The Best Pizza in Greater Portland, Maine
People love to argue about Portland pizza, and most of the arguments are lazy. Someone names the place they went to once on vacation, someone else names the spot that closed two years ago, and nobody actually eats their way around the peninsula and the towns ringing it. We do. Here is the honest map of where to get a great pizza within about 25 minutes of downtown, sorted by what kind of night you are having.
Micucci Grocery (the Sicilian slab everyone is right about)
Start here, because the hype is earned. Micucci's on India Street is an Italian import grocery first, and the pizza is almost a side hustle, made in the back and sold off a sheet pan. The Sicilian slab is a thick, focaccia-style square with a crackly bottom and a sweet, almost bready interior. They start baking in the morning and serve around 11 a.m., and when it runs out, it runs out. A large pepperoni slab runs a little over ten bucks and feeds one hungry person or two polite ones.
This is not a sit-down meal. You order it at the counter, you eat it standing up or in your car, and you accept that it is sometimes lukewarm by the time you get to it. None of that matters. It is the single most distinctive pizza in the city and the one I would put in front of an out-of-towner first.
Lazzari (the wood-fired room that mostly delivers)
Lazzari on Congress Street is the closest thing downtown has to a proper Italian wood-fired pizzeria with a real bar attached, and it is open late, until 1 a.m. seven days a week, which in this town is a small miracle. The pies are featherweight, blistered, Neapolitan-ish, with good char and honest toppings. The sausage and onion and the Amatriciana are the ones to get. There is also roasted meat, soft serve, and a cocktail list, so it works as an actual dinner and not just a pizza stop.
The honest knock: the room gets loud, genuinely shout-across-the-table loud, and the pizza can wobble depending on the night and the oven. When it is on, it is one of the best pies in Portland. When it is off, you are paying Neapolitan prices for something merely good. Sit at the bar, keep expectations calibrated, and you will usually be happy.
Za (the new slice king on Preble Street)
Za took over the old Slab space at 25 Preble Street, which is a nice bit of irony, and it is the most interesting thing to happen to Portland slices in a while. It comes from the people behind Truckin' Pizza, the wood-fired trucks, and the pizza is a New York and Neapolitan hybrid: 48-hour cold-fermented dough, high hydration, a crisp bottom with a puffed, blistered rim that somehow still holds a heavy slice flat. You can get it by the slice or as a whole pie, and there are sandwiches and salads too.
This is where I send people who want a slice that tastes like someone cared about the dough. It is not a greasy-counter operation and it is not trying to be. If you only have time for one slice downtown, make it this one.
OTTO (famous, fine, slightly coasting)
OTTO is the local chain that went national, and the flagship at 576 Congress Street is still open and still does the thing it is known for: thin, foldable slices with creative toppings, sold from a counter. The signature is the mashed potato, bacon, and scallion pie, which sounds like a dare and tastes like comfort food, and yes, it once made a national best-of list.
Be honest with yourself about OTTO, though. It expanded hard, it has trimmed its Portland footprint (the 225 Congress spot closed, and the flagship itself went through a fire and a long closure before reopening), and the pizza now tastes like a brand more than a discovery. It is reliable and it is fine. If you grew up on it, the nostalgia is real. If you are chasing the best slice in town in 2026, it is no longer the answer, and that is okay to say out loud.
Pizza Villa (the old Greek-style holdout)
For the classic Maine "house of pizza" experience without leaving the peninsula, Pizza Villa on Congress Street has been doing Greek-style pizza since 1965, when a Greek immigrant tailor started it to supplement his income. Greek-style here means a pan-baked pie with a chewier, oil-crisped bottom and a particular old-school flavor that the wood-fired crowd cannot replicate and is not trying to. It is a local institution that has outlasted nearly everything around it.
You do not go to Pizza Villa for blister and char and natural leaven. You go for a specific, slightly nostalgic style of pizza that Maine does better than almost anywhere, and for the fact that it has been quietly perfect at one thing for sixty years.
The house-of-pizza belt: Westbrook and Gorham
Drive a few minutes out and you hit the real Maine pizza tradition, the Greek-American "house of pizza" counter shops that anchor every town. Westbrook House of Pizza at Westbrook Common does the full template: Greek-style pies with that garlic-butter base, feta, spinach, and Greek olives, plus subs, wings, and pasta, open until 9 every night. Gorham House of Pizza on State Street is the same idea, Greek-style and classic pies, calzones, grinders, the works, closed Mondays.
Neither of these is chasing a food-magazine writeup, and that is the point. This is the pizza Mainers actually grew up eating, dense and salty and unfussy, and if you skip it because it is not Neapolitan you are missing half the story of how this state eats.
Il Leone (worth the ferry, if the season is open)
The wildcard, and one of the best pies in the whole region, is on Peaks Island. Il Leone runs a seasonal outdoor operation making 100 percent naturally leavened pizza, a sourdough starter, a 72-hour ferment, baked over 800 degrees in an Italian oven. The crust has the tang and the leopard-spotting that the natural-leaven crowd worships, and eating it on a picnic table after a short ferry ride is one of the better summer afternoons you can have around here.
Two honest caveats. It is seasonal, generally summer into late August, and it has gotten popular enough that the owner has opened a second location in Brooklyn, so check that the Peaks spot is actually open before you commit to the ferry. When it is running, it is absolutely worth the trip.
On the water: Flatbread Company
Flatbread Company at 72 Commercial Street is the one with the harbor view and the big wood-fired clay oven, and it earns a mention precisely because it is the easy default that is better than its tourist-trap location suggests. The crusts are organic, the toppings are decent, and the room is family-friendly with a view you cannot get anywhere else on this list. It is not the best pizza in Portland and it does not pretend to be. It is the move when you have visitors, kids, or a table of eight and you want everyone fed and happy near the water.
A few notes on closures
A quick honesty section, because guides that pretend nothing changes are useless. Slab, the Sicilian-square spot that Steven Lanzalotta built, closed its Preble Street restaurant in 2024; the brand survives as take-and-bake crust in grocery stores, but the sit-down experience is gone, and Za now occupies the space. Bonobo, the longtime West End wood-fired spot, has closed and is being replaced by a different concept by the same owners. And the old Anania's empire has shrunk to the Washington Avenue store, which still makes a fine Italian sandwich but is a corner store, not a pizza destination. If someone sends you to one of these for pizza, they are working off an old map.
FAQ
Where is the best pizza in Portland, Maine?
It depends on what you want. For the single most iconic pizza, the Sicilian slab at Micucci Grocery on India Street is the one to try first. For the best slice with seriously good dough, Za on Preble Street is the current standout. For a proper wood-fired sit-down dinner with a bar, Lazzari on Congress Street is the pick when the kitchen is on.
What is Maine-style or Greek-style pizza?
Greek-style pizza is the dominant traditional style in Maine, made famous by the "house of pizza" shops in nearly every town. It is baked in an oiled pan, which gives it a chewy interior and a crisp, almost fried bottom, and it is often topped with a garlic-butter base, feta, and Greek olives. Pizza Villa in Portland and the house-of-pizza shops in Westbrook and Gorham are good places to taste it.
Is OTTO pizza worth it?
OTTO is reliable and the mashed potato, bacon, and scallion slice is genuinely fun, so it is worth a stop if you are curious or feeling nostalgic. But it has expanded into a brand and trimmed its Portland locations, and the pizza no longer leads the city the way it once did. If you are hunting for the best slice in town, look at Za or the wood-fired spots first.
Where can I get wood-fired or sourdough pizza near Portland?
Lazzari on Congress Street does wood-fired pies downtown and stays open late. For 100 percent naturally leavened sourdough pizza, Il Leone on Peaks Island is the standout, though it runs seasonally in the warmer months, so confirm it is open before you take the ferry. Flatbread Company on Commercial Street also bakes in a wood-fired clay oven if you want a harbor view with your pie.