Curvaceous delights, enticing scents, warm and soft, and it all feels so good. They say love comes in all shapes and sizes but round and about 32 centimeters wide is usually a safe bet. Pizza is probably the most popular food on the planet and thankfully Budapest offers glopping amounts of this great Italiano treat. Local pizzerias compete in four categories: inedible, okay when drunk, pretty good and heavenly. Here we focus on the top-notch type, collating the best pizzas from crispy crusts through top-quality toppings to Lazio-style or Neapolitan, elegantly leaving out the mediocre kiosks offering pools of oil and age-old ham. Scroll to see where you get your money's worth. You know you want it.

1/13

Digó

1051 Budapest, Erzsébet tér 12.

Oh my... Digó definitely offers one of the best Neapolitan pizzas in town. We first tried their masterpieces at Sziget Festival, but after a few pop-up outlets, last December they launched a pizza place on central Erzsébet Square. Here, when the first warm rays of spring sunshine finally arrive, there is nothing better to do than sit around the pool above Akvárium Klub with a drink, dipping your feet in the water and dripping pizza sauce all over your shirt – of course, the pizza can only come from Digó. A wood-fired oven, light and airy dough, tasty toppings; simple but stunning. The queue is often long here, but do stand in line, you certainly won’t be disappointed.

2/13

IGEN

1075 Budapest, Madách Imre út 5.
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IGEN (’YES’) in all capitals is a great name for a pizza place. Here they make heavenly Neapolitan pizzas according to authentic Italian recipes. Their original, and rather pretty, black-and-white wood-fired oven was made by the famed Stefano Ferrara, who builds high-quality ovens brick by brick in Italy. Thanks to this, and the dough, created according to a well refined recipe, your pizza is ready in three minutes. They do not really feature typical ’Hungarian’ flavors, so here you won’t seek your teeth into ketchup- and mayonnaise-soaked Hawaiian slices. Ingredients are superb and they bravely experiment with toppings. IGEN is the best street-food spot amid the Madách strip of hipster hangouts, but their whole pizzas could be a bit bigger.

3/13

Gustolato Budapest (Closed)

1051 Budapest, Hercegprímás utca 13.

We normally just pop in to Gustolato by St. Stephen’s Basilica for their irresistible croissants with pistachio cream, but then get tempted by their great pizza pies and gain a few pounds right there and then. Gustolato is a hub of Italian gastronomy, as it is a breakfast place, ice cream parlor, chocolate shop, café, restaurant and bar all in one. This combination does not cause any confusion though, as the quality is sky-high from the ice-creams to the homemade pastas. The pizzas are Neapolitan; thin with a crispy crust and generously packed with tasty toppings. Prices are a bit higher than normal, but decent for downtown, and the quality is worth every penny. Gustolato is more like a restaurant than a takeaway, but be careful not to spend the whole day here, as they satisfy all cravings from morning to evening.

4/13

Jamie's Pizzeria

1075 Budapest, Király utca 13.
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While the Castle District restaurant overseen by this star chef continues to offer full sit-down meals for multiple-course feasts, he now also has a pizzeria on the city’s Pest side. In ever-bustling Gozsdu Courtyard. almost a dozen pizzas feature on the menu, 32-centimeter-wide, thin-and-crispy delights served every day of the week from lunchtime through dinner, all priced under 3,000 forints. The ingredients here are selected strictly, and need to pass Jamie’s internal rating system, the JOSIE scale. The meat comes from free-range animals, while the fruit and vegetables are sourced from sustainable farms. To ensure consistently high quality, some ingredients are the same in all of the chef’s eateries around the world, including the Levoni ham, 00 flour, olive oil, and the Parmigiano-Reggiano. Guests with a modest appetite can order pizzetta, a half portion of pizza served alongside a light dish from the restaurant’s salad selection.

5/13

A Kemencés Pizza

1152 Budapest, Fő út 39.

Kemencés Pizza has been enticing denizens of District XV in northern Pest with palatable oven-baked pizzas since 2016. Last autumn, they also set up on Katóka Street in District XVI. Their pizzas are thin and crispy, drowned in succulent sauces and topped with all kinds of tasty treats. They are available in various sizes from 26 and 32 up to 45 cm, and are baked to perfection in only a few minutes in the super hot wood-fired oven. We recommend their folded calzones, too. Both pizzerias are a bit further away from the city center, but the first bite into the fantastic pizza will make you forget about the journey – and you can take one home, too.

6/13

Panificio Il Basilico PIAC - Central Passage (Closed)

1061 Budapest, Király utca 8-10.

Walking up ever-bustling Király Street, it is so easy to get tempted into any of the many street food spots offering all kinds of handheld treats. But if already there, head to Panificio Il Basilico at the Centrál Passage for better quality and fantastic flavors. The Italian delights here are baked in a furnace and, as they also offer lunch menus, sometimes iyour main course can be a whole pizza. Finally someone gets it. We also recommend Panificio il Basilico’s artisanal pastries available at the Downtown Market and at Városmajor on the Buda side.

7/13

Pizza Manufaktúra

1092 Budapest, Lónyay utca 9.
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Pizza Manufaktúra is super popular, and rightly so. Their prices are really reasonable and their pizzas are excellent. At this tiny eatery on Lónyay Street, the boys are always busy baking pizzas to the thumping beat of music. Their airy and light dough is Roman-style and the ratio of sauce to topping is just perfect. The interior is simple, you wouldn’t stay here all evening, but there are a few seats to let you enjoy your pizza in comfort – and you can also order for takeaway. Popeye would go crazy for their spinach pizza, but if you eat fewer greens, there is quite a variety to choose from. A good tip is to call the boys when you are on your way, place your order and your pizza will be ready about as soon as you enter, waiting for you to stuff it in your mouth. No more words needed.

8/13

Pizza Me

1061 Budapest, Király utca 20.
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You might already know PizzaMe as they have several small kiosks around town, but perhaps have not heard of Pizza di Mamma Sofia. This small pizza place was launched on Király Street in the olden days when the selection of street food spots was not so abundant. Mamma Sofia flourished into a franchise as PizzaMe, and now has eateries at all important hubs of the city. Their slices are the best to quench after-party hunger, while they are also the best option for home delivery when you really have to share, as their pizzas are 45 centimeters wide. The service is super fast here, the dough is thin and the flavors are great.

9/13

pizzica

1065 Budapest, Nagymező utca 21.
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At this pizza-slice place on Nagymező Street, your order comes in a square shape. These pizzas are Lazio-style, which is different to Neapolitan. The dough is left to rise for 48 hours and then becomes about 1-2 centimeters thick and airy. The ingredients are original Italian and in addition to the classic flavours, the boys often allow their imagination to roam free and offer their own creative creations. We recommend to take a slice and walk down ‘Budapest Broadway’, with so much to see.

10/13

Riso Ristorante & Terrace

1012 Budapest, Lovas út 41.

Riso hides in one of the twisting streets near the Buda Castle, but is worth hunting it down for their delicious dishes. Their cuisine is mostly Mediterranean, and the majority of the ingredients come from Italy. They have their own pizza chef, who bakes the thin pizzas to perfection in a wood-fired oven and the variety is extensive. On Mondays, you can try their pizzas with a 30% discount. As the owner once said, you don’t just pop in to Riso, you make a beeline for it. Well, once you taste the pizza, you will keep coming back.

11/13

Trattoria Pomo D’Oro

1051 Budapest, Arany János utca 9.
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Trattoria Pomo D’oro is part of Via Italia, Budapest’s own Little Italy on central Arany János Street, founded by Gianni Annoni, an Italian to the bone. The thin pizza is baked in a wood-fired oven and is crunchy where it should be. Instead of fancy fantasy pizzas, they rather swear by the flavors of various Italian regions and often come up with something new for every season. After trying the pizza, you can continue the feast with a dessert and glasses of wine at the other units of Via Italia, and then find the ingredients that made your meal at the nearby deli.