Where to find the very best pizza in Manchester

Swan Street has emerged as one of central Manchester’s unlikely hotspots when it comes to hospitality. A breakwater between the Northern Quarter and Ancoats, head here after dark and you’ll find abundant options for cocktails, casual dining, live music, DJ nights and just about anything else you might want to keep yourself busy with. Ciaooo (yes, three ‘o’s) has become a cornerstone of this, a place that serves authentic, fluffy-but-gooey Neapolitan pizza but is irreverent when it comes to the cocktail list and the vibes. If you’re after somewhere with affordable eats and a real sense of fun, it’s time to say hellooo.

Walk into the small but mighty Ceresis in Sale Moor, and you’re greeted like long-lost family, and fed in much the same way. The pizza they sell is also properly Italian, which of course sounds like an obvious statement, but as the likes of Rudy’s, Nell’s and Ramona show, you don’t have to be Italian to make pizza. Where Ceresis sits above the crowd is the pedigree that comes with it. Valentina was trained in the pizza-ly arts by perhaps the most preeminent pizzaiolo in all of Italy – Gabriele Bonci, who Vogue magazine once called ‘the Michelangelo of Pizza’, thanks to his services to ‘pizza al taglio’. Basically, it’s the good stuff.

Situated in the heart of Levenshulme, a South Manchester suburb now overflowing with great options for food and drink, the fact Cibus has grown into such a firm favourite among locals tells you everything about what they’re doing right. It’s not just pizza, there’s brilliant regional pasta dishes, cicchetti (Venetian inspired small plates) and fabulous desserts. The pizza, though, blazingly good. Plus, their al fresco dining area is one of the prettiest we know of.

Diecast have perfected the art of the ‘NeoPan’ pizza, which takes the best parts of both NYC and Neapolitan pizza and brings them together in one respectfully bastardised creation. Each pizza is baked to order in it’s own circular steel pan, resulting in a fluffy yet crispy base. These guys don’t hold back on the toppings, and it’s well worth exploring the array of homemade dipping sauces on offer, from pistachio and ‘nduja chilli honey.

With the tagline ‘from Naples via Worsley‘, Leopard Pie believe that proving their dough for three days is the secret to creating a perfect pizza. There’s is one that’s light in the middle with a pillowy crust and loads of flavoursome blackened spots (aka that titular ‘leoparding’). With sites in Worsley, Swinton and Salford‘s Kargo MKT, Leopard Pie are constantly pushing dough-based boundaries, case in point being their honey butter ring filled with burrata, a wildly indulgent side which is a consistent crowd pleaser.

Pizzas with hotdogs. Fried chicken and waffles. Salt & pepper chicken and chips. Hamburgers. Pulled pork. Crazy Pedro’s push the limits of what should and what perhaps should not go on a pizza. But they’re a nightclub too, so you’ve signed up for a certain amount of daftness. There are more standard toppings, sure, but when in ‘Ro’s….

Dokes is an unapologetically cheffy pizzeria conceived by chef-patron Micheal Clay, whose CV also includes Ancoats’ favourite Elnecot. At Dokes they use cold-fermented dough made from British heritage grain flour. The bases are crispy and the flavour toppings are simultaneously rustic and wildly creative. There’s the Beowulf, bringing together pepperoni and ‘nduja with Welsh wagyu beef meatballs, while the P-town weighs into the biggest debate in the pizza world – it teams pancetta and pickled jalapeños with ever-controversial pineapple (caramelised, obviously). If anyone can pull it off, these guys can.

Chorlton’s Double Zero has a fanatical following. Perennial favourites from its huge oven include La Grande Rossa (a Roman style pizza with Fior di Latte, tomato, chorizo, ‘nduja, pepper, salami and finocchiona), Friarielli (ccamorza, Italian wild broccoli, sausage), Partenopea (burrata, tomato, heirloom tomatoes, parma ham and Parmesan shavings), and the iconic Mezzaluna — a delicious hybrid of half calzone, half pizza, with Fior di Latte, tomato, porchetta, mushroom and Italian cooked ham. No wonder they’ve opened a second Spring Gardens site in the city centre.

One man, one dream, a load of amazing pizzas. Homeboys Pizza opened in 2021 with a singular goal in mind — bestow the finest, most flavourful and innovative Neapolitan-New York hybrid-style pies on the good people of Monton, cooked at 400°C for a crisp char crust. Depending on your appetite, you can indulge in pizza minimalism with the Plain and the Fresh (respectively margherita and burratta margherita), or delve deeper into the menu with the Salford Sausage Boy V2 (with house sausage and broccolini) or the Weeping Italian Boy (featuring smoked ham and pineapple).

It’s the sign of a good spot when they can make a simple marinara taste this good. Honest Crust were one of the first to do the woodfired sourdough thing in the city, and they have consistently stayed up there as one of the best as others have followed suit. They work with 48 hour fermented dough, and only the best ingredients imported direct from small-scale producers. You can find them in each of the holy trinity of new wave food halls: Market House Altrincham, Mackie Mayor in the city centre and Macclesfield’s Picturedrome.

At Lucky Mama’s find an excellent range of Roman and Veneto-style squared pizzas with classic toppings like simple margarita, alongside more elaborate combinations such as Mama’s Favourite — with tuna, prawns and garlic. The twist? Founders Mamadou and Gaby bring their Senegalese-Spanish-Chilean heritage to their recipes, which means you can find some more left-field additions to the menu, like barbacoa pizza and ‘rasta pasta’. It’s not technically a pizza, but don’t miss out on the absolutely joyful pasta dishes served in a pizza base bowl. Fusion cooking at it’s most fun.

This New York-style pizza restaurant serves 22-inch pizza – which are as comically oversized as you’re imagining – by the slice oir by the pie. Crafted from locally-sourced British ingredients with a touch of NYC inspiration. Dive into thin, crispy slices of marinara and quadruple cheese, alongside more fully-loaded options like pepperoni honey or ham, mushroom and vodka sauce. They also have loads of non-gluten alternatives on offer too.

Meaning ‘the four of us’, Noi Quattro is the Northern Quarter pizza spot from the four people behind The Pasta Factory. Led by super authentic pizzas, where the dough is fermented slowly, but cooked quickly, for just 90 seconds, the menu is an absolute feast of traditional, high quality ingredients, and reads like the ingredients of a particularly well sticked Italian pantry: like San Marzano DOP tomatoes, mozzarella fior di latte, smoked scamorza and wild broccoli. There are plenty of veggie and vegan options though, and you can enjoy your pizza alongside a cuoppo, a cone of paper filled with savoury fried goodies like potato and mixed seafood, originally designed to be scoffed while walking around the city.

Located at an old MOT garage just off once-almost-forgotten Swan Street, Ramona is far more than just Manchester’s leading destination for Detroit style cheese and tomato pies. Known for their unique square shape — apparently the result of Michigan pizzerias using oil pans — diners will find a little taste of Motor City here in the centre of town. Oh, and that hot honey drizzle is an absolute must.

Synonymous with Neapolitan pizza around these parts, Rudy’s was founded in Manchester and has since conquered the world (well, many other towns and cities in the UK). Their pizzerias all share a relaxed, minimally cool vibe but they don’t feel like a homogenous chain. Pizzas lean towards the satisfying gooey end of things – a fold or a roll is definitely encouraged when biting into these slices. Toppings are simple, largely authentic and made of really authentic, well-sourced ingredients. You can add extra cheese, toppings and oils to your hearts content, making the menu pretty much entirely customisable, and the dessert menu featuring affogato and tiramisu is hard to resist too. Consider they hype well-deserved.

With dough fermented for a minimum of 24 hours before being cooked at 500°C in a wood burning oven, the speciality pizzas are definitely a highlight, and feature big hitters like marinara, margherita, and diavola, alongside lesser seen toppings. The sud, for example, comes with burrata, spicy Calabrian sausage, and San Marzano tomato sauce. While the maiori boasts Amalfi tuna, capers, red onion and Fior di Latte cheese.

Located inside the place of fun that is Freight Island, Voodoo Rays have an impressive range of NYC-style pies served by the slice or by the pie. There’ s loads of vegan and veggie options, like the Green Velvet with artichokes hearts, sun blush tomatoes and an intriguing ‘green sauce’. Meat-lovers are catered for too, the Porky’s in particular blends Neapolitan staples with Cumberland sausage. Their first location outside of London – where they have impossibly cool spots in Peckham and London Fields – if you like your pizza with a side of raucous night out, head straight to Voodoo Ray’s.