The Best Pizzas in Newcastle

Pizza – now there’s something I can talk about 🍕

Last Updated 17/8/2022

If you’ve looked online, there are a few of these that claim to be familiar with the best pizzas in Newcastle, and many haven’t even been to all of the places they mention. Lame!

I’d like to think I’ve tried a few pies (more on pizza here), so in search of the best pizza in Newcastle, have tried most in town. That includes the unspeakably shit – I’m sorry I don’t have a photo to show you of the “pizza” abomination that Shark Club served us: think, an infant squirting BBQ sauce onto a Ritz cracker. But there are some genuine absolute gems that can fight with the best that anywhere in the UK has to offer. I’ve based this list on places that are mainly pizza focussed, and not Pizza Hut/Dominos/Papa Johns, to exclude the million cheap Italians, and won’t include stuff like Gusto‘s ‘Hoisin Sauce’ monster, cos that’s just not pizza.

It’s the perfect food in so, so many ways, so here’s my favourites. Hope you’re not too hungry…

Fuochi Pizza Experience

A lockdown contender, this one popped up on Westgate Road, and has been doling out Neapolitan style to much applause since 👇🏼

It’s a solid pie alright — great bake, done in 90 seconds or so. Some authentic toppings like salsiccia & friarielli among all the usual favourites and thankfully they don’t get distracted doing Mac and cheese and other stuff. But it’s not quite on Flint’s level – often heavy handed with flabby cheese, and inconsistent in that every time we’ve been it’s been of a varying degree of quality and finish. But still one to check off, absolutely.

Best pizzas: margherita
Best for: the afficiandos — no frills, just good pizza here
Contact: fuochipizzeria.co.uk

Flint Pizza

The Flint lads came out of nowhere, also opened up on Chili Road, and started smashing out superb pizzas in a very short space of time.

It’s a casual affair, much like the original Cal’s Own (above) was. Yes, that means cash only. Quick turnaround. It’s basic eats, done well. Take a look ⬇️

The pies are cooked to a high calibre. There’s often discards when one doesn’t meet QA, and the toppings stay on the classic side, but they’re honed to just work. The guys also offer some no-frills small plates and a dessert or 2 meaning you can have a ‘proper’ meal. It’s all reasonably priced too, so won’t break the bank. Just what a casual pizza place should be.

Best pizzas: Margherita (£8), fennel and sausage (£11), ragu (£12)
Best for: quick smash & grab scranning, some solid small plates, Heaton & Chili Road residents, decent vino
Contact: flintpizza.co.uk / Flint Pizza Review

Scream for Pizza

From their food truck beginnings out of Goldie to fully-fledged Sandyford restaurant, the Scream for Pizza pies have had a reliable mark of quality since day one.

The restaurant allows a bit more experimentation so you can get a lobster thermidor if you’d like, but the core ‘for Margaret’ remains one of the best seven or eight quids you’ll spend in Newcastle. Cooked quick, good crust, flavourful toppings, you’ll rarely go wrong.

Being a proper restaurant now means you’ll also get the ever-popular home fries with your nduja dip, as well as pizza-based desserts, arancini, and everything in between. If you’re in Newcastle and you haven’t been yet, what are you even doing?

Best pizzas: Wor Margaret (£7), monthly specials, Brooklyn Bee (£9)
Best for: pizza with pals, gluttonous starters and desserts, easy availability via main restaurant, street food van, or I Scream for Pizza (below).
Contact: screamforpizza.com / posts tagged: scream for pizza

Gingerino’s

It’s a humble pie but one that hits the spot every time. It’s great value too, making it a shoo-in to this list. And one of the many doing pizza by the slice nowadays too, making it that more accessible when you need a hit of tomato, cheese and bread.

I Scream for Pizza

Second entry for the ‘Screamies’ — while the above is focussed on Neapolitan style, the Quayside slice bar offers pizza by the slice in a NY-style 20″. It’s quickly become an integral part of the Quayside, check out more thoughts here.

Best pizzas: Brooklyn’s Finest (£4.30/£24), Lamb Fender (special, £4.50/£26)
Best for: Quayside Eats, delivery service, ice cream as well
Contact: iscreamforpizza.com

Pizzeria Italia

From humble beginnings in the Grainger Market – see below – owners Roberto and Lisa finally took the plunge and opened a fully-fledged restaurant selling their much-loved pizza. The guys show heart & passion in what they do, and it comes through in their effortlessly simple, but wonderful pizzas. It’s one of the best value in town too – pizzas start at less than a fiver, and always leave you satisfied.

The menu is very straightforward, and focussed but weekly changing specials keep things exciting with speck, artichoke, etc. I think there’s still some people who don’t realise they’re still around – so hopefully this sends a few people over to Benton. Enjoy!

Best pizzas: Margherita (£4.90), sausage & onion (£6.70), weekly special (around £6-7)
Best for: super casual dining, quick lunches, being authentically Italian, interesting weekly specials, capturing the essence of simplicity of pizza
Contact: pizzeriaitalianewcastle.com / posts tagged: pizzeria italia

Central Oven and Shaker

It galls me a little to put these in as I’m not usually a fan of what Ladhar Leisure does – typically style over substance.

But…the pizzas are undeniably on the money. Better than most you’ll get in Newcastle. They’re cooked extremely quickly, you can get them to go, and the basic margherita is £8 which is reasonable however you look at it. Sure, there’s a carbonara pizza – whatever the fuck that is…but keep it simple, and get some cocktails, and you’ll really enjoy it.

Best pizzas: Margherita ( £8)
Best for: quick city centre takeaway, decent (gimmicky?) cocktails, “night out” pizzas, big groups.
Contact: centralnewcastle.co.uk

Pizza by the Slice

Arguably one of the early bunch in the Grainger Market to ignite the much-improved eating options in the market. The original owners left to open up Pizzeria Italia (above), but what’s left is still a quality product, and I used to find it very difficult to go into the Grainger market and leave without a slice.

The slices – crept up in price from £1.70 to nearing £3 might not be as good as they were way back when, and quality can be hit or miss – the amount of tomato can sometimes be criminal, but it’s hard to ignore their appeal and walk past that queue. A lot of places in NCL talk street food, but this is the real deal.

Best pizza: Margherita ( £1.70/slice)
Best for: eating on the go at lunch time, the quickest & possibly freshest slice you can get, no-frills simplicity
Contact: In person! / posts tagged: pizza by the slice

Worth travelling a tiny bit for

Wildfire Pizza

Sunderland, I know. But this is as good as you’ll find anywhere south of NE1, so believe me, it is worth the trip, and then some. Lots more about Wildfire here, I’m a huge fan.

The Wood Oven, Wylam

Juuust far enough outside of Newcastle to make it a slight effort to get to, but actually a lot better than many of the pizza efforts in Newcastle.

The Wood Oven have been a hidden spot out in Wylam for years. It’s a proper tiny neighbourhood restaurant, always rammed with locals, and one you wouldn’t know was there unless you were pretty enthusiastic. Pies are cooked quickly, properly charred, and a have really light dough. Toppings again can sometimes veer into English tourist territory (tends to be more tongue in cheek than anything), but keep it simple and you’ll love it.

Contact: via Facebook / full review

Street food vans

Being the ultimate portable food makes pizza a perfect player in the “street food” explosion of the past decade. We’ve got a few good vendors now who specialise in cooked to order takeaway pizza, so watch out for these guys out and about at all most of the bigger events in the NE – especially if like me, you’ve just really had enough of Fat Hippo burgers.

Update for 2022 — there’s an absolute shit-ton of these guys now, and I’ll update this list soon, too many to mention!

The Pizza Van UK [instagram]

Truck often makes the rounds in the bigger housing estates across the NE (see: Great Park, Stella Riverside) and does a cracking pie for about £7.

It’s one of those where you’ve gotta be on your game to know where they are – the Insta link above is often your best bet – but when you do catch the guys, expect a quality pizza. For when you can’t be arsed cooking, but don’t wanna sit down in a restaurant, you’ll probably not find a better pizza parked right on your street.

Hadrian’s Pizza [hadrianspizza.co.uk]

These guys are relatively new to the game, but what they’re doing is a cut above your average Joe street food vendor – wood fired, small selection, keep it simple. Beside a couple of “hmmm”s – North Shields seafood pizza – they’re making all the right noises.

Tried them first at the this year’s Tynemouth Food Festival, and enjoyed it so much they were a last minute addition to this list. Keep an eye out for them at upcoming events, and hopefully the guys go from strength to strength.

Log Fire Pizza Co. [via Facebook]

One of the rarer ones on this list, these guys can usually be found in the oddest locations in South Tyneside – see their Facebook page – but what they lack in location and marketing, they’re making up for in their quality “know what they’re doing” pizzas.

That said, they occasionally do the Quayside market, so not totally unattainable, but definitely worth a slight detour. A really tasty crust, and this margherita with buffalo mozzarella was sweet, sloppy, and better than 99% of the food you’ll otherwise find in South Tyneside. Bravo, guys. UPDATE: The guys are actually working on their own, permanent restaurant in 2018 which is great news!

Close but no calzone

One of the joys of town is that you can pretty much get pizza in any restaurant in Newcastle, including many which don’t specially in Italian food. The shortlist here could be dozens long, but these are “definitely decent”, though have never really won my heart.

Earth & Fire: Not one of the more widely known pizza punters, Earth & Fire primarily operate as the in-house bakers at the Gibside national trust property. If you haven’t been – its worth heading along in the summer for one of their beer and pizza nights.

It’s one that shows a lot of promise, but I think the mega-queues on this occasion got the better of them, and the bottom of these were woefully underdone. They’re bakers through and through though, so with a bit of work this could be great. They’ve also got treats like home-made sausage rolls and bake some good-looking bread too. Earth & Fire Facebook page

Fuego: the newly refurbished Fenwick resident has fabulous tapas – and despite all the usual bumf about high-temp ovens and San Marzano tomatoes, the pizzas just don’t stand toe-to-toe with the big boys. Apart from the dough lacking that certain sourdough chew – I mean, look at it – and zing (frozen?) – it’s a good effort, just not a must-eat.

Elder and Wolf: Sorry, I just didn’t get it. Their other food like their take on Whitley kebabs, flatbreads, etc. is usually very good, but the pizza didn’t float my boat at all. It’s too cheesy, and the dough is too simple. I’d be willing to give it another go though.

Pizzas @ Newcastle Tap: still on the fence about these, hence they’re not in the main list. The Hey Pesto, above, hit all the right spots, but the margherita is uninspiring, and the base tends to be cracker-like. Maybe it’s a case of load up the toppings, and have five pints of Midnight Train to Byker to get the most from it. Very much bar-style pizza.

Closed / Removed

The future?

Further thoughts to follow on the 3 latest openings in the area, namely: Firestone Pizza, DoughDaze, and Dick’s in Whitley Bay. I can at least say that the three are very, very different…

There’s always going to be your £4.95 places and three course specials with pizza which is A-OK but never gonna win any awards. But even in the space of the last decade, the market is getting saturated now. But expect more places, more people popping up with Oonis/Gozneys, but also more closures. If you’ve got a favourite which isn’t represented here, let me know your favourite Newcastle pizza by getting in touch here.