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• Top 6 Pizza in Denver

  Currently #5 · score 0

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• Beau Jo's

  Beau Jo's has been making what it calls "Colorado-style" mountain pies since 1973, when the original location opened in the mountain town of Idaho Springs. Half a century later, the chain has grown to seven locations across Colorado — including Arvada, Fort Collins, Lone Tree, Steamboat Springs, and Denver — while keeping the same thick-crust format that made the original location a mountain-town institution in the first place. The defining feature is the crust itself: a hand-rolled, thick ring of daily-made dough that builds a genuine wall around the edge of the pie, letting Beau Jo's load on toppings — the pizzas are sized and sold by the pound rather than by diameter — well past what a standard crust could contain. That crust does double duty as dessert, too; the restaurant's honey-dipping tradition, pouring local honey over the leftover crust once the toppings are gone, has become as closely associated with Beau Jo's as the pizza itself. That combination — thick, topping-loaded "mountain pies" named for the Rockies, sold in pound increments, finished with honey — is different enough from a standard American pizzeria that it's become a specifically Colorado dining tradition rather than a regional variation on a national style. More than fifty years after the Idaho Springs original opened, the chain has expanded into shipping pies nationally through Goldbelly, extending a mountain-town pizzeria's reach well past what its founders likely imagined in 1973. For a Denver pizza list, Beau Jo's is the essential "this is Colorado's own pizza style" entry — a thick-crusted, honey-finished mountain pie sold by the pound, a genuinely regional format that's been running continuously since 1973 and has since spread from its original mountain-town location into Denver and beyond.

• Marco's Coal Fired Pizza

  Marco's Coal Fired Pizza opened in Denver's Ballpark neighborhood in 2008, founded by Mark and Kristy Latorraca Dym around a specific and fairly narrow goal: build true Neapolitan pizza in Denver the way it's actually made in Naples, rather than an Americanized approximation of the style. That commitment paid off with real certification — Marco's became Colorado's first Vera Pizza Napoletana-certified pizzeria, an official designation that requires meeting strict standards on ingredients, dough, and cooking method set by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana in Naples. The kitchen leans on imported Italian ingredients and certified pizzaiolos trained specifically in Neapolitan technique, producing a pizza the restaurant describes as having a crisp, chewy crust with a softer center — the specific textural signature the VPN standard is built around. That certification has also earned Marco's a spot on the Italian Top 50 Pizza list, notable recognition for a pizzeria operating well outside Italy. Beyond the core Neapolitan menu, Marco's has built in enough range to function as a full restaurant rather than a pizza-only counter — limoncello chicken wings, salads, and a solid list of gluten-free and vegan options sit alongside the certified pies, along with house-made desserts that round out a full dinner rather than just a quick slice. For a Denver pizza list, Marco's Coal Fired Pizza is the essential "certified, by-the-book Neapolitan" entry — Colorado's first VPN-certified pizzeria, built on imported ingredients and traditional technique in Denver's Ballpark neighborhood since 2008.

• Blue Pan Pizza

  Blue Pan Pizza opened in 2015 in Denver's West Highland neighborhood, founded by Michigan natives Giles Flanagin and chef Jeff "Smoke" Smokevitch as an intimate, 18-seat pizzeria built around a style Denver hadn't seen much of before: Detroit-style deep dish, with its thick, square crust and famously crispy, caramelized cheese-to-edge crust. The founders brought that pan-pizza tradition directly from their home state rather than adapting a more familiar Chicago or New York format. That Detroit square format is the whole draw — a rectangular pie baked in a well-oiled steel pan, producing a crust that's simultaneously airy in the middle and deeply crisp along the edges where the cheese caramelizes against the hot metal, a genuinely different eating experience from the round, thin-crust pizzas that dominate most of Denver's other pizzerias. Since opening, the restaurant has kept that Detroit-style focus as its core identity even as the menu has grown around it. National attention followed the local reputation Blue Pan built in its original 18-seat space — the restaurant has been featured on Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, recognition that's helped support real expansion beyond the original West Highland storefront into a Congress Park location and, eventually, Golden. For a Denver pizza list, Blue Pan Pizza is the essential "Detroit-style done right" entry — a thick, square-cut, crispy-edged deep dish from two Michigan transplants who brought a genuinely different pan-pizza tradition to West Highland in 2015 and have since grown it into a small, Food Network-recognized local chain.

• Pizzeria Locale

  Pizzeria Locale started in Boulder in 2011, founded by Master Sommelier Bobby Stuckey and executive chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson — the same duo behind the acclaimed Frasca Food and Wine — as a more casual, fast-moving companion to their fine-dining work. The Denver location followed in 2013, opening at 550 Broadway with a concept the founders call "Neighborhood Neapolitan," built from years of culinary travel through Italy layered onto real fine-dining technique. The pizza itself follows traditional Neapolitan proportions and cooking method — a thin, blistered crust cooked quickly at high heat — but the "Neighborhood" half of the name is doing real work: this isn't a formal, white-tablecloth Neapolitan experience, it's built to be fast, approachable, and genuinely suited to a weeknight dinner, even though the ingredient sourcing and technique behind it come from the same team that runs one of Boulder's most respected fine-dining restaurants. That combination of fine-dining pedigree and fast-casual accessibility proved successful enough that Stuckey and Mackinnon-Patterson later partnered with Chipotle to expand a quick-serve version of the concept nationally, even as the original, full-service Denver and Boulder locations have stayed a distinct, separate operation from that larger partnership. For a Denver pizza list, Pizzeria Locale is the essential "fine-dining technique, neighborhood pace" entry — a Neapolitan pizza built by a Master Sommelier and a Frasca-trained chef, serving genuinely serious pizza at a speed and price point built for regular weeknight visits rather than special occasions.

• Hops & Pie

  Hops & Pie opened in September 2010 in Denver's Berkeley/Highland neighborhood, founded by Drew and Leah Watson after they'd developed the concept while living in San Diego and spending time around its craft beer scene. Their core idea was simple and, at the time, still fairly novel in Denver: a genuinely good pizza built specifically to pair with serious craft beer, rather than beer treated as an afterthought to the food. That pairing philosophy shows up in the numbers as much as the menu — 22 rotating taps of craft beer sit alongside a pizza program that draws on both Detroit and New York traditions, built on a sourdough crust that gives the pies a tang and chew distinct from a standard pizzeria dough. Both Watsons had worked in well-regarded restaurants around the country before opening Hops & Pie, and that broader food background shows in a menu that treats pizza with more creativity than a typical taproom kitchen usually attempts. The restaurant picked up national attention when it was featured on Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, with Guy Fieri specifically calling out the kitchen's inventive approach to pizza and beer pairings — recognition that validated a concept the Watsons had built somewhat against the grain of Denver's pizza scene at the time. For a Denver pizza list, Hops & Pie is the essential "pizza built around the beer list" entry — a sourdough-crust, Detroit-and-New-York-influenced pizza program paired with 22 rotating taps, a taproom-first approach to pizza that's earned it a loyal following and a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives feature since opening in 2010.