20 best pizzerias in Tokyo

Helmed by executive chef Daniele Cason, The Pizza Bar on 38th has solidified its place as one of the world’s best pizzerias in this year’s 50 Top Pizza ranking. In fact, the restaurant ranks the highest out of all four Tokyo spots on the 100 best pizzeria list, coming in at No 16 for 2022. On top of making the best pizzeria list, the restaurant has also been awarded the Michelin Bib Gourmand honour for six years in a row as well as the Gambero Rosso Three Slices award for four years straight.

You'll find the pizzeria inside the Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo, but it’s not your average hotel restaurant. Home to just eight counter seats, you’re guaranteed to get a front row seat to the pizza-making action. Pizzas are served fresh from the brick oven with simple, traditional toppings like Buffalo mozzarella, tomato and basil.

Cason's pizza dough is particularly noteworthy, made with organic Italian flour and just one gram of yeast. The dough then goes through a lengthy 48-hour fermentation period to help create the lightest, most delectable crust.

Run by a Naples native who's been making pizzas since he was 12, Pizzeria da Peppe serves up superior slices in a cosy space covered with SSC Napoli football paraphernalia. 

Weekday lunches will run you to ¥1,300 for a choice of three pizzas or pasta, plus soup and tea or coffee. A margherita comes drizzled with a rather good olive oil, and the base – chewy and liberally salted – has just enough stiffness to ensure that the topping doesn't slop onto our plates while we're eating.

Peppe’s speciality, however, is the Pizza Don Salvo: its crust is stuffed with ricotta and spicy salami, then folded into an eight-point star and topped with tomato sauce, a generous amount of mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, basil and parmesan.

Pizza Strada has become a fixture in Azabu-Juban for its perfectly executed wood-fired classics, as well as for specials using local seasonal produce like Hiroshima oysters, Hokkaido asparagus and shine muscat grapes.

The pizzeria also has impressive bragging rights as it came in at No 52 on the 100 best pizzerias list by 50 Top Pizza for 2022. Additionally, Pizza Strada's combination of smoked mozzarella, pecorino, cherry tomatoes and basil was awarded Pizza of the Year 2022 in the 50 Top Pizza Asia Pacific ranking.

As for some of the other pizzas, we recommend the quattro formaggi topped with a generous helping of cheese, or the wagyu pizza topped with minced wagyu beef, mushrooms, jalapenos and cheese.

Owner and chef Shunsuke Matsumaru may not have spent years training in Italy, but that hasn’t stopped his pizzeria from flourishing. If you want proof of this, look no further than Pizzeria e Braceria L'Insieme in Kameido being named one of the world's best pizzerias by 50 Top Pizza for 2022. 

The homely restaurant has an open kitchen in the back where you can see pizzas being spun and cooked in the large pizza oven. Unlike some pizzerias that only offer margherita and marinara, you’ll find a generous range of red and white variations including some with unorthodox toppings. Pizza purists should stick to the classic margherita, topped with a generous helping of mozzarella and parmesan cheese, while adventurous eaters might want to go for the Americana, a white pizza topped with mozzarella, sausage and French fries.

Tucked snugly into a corner by Shiba Park in Minato ward sits one of the most highly regarded pizzerias in Tokyo. Pizza Studio Tamaki, or PST as it’s called by fans, is led by Tsubasa Tamaki, who trained under lauded pizzaiolo Sussum Kakinuma of Seireinkan and Savoy. 

The bases are light and chewy, sporting the characteristic puffy crust and thin centre of Naples-style pizza. They’re cooked in a wood-fired oven at a searingly hot temperature, meaning they touch the insides for a matter of moments before being delivered to your table with just the right amount of char. You notice the bases have a salty slant, thanks to the pinch of salt thrown into the oven before the pizza goes in. 

Backed up by a Stefano Ferrara forni (pizza oven) – described as the Ferrari of the pizza oven world – this restaurant is bustling every lunchtime and evening of the week. And with good reason: the pizzas are cooked to Naples-level perfection – light, elastic bases with just the right amount of puff and char on the crust.

There are more than 30 pizzas, an extensive list for Tokyo, divided into pizza rossa (tomato and mozzarella base), pizza marinara (tomato base), and pizza bianca (mozzarella base). We love the creamy and aromatic Cicoli, with tender pieces of pork confit, mozzarella and ricotta, finished with a hefty grind of fresh black pepper. Then there’s the Via Santa Lucia 120, topped with passata, garlic, dried oregano, anchovies and an indulgent amount of fresh juicy cherry tomatoes.

Run by the affable Kaneko-san, Savoy is a local pizza institution that arguably rivals many a pizza place in Italy. Part of a small chain that was originally started by Seirinkan's owner, Savoy’s pizzas (margherita and marinara) have less cornicione, while the marinara is notable for its use of garlic: thinly sliced and distributed just right. Go for the lunch set, where you get a pizza, a salad and a drink for only ¥1,000.

A multi-floor steampunk spectacular, Seirinkan would be worth visiting even if the pizzas weren't top-notch. But they are – all two of them.

Kakinuma prepares his pizzas, each of which spends just 60 seconds in the oven. The margherita is a long way from textbook: only a slight smear of tomato sauce under the cheese, which is topped with vividly ripe tomatoes, basil and a hearty lashing of olive oil. The crust is as light and chewy as freshly baked ciabatta, with a dusting of salt that makes each bite worth savouring.

Hisanori Yamamoto picked up a string of pizza-making trophies in Naples on the way to opening his own shop. Da Isa is always hectic, but the sourdough pizzas are sublime. 

The margherita is textbook stuff, while off-kilter innovations like the Shiori (mozzarella, prawns in shell, tomato, rucola and parmigiano) are also well worth a try.

The quaint atmosphere of Tutto Bene combined with its excellent, affordable pizzas will have you leaving the restaurant feeling, without a doubt, ‘tutto bene’ (all is good). The lunch special could be one of the best in Tokyo – ¥1,200 for a large garden salad followed by your choice of pizza. 

The margherita – the test of any pizzeria – sports a tomato base with a well-balanced blend of sweetness and tang, topped with creamy mozzarella cheese and fresh basil. Another house favourite is the nerano pizza, inspired by a pasta dish from the Amalfi Coast, with zucchini, basil and scamorza cheese.

The Naples eatery venerated in 'Eat, Pray, Love' made a splashy debut in Tokyo at the start of 2012, and shot straight to the top of the city's pizza league. 

There's a choice of classic margherita and marinara, or opt for one of the variations including a mushroom topped pizza or the white-based bianca. The margherita doppia is a creamy delight (Da Michele sources its ingredients directly, and with cheese this good, it really shows), while the marinara is a masterpiece of simple but subtly complex flavours. 

After a decade manning the oven at La Piccola Tavola, chef Massimo Minicucci left to open a place of his own. Massimo built the stone oven himself, making it deliberately squat, to ensure a soft, pillowy cornicione. The margherita con bufala puffs up at the edges, sealing in a sea of juices that gushes out onto the plate when you slice it – strictly knife-and-fork stuff, but it tastes far better than it looks.

There’s no better combination than a stroll around leafy Inokashira Park followed by authentic, inexpensive Naples-style pizza at this casual neighbourhood restaurant. You'll find the pizzeria tucked away in a basement just off the main approach to Inokashira Park, with tables arranged so they all have a view of the kitchen and its imposing oven. Prices are reasonable without any obvious recourse to corner-cutting, and you can easily eat for under ¥2,000 a head at dinner.

The hurriedly scrawled menus and hand-decorated takeaway boxes lend an unpretentious charm to this Roppongi pizzeria, which opened in 2011 on a backstreet close to Tokyo Midtown.

Chef Shogo Yamaguchi used to work at Azabu-Juban's Savoy Pizzeria, and he practises a similar brand of menu austerity here: there are just three pizzas, prepared Neapolitan-style and cooked in an enormous metal oven that looks more like an industrial furnace. Choose from a margherita, marinara or a bianca pizza from which you can add additional toppings like spicy salami and mushrooms. Weekday lunch is the best time to go, when the smallish pizzas come accompanied with salad in a ¥1,500 set. 

The oven is the first thing you notice on walking into L'Arte – that, and the certificate from the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana. This restaurant is a sister shop to the long-running Il Lupone in Nakameguro, a superior pizzeria that nonetheless suffers the ignominy of being only the third best place in the neighbourhood.

While L'Arte can be pricey at night, on weekday lunches you can have a small salad, pizza and drink for a mere ¥1,300. The margherita here is heavy on the cheese and surprisingly tart, with a firm, crisp crust and pillowy, slightly charred cornicione – very good. Expect to pay a fair bit more at dinner, especially if you start delving into the good-but-expensive wine list.

A true Fukagawa classic, Bella Napoli has been treating locals to expertly made Neapolitan pizzas for more than a decade now. Their margheritas are probably the best on this side of the Sumida River, but the real treat is the massive rucola e prosciutto, a veritable tower of ham and greens served on top of a perfectly baked, thin crust.

The amply topped capricciosa is another nice choice with its thick layer of cheese and fresh, tasty veggies. Prices are on the steep side, but it's hard to beat the quality – be it a first date or a dinner with the fam, Bella is a safe bet.

As the first Tokyo-area restaurant to be certified by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, way back in 1998, this Eifukucho pizzeria boasts some significant pedigree. Some might grumble that it's lost its mojo, though – especially since star pizzaiolo Massimo Minicucci left to start the rival Massimottavio, literally just around the corner.

La Piccola Tavola has the edge in terms of atmosphere: the wooden floors and counter have a worn, lived-in feel, with an open kitchen and an imposing oven positioned right at the front of house. But the pizzas we've tried there have been good rather than great – of all the adjectives you want to associate with a crust, 'flabby' definitely isn't one of them.