Pizza lovers roundtable: Is Charlotte a good pizza city? (And much more)
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Best pizzerias in Charlotte
We rank the 20 best pizzerias in Charlotte, where the pizza scene is better than ever.
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It wasn’t that long ago that’s Charlotte’s pizza scene was dominated by chains, with a handful of local pizza places making mostly serviceable pizzas. Then we got New Yorkers and upstate New Yorkers and midwesterners and more, and now Charlotte offers solid-to-excellent versions of a variety of pizza styles. Don’t tell the fussier pizza transplants, but we’re becoming a pretty good pizza city.
We also have a growing number of pizza lovers, both natives and others who bring their love with them from other places. Two of them joined us at Pizza Baby East recently - Buffalo native Erick Szczap of Waxhaw and Wisconsin native Matt Byrne of Huntersville, each of whom are regular posters on the nationwide Pizzaholics Facebook group. We later invited Charlotte native and pizza blogger Avery Dunworth to join the conversation and talk about pizza, Charlotte as a pizza city, and more. Their comments have been edited for clarity and brevity.
Let’s get right to it. Three pizza places that you love in Charlotte:
Erick: I would start with Bisonte Pizza Company. That’s my go-to for Buffalo Pizza, which was very, very difficult to find when we moved here at first. I didn’t realize how much I would miss buffalo pizza. There are lots of foods out there, and you don’t realize what you’re gonna have a hard time finding when you leave. So Bisonte’s been very meaningful.
The second one I would name is Siano’s. That’s really good. I love the pepperoni. For a pizza that’s on that thinner side, which is not my style, I really like Siano’s. And then I can name, like, a handful more, but the next one is Emilio’s in Fort Mill, which is really good. They have a very unique pepperoni, and I couldn’t place that I couldn’t figure out what was different about it. It’s almost smoky. I called and asked, “What is this pepperoni?” They wouldn’t tell me.
Matt: Well it’s hard between the top two, because I like Siano’s a lot, and I also like Finale Pizza down in the Ballantyne area. They’re both thin, crispy, pies. The crispiness of it, I would say, Finale might have the edge, because they got a good, crispy pie.
Another one close to there is Lorenzo’s. Those guys are very... they’re New York. You walk in, and it’s New York, Brooklyn, I mean, he grew up on Staten Island, and one of his favorite places is Joe and Pat’s, and I’ve been to Joe and Pat’s, so I was talking to him, bonding with him over that. They also have a good, crispy crust, and their sausage is, like, really sweet....
If you go outside of town to the north, which is rare to find a really good pizza place, but I found one in Troutman called Pellegrino’s. They have an awesome Detroit style. And if you’re familiar with Detroit style, you know, they got that really crispy, like, cheesy crust.
Avery: Brixx. I’m a Charlotte native that grew up across the street and could ride my bike to Brixx. Lots of memories but also, favorite wood-fired pie in the city to date. Stagioni - what an intimate, special experience with the pizza cutters, and great wine/ambiance. Librettos- great neighborhood spot. The broader menu of pizza-adjacent foods gives you options and love the bar for some great drink specials. Went there to watch a Panthers game the morning after my wedding with friends. Core memories!
Name a specialty pizza you really like
Avery: In high school, Brixx introduced me to their pear and Gorgonzola pizza that had walnuts and caramelized onions. I didn’t have a sophisticated pallet at the time to appreciate gorgonzola, and I LOVED pineapple on pizza. So I would ask to modify to pineapple and goat cheese. This was the first place I ever had a nut on a pizza, and it changed my perspective on top-tier pizza forever.
Matt: I’m always very simple. I do like the pepperoni, sausage, mushroom, basically. I try not to do too many toppings because it kind of dilutes it or can make it soggy.
Erick: The honey pie at King of Fire. I’m not a specialty person, but that’s a specialty one that I do like.
What’s an underrated pizza place that people don’t talk about very much around here but should be talking about more.
Matt: For me, it’s Zepeddie’s. I don’t think that gets talked about enough. They got a very good, like, garlic butter that they put on their crust. And if you ask for it well done, it’s like a perfect pizza for me.
Avery: Zio Casual Italian. A perfect Friday night option is going to the Harris Teeter on Queens Rd and Queens Rd where the bar has 1/2 wine and live music. Followed by dinner (walkable) to Zio. A cozy neighborhood Italian place with amazing meatballs as a starter and two types of pie: NY Style and Brick Oven.
Erick: Given my preferences, one that I found that kind of surprised me how good it was, and I think it was that the pepperoni really carried it, is The Crust, near 485 and 16?
Matt: I think that’s Midwestern because it’s thin crust, square, and square slices. And that’s very popular in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana. I think it goes over to Ohio, too. You can see something like that up in Wisconsin a lot.
Rate Charlotte as a pizza city. Put a 1 to 10 number on it. Are we a good pizza city? Are we getting better?
Avery: 8 – I think we have a genuinely impressive range across pizza tiers, meeting various needs: upscale like Stagioni, Osteria Luca, and 800°, approachable and casual like Brixx or Pizza Baby, NY Style places like Tony’s or Hawthorne’s, to Neapolitan like Inizio. Because “Charlotte” is really a sprawling region now, you’re rarely more than 15 minutes from a great option.
Matt: We’re definitely mid-tier as a pizza city, but improving. You can take some of the best places here, and if you’ve been to any of the destination places, it would be, you know, pretty mid, according to those. So I feel like there’s room for improvement, but definitely some good places that could compete. Yeah. Yeah, I’ll probably go 7.2.
Erick: Yeah, I mean, 7, that ballpark right there. I guess the thing is, if you go to Buffalo, there’s the predominant style, and that’s what you’re gonna get almost everywhere. You might find that a New York style occasionally, maybe one or 2 places has that.
In Charlotte, it’s eclectic, right? Everyone’s moved here and brought their pizza with them. So, you have to get some points for that, right? There’s this ability to go to Siano’s and get maybe a hint of that New Haven and you can go to any number of the places we’ve mentioned and get a taste of New York. I can give you a buffalo place, and it would probably be a solid buffalo place in Buffalo, you know? But I don’t know if, just as a whole, because its origin is from elsewhere being brought here.
All right, lightning round. Quick answers.
The most important part of the pizza, toppings or crust?
Erick: I think I give more value to the toppings than some, but I would still lean crust over topics.
Matt: Crust. For sure.
Avery: Crust.
On crust. Well done or not?
Matt: Well done. I like when I bite through the pizza. And the last thing I feel is the crisp on the bottom. That does it for me.
Avery: Medium? I like my crust medium crisp and my pepperoni with that extra curl and crunch
Erick: Yes, well done, but I don’t get well done because of the crust. I get well done because of the top. That’s what means more for me, because I have all that heavy cheese, and I have a pepperoni that I need, really, cup and charred.
What about sauce? What are you looking for?
Matt: Yeah, I like the oregano, the herbies. I don’t really like the sweet. People really love the sweet, but I like the herbie, tangy.
Erick: Buffalo sauce is a little bit different from that. It’s probably maybe one of the bigger differences with our preferences and style, because a buffalo pizza possibly has a straight-up sweet sauce.
Avery: In terms of sauce, it really is dependent upon toppings. But for a classic pie, I’d say herby. A balanced pizza has a textured crust, with an herby sauce, balanced by the sweet, neutralizer of the mozzarella, topped with a kick of either a meat, veggie, or fruit!
Finally, is there a pizza that you’ve had (in Charlotte or not) that you’ll always remember?
Erick: Growing up, we had a place in the suburb I lived in, called Giuseppe’s. And then one day I tried Bocce Club, which is like the gold standard in Buffalo. I was like, wow, there’s like another level to this game. That’s really good stuff.
Matt: When I was a kid, there was at one spot, Pizza Town for me, too. And ever since then, I’ve always compared to that spot, you know, until I got older, I would say, into my teen years, I was always looking for pizza that was better than that place. I could never find it. And then when I moved, you know, I still found myself, like, was it better than Pizza Town?
Avery: On my due date for my daughter, Hainsley, my husband and I went to Hawthorne’s on Rea Rd for the Inducer. I didn’t end up delivering Hainsley until seven days later, but that was one of our last pizzas together as a family of two. I’m also a wussy when it comes to spice, so I asked to have a chocolate milk with it.
