Pizza in Dublin
published:
by Harshvardhan J. Pandit
blog food personal pizza
Work in Progress
Rankings
Criteria and methodology: The assessment is based on a simple subjective assessment of whether I liked eating the pizza. Aspects such as the technique of the dough, the placement of ingredients, the faithful repetition of traditional recipes - are not part of this ranking. Neither are personal experiences such as whether my mood or the ambience of the place affected the experience. Places that have closed down aren't listed.
- Manifesto, Rathmines
- Pi Pizza, Temple Bar
- Forno 500, Temple Bar
- Gaillot et Grey, Portobello
- Da Mimmo, East Wall
- Bonobo, Smithfield
- Rascals HQ, Inchicore
- Pizza Prince, Temple Bar
- BoCo, North City Centre
- Sano Pizza, Temple Bar
- Dublin Pizza Company, Temple Bar
- Cirrilo's, Merrion Square
- Zaatar, Temple Bar
- The Back Page, Phibsborough
- Dollard, Temple Bar
- Paulies, Grand Canal Dock
- The Well, Stephen's Green
- Il Caffe di Napoli, Pearse Station
- Milano, Chain
- Dominoes Pizza, Chain
- Apache Pizza, Chain
- Star Pizza, Mountjoy
- Four Star Pizza, Chain
- Bambino, Stephen's Green - todo
- Di Fontaines, Temple Bar - todo
Manifesto
Located in Rathmines, Dublin 6. Website: http://manifestorestaurant.ie/. Open in Google Maps or OSM. Advanced booking recommended.
Pizzas eaten: 3
Manifesto is the best pizza in Dublin. Has been for a while. A classy Italian place with a cuisine to match, the pizza here is made in the neapolitana style - and is authentic, tasty, and consistently good. The restaurant also has other dishes that are good and worth trying. I like the Capricciosa and Diavola since they have spicy salami in them - Calabrian style.
I ate pizza from Manifesto before, during (takeaway), and after Covid-19. All three times the pizza was tasty and enjoyable. The consistency in taste is appreciated.
Pi Pizza
Located in Temple Bar, Dublin 2. Website: https://www.pipizzas.ie/. Open in Google Maps or OSM. Advanced booking not available.
Pizzas eaten: 30+
PI Pizza is the second closest pizza place from where I live. The closest one is an Apache pizza outlet. Perhaps I should have said Pi is the closest good pizza place. So it is convenient to go sit down or just grab a takeaway at any point I feel like having a pizza. The Nduja pizza is an absolute favourite, and is also the signature pizza at Pi. The dought is soft and tasty, the cheese is well placed and cooked consistently, and the oven does its job at producing pizza neapolitana quite well.
Pi tried to experiment with pizza styles a while back - during Covid-19 it had some interesting choice of pizzas like orange (controversially close to pineapple) and figs. The orange pizza was tasty - great refreshing taste for summer. Others were a disaster - too sweet or just weird. Recently, Pi has overhauled its menu and has a second outlet right in front of Temple Bar. So I presume they target the touristy palate - the menu has hawaiin, BLT, New Yorker on its menu. From what I can tell, the pizza making is still just as good, the recipe is with good ingredients and is tasty. The addition of caciocavallo cheese lends to a Sicilian instead of Neapolitana variety.
During Covid-19, we did a takeaway from Pi where my Nduja pizza had a bit too much honey in it. While the recipe always had honey on it, it is presumably added well before the pizza was put in the oven - and as a consequence it added a hint of sweetness rather than overpowering the spicyness from the Nduja. In this case, either there was too much honey or it was added after the pizza was cooked. It was disgusting. Enough for me to put on every single order not to add any honey to the pizza at all.
Forno 500
Located in Temple Bar, Dublin 2. Website: https://www.forno500.ie/. Open in Google Maps or OSM. Advanced booking recommended.
Pizzas eaten: 4
The 500 in Forno 500 represents the temperature of pizza ovens. Perhaps it indicates their attitude in ensuring the pizza is cooked to tradition (pizza neapolitana). In any case, it is delicious. Forno 500 is also close to where I live and is a restaurant much like Manifesto where you can get more than pizza. It doesn't have a separate pizza menu, but there are about 7 pizzas to choose from. I had the Piccante and Diavola pizza with nduja in them - they were tasty and well made. I've had both sit-ins and take-aways and the experience was good with both.
Gaillot et Grey
Located in Portobello, Dublin 8. Website: https://www.facebook.com/gaillotgrayp. Open in Google Maps or OSM. Advanced booking recommended if going at a busy time.
Pizzas eaten: 1
A thin-crust pizza made interesting ingredients, Gaillot et Grey provide a difference in eating pizza while maintaining the taste and flavour. A lesser popular place, the people working really do make an effort to create new pizza recipes like using asparagus. The garlic and chilli flatbread was super yummy.
Da Mimmo
Located in East Wall, Dublin 3. Website: http://www.damimmo.ie/. Open in Google Maps or OSM. Advanced booking recommended if going at a busy time.
Pizzas eaten: 1
Another Italian restaurant with great food that also has pizza on its menu. Recommended for the attention given to each dish.
Bonobo
Located in Smithfield, Dublin 7. Website: https://www.bonobodublin.com/. Open in Google Maps or OSM. Advanced booking recommended.
Pizzas eaten: 1
A pub with a pizza and a garden to sit and enjoy it in. The pizza was okay all things considered. Good place ot hang out and have a beer - and enjoy the sun if it is out.
Rascals HQ
Located in Inchicore, Dublin 8. Website: http://rascalsbrewing.com/. Open in Google Maps or OSM. Advanced booking recommended.
Pizzas eaten: 2
Another pub with pizza and an outdoors area to sit and enjoy it in - but with a great selection of draft beers made in house. The pizza was good, but it was clear that the star of the show were the beers.
Pizza Prince
Located in Temple Bar, Dublin 2. Website: https://pizzaprince.ie/. Open in Google Maps or OSM. No bookings.
Pizzas eaten: 5
A recent addition to the already crowded pizza scene in Temple Bar, and with a name like Prince, it would be easy to dismiss this place as another quick cash grab to lure the tourists in. But surprisingly the dough is nice and tasty, and the ingredients are also a nice selection. Pizza Prince also does pizza by the slice (square slices though) - so a quick bite to try out its menu is entirely possible. The best deal though is to get the round pizza which the chefs make on demand - and so you get fresh hot pizza. There are a few seats inside, and place to stand and eat outside. So don't plan on having a relaxed meal.
BoCo
Located in Portobello, Dublin 8. Website: https://www.facebook.com/gaillotgrayp. Open in Google Maps or OSM. Advanced booking recommended if going at a busy time.
Pizzas eaten: 1
A thin-crust pizza made interesting ingredients, Gaillot et Grey provide a difference in eating pizza while maintaining the taste and flavour. A lesser popular place, the people working really do make an effort to create new pizza recipes like using asparagus.
Sano Pizza
Located in Temple Bar, Dublin 2. Website: https://sano.pizza/. Open in Google Maps or OSM. Advanced booking recommended.
Pizzas eaten: 8
Sano gives pizza that is relatively cheaper but not trash. Most of the options are tasty - though some may seem a tad more salty. The menu has some surprising (abominations?) such as a nutella pizza. I only ever had the nduja and spicy salami ones.
Dublin Pizza Company
Located in Temple Bar, Dublin 2. Website: https://www.dublinpizzacompany.ie/. Open in Google Maps or OSM. No bookings.
Pizzas eaten: 3
This is a road-side takeaway place that does okay-ish pizza most of the times. There are no places to sit - so you grab the pizza and eat it while standing or take it with you.
Cirrilo's
Located in Merrion Square, Dublin 2. Website: http://www.cirillos.ie/. Open in Google Maps or OSM. Advanced booking recommended.
Pizzas eaten: 1
A nice place with good ambience and a basement. Pricey pizza for what is just decent quality.
Zaatar
Located in Temple Bar, Dublin 2. Website: http://www.zaatar.ie/. Open in Google Maps or OSM. Advanced booking recommended.
Pizzas eaten: 1
A Lebanese place that does pizza. The ingredients are the usual stuff - and I had the spicy beef pizza which was okay. They also provide Manakeesh - a flatbread with spices and herbs on it made in the same pizza oven. Both are a good option if you want to go for something different.
The Back Page
Located in Phibsborough, Dublin 7. Website: https://onthebackpage.com/. Open in Google Maps or OSM. Advanced booking recommended for extremely busy days.
Pizzas eaten: 6
A pub with a decent selection of pizza and beers on tap. The pizza itself is not anything special, but being a spots pub - with board games, a pool table, pong, and street fighter does mean it is a popular venue. I particularly enjoy the Zingibeer with the pizza here.
Dollard
Located in Temple Bar, Dublin 2. Website: http://www.dollardpizza.ie/. Open in Google Maps or OSM. Advanced booking on busy days.
Pizzas eaten: 20+
Dollard used to be a great pizza by the slice place that stayed open until late late night. Their pizza slices were big, tasty, and had a taste of authentic Italian ingredients. Recently however, the management has decided that quantity is better than quality - and added a bunch of fast food joints in what used to be an upmarket shopping attraction. The pizza, while still decent, has not been the same. Still, Dollard is handy to grab that occasional slice and sit on the nearby bridge to enjoy it.
Paulies Pizza
Located in Grand Canal Dock, Dublin 2. Website: http://paulies.ie/. Open in Google Maps or OSM. Advanced booking on busy days.
Pizzas eaten: 1
An okay place along the Grand Canal Dock. Presumably stocked full of overpaid Googlers and tech workers.
The Well
Located in Stephen's Green, Dublin 2. Website: https://thewelldublin.ie/food-drink/. Open in Google Maps or OSM. Advanced booking on busy days.
Pizzas eaten: 1
Pricey place with below average pizza. More hype than substance.
Il Caffe di Napoli
Located in Pearse Station, Dublin 2. Website: https://pizzadinapoli.ie/. Open in Google Maps or OSM. Advanced booking recommended.
Pizzas eaten: 1
Being nearby a busy train station and an university seems to have diminished any need to have quality control. Had pizza once for lunch here. Didn't order again in 6 years.
Milano
Pizzas eaten: 2
Expensive pizza that tastes inversely worse to its price. Seems like the proverbial tourist trap. I'd rather go and get a cheap sandwich from the grocery store nearby.
Dominoes Pizza
Pizzas eaten: 10+
Dominoes is a chain of pizza - and typically one of the only ones that used to do deliveries and discounts. When you are a student - you eat what is cheap.
Apache Pizza
Pizzas eaten: 30+
I must say - Apache Pizza was the pizza to order when I was in the office/labs and it was late at night. A car used to pull up, we used to go down with the exact change and one of us kept the university gates open as the other collected the pizza. Was it tasty? Barely. Was it cheap? Aplenty. I've even kept the leftover pizza in the fridge to have as breakfast or lunch the next day. Wouldn't recommend it anymore though.
Star Pizza
Located in Mountjoy, Dublin 1. Website: http://www.starpizza.ie/. Open in Google Maps or OSM. No booking possible.
Pizzas eaten: 1
A fast food joint that plays fast and loose with how oily a pizza can be before it become unacceptable. Hard pass.
Four Star Pizza
Pizzas eaten: 3
Its at the bottom of the list for a reason - its absolutely not what a pizza should be and both the ingredients and recipe are bad.