Mobileâs best pizza places: Our top 5
It’s not hard to find a good slice of pizza in Alabama’s Port City. Options abound. But here’s where to start if you’re looking for a great one.
Some ground rules: We’ve focused on one-of-a-kind venues. Sorry if your go-to is Mellow Mushroom or another chain, but you can always pipe up for them on our social media channels – we’ll publish reader favorites at the end of the week. We also stuck close to Mobile, so the same goes if you want to go to bat for a venue elsewhere in Lower Alabama, we get it. We’ve had a fine pie at Crico’s Pizza & Subs in Gulf Shores, and no doubt there are others catering to beach-bound tourists.
We hope you like thin crusts and fat journalists, because that’s all you’re going to find here.
MORE: Birmingham’s best pizza: Our top 5
Huntsville’s best pizza: Our Top 5
So many slices, so little time: The counter at Joe’s Pizza & Pasta in Mobile.Lawrence Specker | [email protected]
5. Joe’s Pizza & Pasta
9120 Airport Boulevard, Suite L; www.facebook.com/BestPizzainMobile
Joe’s Pizza & Pasta is about as stripped-down and unpretentious as it gets. It’s a takeout-only spot in a west Mobile strip mall. The deck of Garland pizza ovens tells you they’re serious, it’s like a row of Marshalls at a rock concert, but they don’t score many points on ambiance. The pizzas themselves look very ordinary. But they’ll sell you two slices and a 20-ounce soda for $7, which is a crazy good deal. Then they’ll take those slices and pop ‘em back in the oven for bit to crisp them up, and when you bite down on one you will forget all about looks and ambiance and other irrelevancies.
Order this: Based on our limited experience, you can’t go wrong with the pizzas. But next time we’re absolutely going for one of those calzones.
The Buffalo pizza at Semmes House of Pizza uses some house-made ranch dressing as an accent, but alfredo sauce makes for a subtler foundation.Lawrence Specker | [email protected]
4. Semmes House of Pizza
3958 Snow Road Suite C, Semmes; semmeshouseofpizza.com
The fan base extends far beyond Semmes, a small but growing young city on Mobile’s northwest flank, and it’s easy to see why. As proprietor Chris Brill told AL.com: “We make our own dough, we grate our own cheese, we make our own sauce. We cut all of our vegetables. Some people will buy frozen vegetables that are already chopped. We cut everything, which helps make it as fresh as possible.” And subtle tweaks put fresh life in familiar items, like the Buffalo pizza – its base is an alfredo sauce, not ranch, and the drizzle of house-made ranch is packed with dill.
Order this: That buffalo pizza is a good place to start, but order the Manhattan (basically a supreme) if you want to enjoy the freshness of the veggies.
READ: Come for the fried green beans, stay for the cannoli at this south Alabama pizza house
Mobile’s Ashland Midtown Pub has a creative pizza menu that includes some unexpected flavors.Lawrence Specker | [email protected]
3. Ashland Midtown Pub
2453 Old Shell Road; ashlandmidtownpub.com
The menu can do the talking for this one. The Old World: fresh basil, artichoke hearts, sliced Roma tomatoes with mozzarella cheese on a roasted garlic and olive oil base. Mediterranean Shrimp: Diced fresh tomatoes and shrimp with feta and mozzarella cheeses served over a sweet homemade basil pesto sauce. Zydeco: Topped with crab, crawfish, chicken, roasted garlic, bell peppers, gorgonzola and mozzarella cheeses on a white sauce base. Bacon Cheeseburger: Red Sauce, meatballs, bacon, caramelized onions and chopped dill pickle with mozzarella and cheddar cheeses. The Tragically Hip: A red and white sauce, Canadian bacon, artichoke hearts, sherried mushrooms and onions with Gorgonzola, asiago and mozzarella cheeses.
Order this: If all this is too high-flown for you, call for The Hook Up, your basic red sauce-sausage-pepperoni deal. Except for the finely chopped jalapenos.
Ravenite Pizzeria has been a bastion of fine pizza on the Eastern Shore for years.Lawrence Specker | [email protected]
2. Ravenite Pizzeria
102 N. Section St., Fairhope; www.theravenite.net
The Ravenite has been a bastion of Eastern Shore pizza for a long time, and if you Google “best pizza in Fairhope” you’ll probably wind up looking at a list that it tops. Once bite of The Special and you’ll know why. The lineup of ingredients is pretty common – pepperoni, sausage, onions, green pepper, mushroom, beef, ham, black olive and garlic – but the garlicky flavor just explodes off the top of it. The menu starts with the basic cheese pizza and a la carte toppings, then goes to the mid-tier “combination” pizzas, which include Greek, Mexican and Pulled Pork Hawaiian specialty jobs, then to the top-tier Gourmet pizzas such as The Special. So there’s no shortage of choices here.
Order this: Our second choice after The Special was The Southwestern, with broiled chicken, black beans, red onion, roasted red pepper, chipotle, fresh tomato, white queso sauce and Monterey jack cheese over red sauce. But honestly, The Special would be hard to beat.
Benjamin Reese, left and Richie Gambino of Pizzeria Delphina work in the background as a Cadillac sits parked on the counter.Lawrence Specker | [email protected]
1. Pizzeria Delphina
518 Dauphin St.; www.facebook.com/delphinapizza
Go ahead, accuse us of making a sentimental choice. This is a sentimental choice that happens to be knock-your-socks off good, not to mention that the by-the-slice option makes it one of the fastest lunch options in downtown Mobile. Richie Gambino broke a lot of hearts when he closed shop at 107 Dauphin St. two years ago. Pizzeria Delphina was tiny, but it had an outsize reputation far beyond the downtown clientele. More recently, Gambino and partner Benjamin Reese opened in The Insider Collective Eatery farther west on Dauphin. The setting is much more modern, and bustles with food-court energy, but the vintage Blodgett oven and the expertise are the same.
Order this: The Cadillac is a good starting point: Pepperoni, sausage, mushroom, onion, red pepper, beef, ham, black olive, garlic.
READ: Farewell to Pizzeria Delphina, popular downtown Mobile venue
More on Alabama food:
Alabama’s best barbecue: Our Top 10
Alabama’s best barbecue: Reader picks
Step 1: Go to Dauphin Island. Step 2: Get yourself some tacos.