Margherita pizza
Photograph: Supplied | Pizza Artigiana
Photograph: Supplied | Pizza Artigiana

The 30 best pizzas in Australia

If you’re looking for the best slice in town, we’ve got you covered

Melissa Woodley
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There ain’t no party like a pizza party, and we’ve got plenty of places worth celebrating Down Under. Whether you’re a slave to the traditional Neapolitan and Sicilian-style slices or crave the carby goodness of a deep dish or New York-style slab, Australia pumps out some of the best pizzas in the world (a close second to Italy, of course). In no particular order, here are the pizzerias that we reckon are a cut above the rest in Australia.

🍽 Australia’s finest and fanciest restaurants
🍺 The best bars in Australia
🥧 Australia's greatest pies

Best pizzas in Australia

  • Italian
  • Maylands

Our pick: Burrata Special

‘Amore Mio’ means ‘My Love’ in Italian and provides a pizza heaven in Maylands. Their style of pizza dough is hand-stretched and risen over 48 hours, per Italian tradition, and cooked on stone to the point where there is just enough crunch. You’ll be absolutely spoilt for choice with more than 65 pizzas on offer, including the OG regulars (shout out to the Hawaiiana), seafood selections, gourmet Aussie chef specials and deluxe pizzas with more toppings than you can fit in your mouth. Just save room for the Burrata Special, topped with creamy fior di burrata, melted and surrounded by premium prosciutto, fresh basil and tomato sauce.

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Melissa Woodley
Travel & News Editor, Time Out Australia
  • Italian

Our pick: Big Tony

It’s been almost a decade since Hobart’s cult-followed pizzeria first opened in Berridale, which means they’re clearly doing something right. It’s impossible to go wrong when ordering a pizza here, with gluten-free folks and vegepals well looked after too. Risk it all with the Big Tony, featuring a tomato base, mushrooms, pepperoni, red onion, jalapenos, LP cheese blend and cracked black pepper. PS: Their weekly specials also slap and we won’t judge you if you opt for one of those instead.

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Melissa Woodley
Travel & News Editor, Time Out Australia
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  • Newtown

Our pick: Nduja, ricotta and thyme

This tiny Inner West pizza parlour is making a whole lot of noise in Sydney’s crowded carb scene. Getting your hands on a Westwood pizza might require more forethought and planning than your average takeaway dinner, but the rewards more than outweigh the costs. There are only seven woodfired pizzas to pick from, including a spicy nduja or rich spanner crab, along with two side salads and some chilli XO to dip your crusts in. You’ve got to be in it to win it, so set your alarm for 3pm when pre-orders open.

  • Italian
  • Wembley

Our pick: Milliano

Even your nonna would approve of Monsterella. Warm and welcoming, this little family-owned pizzeria has something for the whole clan. Their handmade woodfire pizzas are Naples in style, with dough naturally risen for 48 hours, stretched out thin and cooked until the crust bubbles with beautiful burnt bumps. The Milliano is a must-try with fior di latte, Italian pork and fennel sausage, caramelised onions pecorino and truffle oil, but if we had to pick a second favourite, it’d be the Diablo with smoked mozzarella, hot salami, nduja and chilli.

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Melissa Woodley
Travel & News Editor, Time Out Australia
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  • Italian
  • City West Campus

Our pick: #04 with chargrilled pineapple and gabagool

A retro bar that serves pizza? Sounds like a place we want to spend the night, stuffing our faces with pizza, washing it down with beer and staying late for a boogie. Sunny’s no-fuss menu is split between ‘Pizza’ and ‘Not Pizza’, with seven crispy discs to dive into. The chargrilled pineapple, gabagool (pork), mozzarella and green chilli verde pizza could stir some heated debates, but if you can convince your mates that pineapple belongs on pizza, then it’s well worth the fight.

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Melissa Woodley
Travel & News Editor, Time Out Australia
  • Pizza
  • South Brisbane

Our pick: Pizza Patate e Pancetta

Pizza fit for a Roman ruler is what you’ll find at Julius, the hip younger sibling of Brisbane’s Beccofino restaurant and pizzeria. Its beating heart is a custom-made Stefano Ferrara woodfired oven from Naples, which pumps out a creative yet classic range of both rosse (Napoli sauce base) and bianche (white base) pies. We suggest ordering one of each, leaving lots of stomach space for the Patate e Pancetta with potatoes, pancetta, mozzarella, scamorza and rosemary.

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Melissa Woodley
Travel & News Editor, Time Out Australia
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  • Italian
  • Elsternwick

Our pick: Di Parma

With numerous awards under its belt including the crown of ‘best pizza in Australia’ in 2023, this spot takes pizza seriously and it shows. It’s named for the amount of time the natural dough takes to rise which results in a tender, flavourful crust paired with just the right ratio of toppings. There’s no bad option and as you might expect, they take every element of pizza preparation very seriously here. If you can only choose one, make it Di Parma, which was named the number one pizza in the Australia Pizza World Championships 2019 (tomato sauce, mozzarella, prosciutto di Parma, Italian buffalo mozzarella, rocket and grana padano).

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Lauren Dinse
Food & Drink Writer
  • Pizza
  • Manly

Our pick: Funghitown 

This funky pizzeria sitting a few streets back from Sydney’s famous Manly Beach gets top marks across the board for its kitschy vintage styling – from the red-and-white check tablecloths and sheer, lacy curtains, to a solid wall of framed black-and-white photos. Wines by the glass are kept at budget-friendly prices; bottles are easy to access for under a 50; and there’s a self-service fridge for crafty brews. The Funghitown is the talk of the town and for good reason. It starts with a tomato and mushroom base, is topped with generous proportions of field mushrooms and fried kale, and the dried ricotta and fior di latte balance it out.

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  • Italian
  • Greater Adelaide

Our pick: Salami

Southern Italian traditions, South Australian conditions. That’s the name of the game at this much-loved institution tucked away in a rustic-chic McLaren country house, which is reminiscent of a welcoming Italian family home. The pizzas here are made most traditionally, with recipes passed down from generations and given an ‘Oztalian’ twist. The soft, thin crusts are stretched out by hand – no rolling pins in sight – and cooked in a woodfire oven imported from Napoli, until the crust is puffy, charred and spotted. It’s hard to pick a favourite, but you won’t be disappointed with the Salami pizza, featuring homemade sugo, hand-pitted olives, portobello mushrooms and fior di latte.

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Melissa Woodley
Travel & News Editor, Time Out Australia
  • Italian
  • Fortitude Valley

Our pick: Mortadella pizza

This glam little Italian pizzeria and wine bar is a rising star in Brisbane’s pizza scene. Every pizza is a labour of love, hand-made from a six-year-old wholemeal sourdough starter and fermented over 48 hours. There’s only one place to start your meal, and that’s with the Mortadella pizza bread, featuring a heavenly combo of stracciatella and pistachio crumble. Follow it up with classics like Margherita and Diavola, or specials like the veg-friendly broccoli base Verde or the truffle cream base Tartufata with prosciutto and slow-cooked onion.

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Melissa Woodley
Travel & News Editor, Time Out Australia
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  • Italian

Our pick: Pizzica

This not-so-secret spot makes appearances on almost every round-up of the best pizza in Australia. The rustic brick restaurant has lots of character and will transport you straight from Margaret River to the charming region of Salento in Southeast Italy. On any given night, Pizzica is fully packed with people travelling across the state for a slice of their infamous woodfired pizzas. The namesake Pizzica is a go-to, loaded with mozzarella, friarielli (broccoli rabe), Italian sausage, fresh chilli and pecorino cheese, which is sprinkled on after cooking. Just make sure to eat it while it’s hot.

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Melissa Woodley
Travel & News Editor, Time Out Australia
  • Italian

Our pick: Frutti di mare

You’ll find an unassuming slice of Napoli at this casual pizzeria, located just a street back from the waterfront in Darwin’s city centre. The team serves pizza the way it is served in the streets of Napoli, following traditional 17th-century methods. Every disc is hot-to-trot with a leopard-spotted puffy crust, soft and saucy centre, and toppings appointed in all the right places. The Frutti Di Mare nails the brief with San Marzano tomatoes, marinated octopus and prawns, black olives, leek, parsley oil and garlic. It’s best enjoyed the traditional way with a knife and fork in Alfonsino’s relaxed outdoor patio.

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Melissa Woodley
Travel & News Editor, Time Out Australia
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  • Italian

Our pick: King Kofta V2.0

Come get a slice of Italy at this bright pink pizzeria, also by the team behind Local Pizza. All pies are cooked in a disco-ball oven, which makes sense considering that there are disco balls of all shapes and sizes dotted around the dining room. The pizza menu is as playful as the decor, with names like Bubby G, BBQ Bird, Wild Child and Spuf Lyf. However, the King Kofta V2.0 is the most popular, with a capsicum base, lamb kofta, mozzarella, roast capsicum, herb yogurt, red onion, za’atar and chopped herbs.

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Melissa Woodley
Travel & News Editor, Time Out Australia
  • Italian
  • Brunswick

Our pick: Frutti Di Mare

As a past winner of the World Pizza Championships with locations scattered around Melbourne, you’d expect 400 Gradi to know what they’re doing. And they do. With the pizza oven cranked up to 400 degrees, the bases are chewy and puffed up around the edges. It’s a beautiful canvas for the Frutti Di Mare, where prawns, mussels, clams and fresh fish unite harmoniously on a tomato base.

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Lauren Dinse
Food & Drink Writer
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  • Italian
  • Scarborough

Our pick: Margherita

It was love at first slice for locals at this neighbourhood pizzeria with locations in Scarborough and Subiaco. Hot, fresh and fired up in an oven straight from Italy, these pizzas are true Neapolitan doughy goodness. The pizzaiolos ferment their dough for three days and bring the party to town with lots of toppings – burrata cheese, prosciutto crudo, pineapple, you name it. The Margherita is a local favourite, and we suggest dressing it up with bufala cheese and ordering a garlic aioli dip to dunk your golden crusts.

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Melissa Woodley
Travel & News Editor, Time Out Australia
  • Newtown

Our pick: Melanzane

Turns out, pizza without cheese is still bloody excellent. Sure, there were a lot of naysayers on the internet when Gigi in Sydney’s hipster suburb of Newtown changed to a plant-based menu, but they were wrong, because a chewy, wood-fired pizza base covered in San Marzano tomato, grilled eggplant, tree nut ricotta, basil salsa and green vie parmesan is delicious. We swear you won’t even miss the mozzarella. Don’t believe us? Just try getting a table – it’s a packed house every night.

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  • Italian
  • Carlton

Our pick: The 'Roni Square

This big and bright pizzeria pulls influence from New York and Italy but is undeniably Melbourne. The sourdough pizza base, made with flour from South Australia, is fermented for 48 hours, rested for six and baked in an electric oven, giving it a light, blistered, crunchy, pliable and complex crust. In addition to your standard pies, you’ll also find Roman-style pizza al taglio, which is baked in large rectangular trays and is arguably the eatery’s biggest draw. Trust us and go for the ‘Roni Square with tomato, pepperoni, pickled onion and a vodka sauce dipper for your crusts.

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Lauren Dinse
Food & Drink Writer

Pizza Artigiana, Canberra, ACT

Our pick: Top 100 – Chef Hemm

Hailing from Tuscany, owner Silvio Miceli has been firing up puffy Neapolitan-style pizzas in Macquarie since 2014 and Verity Lane since 2020. Miceli promises “pizza so good your nonna would be proud,” offering everything from classic napoletana and capricciosa to spicy diavola and rich quattro formaggi. Fun fact: One of Artigiana’s pizza chefs, Hemm, was honoured in the Top 100 Pizza Chefs in The 2023 Best Chef Awards. 

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Melissa Woodley
Travel & News Editor, Time Out Australia
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  • Italian
  • Fortitude Valley
  • price 2 of 4

Our pick: Pizza Tartufo

Tartufo is the gold standard of traditional Naples-style pizza in Brisneyland and one of only two pizzerias in Queensland to boast membership to the ‘True Neapolitan Pizza Association’. Needless to say, they take pizza very seriously, and you will be seriously impressed before even tasting a slice; just watching the chefs in the open kitchen expertly tossing dough is enough to get you salivating. Trust the name and go for the Tartufo with prosciutto, porcini mushroom purée, cherry tomatoes, shaved parmesan and mozzarella – plus the stand-out pork sausage and truffle paste stuffed crust.

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Melissa Woodley
Travel & News Editor, Time Out Australia
  • Pizza

Our pick: Prosciutto and roquette

When the sun goes down and the oven heats up, Mama Dough is where you want to be. The cosy space sits only six people inside but does a roaring takeaway trade and serves their pizzas directly to diners at the local pub, Edgar’s Inn, just next door. Mama Dough gets its name from the ‘mama dough’ used to create their original pizza base, which gets fired up in an imported Forno Bravo pizza oven. Picking a favourite pizza here is like picking a favourite child, so we’ll have to settle on the prosciutto and roquette for carnivores, or the mushroom, caramelised onion and sticky balsamic version for herbivores.

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Melissa Woodley
Travel & News Editor, Time Out Australia
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  • Italian
  • Carlton
  • price 1 of 4

Our pick: Pizza Salsiccia

Expect a queue and a charismatic Italian welcome at DOC, which boasts outposts around Victoria plus one in Sydney. Thin crust pizzas are pumped out promptly and feature traditional toppings with a twist: see the verdant Salsiccia, combining broccoli cream, mozzarella and housemade pork sausage, or the Pomodoro with yellow tomatoes, anchovies, Ligurian olives and capers.

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Lauren Dinse
Food & Drink Writer

Antica, Brisbane, QLD

Our pick: Antica Signature

You might recognise owners Luca and Mike as the dynamic duos behind Pizzantica – Australia’s first mobile pizza oven, which the pair operated out of a vintage Volkswagen Kombi. After building up a loyal following, they decided to set up a permanent trattoria on the outskirts of Wilston village. Antica, meaning ‘ancient’ in Italian, is a nod to their traditional Neapolitan-style pizzas. Start by sharing the pizza fritta (fried pizza bread) or focaccia with locally made salumi, before diving into mains. Quattro formaggi, napoletana, calabrese, capricciosa, diavola – you name it, they serve it. We suggest coming hungry and ordering the whopping one-metre ‘Antica Signature’, featuring half tomato, burrata, balsamic pearls and basil, and half seasonal fruits, goat's cheese, manuka honey and mozzarella. Bellissimo! 

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Melissa Woodley
Travel & News Editor, Time Out Australia
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  • Pizza
  • Perth Central

Our pick: Hot Honey

This female and family-run pizza joint in Leederville undeniably serves some of the best slices in town. Vikka specialises in Napoletana-style 13-inch pizzas that are perfectly blistered in the oven and topped with a smorgasbord of locally sourced ingredients. Vegetarians have plenty of options at Vikka – with veg-forward pizzas making half the menu, though there’s also the option to add meats like speck and honey-cured ham if you so desire. Let’s not forget the crust – Vikka offers your choice of sugo or stracciatella dip, which will have you mopping up every last bit. 

  • Italian
  • Bayswater

Our pick: Parma Lot

King Somm is a neighbourhood pizzeria, bar and bottleshop in Bayswater (yes, this means you can grab some amazing beers and wines to take away). Their pizza follows the traditional Neapolitan style, using the pasta di riporto method where the dough is left to proof for a minimum of 72 hours to ensure maximum conversion of sugars to give a light and airy dough. Each pizza is hand-stretched and cooked in an Italian electric oven with a small blend of traditional toppings with a twist. They run pizza specials on the weekends and also have a rolling selection of crust dips so if you’re someone who leaves their crusts until the end, you can finish them off with basil pesto or saffron aioli.

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Ai-Ling Truong
Contributor
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  • Italian
  • Redfern

Our pick: Scopello

Found on Redfern’s main drag, La Coppola is a hole-in-the-wall joint that serves delicious Sicilian-style pizzas. The father-daughter duo, Stefano and Cassie, have perfected their pizza, which features a crisp base with a light and fluffy crust. We’re big fans of the Scopello with burrata, salami, spicy pancetta, garlic, parsley and chilli. There are a handful of tables outside and one large communal table inside where you can BYO wine and make friends with your neighbour. No seats? Order a pizza to go and take it across the road to Noble Hops and enjoy it with a beer. 

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Avril Treasure
Food & Drink Editor, Time Out Sydney
  • Pizza
  • Carlton

Our pick: Pork and fennel sausage

The equally irreverent sibling to Leonard’s House of Love in South Yarra, Leonardo’s is more spaghetti western than Neapolitan puritan. The pizzas follow suit, the New York-style pies going fatter on the base with plenty of spongy chew and char. Forget the keto diet until tomorrow – this is a supremely bready kind of place. The kind where a side of ranch sauce arrives with pizza (you know… for crust dipping) and appetisers like crostini dominate the starters list.

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Lauren Dinse
Food & Drink Writer
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Beccofino, Brisbane, QLD

Our pick: Number One

A leafy outdoor terrace, relaxed and mellow ambience, and founder Paolo Biscaro’s now famous traditional-style woodfired pizzas: it’s a recipe for a great night and a belt loosening or two. Beccofino is the older and more established sibling restaurant of Julius (see below), the younger, hip pizzeria in South Brisbane. But don’t be fooled into thinking Beccofino is over the hill or too old school to be relevant; it's one of Brisbane's Italian restaurant stalwarts for very good reason. A combination of fresh ingredients, inventive specials, friendly and efficient service, authentic Italian energy and consistent quality is what sets Beccofino apart. Bookings can be hard to come by due to its popularity, but the walk-in experience is worth the wait — even if you have to pitch a tent and camp out for that pancetta or mortadella pizza.

Chicco Palms, Adelaide, SA

Order the: Patate

California, here we come. Inspired by the American desert town, Palm Springs, Chicco Palms brings a mid-century resort edge to its suburban pizza restaurant in Brooklyn Park. Wood-clad ceilings and checkerboard flooring are a warm welcome for the visual senses, while the Roman-style pizzas and Italo-American snacks are an awakening for the taste buds. Wood-fired numbers are churned out both day and night, with a selection of both pizza rosse (red pizza) and pizza bianche (white pizza) up for grabs. The Chicco Palms experience is just as much about the drinks as it is the fare, with a focus on local and Italian wines, zesty cocktail jugs and tinnies. 

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SoLita Pizzeria, Canberra, ACT

Our pick: Calabrese

Smack bang in the centre of town is Canberra’s only pizzeria accredited by the Associazione Pizzerie Napoletane in Naples, Italy. Aptly named ‘stand alone’, SoLita has been slinging traditional wood-fired pizzas from its Forno Bravo oven, which roars at a sizzling 400 degrees. The dough is rested for at least 48 hours, hand-stretched to order and fired in the oven for just two to three minutes. Pizzas here are fully customisable, offering toppings like caramelised onion, diced apples, house-roasted pork belly, candied walnuts, black truffle oil and vegan cheese.

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Melissa Woodley
Travel & News Editor, Time Out Australia

The Last Supper Pizzarella, Darwin, NT

Our pick: Margherita

The Last Supper restaurant is putting the ‘go’ in gourmet. As in, go there right now for some sensational pizza. The venue is funky (picture: zebra print cushions x Sandro Botticelli-inspired interiors) and the ingredients are refined (think: 24-hour fermented dough, black truffle sauce and house-made pesto). Make a night of it by pairing your pizza with one of the bar’s regular comedy shows, karaoke nights or wine tastings. 

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Melissa Woodley
Travel & News Editor, Time Out Australia
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