The 9 Best Pizza Restaurants in Charleston, Ranked (2026)
Roman al taglio, wood-fired Neapolitan, NYC-style Mount Pleasant slices, and the late-night options that actually stay open.
Charleston's pizza scene punches above the city's size. Renzo on King Street pulls Roman al taglio that locals have ranked in the city's top five restaurants every year since it opened in 2018; EVO Pizzeria in Park Circle was making proper wood-fired Neapolitan a decade before the wood-oven boom; Indaco runs the blistered-crust modern-Italian version on upper King. The three of them sit on top of a tighter neighborhood circuit — D'Allesandro's for the New-York-influenced bar pizza, Coastal Crust for the catering-grade wood-fired with a Mount Pleasant brick-and-mortar, Woodhaven Pizza for the NYC-and-Sicilian-square import from a New Jersey crew, and Iggy's Pizza Shop for the Northern-style hand-tossed pies on Ben Sawyer.
The styles split clean. Roman (al taglio, square, sliced from a sheet) lives at Renzo. Neapolitan (wood-fired, 90 seconds in a 900-degree oven, blistered) lives at EVO Pizzeria and Indaco. NYC and Northern-style (hand-tossed, longer bake, sturdier crust, late-night-friendly) covers D'Allesandro's downtown plus Woodhaven and Iggy's in Mount Pleasant. There is no "Charleston-style" pizza — but Renzo's mortadella-and-pistachio square is closer to a local signature dish than anything else on this list.
The 9 here are grouped into three editorial tiers — Destination Slices, Neighborhood Joints, and By-the-Slice & Late Night. Order within each section moves with community votes blended into Google and Yelp ratings, refreshed daily. Last reviewed May 2026.
The Destination Slices
The three rooms Charleston pizza is judged by. Renzo's Roman al taglio is the consensus pick — squares cut from a sheet, mortadella-and-pistachio the signature, natural-wine program attached, lines on weekends. EVO Pizzeria in Park Circle has been doing wood-fired Neapolitan since 2005, predating the national wood-oven boom. Indaco on upper King runs the blistered modern-Italian version with a full pasta program — book a week out on weekends.
Renzo
Downtown$$4.7★3,261 reviewsRenzo is widely regarded by Charleston regulars as one of the city's top neighborhood pizza spots — a genuinely creative wood-fired pie destination with an impressive natural wine list, far removed from the tourist-heavy King Street corridor.
EVO Pizzeria
North Charleston$$4.6★2,384 reviewsEVO Pizzeria is a long-standing Park Circle institution — open since 2007 — that locals genuinely respect as the benchmark for wood-fired pizza in the Charleston area, having been voted Best Restaurant in North Charleston five years running and ranked among the top 50 pizzerias in the U.S.
Indaco
Downtown$$4.6★1,738 reviewsOpened in 2013 by Indigo Road's Steve Palmer — a James Beard semifinalist — Indaco has earned its place as the Italian anchor of Upper King, with mezzaluna pasta, wood-fired sausage pizza, and a tap-Negroni program that hold up year after year.
Neighborhood Joints
Where Charleston actually eats pizza on a Tuesday. D'Allesandro's on Spring Street does the New-York-influenced bar-pizza version with a strong dive-bar attached; Coastal Crust runs catering-grade wood-fired out of a mobile setup with a brick-and-mortar Mount Pleasant base. Woodhaven Pizza, opened on Shoremeade Road in 2024 by a New Jersey crew with roots in a 1933 NJ pizzeria, runs proper NYC-style and Sicilian squares; Iggy's Pizza Shop on Ben Sawyer pours Northern-style hand-tossed pies that the East Cooper crowd lines up for on a Friday.
D'Allesandro's Pizza
Downtown$4.6★1,692 reviewsD'Allesandro's is broadly considered the best neighborhood pizza spot in downtown Charleston, with locals and College of Charleston regulars praising its fresh ingredients, creative signature pies, and homemade marinara since 2006.
Coastal Crust
Shem Creek$$4.3★657 reviewsCoastal Crust earned its Lowcountry following the old-fashioned way — starting with a restored 1949 Chevy truck and a wood-fired Valoriani oven before planting a permanent 200-square-foot A-frame hut behind Vintage Coffee Café on Simmons Street.
Woodhaven Pizza
Mount PleasantNYC-inspired pizzeria in Mount Pleasant from a New Jersey crew with roots tracing back to Barcelona's Pizzeria (a NJ pie shop opened in 1933). Signature pies, Sicilian squares, and NYC-style slices; insalatas and pastas round out the menu.
Iggy's Pizza Shop
Mount PleasantFamily-owned Mount Pleasant pizzeria serving Northern-style hand-tossed pies since 2021. Dough made fresh daily, Shamokin hot wings, fresh-green salads with honey-basil vinaigrette. Carryout + indoor seating.
By-the-Slice & Late Night
Charleston's late-night dining is thin, but two slice operators stay open past 11pm and serve the post-bar crowd. Mellow Mushroom's downtown location holds the after-dinner-pizza category; King's Pizza & Italian runs the suburban red-sauce-plus-slice version. Neither is a destination — both are reliably open when everything else has closed.
King's Pizza by: Italian Bistro
Summerville$4.5★2,177 reviewsKing's Pizza by Italian Bistro is Ladson's closest thing to a New York slice shop run by actual Neapolitans — the kitchen crew hails from Naples, and it shows in the thin-crust pies with a proper flop and a crispy-edged chew that's rare on this side of the Lowcountry.
Mellow Mushroom Charleston - West Ashley
West Ashley$$4.3★1,418 reviewsThe cinema-lobby-themed room inside Ashley Shoppes casts a wide net — West Ashley regulars, James Island families, and Folly Beach day-trippers all make the Magnolia Road trip for stone-baked crust with a genuine chew and a craft beer list that punches above the chain's weight.
Best for…
Pizza with a real wine program and a reservable room.
Blistered crust, 90-second bake, true Naples-style.
- EVO PizzeriaNorth Charleston
- IndacoDowntown
Open past 11pm.
- D'Allesandro's PizzaDowntown
- Mellow Mushroom Charleston - West AshleyWest Ashley
Travels well, doesn't sog out.
- Coastal CrustShem Creek
- King's Pizza by: Italian BistroSummerville
How this ranking is built
Rankings combine Charleston Ranked community votes (weighted 3×), Google reviews, and Yelp, smoothed through a Bayesian prior that protects against thin samples. Section assignment is editorial — Roman vs Neapolitan vs neighborhood brick-oven is a stylistic call, not an algorithmic one — but order within each section is fully vote-driven and refreshes daily. Pizzerias must be currently operating in the Charleston, SC metro. Pop-ups and festival vendors are excluded; food trucks with a fixed weekly residency are eligible. Read the full methodology →
Frequently asked
- What is the best pizza in Charleston?
- Renzo on King Street is the consensus pick — Roman al taglio, mortadella-and-pistachio square, natural-wine program — and has been in the city's top-five restaurants every year since it opened in 2018. EVO Pizzeria (wood-fired Neapolitan in Park Circle) and Indaco (blistered modern-Italian on upper King) round out the destination tier.
- Where's the best Neapolitan pizza in Charleston?
- EVO Pizzeria in Park Circle has been running a serious wood-fired Neapolitan program since 2005, predating the national wood-oven boom. Indaco on upper King is the more polished modern version with a full pasta program attached. Coastal Crust does the mobile wood-fired version with a Mount Pleasant brick-and-mortar.
- Is Renzo worth the wait?
- Yes. Renzo is consistently in the locals' top five restaurants — Roman al taglio cut from sheets, a mortadella-and-pistachio square that's become a signature Charleston dish, and a natural-wine program that the room is built around. Walk in before 6pm on weekends or expect a 45-minute wait; reservations are tight three weeks out.
- Where's the best slice in Charleston?
- D'Allesandro's on Spring Street does the New-York-style bar pizza by the slice with a dive bar attached. Mellow Mushroom's downtown counter is the late-night option. For a Roman-square slice (sold per piece), Renzo's takeaway window is the move during off-peak hours.
- What's the best wood-fired pizza in Charleston?
- EVO Pizzeria in Park Circle and Indaco on upper King are the two consensus picks — both run proper wood-fired Neapolitan programs with sub-90-second bakes. Coastal Crust does mobile wood-fired catering plus a Mount Pleasant brick-and-mortar; King's Pizza by: Italian Bistro runs the more casual wood-oven version.
- Is there late-night pizza in Charleston?
- Yes, but thin. Mellow Mushroom's downtown location and D'Allesandro's on Spring Street stay open past 11pm and serve the post-bar crowd. Most other pizzerias close by 10pm. King's Pizza & Italian in the suburbs keeps later hours for delivery.
- What's a Charleston-style pizza?
- There is no formal "Charleston-style" — the city's pizza scene is split between Roman (Renzo), Neapolitan (EVO, Indaco), and neighborhood brick-oven (D'Allesandro's). If pressed, locals would call Renzo's mortadella-and-pistachio square the closest thing to a signature dish the city's pizza scene has produced.
- Where's the best pizza in Mount Pleasant?
- Woodhaven Pizza on Shoremeade Road runs NYC-style and Sicilian squares from a New Jersey crew whose roots trace to a 1933 pizzeria — the East Cooper crowd's current favorite. Iggy's Pizza Shop on Ben Sawyer pours Northern-style hand-tossed pies (family-run since 2021). Coastal Crust still anchors the Mount Pleasant brick-and-mortar wood-fired program alongside the mobile catering business. King's Pizza by: Italian Bistro is the casual-slice alternative.
- What's the best pizza for groups in Charleston?
- EVO Pizzeria in Park Circle has the big-table format with a strong shared-plates program. Renzo's family-style ordering scales well for six-plus. Indaco's pasta-and-pizza combination works for mixed-appetite groups. All three need reservations on weekends.
- Is Charleston pizza a dining-out city or a delivery city?
- Both — but the destination tier (Renzo, EVO Pizzeria, Indaco) is built around dining in. The delivery and takeout circuit (Coastal Crust, King's, Mellow Mushroom) is reliable but the wood-fired crusts don't hold up well in transit. Plan to eat in for the top tier.
- How are these pizza spots ranked?
- Section assignment is editorial — Roman vs Neapolitan vs slice-shop is a stylistic call. Order within each section is vote-driven: Charleston Ranked community votes blended with Google and Yelp ratings, Bayesian-smoothed so a single 5-star can't dominate. We re-rank daily.
- When was this list last updated?
- This ranking was last reviewed in May 2026 and re-scores daily as community votes and source reviews update.