The very best pizza in Seattle is, in fact, not in Seattle at all. You have to take a 25-minute ferry across the Puget Sound to get to Via Rosa 11, but we’d gladly make the trip to Bainbridge Island to eat the burrata and speck pie. The pizza from this little Italian market has everything going for it—the dough is crispy, chewy on the ends, and cracker-like in the middle, topped with smoked prosciutto and dollops of cold burrata that melt on contact with the crust like sun-drunk snowballs.

When you’re looking for the best pizza within Seattle’s city limits, head to Dino’s Tomato Pie and order a Mr. Pink. This square Jersey-style pizza is topped with sweet vodka sauce, fresh mozzarella, ricotta cheese, and basil. The crust is thick and crunchy, and the whole bottom is so charred that it’s almost black in some parts, which (to be clear) is exactly how you want it. For a very happy night, stumble in and order a Mr. Pink with a blue Hawaiian slushie and a fistful of garlic knots.

The pizzas at Bar Del Corso, the always-packed Beacon Hill restaurant, are so good you might think you were somehow transported to Southern Italy. The Neapolitan pizzas here are thoroughly charred with excellent toppings, our two favorites being the buffalo mozzarella margherita and their white pie with sausage and pickled goathorn peppers. There’s no need to choose between the two, though, just order both.

If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if sourdough pies were fired up in a Neapolitan pizza oven, first off, let’s be friends. Second, that’s exactly what Lupo in Fremont is doing. The inferno inside the dome creates those leopard spots we know and love, but with a chewier texture and tang produced by the power of fermentation. It’s easy to enjoy their margherita topped with globs of Samish Bay mozzarella, or the cacio e pepe pie with plenty of of cracked black pepper.

If someone zapped the round pizzas at Dino’s with a shrink ray, you would get the same pie from Delancey. This is the more formal spot owned by the same team, and while the menu has a lot of hits, you’re here for the sausage pie. It has a subtle note of crunched-up fennel seed that highlights the pork without overpowering it, and when the rendered fat swirls with the mozzarella, it makes us feel like what George Frideric Handel (probably) felt when he finally finished that Hallelujah thing.

Tivoli makes the best slice of pepperoni pizza in town. This place is a collaboration between the folks behind Post Alley Pizza and Saint Bread, so like Zoë Kravitz, it seems destined for greatness. The crust is thin, crackly, and doesn't flail around like a car dealership’s inflatable dancer, and the tangy tomato sauce is a sweet complement to crisp-edged pepperoni cups. And the seasonal slices rock too.

Good Shape is on a temporary hiatus and will resume operations in June 2022. Toppings are great, but it’s just as important to recognize the mightiness of a stupendous cheese pie. That brings us to Good Shape. This mobile pizza operation has popped up at Add-A-Ball, Chuck’s Hop Shop, and Oddfellow’s Cafe, and their small pies covered in char bubbles are both crisp and foldable at the same time—a true achievement in pizza-making.

Seattle’s Detroit-style pizza boom gained movement about as quickly as scammer documentaries, and now we have access to a tremendous amount of thick, sauce-on-top-of-cheese pan pies. But if you’re curious which rectangle of crispy cheese-skirted dough is the best, it’s My Friend Derek’s. The pizza here is a perfect specimen of light and fluffy cornmeal-dusted crust, rich marinara loaded with nutty toasted garlic, and toppings that just hit right.

This small Italian spot on Capitol Hill succeeds in all matters related to flour, but we're not here to discuss their (excellent) fresh pasta. They also serve pizzas with toppings that lay nearly twice as thick as the charred, crunchy crust. Even still, the sauce, cheese, and other odds and ends don't compromise the integrity of the bottom. Get the white pie with enough sticky fontina to cancel school if it were a layer of snow, or the "Flying Sauser" pizza.

Between the cracker-thin crust, sweet tomato sauce with oregano, ideal layer of bubbly cheese, and toppings like custardy ricotta dollops and charred pepperoni cups (our two favorites), the grid-cut tavern pie is the pizza to beat at this West Seattle pizzeria that specializes in Chicago-style pizza. The deep dish is solid, too, but make no mistake—the tavern pie is the one you want.