8 interesting metro Atlanta pizzas to try, from lemon pepper to oxtail
Atlanta may not have an old pizza lineage like New York or Chicago, but we have a distinct ATL way of doing things and that means mashing up cultures, ignoring the rules and making our food taste great. Some of the metro’s best pies don’t just feed you, they tell you exactly where you are: a Haitian lounge in Union City; a vegan shop in Little Five Points; a walk-up window on the Atlanta Beltline; or a Mexican supermarket in Jonesboro.
If you want to try all of these unique pizzas, bring your appetite — and a little patience for traffic.
Hapeville Pizza Co.
In Atlanta, we’ll put lemon pepper on just about anything: wings, fries, lobster rolls — you name it. Leave it to a shop near the airport to lemon-pepper a whole pizza. That’s where you’ll find Hapeville Pizza Co., which does everything right even without the wild flavors.
As soon as you open the box, you’re hit with the aromas of seasoned chicken and rich mozzarella, dusted with that bright, peppery magic that will have you grinning before your first bite. It’s tangy and buttery with just a little peppery kick — proof anything can be lemon-peppered, if done right. And don’t let the thicker crust fool you; there’s still a real crunch with each bite.
The rest of the menu reads like a love letter to the “A” with pies named after different neighborhoods, like the Virginia Park, a ham and pineapple pie; or the Tri-Cities, a meat lover’s dream with generous amounts of pepperoni, beef and sausage.
And if you’re wondering, yes, they have wings. Hapeville Pizza serves made-to-order baked wings in a variety of flavors, from sweet chili to garlic Parmesan, and you can add lemon-pepper sprinkles to any of the flavors. Honestly, you can’t say you’ve had an Atlanta pizza until you’ve had one here.
Hapeville Pizza Co. 626 S. Central Ave., Hapeville. 404-254-1928, hapevillepizza.com.
La Morena Supermarket
On the corner of Tara Boulevard and Mount Zion Road in Jonesboro, La Morena Supermarket looks like your everyday neighborhood grocery store. But walk to the back, past the meat counter, and you’ll find a small taqueria serving up one of the best-kept secrets in the south-metro area: a made-to-order Mexican pizza.
It starts with a thin, savory layer of refried beans smeared onto the fluffy, doughy crust, followed by your choice of meat. I always go with the carne asada — tender steak that’s charred and juicy off the grill — paired with plump grilled shrimp. From there, it gets a blanket of melted cheese and a shower of fresh cilantro.
The beans keep it rich, the meat keeps it hearty and the cilantro cuts through with a fresh, herby bite. When your order is ready, you’re handed a heavy, steaming box holding a pizza with so many toppings that you’ll be fighting to keep them on the slice. And since it’s made to order, you’ll have time to wander through the mart exploring the fresh produce, shelves stocked with Jarritos and snacks you won’t find at the big chains. Don’t be surprised if you walk out with a cart full of groceries along with your pizza.
La Morena Supermarket. 6628 Tara Blvd., Jonesboro. 678-489-8507.
1804 Pizza Bar & Lounge
About 15 miles southwest of Atlanta in Union City, you’ll find 1804 Pizza Bar & Lounge, a restaurant where the kitchen is taking comforting Haitian staples and throwing them onto a pizza crust. The name nods to the year Haiti won its independence, and the food carries that same pride.
The must-order here is the oxtail pizza with slow-braised meat that’s shredded off the bone and spread out with a heavy ladle of thick, peppery gravy that soaks right into the dough. That traditional Haitian comfort food combo is then blanketed with bubbling mozzarella. It’s rich, heavy and comforting like a Sunday dinner that works even if it ignores the traditional rules of pizza. Pair it with the lounge’s laid-back vibe and you’ve got a whole night, not just a meal.
1804 Pizza Bar & Lounge. 6335 Roosevelt Highway, Union City. 470-278-8819, 1804pizzabar.com.
Pizza Verdura Sincera
In Little Five Points, Pizza Verdura Sincera sets out to prove that plant-based pizza can go toe-to-toe with a traditional pie — and it does.
Vegan versions of cheese can be hit-or-miss, but the crew at Pizza Verdura Sincera figured it out. They don’t rely on heavily processed, off-the-shelf products as substitutes for meat and cheese. The whole menu is vegan, built on all-natural, non-GMO ingredients, but you wouldn’t know it from the quality of their pizza.
For the full effect, order the Come la Carne, which begins as a classic margherita pizza before it’s loaded with plant-based pepperoni and a garlic-fennel Italian sausage that browns up like pork, with a flavor that’s savory and a little spicy. You’ll swear there’s meat on this pizza.
Then there’s the Messicano, which the menu describes as the best of both pizza and nachos. It comes with a vegan Mexican cheese blend topped with chipotle sausage, sweet and hot peppers, fire-roasted corn, onions, pickled jalapenos and drizzled with garlic and ginger oils, topped off with vegan sour cream and fresh cilantro. It’s smoky, zippy and fun to eat.
Pizza Verdura Sincera makes a crisp, well-charred crust, so every pizza hits all the notes you want from a great slice. If you’ve ever written off vegan pizza, this is the spot that will change your mind.
Pizza Verdura Sincera. 377 Moreland Ave. NE, Atlanta. 404-343-2132, pizzaverdurasincera.com.
Pizza Dynamo
Next time you’re walking the Atlanta Beltline’s Eastside Trail or in the Old Fourth Ward looking for a bite to eat, swing by Pizza Dynamo for a slice or a whole pie. This little pizza counter inside Pour Taproom has a unique dough: It’s a 72-hour fermented sourdough crust which translates to a satisfying, slightly tangy chew and blistered exterior that crackles when you fold it.
It all starts with the Dynamo Pie. Built on that signature sourdough base, it features a simple tomato sauce and a mozzarella-provolone blend that stretches when you pull a slice away. But wait, there’s more cheese: Italian stracciatella, the soft, creamy center pulled from inside burrata. The pie is then draped with thin slices of prosciutto and a drizzle of house-made hot honey, made with whole dried Calabrian chilies. You get cool and creamy, then salty and cured, and finally, a slow, sweet heat that creeps in at the end. It packs a ton of punch — flavor, temperature and texture — into a single bite.
If you’re looking for even more fire, check out the Spicy Pie. It piles salami and hot peppers over the cheese blend, then hits the whole thing with that same hot honey, so every bite swings from savory and salty to sweet heat.
Pizza Dynamo. 661 Auburn Ave. NE, Suite 230, Atlanta. 470-204-0590, pizzadynamoatl.com.
I Love NY Pizza
If the traffic on I-75 in Henry County gets to be too much of a headache, consider pulling off the interstate in Locust Grove to check out this family-owned pizza shop.
At I Love NY Pizza, the New York-style pizza is hand tossed, has a thin crust built to fold — with a bottom that crackles when you bend it — and a puffy, blistered edge. A plain cheese slice is a perfect example in doing the basics right: glossy, glistening, melty cheese with a kiss of char on the crust.
But the white pizza stands on its own. They completely ditch the red sauce for heavy, creamy dollops of ricotta, a generous amount of garlic and a mozzarella pull that threatens to drag the toppings off your neighboring slices. The lasagna pizza — another great option — piles on ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, meatball and marinara, all bubbling and browned at the edges, so it eats like a baked Italian classic you can hold in one hand.
Whatever you order, save room for cannoli, with a shell that shatters at the first bite to spill sweet vanilla cream and chocolate chips in a perfect Italian sign off. It’s a little family shop doing it the right way, and well worth the drive south.
I Love NY Pizza. 2678 Ga. 155 S., Locust Grove. 770-898-8887, ilovenypizzaoflocustgrove.com.
Glide Pizza
A pizza list in Atlanta isn’t complete without Glide Pizza.
Along the Beltline’s Eastside Trail, you’ll find Glide’s walk-up window slinging huge, foldable slices with cheese pulls that stretch for days. You don’t come here for a quiet, sit-down meal, you come to grab a flimsy paper plate holding a slice so large that folding is required to keep the cheese and sauce exactly where it needs to be while on the go.
My personal favorite is the standard pepperoni. The edges of the cured meat slices curl up from the heat of the oven, trapping little pools of spicy oil, and the server slaps a single, fresh basil leaf right in the middle of the slice before handing it through the window. The crust has that perfect, slightly tough New York chew that gives your jaw a workout. It’s street food in its truest, messiest form.
Glide Pizza. 659 Auburn Ave. NE, Suite 506, Atlanta. 404-343-4319, glidepizza.com.
Mister O1 Extraordinary Pizza
This Michelin-recommended kitchen from South Florida, led by Italian-born chef Renato Viola, builds its thin crust pies on a dough that rests for a minimum of 72 hours.
The go-to dish at Mister O1 Extraordinary Pizza, which has two Atlanta locations with a third on the way, is the star-shaped pie. Instead of a plain circle, the edge is folded into eight points, each one a pocket stuffed with ricotta, so the crust itself gets as much attention as the rest of the slice. I like the Star Luca with tomato sauce, mozzarella, spicy Calabrian salami and threads of basil surrounded by those creamy, ricotta-filled tips.
But the “extraordinary” section of the menu is where things get wild, starting with the Coffee Paolo. When the server drops it off, it smells faintly like an espresso bar. The combination of a light dusting of coffee grounds and melted cheese makes no sense, but the bitter, roasted coffee flavor somehow perfectly balances the rich dairy.
The next shocker is the Ruben, which tastes exactly like a fresh deli sandwich — with tangy sauerkraut, pastrami, Thousand Island dressing and all — somehow flattened onto a pizza. Come curious and you might just leave a believer.
Mister O1 Extraordinary Pizza. 3699 Lenox Road, Atlanta, 770-394-5500, mistero1.com.
