published July 14, 2026•Updated July 14, 2026
Methodology•Editorial team
Zarella Pizzeria & TavernaPizzeria PortofinoGino's East
15 Best Pizza Restaurants in Chicago
Google

Top picks at a glance

#1Zarella Pizzeria & TavernaPizza • Chicago • value#2Pizzeria PortofinoPizza • River North • moderate#3Gino's EastPizza • Chicago • value

Who this guide is for

The best pizza in Chicago spans wood-fired Neapolitan, crispy New York-style, and deep-dish options that reward a proper sit-down. These picks are sorted by Google rating and review depth. Picks span Chicago, River North and Wicker Park.

Quick picks

Zarella Pizzeria & Taverna
Pizza • Chicago
Boka Group has a knack for making a room feel more expensive than it is, and Zarella Pizzeria & Taverna at 531 N Wells St.
Pizzeria Portofino
Pizza • River North
Pizzeria Portofino is a pizza pick in River North in Chicago when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.
Gino's East
Pizza • Chicago
Gino's East keeps showing up in the right conversations when people want a reliable pizza plan.
Browse all Chicago restaurantsBack to Chicago hub
Editorial details
Published: July 14, 2026
Last updated: July 14, 2026

On this page

  1. 1. Zarella Pizzeria & TavernaView →
  2. 2. Pizzeria PortofinoView →
  3. 3. Gino's EastView →
  4. 4. Paradise Park | Pizza & PatioView →
  5. 5. Ranalli's Pizza Bar - West Loop, ChicagoView →
  6. 6. Ricobene'sView →
  7. 7. Michael's Original Pizzeria & TavernView →
  8. 8. R Public HouseView →
  9. 9. The StopAlongView →
  10. 10. Giordano'sView →
  11. 11. Flo & SantosView →
  12. 12. Pequod's PizzaView →
  13. 13. Lou Malnati's PizzeriaView →
  14. 14. Labriola Ristorante - ChicagoView →
  15. 15. Fireside Restaurant & LoungeView →

How the restaurants compare

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Zarella Pizzeria & Taverna
Google
Zarella Pizzeria & Taverna
Chicago • Pizza
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
value
Best for
Tavern style pizza
Mood
Casual
Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Pizzeria Portofino
Google
Pizzeria Portofino
River North • Pizza
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
moderate
Best for
River North
Mood
River North
Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Gino's East
Google
Gino's East
Chicago • Pizza
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
value
Best for
Deep dish
Mood
Casual
Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Paradise Park | Pizza & Patio
Google
Paradise Park | Pizza & Patio
Wicker Park • Pizza
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
value
Best for
Wicker Park
Mood
Wicker Park

How we chose

We looked for restaurants that feel like a strong fit for the guide topic, not just the most obvious names in the city. The shortlist favors rooms with clear mood, dependable pacing, and enough distinction to help someone decide faster. Read our full methodology →

Room tone

Lighting, pace, and general energy all need to support the reason someone clicked this guide.

Food fit

We favored restaurants that feel best suited for the moment, not just restaurants with broad reputation.

Useful range

The final list tries to give readers enough variation in neighborhood, price, and style to compare real options.

15 ranked picks

Zarella Pizzeria & Taverna — Boka Group has a knack for making a room feel more expensive than it is, and Zarella Pizzeria & Taverna at 531 N Wells St. is reportedly one of their cleaner executions of that trick. The space runs two modes: a leather-and-low-light front dining room that reads as a proper night out, and a Taverna concealed behind a pantry door that leans closer to a speakeasy than anything you'd associate with pizza. Chef partners Chris Pandel and Lee Wolen — whose collective résumé covers Swift & Sons, Boka, and Alla Vita — are the pedigree behind the menu. The price point, by most accounts, does not reflect that résumé. That gap between casual format and serious kitchen lineage is essentially the whole proposition. The menu centers on a handful of pizzas and pastas that diners consistently point to as the reason to return. The Carbonara Pizza takes a Roman pasta classic and rebuilds it on a blistered crust — smoked pancetta, pecorino, egg — with a reputation for richness that stops short of heaviness. The Soppressata and Mortadella Pizza is known for pairing Calabrian chili honey and arugula against the fat of the charcuterie, a combination that sounds like it could tip sweet or bitter but reportedly holds its balance. For anyone at the table who is skeptical of pizza as a full dinner, the Radiatore alla Vodka is the reported answer — ridged pasta built to catch sauce, and a familiar dish given room to be taken seriously. The Calamari with fried peppers and Calabrian chili aioli turns up repeatedly as the way to open the meal. Practical notes worth knowing: there is a grab-and-go window on Grand St. for solo lunch situations with no reservations required. The Taverna is the play for two people who want something quieter. Come before 7 on a weekday if conversation is the point. View restaurant →

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Giordano's — Let me be direct about what Giordano's is: the Chicago deep dish argument, settled — at least for the people willing to engage with it seriously. This isn't thick-crust pizza wearing a costume. The stuffed format, which Giordano's has been doing since 1974, means a full second crust buried under the crushed tomato sauce, a structural commitment that separates it from every place that slaps cheese in a pan and calls it deep dish. The room is casual, loud, and unpretentious, and at a dollar-sign price point, the whole thing feels almost conspiratorially affordable for what Chicago considers a civic institution. The Stuffed Deep Dish Pizza is the reason you're here, and the menu makes no apologies about that. Diners consistently report a minimum 45-minute bake time, which is real — the pizza requires it — not performative pacing. That wait is what the starters are for. The Fried Mozzarella Triangles are well-regarded as a holding pattern: reportedly golden, structurally sharp, the kind of appetizer that earns its keep. The Traditional Chicken Wings and Meatball and Marinara Platter are honest Italian-American bar food — they exist to give the table something to do before the main event arrives, and they're understood to deliver exactly that, nothing more. The Brownies & Cookies close things out on an unfussy note, the kind of dessert that works because it doesn't try to be anything it isn't. Practical intel: order the Stuffed Deep Dish the moment you sit down, before you've looked at anything else on the menu. The thin crust is reportedly available but beside the point at this address. Weekends draw real waits, so call ahead or arrive early. If the table needs a dessert nudge, the Brownies & Cookies are the move — simple, known to land well, done. View restaurant →
Flo & Santos — Flo & Santos operates on a premise that sounds like a bar bet — Polish and Italian, one kitchen, South Side Chicago — and by all accounts it pulls it off without breaking a sweat. The room reads as a neighborhood dive that actually runs a real kitchen, which is a rarer combination than the price point would suggest. This is not a place oriented around impressing anyone. It's oriented around cold beer, hot food, and getting out of your own way, and the regulars who pack it on weekends seem to have figured that out well ahead of the rest of us. The menu splits its attention between the two traditions and doesn't apologize for either. The Pierogi Sampler is consistently cited as the dish that anchors the whole identity of the place — the thing that explains what Flo & Santos actually is before the pizza or pasta can make their case. On the Italian side, the Arrabbiata is reportedly the kind of tomato sauce that registers as a genuine decision rather than a default, and the Linguine Saltimbocca rounds out the pasta offerings with some ambition. The Salt and Pepper Calamari is a menu staple that diners point to as a reliable opener, and the 13th Street Italian Sub covers the sandwich corner for anyone who wants something handheld. All of it is priced so low that the math genuinely does not add up in your favor if you skip it. Practical note: the sequencing that makes the most sense of what the kitchen is doing, according to people who frequent the place, is Pierogi Sampler first, then something from the pasta side. Weekends fill with regulars fast. Come early, or plan to post up at the bar. View restaurant →
Pequod's Pizza — Pequod's Pizza in Lincoln Park has built one of the most fervent followings in a city that treats pizza allegiance as a matter of civic identity. What distinguishes it from the broader Chicago deep-dish conversation is a specific technique: a pan pizza where cheese is pushed out to the very edge of the baking pan, where it caramelizes against the cast iron and blackens into a lacey, crisped ring that diners consistently cite as the whole reason to make the trip. This is reportedly the detail that converts people who arrived skeptical of Chicago-style pizza — not the depth of the dish itself, but that singular, char-edged crust that no other city pizzeria quite replicates. The room reinforces the reputation. Pequod's is a dark, unpretentious neighborhood tavern — the kind of place where the lighting is low, the bar is well-stocked, and nobody is trying to impress anyone. It has the atmosphere of somewhere that has been exactly this busy, exactly this casual, for decades. The menu centers on pan pizzas built to be thick, rich, and unambiguous. With no specific dishes verified on file, the broad understanding from those who track it closely is that the pizza itself is the menu — toppings are a secondary decision to the format and the crust. Practically speaking, Pequod's is priced accessibly for what it delivers, and the crowd reflects that — groups, locals, out-of-towners who planned ahead. The wait at peak hours is real and widely documented, so arriving early or parking yourself at the bar is the standard advice. Budget enough time for the pie to bake properly; the process is reportedly part of the experience. Go with a group, order a round before the food arrives, and let the caramelized crust do the arguing for you. View restaurant →
Labriola Ristorante - Chicago — Labriola Ristorante is doing something that feels almost countercultural in Chicago's pizza scene: it's priced and positioned like it actually wants you back next week, not just for a special occasion. In a city where a pizza dinner for two can quietly become a minor financial event, that restraint is its own kind of statement. The room reportedly draws a genuinely mixed crowd — first-daters alongside long-running regulars — which tends to be a reliable signal that a place has figured out hospitality without making it a production. This is not a spot auditioning for accolades it doesn't need. It knows what it is. The cocktail program is where the kitchen philosophy becomes clearest, and it's worth your attention before you even look at the food. The Barrel-Aged Manhattan is built around actual barrel time — the oak-forward character diners describe is the result of process, not just a menu buzzword. The Boss's Bitter reportedly leans into amaro with more backbone than most casual bars are willing to commit to, while the Amaro Bramble draws on blackberry and herbal bitterness in a way that nods to the Italian half of the restaurant's identity. The Watermelon Wave exists on the unapologetically fun end of the list — the kind of thing you should order without second-guessing yourself in summer. The Walnut St. Old Fashioned rounds out a program that has a discernible point of view rather than just coverage of every category. Practically speaking, the move is to arrive on the early side before the room fills, grab the bar or a two-top, and let the cocktail list do its work before the food lands. Start with the Walnut St. Old Fashioned; end with the Boss's Bitter. View restaurant →

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Personalized city picksCleaner shortlistsBuilt for iPhone and Android
TastyPalsTonight
Your taste. Our picks.
Smarter follow-through after the guide: better restaurant context, quicker narrowing, less second-guessing.
For tonight
Date night spots with warm rooms and polished service
Next step
Keep exploring in the app when you want a tighter shortlist