The 20 Best Pizzas In Australia: 2019

We hope you’re hungry, because Australia‘s best pizza list for 2019 is here – get ready for the feast of a lifetime.

Saturday 9th February is National Pizza Day – AKA the best excuse ever to eat your bodyweight in dough.

BBQ’s are great, Aussie seafood is the best in the world and local dishes have their charm, but let’s be honest, very little can beat a proper pizza.

Thanks to a wave of passionate Italian entrepreneurs and Pizzaiolos popping up all over the country, you’ll find some cracking pizzas in pretty much every corner Australia.

Not all pizzas are created equal though, so we did the only rational thing there is to do: we found Australia’s goddamn best pizzas. Big 7 Travel scoured the tiny pizzerias, the family restaurants and the hip newcomers to bring our greedy readers the ultimate pizza guide.

Road trip anybody?

The 20 Best Pizzas In Australia: 2019, How do these rankings work?

1. D.O.C Pizza & Mozzarella Bar – Melbourne

Their humble pizzeria began way back in 1997, and now the Pizza Revolution is in full swing in Melbourne. Authentic ingredients with a perfectly charred crust ensure D.O.C is one of the city’s favourites.

2. Via Napoli – Sydney

Owner Luigi brought his traditional pizza making experience from Naples all the way to sunny Sydney, and oh-boy are we glad he made the move. Pizzas at Via Napoli are baked in a wood-fired, domed oven at 485°C for no more than 60 to 90 seconds. Perfection.

3. Sunny’s Pizza – Adelaide

A bar that serves pizza? This is SO much more. Sunny’s is the place to be when the sun goes down, with kitsch decor, a buzzing vibe and pizzas oozing creativity and flavour.

4. Sempre Pizza & Calzone – Melbourne

This family-owned beauty specialises in Calzones that come stuffed with quality Italian meats and cheeses just waiting to be bitten into. Their bianca (white) pizzas aren’t to be sniffed at.

5. Frankie’s Pizza – Sydney

Frankie’s has an old-school dive bar charm, with its basement bar the venue for countless bands ready to rock out. Don’t be fooled by the bargain prices of their pizza by the slice or pie – these are premium, thin-base babelicious pizzas.

6. 400 Gradi – Essedon

Owner Johnny was crowned the World Pizza Champion at the 2014 Campionato Mondiale Della Pizza in Italy, the first Australian to have ever won. One bite of their Portofino pizza with San Marzano tomato, fior di latte, cherry tomatoes, marinated garlic, chilli and oregano prawns and you’ll be smitten.

7. Il Buco – Byron Bay

Il Buco take pride in using locally sourced ingredients, so you can chow down here with peace of mind. When they must use imported produce, they try to support local distributors to cut down on our fuel emissions. Honest, simple food made with love.

8. Bella Bruta – Sydney

The pizza toppings here are creative and super fresh – everything that makes pizza so good. Dough is charred in all the right places and the perfect lightness, and the restaurant space itself is as cool as they come.

9. El Capitano – Noosa

It’s all about the dough here, which is a sourdough that’s fermented for 72 hours until absolutely perfect. Toppings of slow roasted lamb shoulder are just one of the droolworthy options.

We’re calling it – one of the best pizzas on the Sunshine Coast.

10. Borrusos – Sydney

Simply fantastic wood-fired pie is found at this pizza joint. Borruso’s was also recently voted best gluten free bases in Sydney.

Whether you visit the original store in Northbridge or the new store in Crows Nest, you won’t be disappointed.

11. Etica – Adelaide

This feel-good ‘snack bar’ focuses on ethically sourced ingredients that taste just as amazing as you’d expect.

Expertly cooked pizzas are the real highlight, but don’t miss out on their mozzarella bar. A place that Adelaide should be super proud to call its own.

12. Scoozi – Melbourne

Their wood-fired oven was hand built by their pizza chef, so you know these are people with a serious passion for pizza. Combine that with Neapolitan technique and the best quality Italian and local ingredients, and you’re onto a real winner.

13. La Svolta – Melbourne

Set up by two best friends from Italy, La Svolta is one of only a handful of pizzerias in Australia that holds an Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN) Accreditation. This is how pizza should taste.

With that name, we’re guessing they’re Vasco Rossi fans.

14. Justin Lane – Gold Coast

This hip rooftop bar is many, many things – cocktail hotspot, snack bar and after-work hangout, but their pizzeria is where the real magic happens.

Bonus points for the fact they will even deliver a pizza to you via scooter – ideal for a laid-back picnic.

15. Vacanza – Sydney

Authentic, delicious and completely irresistible food here will bring you back time and time again. Less is more here, with the ingredients shining through.

You may as well be in Italy – it’s just that good.

16. Gigi Pizzeria – Sydney

A traditional pizzeria on Eat Street, Gigi Pizzeria has been serving Sydney their droolworthy Neapolitan pizzas for almost 10 years. Unusually, the menu is entirely plant based, but you won’t even miss the meat. Food this tasty stands the test of time.

17. Bistro Bellavista – Perth

Perth’s cutest pizza stop is this family-owned bistro. They have a blazing wood-fired oven that churns out the incredible pies. Staff are super friendly but it’s the pizza itself that will have you turned into a loyal fan.

18. Beccofino – Brisbane

Beccofino have been serving incredible Italian food since 2004 and although they offer quality pastas and meats, you’d be foolish to ignore the pizzas. Throw in the floor-to-ceiling windows and a splendid wine list and you’ll be in your element here.

19. SPQR – Melbounre

SPQR does some of the very best wood-fired and sourdough pizza on the continent. They have gluten free options and the room is always buzzing with excitement from hungry customers.

20. Pizza e Mozzarella Bar – Adelaide

They serve the rustic Southern Italian fare here, with the best seasonal ingredients; the cheese literally melts in your mouth. The pizzas are light and airy and don’t leave you bloated. The dream.

The history of Italian influences on Australian food:

Ever since the increasing immigration of Italians to Australia in the 1950s, the country has embraced Italian heritage, with an estimated 30% of current Australian gastronomy influenced by Italian cuisine.

In the essay Italian Australians Trailblazers for Multiculturalism’ by Dr. Laura Baldassar in Multicultural Communities Online, she mentions that:

“It is today hard to believe that garlic was once an unknown and highly suspicious food, that olive oil was only available from chemists in small glass bottles for medicinal purposes, that bread was prized for its ability to be cut in thin square slices, that cheese came in silver paper and melted into slippery blobs when cooked, that pasta was not a familiar dish, that wine was considered a foreign beverage for foreigners and that tea was a far more popular drink than coffee.” (cf. Baldassar and Pesman 2004.)

Now, Australians are well conversed in whether pasta is al dente and can have hearty debates over the right amount of charring a pizza crust should have.