3 NC pizzerias highlighted among best in the country (one’s in the Top 20)
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Mission Pizza Napoletana in Winston-Salem ranked 19th on Top 50 Pizza’s U.S. list.
- Charlotte’s Pizza Baby placed 42nd on Top 50 Pizza’s 2026 United States rankings.
- Durham’s Toro was named to Top 50 Pizza’s new unranked “Excellent Pizza” list.
The North Carolina pizza scene is quietly tremendous, and two pizzerias have been named among the best in the country.
For the sixth straight year, Winston-Salem’s Mission Pizza Napoletana has been named among the Top 50 pizza joints in the United States. The honor comes from the Italian pizza-rating agency Top 50 Pizza, which reviews and ranks pizzerias around the world.
This year Mission Pizza was ranked No. 19 in the United States, the second year in a row it was included in the Top 20.
Owned by former Wake Forest soccer player and Winston-Salem native Peyton Smith, Mission Pizza serves up piping hot pies from its wood-burning oven. The crust is dappled with char, airy and chewy and the toppings blend like a composed dish you eat with your hands.
Last year, Smith acknowledged the artsy small city is an unconventional place to find world-class pizza.
“Now 12 years on, certainly Winston-Salem is the least likely place to be on a pizza list,” Smith said.
Joining Mission Pizza on the list once again is Charlotte’s Pizza Baby at No. 42. At Pizza Baby. The pizza comes in two styles, thick-crust Roman-style and 14-inch round American style.
Triangle favorite gets honorable mention
In a new twist for the 2026 list, Top 50 Pizza added an “Excellent Pizza” list, essentially operating as an unranked honorable mention round up.
Pizzera Toro in Durham was included on the Excellent Pizza list, alongside some of the biggest names in American pizza.
Toro opened in downtown Durham in 2012, bringing wood-burning Neapolitan-style pizza to the Bull City. Today it remains one of Durham’s best all-around restaurants, serving up surprising favorites like an iconic kale salad, spicy lamb meatball pizzas and cheesy white pies.
