Birminghamâs best pizza: Our top 5
Please don’t tell us it’s just dough with toppings. Pizza is a culinary delight that can be prepared in a wide and wonderful variety of ways. It’s appropriate for fine dining, midnight snacks, first dates, casual grazing, office parties, family reunions, ravenous feasts … you name it.
Most folks like pizza, be it thin or thick, plain or fancy, triangles or squares, gourmet or fast food. And we’re happy to report that the Birmingham area has a cornucopia of restaurants specializing in this savory and satisfying dish.
Here are our picks for Birmingham’s Top 5 pizza joints, in descending order. Now excuse us while we grab a slice, fold it in half and start munching.
MORE: Birmingham’s best barbecue: Our Top 5
The hot honey pizza at Slim’s Pizzeria in Mountain Brook is topped with pepperoni, mozzarella, honey and jalapenos. It’s popular at the restaurant with folks who enjoy sweet heat. (Bob Carlton/[email protected])
5. SLIM’S PIZZERIA
65 Church St. in Mountain Brook. slimspizzeria.com.
Slim’s Pizzeria is a relative newcomer to Birmingham’s food scene, but definitely worth a visit. Photographer Miller Mobley, a Tuscaloosa native, founded the restaurant in 2021 after returning to Alabama from New York City, teaming with John Rolen of Bottega, Charles Morgan of Chuck’s Fish and John Michael Bodnar of Fresh Hospitality. Slim’s pizzas have traditional appeal, but adventurous diners will find toppings such as hot honey and jalapeño, shrimp and Calabrian chiles, chicken and pancetta (pork belly). Fresh ingredients, combined in interesting and tasty ways, make Slim’s pizzas stand out. The menu includes appetizers, salads, ice cream and yummy cocktails, as well.
Order this: Hot Honey pizza made with pepperoni, mozzarella, chili, honey and jalapeño. It’s a signature dish at Slim’s, popular with folks who crave sweet heat.
The Bajalieh Special pizza, a staple at Slice Pizza & Brew, was inspired by Saleh “Sol” Bajalieh, the founder of Sol’s Sandwich Shop in downtown Birmingham. Three of his sons opened the Lakeview location of Slice in 2011, and this pizza is a culinary tribute to Bajalieh, who died in 2004. (AL.com file photo/ Michelle Campbell)
4. SLICE PIZZA & BREW
725 29th St. South in Birmingham’s Lakeview neighborhood; 1101 Dunston Avenue in Crestline; 3104 Timberlake Drive in Vestavia Hills; 1105 Ashville Road in Montevallo. slicebirmingham.com.
The Slice empire has grown over the years, and it’s easy to see why. Three brothers — Chris, Jeff and Jason Bajalieh — opened the Lakeview Slice in 2011, and it quickly became a crowd-pleaser. Three other locations followed, amping up the Slice goodness throughout the metro area. Options abound on the menu, with creative toppings that range from braised beef short ribs to smoked brisket to bacon with banana peppers. The agenda includes salads, small plates and sweets, as well. And let’s not forget that “brew” is part of the restaurant’s name. Beer and pizza go hand-in-hand, and you’ll find canned, bottled and draft brews here.
Order this: White Shadow pizza, made with garlic, caramelized onions, sliced Portobello mushrooms, feta, parmesan and truffle oil. Not a tomato in sight, but a real treat for the taste buds.
Southern flavors enliven the pimento cheese pizza at Pizzeria GM in Homewood. Other toppings on the pizza include Conecuh sausage, bacon and jalapenos. (Photo by Bob Love)
3. PIZZERIA GM
600 Oak Grove Road in Homewood. pizzeriagm.com.
Think of this as a sister restaurant to Gianmarco’s: Younger, more casual, but just as worthy of your attention. Pizzeria GM was founded in 2018 by the Respinto family, the owners of Gianmarco’s, an upscale Italian restaurant in Edgewood. Gianmarco’s is the kind of place where you make reservations, typically weeks in advance. Pizzeria GM (about 1.5 miles away) is more of a drop-in spot, where eating with your hands seems just fine. The menu features hand-tossed pies that range from a traditional meatball pizza to a smoked salmon and asparagus pizza to “build your own” options. (Confession: Pizzeria GM is the only place in Birmingham where we’d even consider eating a Baked Rigatoni Bolognese Pizza, so draw your own conclusions from that.) The menu includes sandwiches, salads, small plates, pasta, desserts and more.
Order this: Pimento Cheese pizza, made with Conecuh sausage, bacon and jalapeño. Southern flavors make this pizza a standout.
Davenport’s Pizza Palace is a beloved institution in Birmingham. “The hand-tossed, thin-crust pizzas are ladled with the same secret sauce that Rex and Ardyce Hollis prepared when they first opened their neighborhood pizzeria in 1964,” said Bob Carlton of AL.com. (AL.com file photo/Frank Couch)
2. DAVENPORT’S PIZZA PALACE
2837 Cahaba Road in Mountain Brook; 700 Montgomery Highway, Suite 193, in Vestavia Hills. davenportspizza.com.
For an old-school pizza experience, you can’t do better than Davenport’s Pizza Place. The original location in Mountain Brook, which opened in 1964, is named after baseball star Jim “Peanut” Davenport, a friend of the original owners, Rex and Ardyce Hollis. Family members still own and operate the restaurant, sticking to a time-honored approach. Pizzas here are hand-tossed, with thin crusts and simple toppings: sausage, mushrooms, pepperoni, green peppers, anchovies and the like. The pies are cut into smallish squares, and pizza lovers who grew up on Davenport’s food wouldn’t have it any other way. The no-frills menu includes a garden salad with familiar dressings (French, Thousand Island, Ranch, etc.) and you can get soft drinks by the pitcher. A Vestavia Hills location opened in 2022, by the way, which means more Davenport’s for everyone.
Order this: Jim Special, made with beef, pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, onions and green peppers. One word: Classic.
Trattoria ZaZa in Birmingham has built a stellar reputation for pizza prepared Roman style and served al taglio, or “by the cut.” (AL.com file photo/Beverly Taylor)
1. TRATTORIA ZAZA
207 20th St. North in downtown Birmingham. www.zazabham.com.
Pizza by the slice is a fabulous thing, especially at Trattoria Zaza. The name of this restaurant has changed a couple of times over the years — ZaZa Trattoria to Trattoria Centrale to Trattoria ZaZa — and the original owners sold the place to two longtime employees in 2015. The goals remain the same, however: to serve “Italian foods from the finest ingredients, carefully everyday.” Mission accomplished, we think, and tons of pizza aficionados in Birmingham agree. Sure, you can order full pies here (and those are uniformly excellent) but we’re all about the mix-and-match squares at Zaza, prepared Roman style and served al taglio, or “by the cut.” Daily slice offerings and specials are posted on Twitter; pizza staples include Three Cheese, Sicilian, Pepperoni and Porkalicious. The menu also includes pasta dishes, salads, soups, desserts and more.
Order this: Spicy Swineapple pizza, made with bacon, ham, Calabrian chiles, pineapple, charred onion, tomato and chili oil. Think ham and pineapple don’t belong on a pizza? Zaza will make you a convert.
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