Why New Jersey Is Known for the Best Pizza, and Where You Can Find it
New Jersey has a reputation for serving some of the best pizza in the United States. With a long history of Italian influence and its location between New York and Philadelphia, New Jersey developed a pizza culture that stands out from the rest.
Located along the "Pizza Belt," the state draws from old-world traditions and benefits from talented bakers and great ingredients. If you search for "best pizza near me" anywhere in NJ, you’ll likely find a memorable slice not far away.
The question of what makes the "best pizza" is impossible to answer objectively. Debating pizza is like debating religion or politics—people have deep-rooted opinions shaped by personal experiences, and convincing someone to abandon their favorite style is nearly impossible.
The idea of the "best pizza" is less about individual taste—though that remains a major factor, especially for restaurant diners—and more about quality and authenticity.
If you believe your favorite pizza joint makes the best pizza, then to you, it is the best. Pizza is deeply personal, and a restaurant's popularity often depends more on customer preferences than on the freshness of ingredients or the authenticity of its preparation.
What Sets Great Pizza Apart?
People have strong opinions about what makes the best pizza. Taste is personal, shaped by childhood memories and family traditions. But when talking about quality, authenticity matters most. Genuine pizza comes from experienced hands, fresh ingredients, classic recipes, and the right baking method.
The roots go back to Naples, Italy. True Italian pizza uses time-honored dough recipes, high temperatures, and simple, quality toppings. Attention to these basics keeps the spirit of classic pizza alive, even in New Jersey.
Key Ingredients of Great NJ Pizza
Crust
The crust is where New Jersey pizza shines. Bakers focus on creating a texture that’s both chewy and crispy. The outside should have a nice crunch with just a hint of char, while the inside stays soft and flavorful.
Cheese and Sauce
Top spots use fresh or locally made cheese. The tomato sauce is often simple, using crushed tomatoes and just the right balance of spices. They use only enough oil to let the cheese provide golden drips when the slice is hot.
Cooking Method
NJ pizza is usually cooked quickly, often in wood-fired or coal-fired ovens that reach temperatures from 900 to 1200 degrees Fahrenheit. This process locks in freshness and gives the crust its signature bite. The quick bake preserves the bright taste of fresh cheese, sauce, and herbs.
Toppings
Quality always comes first. Classic pizzas let the crust, cheese, and sauce stand on their own. Restaurants avoid piling on extra toppings, letting each ingredient shine.
Popular Pizza Styles in New Jersey
Neapolitan Classic Neapolitan pizza uses simple, high-quality ingredients like San Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil. Baked in a wood-fired oven, this pizza has a light, tender crust with a smoky finish.
Tuscan Tuscan pizza uses a thicker, more bread-like crust than Neapolitan, often with a rich sauce and a blend of cheeses. Herbs and meats finish the pie.
New York Neapolitan New York Neapolitan offers a thinner, crispier version, usually larger and baked at lower heat. The crust holds up to more cheese and sauce, fitting local tastes.
Sicilian With its thick, square crust, Sicilian pizza delivers a soft, airy bite. Toppings often blend right into the dough, and you’ll notice a bold garlic kick.
Trenton Tomato Pie Tomato pies layer the cheese and toppings first, then add sauce on top. This gives the pie a crispier crust and lets the tomato flavor shine through.
Roman Style Roman-style pizza is catching on, too. The airy, sturdy crust holds up under plenty of toppings. Some places offer rectangular slices sold by weight, while others serve whole, round pizzas.
Best Northern New Jersey Pizza Spots
Ah Pizz (Montclair & Harrison) Ah Pizz is is known for its authentic Neapolitan pizza, which is distinct from the more common New York or "cracker-crust" styles. They emphasize using authentic Italian ingredients, including San Marzano tomatoes, which are grown in the volcanic soil of Mount Vesuvius, and fresh mozzarella (Fior di Latte or mozzarella di bufala). A key element to their pizza is the use of a high-temperature, wood-fired stone oven. The oven, built by Neapolitan artisans, is heated by an oak-wood fire to temperatures of around 905°F (485°C) or even up to 1,000°F. This intense heat allows the pizza to cook incredibly fast, in less than 90 seconds, which results in the characteristic crust that is crispy on the outside and softer and chewier towards the middle
Bivio Pizza Napoletana (
Emilio's Wood Fired Pizza (Nutley) Emilio's specializes in Neapolitan-style pizza known for its exceptionally light, airy, and fluffy crust with a perfect char, achieved through fresh ingredients and traditional technique. The dough is made from scratch using flour imported from Italy, a hallmark of true Neapolitan tradition. Pizzas are baked in a traditional wood-fired brick oven visible in the dining area, which imparts the signature char and flavor. The oven operates at high temperatures typical of Neapolitan pizza (usually 800–900°F/427–482°C), cooking pies in about 90 seconds. This rapid bake is key to the pizza's airy texture, leopard spotting of the crust, and the slight crispness with chew.
La Sorrentina (North Bergen) La Sorrentina is known for its Neapolitan-American (or "Classic New York-Neapolitan") pizza, crafted with a level of traditional technique and high-quality ingredients. They use imported "00" (Doppio Zero) flour from Italy. This flour is very finely milled, resulting in a softer, more delicate crust with less bite than American bread flour. The dough is cold-fermented for a minimum of 48-72 hours. This slow, cold rise is crucial. It allows enzymes and yeast to develop complex flavors naturally, creating a crust that is incredibly light and airy yet deeply flavorful with a subtle tang. La Sorrentina uses a handcrafted Stefano Ferrara oven imported from Naples, Italy. It's built from traditional materials like volcanic rock and refractory bricks, which absorb and radiate heat intensely and evenly. These ovens fire at incredibly high temperatures, typically between 800°F and 950°F (425°C - 510°C). Well above a standard commercial pizza oven that operates around 500-550°F.
Razza (Jersey City} Razza's philosophy is rooted in a deep commitment to quality, a scientific understanding of the pizza-making process, and a focus on local, seasonal ingredients. Instead of simply following tradition, they "painstakingly worked backwards" to create their ideal pizza. The pizza is a unique style that falls somewhere between traditional Neapolitan and New York-style. It's often described as a "hybrid" or "neo-Neapolitan." The Crust: Unlike a classic Neapolitan pie, which can be soupy in the center, Razza's pizza has a drier, more structurally sound undercarriage. This results in a crust that is both crisp and chewy, with a pronounced char on the edges from their high temperature, wood-fired oven
Best Central New Jersey Pizza Spots
Conte's Bar (Princeton) Conte's Is a no-frills, historic bar setting where the focus is squarely on serving an authentic, world-class example of a unique American regional pizza style, The Trenton Tomato Pie, a distinct regional style with the sauce on top is the most defining feature. The cheese (typically a low-moisture, whole-milk mozzarella) is applied directly to the dough. The tomato sauce—often a bright, seasoned, uncooked sauce—is dolloped or spread generously on top of the cheese. They use a coal-fired, hand-built masonry oven, a traditional deck oven fired by anthracite coal. its made of brick and mortar and retain immense, consistent heat. It operates at incredibly high temperatures, typically between 800-900°F (427-482°C).
De Lorenzo's Tomato Pies (Robbinsville) De Lorenzo's Tomato Pies is not just a restaurant; it's an institution. Its special status comes from a combination of history, a unique preparation style, and a fierce adherence to tradition that sets it apart from every other pizzeria in Central NJ, even those serving "tomato pies." Many pizzerias in Trenton and the surrounding area serve "Tomato Pie," but De Lorenzo's is the most famous and often considered the gold standard. The combination of their specific dough recipe, the quality of their tomatoes, the precise amount of cheese, and the inferno-like heat of their oven creates a uniquely balanced, flavorful, and texturally perfect pie that has been imitated but never truly duplicated.
Papa's Tomato Pies (Robbinsville) Papa's is the oldest continuously operating pizza restaurant in the United States (opened 1912). This legacy means the recipes and techniques are a direct link to the very origins of American pizza. You're tasting history. While other pizzerias serve fantastic Trenton Tomato Pie, Papa's version is defined by its textural precision and complex char derived from its historic coal oven. It's lighter, crisper, and has a more pronounced contrast between its components than many of its peers. Papa's uses the original coal-fired oven, installed in 1912. Many modern pizzerias use gas deck ovens that might get hot, but they lack the specific radiant heat profile and history ("seasoning") of a century-old coal oven. This gives Papa's crust a flavor that is literally baked into its bricks.
Brooklyn Square Pizza (Bradley Beach, Jackson, Manalapan, Toms River) Brooklyn Square Pizza is renowned for its "Upside Down" square pizza, The signature pie is a square pizza with a thick, airy, and crispy crust. The preparation is "reverse-layered," meaning the fresh mozzarella is placed directly on the dough, followed by a layer of their homemade, sweet red sauce on top, and finished with a dusting of pecorino romano cheese. This "upside-down" layering allows the sauce to be the star of the show while the cheese melts into a creamy base.
Best Southern New Jersey Pizza Spots
Bricco Coal Fired Pizza (Westmont & Cherry Hill) For those seeking an exceptional pizza experience, their old world New York-style thin crust pizzas are distinguished by its careful preparation, top-quality ingredients, and baking in a custom coal-fired oven reaching extremely high temperatures. Bricco's custom oven uses domestic anthracite coal, which creates a clean, high heat nearly free of smoke or particulate emissions, is central to both the texture and flavor,
Holy Tomato (Blackwood) Holy Tomato offers a more unique, artisanal pizza experience. It's a small, cash-only spot known for its creative approach to pizza with a great vibe. They have a loyal following who appreciate the non-traditional pies and the focus on fresh, high-quality ingredients. They serve a thin-crust pizza that is a hybrid style similiar to the Trenton-style tomato pie tradition (cheese and toppings first, then sauce), It features a firm, slightly chewy crust that is not quite a bar pie but also not a floppy New York slice. Their pies often feature creative and gourmet topping combinations.
Santucci's Original Square Pizza (Multiple South Jersey locationsl) Santucci's is a South Jersey institution known for its distinctive "upside-down" pizza. Its a square pizza topped with sauce over the cheese and baked with an emphasis on a crispy crust and bold tomato flavor, comparable in some ways to the famous Trenton tomato pie but with its own signature style. While Trenton tomato pie features a thin, round crispy crust with cheese and toppings under the tomato sauce, Santucci's square pizza delivers a thicker bite—sometimes akin to Sicilian or "Grandma" pizza—with robust, caramelized edges due to the baking method. The result is a pizza with a satisfyingly crisp bottom and edge, gooey cheese, and bright, acidic tomato top layer.
Tacconelli's Pizzeria (Haddon Twp & Maple Shade) Tacconelli's pizza is defined by its inimitable thin crust tomato pies, careful dough preparation, use of a traditional high-temperature Italian brick oven with a unique heating method, and a restrained but flavorful approach to toppings. The pizzas are known as "tomato pies," a distinct regional style with the sauce on top is the most defining feature. The cheese (typically a low-moisture, whole-milk mozzarella) is applied directly to the dough creating a fresh-made thin crust dough with a lot of tomato sauce and little cheese, baked to a crisp light taste. The preparation is meticulous: dough is made fresh daily and must be reserved by customers in advance at the original location, reflecting a one-man, one-oven operation approach focused on quality over speed.
The oven used is a standout feature—it is a brick oven fueled by an oil burner with bricks imported from Italy. The oven is heated throughout the day until it reaches an ideal high temperature around 850 degrees Fahrenheit. This unique method contributes to the crust's distinctive stiffness and crispness, which many fans describe as almost like a "sheet of particle board," providing a firm backbone especially notable on white pies. The pizza toppings are kept limited, often no more than two or three, emphasizing quality and mastery over excess.
Looking for the best NJ pizza or the best pizza near me? You can trust that New Jersey’s many independent pizzerias serve up some of the finest slices you’ll ever taste. Every region has its favorites, so take the time to explore and find the one that hits the spot for you.
