After my last two pizza tours in NY, where I toured the boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan, I knew I would eventually do one in Philadelphia, as I grew up in the area.
Philadelphia has a ton of great Italian food and some pretty good pizza, but I was curious to see how it stacked up against NY after trying some of the best pizza in the world on my last two trips.
For a recap on how I score, anything in the 7s is really solid pizza that you can eat all the time, 8s are top-tier pizzas that you should go out of your way for, and 9s mean it’s some of the best pizza you’ve ever had, and they are rare.
I personally like a thin, crispy NY-style slice, and I think a good sauce is the most important part of a good pie.
As always, I used the One Bite app plus some local pizza lists to create the route.
11 Best Pizza Restaurants In Philadelphia
Alice Pizza and Restaurant
235 S 15th St, Philadelphia, PA 19102, United States // +12155452020
The first stop was Alice. I tried to put a good mix of styles in the tour, and this was Roman style, so it was square but not super thick like Sicilian.
We got a plain slice, and it was underwhelming, to say the least. It was the worst slice I had on all the tours, though the place itself was cool.
They have a ton of different pizza options, and they do have gelato, which looks really good. It was pretty bland and didn’t taste very high quality all around. 5.9
Pauly Gee’s
412 South 13th Street Philadelphia, PA 19147 // (267) 239-5761
The second stop was Pauly Gee’s. This popular slice shop originated in Brooklyn, so I had high hopes and knew it had to make the route.
The place itself is also interesting. It has a funky and artsy vibe to it. The slice was right up my alley; it was thin and crispy, and I thought the sauce had good flavor.
The crust bordered on “burnt” tasting, but not in a negative way. There were several char bubbles that were delicious. 7.9
Santucci’s
901 S 10th St, Philadelphia, PA 19147 // 215-825-5304
This is a very famous pizza shop that has been in Philly for decades. It’s unique because it’s a square slice place, but they put the sauce on top of the cheese.
I had this several years ago, I remember liking it, but admittedly I was pretty drunk so that likely affected my tastebuds at the time.
This time around, I wasn’t super impressed. In fairness, thicker square slices are not my favorite style, but the sauce was just ok, it was on the flavorful side but I didn’t really enjoy it a ton. 6.9 (Portnoy 7.5)
Angelo’s
736 S 9th St, Philadelphia, PA 19147, United States // 215-922-0000
Many people believe that Angelo’s has the best pizza and cheesesteaks in the city. I can vouch for the cheesesteaks, as they have homemade seeded bread, and they use Cooper Sharp American cheese, which is my favorite cheese for any sandwich.
I had the pizza a couple of years back and I remember it being top-notch, but again I wanted to see how it compared to the best of the best in NY.
The place itself is always pretty crazy.
They get so busy they leave the phone off the hook, so you have to go in person to order, but even that line is 20-30 minutes long. This is even with it being a place that serves only pies and is cash only.
When you finally brave the crowds and get the pizza, it almost looks like a work of art. It’s definitely in the “artisan” category, where the pie includes basil leaves and is sprinkled with parmesan.
The crust is on the thicker side, so you can’t eat a ton of slices of it without getting full. Speaking of the crust, it was one of the best-tasting, fluffiest, but still crispy crusts I’ve had.
Having said all of that, the flavor of the pie itself left something to be desired compared to all of the top places we have been.
The sauce takes a bit of a back seat to the crust and is not overly flavorful, and the cheese sprinkled on adds a sharpness pie that doesn’t necessarily improve it.
It was a tricky one to score because the crust was amazing, and it’s obviously high quality, but I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as any of the top pizza places in NY.
This is still a very good pie and a must-hit if anyone is doing a pizza tour in Philly, but while Portnoy has it at 9.1 (and best in Philly), I had it closer to 8.4.
Pizzata Pizzeria
240 S 22nd St, Philadelphia, PA 19103, United States // 215-546-7200
This place has gotten attention from several food publications since opening a few years ago.
It’s a smaller slice shop with a few tables inside.
This was one of the more flavorful slices of the day, and their unique style of preparing the pies includes leavening the dough.
I only had half a slice, but I could easily see myself enjoying the hell out of 3-4 slices. It’s thin and crispy, there is great flavor on the dough, and the sauce was solid but nothing spectacular, but overall, I would highly recommend it. 8.1 (Portnoy 8.1)
Tacconelli’s
2604 E Somerset St, Philadelphia, PA 19134, United States // +12154254983
After taking a short break at my brother’s apartment, we went for the final leg in the Fishtown area, a good 10-15 minute Uber from where most of the stops were in Center City.
The three stops we had planned were some of the most highly rated, so I had high hopes. We did it in this order because our first stop, Tacconnelli’s, opened at 4.
This is the longest-standing pizzeria in Philadelphia, and though a couple of locations are not affiliated with this one, we went to the original in Port Richmond.
We called in to reserve our pie in the late morning, and many times, they will sell out if you don’t do this, especially on an Eagles game day.
I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I knew this was the only pie that would have a shot at rivaling Angelo’s for best in the city, and it did not disappoint.
It came out looking unlike any of the other pies, as it was much heavier on the sauce, and they put it throughout the top of the pie.
At this point in the tour, we had a couple of solid slices, but I was fairly underwhelmed overall at the distinct lack of flavor in the sauces of many previous stops. This was the opposite in the best possible way.
The first bite was an insane rush of flavor; the sauce itself is on the sweeter side, which I don’t usually like, but I couldn’t get enough of it.
The crust itself was super thin, and I feel like I could have eaten a whole pie myself if I was hungry and only went there. It’s a completely different style from Angelo’s, but flavor-wise, I think Tacconnelli’s was a fair bit better than Angelo’s.
I gave it at an 8.5 and it was the one I enjoyed the most by far on the day. (Portnoy 8.2)
Circles and Squares
2513 Tulip St, Philadelphia, PA 19125, United States
This is a pie-only shop, and although we weren’t particularly hungry, we ordered one circle (a traditional cheese pizza) and one square (a Detroit-style square pan pizza).
Based on visuals, I thought this also had a chance to be the best one of the day, and I don’t think I’ve ever had a bigger discrepancy between how good a pizza looked and how it tasted.
For the circle, it’s another one that skews towards “artisan”, and has nicely charred crust with heavily sprinkled shredded parmesan.
It wasn’t horrible, but there wasn’t one particular part that I enjoyed at all. I thought the sauce wasn’t great or flavorful at all. I wouldn’t say I liked how the cheese tasted, and the crust was also not super flavorful for how much char there was.
I thought the square was better than the circle, I enjoyed the crust more as it had the caramelized cheese on the bottom, but again it was let down by the sauce and cheese. I would put the circle at 6.9 and the square at 7.1. (Portnoy 8.2)
Van Leeuwan’s
119 S 13th St, Philadelphia, PA 19107, United States // +12153095414
Before our last stop, we went to a local ice cream shop with a few locations. It’s one of my favorite ice cream shops anywhere, and I got the honeycomb ice cream, but I have never had a bad flavor there.
We also gave the girl behind the counter our Circles and Squares leftovers since the last thing we needed was two near-full pizzas after a full day of eating pizza.
PIZZA Shackamaxon
115 E Girard Ave #3907, Philadelphia, PA 19125, United States
One of the last pizza restaurants in Philadelphia was a small, unassuming slice shop that opened four or so years ago.
The slices are huge, and it was a fantastic way to cap off the day. It was another slightly thicker crust with nice char.
This was the only one where I felt the shredded parm was a good addition. It didn’t overpower the rest of the flavor. The sauce still lacked a distinct, strong, and delicious taste, but it was worth stopping here. 8.2 (Portnoy 7.9)
Pizzeria Beddia
1313 N Lee St, Philadelphia, PA 19125, United States // 267-928-2256
The main glaring omission from this list was Pizzeria Beddia, who has gotten national recognition as “one of the best pizzas in America”.
I went there a few years ago and found the staff to be on the pretentious side and the pizza was not even close to worth the hype, it was solid enough but I never understood how it got so much attention as the flavor wasn’t anything spectacular and our pizza came out on the burnt side.
I likely would still put it in the 7s, and ironically, Portnoy had a slightly similar experience there and also agreed that he didn’t really see the hype (he rated it a 7.4).
Pizza Brain
2313 Frankford Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19125, United States // 215-291-2965
Pizza Brain is one of the last pizza restaurants in Philadelphia that didn’t make it to the tour. I’ve been there many times in the past, and it’s a super unique spot.
First, it is the location of the world’s first pizza museum.
Second, they use cornmeal on the crust, which adds an interesting texture to the pie. I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite, but it’s a slightly above-average pie, and I would likely have it in the mid-70s. I always enjoyed it, and they have some cool toppings to choose from.
Last Words
Overall, I went into the day expecting NY to come out ahead when comparing our previous stops to the pizza restaurants in Philadelphia. Still, I was surprised at how much farther ahead.
None of the stops really came close to the top places we hit in NY, like Di Fara, Luigi’s, John’s of Bleecker Street, Joe’s, or Baby Luc’s. I could eat Tacconnelli’s all day and loved that pie, but overall, I think NY wins by a landslide.
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