Last updated on August 5th, 2022 at 09:22 pm
There’s no denying that sometimes the only thing that will satisfy your hunger pangs after a long, hard day is a large, hot, perfectly-cooked pizza. Whether it’s a classic Italian-style pizza that wouldn’t look out of place in a restaurant in Naples, or a hearty New York-style slice of pepperoni, that familiar hit of cheese, dough, and tomato hits the spot every time.
Happily, there are several excellent spots in Dublin that serve up gourmet pizza that would make an Italian proud.
In this post we share the best pizza in Dublin.
Map of Pizza Restaurants
The following map shows the location of every pizza restaurant highlighted in this post:
Pi
Source: Pi
Pi restaurant, much like its pizzas, is simple, intriguing, and destined to stay in your memory for years to come. At the heart of the restaurant and visible from the moment you walk in the door is the enormous wood fired oven, the source of Pi’s astoundingly good pizzas.
Using ’00’ flour from Naples for a delicious and digestible dough, all of the toppings that go into Pi’s pizzas are sourced from high-quality suppliers. The hand-built wood fired brick oven binds it all together and creates the smoky, delicious, and perfectly cooked pizzas for which Pi is famous.
Sticking to the simple and straightforward theme that is Pi’s hallmark, the menu offers a choice of eight pizzas at any one time, of which two are vegan and two vegetarian friendly. The undoubted star of the show is the nduja pizza, which is based around the spicy-sweet, soft, spreadable and utterly delicious pork salami nduja. Accompanied with crushed tomatoes, fresh basil, scamorza cheese, parmigiano reggiano, garlic, and honey, it’s one pizza you need to taste to believe. Pi also serve a selection of wine and beer.
While Pi are walk-in only and do not take reservations, you can download a queuing app that will notify you as soon as your table is free so you don’t have to wait around.
Location: Unit 10 Castle House, 73 – 83 South Great George’s Street, Dublin 2
Website: https://www.pipizzas.ie
Ray’s Pizza
Beloved of cash-pressed students, time-poor professionals, late night revellers and everyone in-between, Ray’s Pizza is the only game in town for a slice of authentic, New York-style pizza. From their prime city centre location in Temple Bar opposite the iconic Central Bank building, Ray’s Pizza serve up huge slices of delicious pizza at very reasonable prices. Covering all the classics such as mozzarella cheese slices and pepperoni slices, they also offer some gourmet options like spinach, goat’s cheese, and sun-dried tomatoes. If you’re willing to wait a short while, you can also order a full pizza of each kind on offer.
Ray’s Pizza is without a doubt the best pizza by the slice in the city, and certainly one of the best pizza parlours in general. While there is some seating available, we recommend a quick trip on a sunny day to pick some up slices to takeaway to devour on a city bench in the open air.
Location: 2 Fownes Street Upper, Temple Bar, Dublin
Website: https://rays-pizza-restaurant.business.site
Base
Established in Terenure in South Dublin in 2008 with the singular goal of making fresh, authentic, and completely delicious Neapolitan-style pizzas, Base has gone on to do just that. Now operating in seven locations across Dublin, the pizza chain has gone from strength to strength on the base of their quality pizzas.
Cirillo’s
Source: Cirillo’s
Continuing the wood fired oven trend, Cirillo’s of Baggot Street in the city centre boast a particularly impressive specimen. Imported from Naples, the oven is fuelled with a blend of Irish oak and ash wood. All of their pizza dough is freshly made in the restaurant each day from Italian ’00’ flour. Once topped with Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and any other toppings of choice, the pizzas are finished for no more than 90 seconds in the 500 degree heat of the wood fired oven for the classic Neapolitan experience.
Cirillo’s serve up a wide variety of pizzas in their small but cosy restaurant. As you would expect from their dedication to authentic pizza, they also make their own pasta and ice cream from scratch.
Location: No. 140, Baggot Street Lower, Dublin
Website: https://www.cirillos.ie
Da Mimmo
Da Mimmo on Dublin’s North Strand has a rich Italian history – the parents of the restauranteur emigrated to Ireland from Casalattico in Southern Italy in 1960 and ran a fish and chip shop for many years. Da Mimmo is located in the very same premises that the fish and chip shop traded from, although the fare on offer now is strictly authentic Italian pasta and pizza.
Da Mimmo’s pizza is fresh, homemade, and most importantly, cooked to perfection in a classic Italian wood fired pizza oven. The wide-ranging pizza menu includes simple Italian favourites such as the bufala pizza, topped with buffalo mozzarella cheese, and more exotic choices such as the speck pizza, with toppings of gorgonzola cheese, speck (a type of cured meat), and pistachios.
Location: 146 North Strand, Dublin
Website: https://www.damimmo.ie
Sano
Source: Sano
The MacHugh brothers were spurred to create Sano after a visit to Naples showed them how delicious and affordable traditional Neapolitan pizzeria’s were, and how effective they were at bringing people together over good food. The twin brothers wasted no time in buying two traditional stone ovens from a manufacturer in Naples and set up Sano in Temple Bar with the goal of bringing fresh, delicious, and affordable pizzas to the people of Dublin.
Sano offer a range of different pizza specials each week, alongside such classics as the diavola pizza with spice salami, and more adventurous combinations like the sapori del sud, with Italian fennel sausage, nduja, Italian broccoli, and fresh mozzarella.
True to their stated goal, the pizzas at Sano are excellent value for money.
Location: 2 Exchange Street Upper, Temple Bar, Dublin
Website: https://sano.pizza
Forno 500
Forno 500 in Temple Bar are serious in their commitment to serving up amazing pizza in the Naples tradition. They follow the Neapolitan ways closely, using only ’00’ flour, hand-crushed San Marzano tomatoes, fior di latte mozzarella, and fresh basil and olive oil. Of course, only a traditional wood fired oven fed with hardwoods such as oak or beech would suffice to cook their pizzas to light, airy perfection. In fact, forno is ‘oven’ in Italian.
Their extensive pizza menu covers all bases, from beloved favourites like bufalina, margherita, and caprese pizzas, to more unusual topping choices such as 24 month cured parma ham.
The video below gives a glimpse behind the scenes in the kitchen of Forno 500.
Location: 74 Dame Street, Dublin
Website: https://www.forno500.ie
Rita’s
Last on our list but by no means least, Rita’s in Ranelagh bring a fun and wholesome vibe to the delicious pizzas that they serve. Taking the ethos of marrying classic Italian pizza making techniques with the best Irish ingredients they can find, they offer a well thought out selection of pizzas that are fresh, fun, and mouthwateringly good.
One look at the menu affirms the sense of fun and good times Rita’s bring to the table – the Kevin Keegan (no cheese!), Vincent Van Goat (cheese of the goat variety) and N’duja Think You Are (no prizes for guessing the special ingredient) showcase the restaurant’s playful nature.
Location: 51 Elmwood Avenue Lower, Ranelagh, Dublin
Website: https://www.ritas.ie
