At St. Vito, towering squares of focaccia defy gravity. Here, sfincione is king, the thick and spongy dough that’s super soft on the inside and lightly crispy on the outside. There are slices with hand-placed rows of pepperoni that stand at attention, while others have baseball-sized burrata perched precariously on a generous amount of spicy tomato sauce. All the options are good, but be sure to try the potato sfincione.

Pinky Ring is a tiny shop in Madison that makes nearly perfect pizza. Each mammoth slice is an expert blend of sauces and toppings, and a good rule of thumb here is if it’s got ricotta on it, get it. Especially if it’s the Madtown, with meatballs sliced like pepperonis and tiny peppadew-like peppers. We’re also big fans of the New Haven Red pie and the Madison Hot Pickle, with white sauce and smoked provolone. No matter what you get, the crust will be heartbreakingly tender.

Sho is more than just a fancy pizza place where you cut your slices with scissors. The Japanese and Neapolitan hybrid crust is a new kind of fermented sorcery that results in a perfect, mochi-like chew. The margarita is a must for its simplicity—the whole thing proves that you don’t need any bells or whistles when the pizza is this good. Dip what’s left of the crust into a generous amount of miso ranch with tons of dill.

This brewery in East takes their pizza operation seriously, with a gorgeous wood-fired oven and piles of chopped wood out back to feed it. The NY style pies are enormous, but between you, a friend, and a cold glass of something brewed in-house, you’ll make quick work of one. Our favorite here is the classic pepperoni—it’s completely covered with red rounds and a healthy sprinkle of oregano, the sauce/cheese ratio is perfect, and the drizzle of hot honey manages to taste like it is.

Pizza Lolo is a tiny pop-up currently operating at Coral Club on Wednesday nights. It’s worth planning your entire week around the roasted garlic cream pizza alone. We challenge any other white pie in Nashville to match this depth of flavor with this garlic and pecorino combo. Beyond that, they do a fantastically simple margarita with smoked salt that pairs perfectly with a tiny tini at Coral Club.

When the guy making your pizza talks about how he “romanticizes pre-refrigeration Naples,” chances are you’re about to have a very good pie. That’s exactly the case at Pizza Lolo, a tiny pop-up currently operating at Coral Club on Wednesday nights and at Sauced on the first and last Tuesday of the month. It’s worth planning your entire week around the roasted garlic cream pizza alone. We challenge any other white pie in Nashville to match this depth of flavor with this garlic and pecorino combo.

We’re shocked that NY Pie can even fit a pizza oven in their tiny space on the west side. But we’d squeeze into a broom closet if it meant nabbing a spicy sriracha chicken slice. The sauce is like a bolder sister to buffalo, and there’s a perfect amount of cheese that melts evenly into the sauce. Then there’s the grandma slice that looks simple with tomato sauce, parm and mozzarella mix, whole leaves of basil, and a buttery cracker crust, but smacks you in the face hard with rich flavor.

You come to this converted two-car garage in The Nations for the hangs and perhaps the greatest version of buffalo chicken pizza known to man. The cheese-to-buffalo sauce drizzle ratio is on point, and the diced celery sprinkled about is a perfect, pro-move textural contrast. The tequila selection is vast, the pizza of the month is always worth a try, and the crust is perhaps the thinnest and most delicately crackly of any on this list.

Dicey’s serves Chicago tavern-style pizza, and though they recently expanded to the Windy City, they were born right here. The best thing on the menu is The Hippy Flip, a white pie littered with long stems of charred green onions and a healthy sprinkle of lemon juice. The citrusy notes of the pie are perfect alongside an Easy Peasy Lemon Freezee cocktail that tastes like spiked soft Italian ice.

Tennfold, the spacious family-friendly brewery in Donelson, has a lot of what we’re calling pizza bravado. They do funky and creative combinations, and they do them really well. That takes shape in pies with coconut curry chicken or shaved ribeye with truffle fries over horseradish peppercorn aioli. Even a meat lover’s pizza gets a boost with dollops of ricotta. No matter what you choose, the wood-fired oven won’t disappoint, and you can wash it down with one of the spectacular beers.

If you’re looking for a classic coal-fired crust wrapped up in a place your kids and your playgroup’s kids will love, Nicky’s is it. This sit-down restaurant in The Nations is known equally for its family friendliness, its tender and juicy meatballs, and its cornmeal bottomed pizza. The Aces High has crushed meatballs and roasted onions, and it’s always a good choice. Never skip a slice of NY-style cannoli cheesecake for dessert.

Nashville can’t claim Roberta’s, a NY-born chain that even sells its pies in the freezer section at Whole Foods. But it sure feels like ours when it’s slinging dough inside Urban Cowboy Public House. Anything you order will complement the awesome cocktails, but we like to fawn over the Baby Sinclair. The brick oven morphs long strips of kale into soft, almost creamy ribbons intertwined with calabrian chili and maitake mushrooms.

Five Points in East has been serving large NY-style triangles for over 14 years, and people from the neighborhood know to check out the slice of the day (which never disappoints). If your appetite calls for a whole pie, we love the vodka sauce with prosciutto, spinach, and mushrooms. The habanero cream sauce pie with bacon, red onions, and basil is also fantastic. The back edge of the crust at Five Points resembles a little breadstick, primed and ready for dipping into ranch.

Desano might not be from Nashville, but they’ve brought a bit of buzz with them surrounding their Neapolitan pies. They stick to the rules laid out by an Italian pizza non-profit for the most accurate-to-the-region pies they can, and based on the perfectly charred, yet chewy crust, we believe them. When deciding this was great pizza, the proof was in the peppadews. Specifically, the plump ones that get mixed with sausage nuggets and caramelized onions on the San Gennaro pie.

Attached to their full-service Italian restaurant, Frankies has a shop doing two styles of pizza: NY and Sicilian. So, whether you prefer a more pillowy crust or a razor-thin situation, they have a slice for you. Toppings here are pretty standard, but the supreme pie has an addition of cacio e pepe sausage poking through the peppers, olives, and mushrooms. Benches inside are a bit rickety, but they do the trick for a quick lunch.