8 Best Restaurants in San Francisco, California

Casey Crynes' East Coast–style pies are larger and have slightly thicker and sturdier crusts compared to the typical Neapolitan ones. New York expats love that these slices can actually be folded. The small, charming counter-service restaurant centers around a large brick oven; and toppings tend to be simple, fresh, and nicely balanced on the predesigned pies.

Francesco Covucci brings his concept for a modern, casual Italian pizzeria with quality-driven imported Italian ingredients to storied North Beach. Although hailing from Calabria (an agricultural region of Southern Italy neighboring Campania, Italy's pizza bastion), he has created an authentic Neapolitan-style pizzeria. Also look for appetizers involving imported buffalo milk mozzarella and burrata.

This shoebox-size spot puts together thin-crust pies topped with the kinds of ingredients that are worth the constant wait. Almost half the menu changes on a biweekly basis, while dependable favorites include the tomato, basil, and mozzarella pizza; the Sardinian cheese, pine nut, and rosemary pie; and the San Marzano tomato sauce, wild arugula, and mascarpone pizza.

It's never pleasant to think about food waste, but it's an unfortunate reality in our world today—there is an enormous amount of perfectly fine food thrown away. This colorful, quirky, purposefully over the top restaurant embraces the concept of food waste as a key centerpiece of a pizza-centric menu (the crust is made of discarded whey and oat flour). Guests aren't lectured about the issue; instead, they'll learn from the plates about how oft-neglected or discarded ingredients can be absolutely delicious.

San Francisco’s first wood-fired brick pizza oven, installed here in 1935, is still here, and the pizzas' delightfully chewy crusts, creamy mozzarella, and full-bodied house-made sauce have kept legions returning for decades. Pair one of the hearty pies with broccoli dressed in lemon juice and olive oil and a bottle of chianti, or tuck into a variety of old-school pasta dishes (think: ravioli, spaghetti, manicotti), and old-school favorite dessert, tiramisu.

Repeatedly crowned the World Champion Pizza Maker at the World Pizza Cup in Naples, Tony Gemignani is a carb-friendly legend in the city for his flavorful dough and myriad versions. The multiple gas, electric, and wood-burning ovens in his casual, modern pizzeria turn out many different styles of pies—the famed Neapolitan-style Margherita, but also Sicilian, Roman, and Detroit styles—with salads, antipasti, homemade pastas, and calzone rounding out the menu.

Inside this bare-bones SoMa spot you'll find one of the best Neapolitan-style pizzas outside of Italy. Chef-owner and Manhattan transplant Anthony Mangieri is an obsessive artisan, carefully making each and every pizza by hand. The menu lists six kinds of pies (almost all versions of mozzarella and tomato). The crust exhibits a particular kind of perfection (the imported wood-fired oven is a beauty). There isn't much else on the menu (just some beverages and wines), so it really is all about the pizza. Don't come in a large group (couples get seated more quickly).