The best pizza in Raleigh

Raleigh pizza runs deeper than its reputation. There is a shop that has won the local best-pizza vote in something like fourteen separate years, a 1963 original that predates most of the city's neighborhoods, and a Michelin-recognized wood-fired import. This list is ranked on the 2025 Indy Week reader poll, News and Observer awards, and years in business.

Styles are mixed on purpose: New York thin, Greek pan, Detroit, Chicago deep dish and wood-fired all appear, because ranking them against each other on crust alone would be a different and much shorter article.

Hours below were taken from each business's own published information and change without notice. Call ahead if you are making a special trip.

Oakwood Pizza Box

Eighteen-inch New York-style pies with house-made sauce out of a small shop on North Person Street in Historic Oakwood. Thin, foldable, properly charred, and sold whole rather than by the slice. Open five days and it sells out on the busy ones.

Hours: Wed-Thu 5 to 9 p.m. Fri-Sun noon to 9 p.m. Closed Monday and Tuesday.

Address: 610 N. Person St., Raleigh, NC 27604

Why they made the list

• Won best pizza in Indy Week's 2025 Best of the Triangle reader poll for Wake County, voted by locals.
• Eighteen-inch pies, the largest standard size on this list.
• Sauce made in house rather than opened from a can.
• Only five days a week and only from 5 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, so check before you drive.

See the full directory listing

Lilly's Pizza

A Five Points fixture since 1993, built on an organic stone-milled whole-wheat crust the shop calls Carolina crust. Toppings run further than most places dare and the room has not been renovated into anything trendier than what it is.

Hours: Mon-Thu 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 to 9 p.m. Fri-Sat same but to 10 p.m. Sun 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 to 9 p.m.

Address: 1813 Glenwood Ave., Raleigh, NC 27608

Why they made the list

• Voted best pizza by the Independent in 2002, 2004, 2006 through 2008, and every year from 2010 to 2019, which is the longest award run of any restaurant in this guide.
• Thirty-three years in Five Points.
• An organic stone-milled whole-wheat crust, not a white-flour base with whole wheat as an option.
• Open seven days, with a lunch service most competitors here skip.

See the full directory listing

Trophy Brewing + Pizza

The West Morgan Street original, where Trophy makes its beer and its pizza in the same building. The Most Loyal is the pie to order: basil pesto, mozzarella, Roma tomatoes, pesto chicken and honey. Detroit-style shows up Mondays and Tuesdays.

Hours: Mon-Thu 4 to 10 p.m. Fri-Sat 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sun 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Address: 827 W. Morgan St., Raleigh, NC 27603

Why they made the list

• Indy Week's 2025 runner-up for best pizza in Wake County.
• Brewery and pizzeria in one building, so the beer pairing is not theoretical.
• Detroit-style available Mondays and Tuesdays, which is a different product from their regular pies.
• Open until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, the latest here.

See the full directory listing

Amedeo's Italian Restaurant

Founded on Western Boulevard in 1963 by Richard DeAngelis, and generally called the oldest pizza restaurant in Raleigh. Wolfpack memorabilia on the walls, a full Italian-American menu behind the pizza, and current owners David Harris and Rodney Byrd keeping it as it was.

Hours: Sun-Thu 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fri-Sat 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Address: 3905 Western Blvd., Raleigh, NC 27606

Why they made the list

• Sixty-three years in business, the oldest pizza restaurant in the city.
• Open seven days, which only three places on this list manage.
• A full Italian-American menu, so a table that cannot agree on pizza still eats.
• The NC State connection is real history rather than decoration.

See the full directory listing

Vic's Italian Restaurant - The Marketplace

The Longo family have run Vic's since 1998 and the City Market location is the one to go to. New York-style pies off generational family recipes, in a brick room in the oldest commercial block downtown.

Hours: Mon-Thu 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fri-Sat 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday hours are not consistently published, so call.

Address: 331 Blake St., Raleigh, NC 27601

Why they made the list

• Twenty-eight years family-owned and still using the family recipes.
• The City Market setting is the best room of any pizzeria in Raleigh.
• Open to 11 p.m. on weekends.
• Three Vic's locations exist plus a separate Vic's Pizzeria, so confirm you are going to Blake Street.

See the full directory listing

Frank's Pizza and Restaurant

On New Bern Avenue since 1976, doing thin-crust New York and New Jersey style with dough made in house. The Rio Ranch is the pie regulars order without looking. Five days a week, and the dining room starts shutting down before the posted close.

Hours: Tue-Sat 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., though the dining room closes at 8:30 p.m. and last orders are 8:40 p.m. Closed Sunday and Monday.

Address: 2030 New Bern Ave., Raleigh, NC 27610

Why they made the list

• Fifty years on New Bern Avenue.
• Dough made in house daily, which is the difference you taste in the crust.
• The Rio Ranch has a following of its own.
• Get there by 8:30 p.m., not 9, because the dining room closes first.

See the full directory listing

Milton's Pizza & Pasta

More than forty years on Six Forks Road, named by co-founder Jeff Janik after his mentor Milton Papadopolous. Greek-style pan pizza alongside thin crust, which is a style almost nobody else in Raleigh offers.

Hours: Tue-Sat 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sun 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Closed Monday.

Address: 8853 Six Forks Rd., Raleigh, NC 27615

Why they made the list

• Greek-style pan pizza, a crust style that is genuinely rare in this market.
• Forty-plus years in North Raleigh.
• Named for the founder's mentor, which is a better origin story than most.
• The North Raleigh option on a list that leans downtown.

See the full directory listing

Timber Pizza Co.

A Washington, DC import on East Whitaker Mill Road, recognized by the Michelin Guide, working a rustic wood-fired crust that comes out char-kissed and still tender. The most modern pizza on this list by some distance.

Hours: Sun-Thu 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fri-Sat 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Address: 627 E. Whitaker Mill Rd., Raleigh, NC 27608

Why they made the list

• Michelin Guide recognition, which only one other restaurant in this guide has.
• A genuine wood-fired oven rather than a gas deck oven.
• Open seven days with a lunch service.
• Their own site hedges the closing time as 9ish and 10ish, so do not arrive at the last minute.

See the full directory listing

Piccola Italia

Four decades in the Village District, still making dough and sauces in house from the late Frank Amato's recipes. A neighborhood Italian restaurant of the sort that has mostly been priced out of that part of town.

Hours: Lunch Mon-Sat 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Dinner Mon-Thu 5 to 9 p.m., Fri-Sat 5 to 9:30 p.m. Closed Sunday.

Address: 423 Woodburn Rd., Raleigh, NC 27605

Why they made the list

• Forty years in the Village District, which is the hardest rent in Raleigh to survive.
• Dough and sauces still made from the original owner's recipes.
• A proper split lunch and dinner service, so the kitchen is not running one menu all day.
• Closed Sundays.

See the full directory listing

Cristo's Ristorante & Pizzeria

Northeast Raleigh on East Millbrook, with garlic knots people order two of and a cauliflower gluten-free crust that is better than the category usually manages. Won a News and Observer medal for best Italian restaurant in 2023.

Hours: Mon-Thu 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fri 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sat noon to 9 p.m. Sun 4 to 8 p.m.

Address: 1302 E. Millbrook Rd., Raleigh, NC 27609

Why they made the list

• Won a 2023 News and Observer bronze medal for best Italian restaurant.
• A cauliflower gluten-free crust, so the gluten-free order is not an afterthought.
• Open seven days, including Sunday evenings when much of this list is dark.
• Their own site does not publish weekly hours, so these come from two agreeing third-party listings.

See the full directory listing

Frequently asked questions

What is the best pizza in Raleigh, NC?

Oakwood Pizza Box on N. Person Street won best pizza in Indy Week's 2025 Best of the Triangle reader poll for Wake County. Lilly's Pizza in Five Points has the longest award record in the city, having won the local best-pizza vote in roughly fourteen separate years between 2002 and 2019.

What is the oldest pizza place in Raleigh?

Amedeo's Italian Restaurant at 3905 Western Boulevard opened in 1963 and is generally considered the oldest pizza restaurant in Raleigh. Frank's Pizza on New Bern Avenue has been open since 1976.

Where can I get Detroit-style or deep dish pizza in Raleigh?

Trophy Brewing + Pizza runs Detroit-style on Mondays and Tuesdays. Nancy's Pizzeria on Creedmoor Road specializes in Chicago-style deep dish. Milton's Pizza & Pasta on Six Forks Road does a Greek-style pan pizza, which is a third thick-crust option.

Which Raleigh pizzerias have gluten-free options?

Cristo's Ristorante & Pizzeria on E. Millbrook Road makes a cauliflower gluten-free crust. Lilly's Pizza builds its regular crust from organic stone-milled whole wheat, which is not gluten free but is a genuinely different base.

What pizza place in Raleigh is open latest?

Trophy Brewing + Pizza runs to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and Vic's at City Market matches that. Most of the rest of this list closes at 9 or 10 p.m., and Frank's starts shutting its dining room at 8:30 p.m.