Charlotte’s 20 best pizza places, ranked — plus BBQ, comedy and more
Pizza is the kind of food that sparks arguments, and Charlotte now has enough quality slices to fuel a few. Today’s CharlotteFive newsletter dives deep into the city’s pizza scene, with a ranked list, a reader callout and a roundtable of local obsessives. There’s also a reporter’s brave open-mic comedy debut, a peek at what’s coming to South End and a Yelp shoutout for North Carolina barbecue. Here’s everything worth knowing. 🍕
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Peter took on what sounds like an impossible assignment and lived to publish it: ranking the 20 best pizza restaurants in the Charlotte area. His verdict? Charlotte is becoming a legitimately strong pizza town, thanks to an influx of pizzerias and chefs over the past 15 years bringing Neapolitan, Detroit, New York, Jersey, Buffalo and Sicilian styles to the Queen City. ✨
His top pick is Bird, the famously hard-to-book spot from Kerrel and Nkem Thompson at 📍 510 E. 15th St., Suite A, where the thin, aggressively charred crusts and bright, sweet sauce are worth every Resy refresh. Right behind it: Finale Pizza near Ballantyne, Zepeddie’s in LoSo and Inizio, which Peter credits with proving a decade ago that Charlotte had an appetite for high-end pizza.
🏆 Check out the full rankings here.
Peter isn’t done with pizza yet. He’s also looking for your help tracking down Charlotte’s best specialty pies — the kind with creative flavor pairings that go beyond pepperoni and cheese. 🍐 A few that already have his attention: the Pistachio Pesto at Inizio, the OG vodka sauce pizza at Bird and the Pear Pressure at Gravity Sourdough Pizza, which layers sweet potatoes, goat cheese and maple honey.
You can nominate as many specialty pizzas as you want through the nomination form, or email Peter directly at [email protected]. A few lucky nominators may even get invited along to taste-test their picks.
🗳️ Get the nomination details here.
Peter also gathered three Charlotte pizza obsessives — Buffalo native Erick Szczap, Wisconsin native Matt Byrne and Charlotte native and pizza blogger Avery Dunworth — to debate whether the city has earned its pizza stripes. The consensus rating: somewhere between a 7 and an 8 out of 10. Not destination-level yet, but steadily climbing. 📈
The conversation covers everything from underrated spots (Zepeddie’s, Zio Casual Italian, The Crust near I-485) to the crust-vs.-toppings debate (crust wins, mostly) to the sauce styles that divide transplants. As Erick put it about Charlotte’s mix of regional styles: “Everyone’s moved here and brought their pizza with them. So, you have to get some points for that, right?”
😋 Read the full roundtable here.
Théoden went looking for a story about Charlotte’s comedy scene and somehow convinced himself that “true journalistic rigor” required getting on stage himself. So he wrote jokes, practiced them and signed up for the Tuesday-night open mic at 🎤 Starlight on 22nd in NoDa.
His piece weaves in advice from local veterans like Loïc Adjevi, James R. Hustle, Alex King and Jason Allen King, all of whom describe bombing as an unavoidable rite of passage. Théoden’s own set? Somewhere between disaster and triumph — a few jokes landed, a few died, and no tomatoes were thrown. But he says he got just enough of a buzz to understand why people keep doing it.
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🤭 Read his stand-up adventure here.
“Surefire Market is known for its smash burgers, chicken sandwiches and house-made sauces. My friend Tim called their chicken sandwiches the ‘best in Charlotte’ and he’s not wrong.”
That’s Evan, writing about the 10 hottest restaurants in Charlotte right now. 🔥 His list includes Albertine, Ardente Kitchen, Café Audire, Lang Van, Rada, Restaurant Constance, Supperland, Surefire Market at 📍 301 Camp Rd #101, The Crunkleton and more. Rada landed on the New York Times’ list of the 50 best restaurants in the U.S. in September, and Restaurant Constance is helmed by James Beard Award semifinalist Sam Diminich.
Yelp dropped its list of the top 100 barbecue joints in the country, and four North Carolina spots made the cut — all of them with Texas-style ties. The Smoke Pit in Concord ranked highest at No. 16, with Yelp users praising the tender brisket, pulled pork and fall-off-the-bone ribs.
Jon G’s Barbecue in Peachland landed at No. 50, though if you want to try it, plan ahead: it’s only open Saturdays and reliably sells out. 🛎️ Prime Barbecue in Knightdale and Haywood Smokehouse in Dillsboro rounded out the North Carolina contingent, Simone reports.
👉 See the full barbecue rundown here.
Olivelli Deli — in the former Reigning Doughnuts spot — is hosting a public soft serve tasting tomorrow. Details below:
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This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence and using our own originally reported, written and published content. It was reviewed and edited by our journalists. To learn more about how The Charlotte Observer is using AI in our newsroom, see our policy here.
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