And folks have opinions. Strong ones.
The conversation keeps circling back to a few heavyweights. As one local put it plainly: "Tony's overall and it's not close. The restaurant, not the slice houses. However, you will definitely pay for it." That's Tony's Pizza Napoletana in North Beach, for the uninitiated — a place where the pies are genuinely world-class and the bill reminds you that you live in one of the most expensive cities on Earth. But hey, at least when you're dropping $30 on a pizza, you chose to. That's more than you can say for most of what San Francisco charges you.
On the deep-dish front, another Bay Area resident broke it down: "Zachary's and Little Star are good deep dish. Cheese Board Pizza pretty popular, in that California fresh produce kinda way. June's Pizza is worth trying out too." Zachary's in the East Bay has been a cult favorite for decades, and Little Star's cornmeal crust situation in the Western Addition is legitimately dangerous for your waistline.
Here's the thing about the Bay Area pizza scene that doesn't get said enough: it's a triumph of the free market. Nobody needed a municipal pizza equity task force or a $2 million feasibility study to make this happen. Passionate people opened restaurants, competed for your dollars, and the cream rose to the top. Cheese Board is a worker-owned co-op in Berkeley that draws lines around the block — not because of a government subsidy, but because they make one pizza a day and it's phenomenal.
Our totally unsolicited ranking for your weekend plans:
- Tony's Pizza Napoletana — North Beach. Splurge-worthy.
- Little Star Pizza — Western Addition. Deep dish perfection.
- Zachary's — East Bay. The OG deep dish contender.
- Cheese Board Pizza — Berkeley. One pie. No choices. Total magic.
Your dollars are yours. Spend them on pizza that earns it — not another parking ticket.
