Dough Masters: The 10 Best Pizza Restaurants in Brooklyn

A couple of months ago, after religiously following a diet for 2+ months, I decided I had to have pizza. After going through some of my local options, I recruited my brother to go on a tour to find the best pizza restaurants in Brooklyn, a 2 hour drive away, the next day.

The first thing I did in planning the day was to check out the One Bite app, which shows all of Dave Portnoy’s pizza review ratings.

Love him or hate him, he has tried probably 2000 pizza places over the years and I’ve had a ton of luck following his reviews.

We also have similar taste in pizza-thin, crispy, and flavorful is the way to go. I also supplemented the One Bite app with some local pizza rankings/reviews to make sure I didn’t miss any must-hit places.

Also for some context, he has done thousands of pizza reviews and has only given 15-18 places over a 9 rating, and we were able to hit 2 of them and they didn’t disappoint.

Table of Contents

The 10 Best Pizza Restaurants in Brooklyn
Pizza Restaurants in Brooklyn Wrap Up

The 10 Best Pizza Restaurants in Brooklyn

Di Fara Pizza

1424 Avenue J, Brooklyn, NY 11230, United States // +17182581367

We started at Di Fara, which was almost an injustice to the other places because we went to the best place first. Immediately you can taste that this pizza is not just a standard slice.

The freshness of the tomatoes and garlic in the sauce, the crispy crust with a distinct olive oil flavor, and basil is completely next level.

We got one slice of the regular and one of the square, which was also good if you want to mix it up and like a thicker slice. 9.3 (Portnoy 9.4)

Luigi’s Pizza

686 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215, United States // +17184993857

(12 minute drive to Luigi’s)

Next was Luigi’s, which is about as good of an execution of a traditional NY slice as you could hope for. The sauce is tangy and flavorful, the crust is perfectly thin and crispy, and it’s also a more flavorful crust than other pizzas I’ve had.

They sell through slices so quickly that it’s like getting a fresh pie even if you only order a slice. I’m told the fresh mozz slice is also really good, but we went for the plain. 9.1 (Portnoy 9,3)

(***Giuseppina’s is a 3 minute walk from Luigi’s, but it opens at 5)

F&F Pizzeria

459 Court St, Brooklyn, NY 11231, United States // +17184076575

(8 min drive, 27 min walk from Luigi’s to F and F. We chose to drive and it was a good move as there is a ton of walking that happens later)

Next was F and F. I could see this slice being slightly better if it was from a fresh pie, but it wasn’t the best that we had on the day.

There was a distinct sharpness to the cheese that I didn’t think was amazing, and there wasn’t enough sauce on the slice either.

I would be willing to give it another go, but for all the hype and pedigree of the owners, I did expect it to be better. 7.7 (Portnoy 8.7)

Baby Luc’s

387 Court St, Brooklyn, NY 11231, United States // +17185048181

(4 min walk from F and F to Baby Luc’s-these are also both very close to Lucali, which I speak about below. Parking in this area is a little tricky, so it’s worth leaving car in this area.)

Next was Baby Luc’s, which is owned by the same people that run Lucali. This was one of our favorite places on the day-they are thinner square slices, and they only have 3 -4 options to choose from.

They half cook their pies and then put them out for people to order, then when you do, they put it in the oven and finish cooking it so it comes out like a fresh pie slice every time.

The sauce was incredibly fresh and the crust was crunchy. We ended up coming back for a second slice after Brooklyn DOP. 8.7 (Portnoy 8.2)

L’arte Della Pizza Brooklyn

172 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217, United States // +17186227200

(7 min drive or 20 min walk from Baby Luc’s to L’Arte-we chose to walk and it was good to break up the day and move around, and also was ideal for parking logistics

Next was L’Arte Della Pizza. We liked the slice, but I don’t think this is a “must” if you’re going on this tour.

If I lived close by, I probably would go here because it’s a super solid traditional NY slice, but compared to the best slices on the list, it wasn’t noteworthy. 7.8 (Portnoy 8.1)

Brooklyn DOP

237 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215, United States // +13475991913

(4 min walk from L’Arte to Brooklyn DOP)

Brooklyn DOP-their logistics were not the best, we waited for a really long time on line even though there were only a few people ahead of us, and they ran out of plain slices.

We went for a thin square sausage slice, which was really good. I could see the plain pie being really good as well and would really like to try it.

Would recommend and hope that they have their A team working the counter when you go. 8.1 (Portnoy 8.1)

Giuseppina’s

691 6th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215, United States // +17184995052

(We walked 20 min back to Baby Luc’s for round 2 because it was right by the car, and then drove 7-8 minutes to Giuseppina’s)

We then looped back to Giuseppina’s, since it opened at 5. This place is owned by family members of Lucali. This was the only place we sat down to eat, because they didn’t serve slices and the ambiance was really cool inside.

It’s dimly lit, and their massive oven is located towards the back of the restaurant, so you can see all of the pizzas cooking.

The sauce was incredibly fresh, the crust was super thin and crispy, and the experience overall was top-notch. 8.8 (Portony 8.1, though the audience score on the app is 8.6, he went way too low)

Since we were in the area, we went back to Luigi’s. We actually liked the slices the second time even better, there was more sauce on it and the crust was a little bit thicker.

We then went back and ordered a whole pie at Di Fara to cap off the day, which was absolutely amazing and even better than the slices earlier. It’s definitely one of the best pizza restaurants in Brooklyn.

Things that we would do differently next time while visiting pizza restaurants in Brooklyn:

The obvious omission from this list from the tour was Lucali, which is largely recognized as some of the best pizza in the world (Portnoy 9.3).

They open at 5, we showed up at 4:30 and there was a line down the block, and their first reservation was 11 PM.

It likely could be doable if you are staying in the area overnight or if you can get someone to stand in line earlier than 4:30 (maybe 3:30?), this is a must-hit pizza bucket list location, it’s just going to take more planning next time.

Pizza Restaurants in Brooklyn Wrap Up

The beauty of this list is almost all of the locations served slices. If you are ever putting together a pizza tour, this is a key thing to keep in mind.

We did another pizza tour in Manhattan and most of the locations only served pies, which made the day longer and more expensive.

Fresh pies usually taste better and in a perfect world you could grab one at every stop, but most of these places do enough volume to make this a minimal issue and it makes the day so much smoother to have the majority as slice shops.

Giuseppina’s ended up being $40 for the pie all-in, so although it was amazing pizza, if you are on a budget, you can remove this and still have a great day.

I’m sure many people are wondering how to stay hungry enough to make 10 separate stops to get. Managing the amount that you eat at each place is important-you don’t want to eat too much early and be stuffed, and you also don’t want to limit yourself on a slice that you like a lot.

Also noteworthy-on both pizza tours that I have done, we wanted to return to our favorite places later in the day for a full slice, so it’s worth keeping in mind as you manage the amount you eat throughout the day.

Here are the amounts that I ate at each place

Di Fara-3/4 slice

Luigi’s-3/4 slice

F and F-1 slice

Baby Luc’s-1/2 slice

L’Arte-1/3 slice

DOP-3 bites

Baby Luc’s round 2-2 bites

Giuseppina’s-1.5 slices (very thin)

Luigi’s-1/2 slice

Di Fara-1.5 slices

This comes out to about 7 slices of pizza over the course of about 5 hours, which I felt was a good pace, though I ate 2-3 more slices of leftovers when I got home a few hours later.

We did extend this tour with multiple stops and waiting for Giuseppina’s to open, and you could easily knock most of it out in a couple of hours.

What do you think? What are the best pizza restaurants in Brooklyn?

Also, check out some of the other Brooklyn guides:

While in New York, don’t miss out on activities that will help immerse yourself with the city (hurry while they’re hot!):