Fun fact: A CBC Radio segment from spring 2025 reported that Halloween is the busiest day of the year for pizza deliveries. Pizza Today, an all-pizza, all-the-time website and podcast goes even further: when Halloween falls on a weekend, pizza sales can doubly eclipse those on Super Bowl Sunday (another very, very busy day for pizza).
And because we are here for you, pizza people, we’re bringing you the indisputable* one-and-only list of the best pizza in Richmond.
In no particular order: Richmond’s most excellent pizzas, available all year round, but, crucially, also on Halloween. Which consequently is on a Saturday this year.
RVA Pizza Paragons
Pizzeria Delores
Owners: Longtime friends Max Sayer and Jacky Welch. There’s an Antonelli’s Deli/Joe’s Inn/Fifty-One Pizza connection here through Matt McDonald. Welch, who also owns High Point Barbershop, named Pizzeria Delores after his late bulldog.
Opened: Aug. 21, 2026
Flour: A blend of artisanal flours
Pizza: Thinner than a traditional Sicilian-style square pie. The dough bakes in oiled pans that create a close-to-fried bottom and cheese edges. Every pie comes with house-made ranch on the side.
Longtime friends Max Sayer and Jacky Welch of Pizzeria Delores.
Decor: Designed by local designer Julie Roberts. Best seat—one of the booths.
Also order the: Cherry Bruscola, a fizzy blend of cherry coke, lambrusco and lemon juice that’s perfect for patio sipping.
Quirk: This spot is brand new and online ordering is coming soon. So, you’ll have to go order and wait. And yes, it gets busy.
8 1/2
Owner: Part of the Ed Vasaio portfolio, which includes Dinamo and Edo’s Squid. Dinamo’s other owner is Mya Anitai (who owns Franny’s Pizza in Highlands, N.J.).
Opened: Early 2000s
Flour: High gluten flours
Pizza: Thin and crackly, Italian takeout-style pizza. Takeout only, though you can get a similar, sit-down version at Dinamo.
8 1/2 in the Fan is a classic.
Decor: Tiny takeout spot with a chalkboard and shelves of sundries: cans of tomatoes, dried pasta and Italian sparkling waters. Best seat: nearby Scuffletown Park. Also, they have started selling their sauces in 6-8 oz. jars — marinara or meat sauce on your pasta at home is quite the boon.
Quirk: Online ordering is available, sometimes. If it gets busy, they turn it off. And if it’s busy, wait times can rise to one-hour plus for a pie.
Also order the: Arugula salad! Broccolini! Any pasta! Tiramisu! You can’t go wrong.
Pizzeria Mungo
Owner: Eric Mungo
Opened: November 2025
Flour: Long-fermented King Arthur, special patent, never bleached, never bromated.
Pizza: Big, New York-style pies, although Mungo says his style is a hybrid.
Pepperoni pizza, Mungo-style.
Decor: Takeout. Best seat: your house (or for the impatient, the car).
Quirk: Pizzeria Mungo is closed on Tuesdays.
Also order the: House-made pesto and ranch sides for crust dipping.
Eric Mungo of Pizzeria Mungo.
Zorch
Owner: Rob Zorch
Opened: Food truck in 2018, first brick-and-mortar in Carytown in 2021, second location in Forest Hill in 2024.
Flour: High-gluten flour with a several-day cold ferment. What is a cold ferment? We are glad you asked. Just means letting your dough rise in the fridge or somewhere cold instead of room temperature. The slower process gives the dough better flavor and texture, IOHO.
Pizza: Foldable, New York-style red slices. Crazy rotating seasonal flavors like Ghostface topped with spicy fried chicken, hot cherry peppers, ghost pepperjack cheese, mozz, parm, romano cheese and ranch.
Decor: Pizza-diner vibes in Carytown; neighborhood pizza spot in Southside. Best seat: near the Pac-Man machine.
Quirk: The Carytown location frequently sells out of slices on nice weather days. Go early!
Also order the: Umami sauce wings.
Rob Zorch with a pepperoni pizza.
Pizza Bones
Owner: Ashley Patino
Opened: June 2021
Flour: White flour blended with heirloom/local grains from Sub Rosa.
Pizza: Neo-Neapolitan.
Decor: A converted gas station. Best seat: outside at the picnic tables when the weather cooperates.
Quirk: Special pies sell out. Again, go early!
Also order: Homemade chocolate chip cookies.
Runner Up:
Billy Pie
Owner: Billy Fallon
Opened: Late July 2026
Flour: Single-crop
Pizza: Neo-Neapolitan
Decor: A cozy 700 square feet dominated by a wood-fired oven, it’s designed mostly for takeout, but there is an eight-seat bar and one four-top for dine-in.
Also order: The cream puffs for dessert.
Billy Fallon at his newly opened pizzeria.
Pizza Adjacent Picks
Ukrop’s breakfast pizza is a cult classic for a reason. A pie shell topped with egg cheese and several toppings such as bacon and sausage, mushrooms, onions and peppers, or even cheddar cheese and honey-baked apples will make you a breakfast meeting hero.
At the Boathouse, the Classic Zookie has been on the menu for years. It’s a rare-baked chocolate chip cookie in a deep-dish pie skillet topped with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate sauce that’s ridiculously decadent and shareable.
Bingo Beer Co. serves up chicken parm pizza fries topped with pizza cheese, fried chicken, vodka sauce, crispy Pepperoni cups, fresh mozzarella and basil.
The Brooklyn’s bread cooked in the wood-fired pizza oven, then topped with miso bagna cauda, parmesan cheese and dill isn’t a pizza, but it tastes like the most amazing round of pizza crust. We consider it a must-order any and every time.
File photo of Jay Bayer at Bingo Beer Co.
Pizza News
Danger Pie officially started serving pies from Blanchard’s on Morris Street on October 9. “Pizza Nick Danger” Walthall, brewer to pizzaiolo, is beginning his residency at Blanchard’s. He’s serving thin crust pizzas with a combination of organic flours (including Sub Rosa) and up to 52 hours of fermentation.
Quirk: Walthall is also behind the IYKYK Instagram @jamfamonly which reviews and highlights Bonne Maman jams during the holiday.
The Dish (non-extensive, non-scientific, but taste specific) Pizza Glossary
New York Style: Typically made with a high-gluten flour, on the thinner end of slice thickness, will hold its shape but lends itself to folding in half. Has a lightweight sauce (red, primarily) schmear and toppings on top of the sauce. Triangle slice.
Grandma: Made with varying types of flour, thick and dense (thicker than Sicilian), will not fold in half, cheese sits directly on the dough and then a thick dollop of chunkier or heavy tomato sauce is placed on top, followed by toppings. Rectangle or square slice.
Neapolitan: Regulated by the AVPN, Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana. Rules include Must be made with Type 00 wheat flour, thin, airy and usually features a cornicione (raised edge), a floppier center and mottled bottom. The pizza should not exceed 35 cm in diameter and preferably be topped with ingredients from the Campania regions. Triangle slice.
Neo-Neapolitan: Follows some of the above. Triangle slice.
Detroit: High-moisture dough with varying flour, very thick but light and bubbly, has a frico, aka a highly crispy cheese edge, a reverse build with the topping at the bottom and cheese laid on top, uses a rectangular pan that is very specific to Detroit pizza and usually Wisconsin brick cheese. Rectangle slice.
Sicilian: Originally called sfincione (thick sponge), this style is made more like focaccia with oil-covered dough rising in a rectangular or square pan, typically features no mozzarella and instead other harder cheeses, very slow cooked tomato sauce and a layer of breadcrumbs toasted on top. Rectangle slice.
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