The 8 Best Pizza Restaurants in Austin 2026

Issac Flores built a wood-fired oven in his backyard during the pandemic; five years later his trailer-born Sammataro sells out of New York-style pies on East 12th Street, and two of his founding partners left to start a rival that is now the most talked-about pizza in Austin. The barbecue capital quietly became a pizza town with a family tree. Eight operations, ranked.

A scene built by defectors

Austin pizza in 2026 reads like a lineage chart. Sammataro begat Allday when two founding partners split off in 2022. Bufalina taught the city Neapolitan standards and natural wine in the same room. Via 313 imported Detroit squares from an actual Detroit family. The casualties are real, 40 North closed its bungalow, others rotate, but the survivors cook with a seriousness the city reserved for brisket a decade ago. The pizza guide sets the dough standards this ranking applies, hydration, fermentation time, char; the Austin dining guide maps the rest of the city.

The eight, ranked

1. Bufalina — Burnet Road

Steven Dilley closed the East Cesar Chavez original in 2021 and consolidated at 6555 Burnet Road, where the wood-fired Neapolitan pies, blistered, floppy-centered, properly fermented, share billing with one of the best natural wine lists in Texas. Pies run $16 to $24; the cacio e pepe pizza is the order. Bufalina's full review covers the wine strategy. Still the most complete pizza restaurant in Austin. Not for crispy-crust loyalists; Neapolitan softness is the house religion.

2. Sammataro — East 12th Street

Issac Flores started Sammataro in his backyard in 2020 with a hand-built oven; co-owner Kelsey Hutchins turned the trailer into a brick-and-mortar at 2907 E 12th Street that now anchors East Austin pizza. The pies are wood-fired New York style, foldable with a crackle, $18 to $26, and the pepperoni with hot honey converts purists. The city's best slice-shaped argument that trailers can grow up. Not for late-night runs; sellouts are routine and the ovens stop when the dough does.

3. Allday Pizza — Tarrytown & Hyde Park

Dan Sorg and Townsend Smith, founding Sammataro partners, broke off in 2022 and launched Allday in March 2023; by 2025 it was the most-buzzed pizza in the city, with classic New York pies, a soft-serve program, and brick-and-mortars at 3111 W 35th Street and in Hyde Park after the East Sixth trailer closed in May 2025. Pies $20 to $28. The energy pick of the scene right now. Not for anyone who hates a line; the buzz is priced in, in minutes.

4. Via 313 — citywide

Brandon and Zane Hunt brought their family's Detroit-style squares to an Austin trailer in 2011 and built the national standard-bearer: caramelized frico edges, sauce over cheese, the Detroiter with double pepperoni at about $20. Multiple Austin locations keep waits short. The original trailers' spirit survives the growth. Order it for groups and takeout; the square travels better than any Neapolitan on this list. Not for thin-crust absolutists, obviously.

5. Dovetail Pizza & Bar — Bouldin Creek

The industry supergroup behind Dovetail, Ben Runkle, Joe Ritchie and Natalie Davis of Present Tense Hospitality with Todd Duplechan of Lenoir, opened at 1816 S 1st Street and gave South Austin its neighborhood pizza answer: tavern-adjacent pies, sharp salads, a real bar program. Pies $17 to $25. The most grown-up room on this list. Book it for a casual date that still wants a wine list. Not for style-category purists; Dovetail cooks its own lane.

6. Home Slice — South Congress

The 2005-vintage South Congress institution still sells New York pies and slices until 3 a.m. on weekends, and the line outside remains an Austin social institution in itself. Whole pies $22 to $30, slices a few dollars, no reinvention attempted or needed. The right answer at midnight and the wrong one for a quiet conversation. Not for dough nerds; consistency, not fermentation poetry, is the product, and twenty years of crowds endorse it.

7. Side Eye Pie — Meanwhile Brewing & South Congress

Tony Curet's wood-fired truck at Meanwhile Brewing, 3901 Promontory Point Drive, runs the most ingredient-obsessed dough in the city: Texas Red Wheat from Barton Springs Mills thirty miles away, native yeast, post-oak fire. Pies $14 to $22, eaten at brewery tables with whatever Meanwhile just tapped. The best beer-and-pizza pairing in Austin. Not for table service or climate control; it is a truck, gloriously, and summer afternoons test commitment.

8. The Backspace — Downtown

Shawn Cirkiel's Neapolitan room at 507 San Jacinto Boulevard has run since 2011, a shoebox of a restaurant turning out blistered margheritas and burrata plates in the shadow of the downtown towers. Pies $15 to $22. The Backspace's review covers the pre-show strategy. The reliable downtown answer before a Moody Center night. Not for groups of six; the room physically refuses.

What to skip

Skip 40 North for now; the West 10th bungalow closed and the operation is between homes. Skip the national chains colonizing South Congress storefronts; the same money funds the trailers doing actual work. And stop comparing every pie in town to Via 313's squares or Bufalina's Neapolitans as if one style must win; Austin's scene matured precisely because it stopped arguing taxonomy and started fermenting properly. Order by mood: squares for groups, Neapolitan for dates, slices after midnight.

Booking mechanics

Almost nothing here takes reservations, which is the point. Bufalina seats walk-ins with a Resy waitlist that moves fastest before 6:30 p.m.; Dovetail takes bookings and holds bar seats. Sammataro and Allday are order-at-the-counter operations where the strategy is arriving in the first hour of service; Sammataro sellouts are announced on Instagram. Home Slice's line peaks at 9 p.m. and again at 1 a.m.; the takeout window beats both. Side Eye Pie follows Meanwhile Brewing's hours. The Backspace takes OpenTable bookings and is the one room on this list where a Friday 7 p.m. plan works without contingency. Citywide tactics live in the last-minute reservations guide.

Keep reading

Austin's other food obsessions get their own rankings: the Austin barbecue guide and the Austin Japanese list. For how pizza plays at the top of the global game, the pizza pillar covers Naples DOP rules, dough hydration and the rooms worth a flight.

Frequently asked questions

Prices, chefs, awards and opening status were checked against the restaurants' published menus, booking platforms and the current Michelin and local guide editions; all of it changes without notice, so confirm on the booking page before you commit. Restaurants for Kings is editorial, not sponsored. Some reservation links may earn an affiliate commission, which never affects a ranking or a score.