11 Best Pizza Places in Istanbul, Picked by Locals

Pizza chains have lost their grip here. Coffee chains went the same way. Istanbul’s pizza crowd has moved on to the wood-fired, boutique-shop kind, the kind that makes a quick lunch or a wine-soaked dinner feel like it belongs on a side street in Naples. For the best pizza in Istanbul, these 11 spots are the ones locals keep going back to.

1. 400 Derece

Tucked into Topağacı, this is honestly the best pizza you’ll find in Nişantaşı. The place knows it, too. The crust is thin and crackly—closer to lahmacun (a thin Turkish flatbread topped with spiced minced meat) than a typical pizza base—and the toppings are ones you won’t find at most other spots in the city: a pineapple-and-bacon “Hawaii Pizza,” a cinnamon-apple-almond “Granny Pizza,” plus house favorites “400 Derece,” “Verdure” and “Caprino.” Serious pizza eaters flock here. All ages, too: don’t be surprised if the tables fill up with toddlers mid-meal.

2. Olivia’s Pizzeria

Olivia’s opened its first location in Etiler and has since won over pizza fans across the city, with branches in Çiftehavuzlar and Ataşehir too—so there’s a good chance one is near wherever you’re staying.

The spots themselves are cozy. And the rest of the menu is every bit as good as the pizza. Order a few starters while you wait. They’re worth the detour.

3. The New Yorker Pizza

Right next door to 400 Derece, but a completely different kind of stop.

This isn’t a sit-down place. It’s for anyone who wants to grab a slice and keep moving rather than linger over a meal—pizza here is sold by the slice, and they’re generous enough that two will fill you up. What to order? “Zeynep’s Garden,” “The New Yorker,” and the folded “Calzone.” Visitors squeezing pizza in between sights will want this counter; anyone after a proper table can walk next door to 400 Derece.

4. Pizza Bar

Kadıköy locals talk this one up constantly. With good reason. The concept is close to The New Yorker Pizza, but the pies themselves lean properly Italian, because the chefs behind them spent years working in Italy, and you can taste it. Unlike The New Yorker’s grab-and-go setup, though, there’s room here to sit and actually enjoy the meal. Order the “Rainbow Pizza,” “Quattro Formaggi” and “Hawaii.”

5. 49 Çukurcuma

This list isn’t ranked. If it were, though, this one would sit near the top. Its address alone, right in Çukurcuma, is reason enough to love it. Pizza isn’t the only draw, either—a Bozcaada-style breakfast, a light wine from that small Aegean island, and live jazz all compete for attention. Back to the pizza. Favorites include “Tulumi” (made with İzmir tulum cheese and sun-dried tomato), “Da Atalai” (baby spinach), and “Pesto,” where zucchini and arugula do most of the work—and if you’ve saved room, there’s a chocolate-filled calzone worth trying. The location helps too: it’s a good way to dodge the Beyoğlu crowds.

6. Komodor

In Karaköy, the local shorthand goes something like this: coffee at Coffee Sapiens, tea at Dem, breakfast at Gakkı, dessert at Pim, and pizza at Komodor. That lineup may have shifted since. The pizza part of the saying still holds up.

Ask around and two pies come up again and again: the “Milas,” a mix of wild Aegean mountain herbs and cheese, and the “Espenat,” which piles roasted spinach, raisins, goat cheese and Komodor’s own sauce onto the base. Vegan diners aren’t left out. The “Sade” is vegetable-only, built from grilled eggplant, roasted red pepper, green beans and roasted almonds.

7. Pizzeria Trio

Want to step out of Cihangir and into Italy for an hour? This is the place. The oven made the trip too: the pizzas are baked in a stone oven imported straight from Italy. You can order the “Quattro Formaggi,” “Napoletana” or “Caprese” without a second thought, and the “Calzone,” which wraps ham, mushroom and mozzarella inside the folded dough, is well worth ordering alongside them. Prices are fairly reasonable for the area, and for date night it’s a safe pick.

8. Pizzeria Pera

Say “Italian” and “pizza” in Beyoğlu and this is one of the first names that comes up. Tucked into Asmalımescit, it wins people over fast, and the wood-fired oven does most of the convincing.

The go-to orders are the “Calzone Muratti,” “Cotto,” “Carni” and “Alaturca,” but even if you’re not hungry for a full pie, the cup tiramisu and espresso alone make it worth stopping by.

9. Pizza Emirgan

The pizza spot with the best view, full stop.

Sitting right on the water in Emirgan, it brings a little bit of Naples to the Bosphorus shoreline, and the menu backs that up: favorites include the zucchini-flower pizza, a Bolognese version, “Pizza Carpaccio,” “Cherry Burrata,” an artichoke-and-gorgonzola pie, “Melanzane” and “Bressaola.” The desserts are properly Italian too. A Nutella pizza, tiramisu, and a “Pizza Panna Di Zucca” topped with pumpkin cream, pistachio, walnut and powdered sugar. There’s no sign outside. Regulars gave the place the name it goes by now.

10. Pinsa Pizza

If the European side has no shortage of pizzerias, the Asian side has this tiny, sweet little shop to make up for it. How tiny? Four or five tables, maybe. But once the pizza shows up, nobody’s in a rush to give up their seat. Ordering works differently here: you pick the size, they cut it to order, and you pay by weight rather than off a fixed menu, with toppings that shift with the season on a whole-wheat dough. A solid stop in Moda if you want to eat well and feel briefly transported to Rome.

11. Miss Pizza

Miss Pizza has two locations: Cihangir and Şişhane. It opened in 2004, back when this stretch of the city was still mostly empty lots. Two women started it. A third joined later. Every pie here comes out of a wood-fired oven, which by now is close to a requirement for pizza done right in this city. That’s no accident: when UNESCO inscribed the Art of Neapolitan “Pizzaiuolo” on its intangible cultural heritage list in 2017, baking in a wood-fired oven was written into the craft itself.

Sources: UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage: Art of Neapolitan “Pizzaiuolo” (2017)