My Two Absolute Favorite Pies in Madrid

Okay, so like many other large cities around the globe, getting great pizza has become fairly easy. Madrid is no different. There are DOZENS of incredible pizzerias around the city, and a new one seems to be opening every day. I have had countless amazing pies in the city and there are still so many more places that I would love to go to, but there are two pizzas in particular that I believe are extraordinary.

Hot Now: The Pistachio Pizza

*photo courtesy of Ceviche de Sandia

This pizza is INSANELY good. The kind of pizza that could move mountains. And, as an added bonus, IT IS VEGAN!! Ain’t no cheese here. The place itself is super casual, you sit on cardboard boxes that you can open up and store your things in (seriously!), and they have a few weird random appetizers like hummus and guacamole. On a recent trip with friends I also discovered that they started serving their wines in the world-famous Gabriel-Glas stemware, so that just added some unnecessary glamorous icing to the cake.

This spectacular pizza has pistachio pesto, zucchini carpaccio (super thinly-sliced zucchinis), tomato confit, panko breadcrumbs, and lime zest. That’s it! Well plus that smoky, chewy crust straight out of a wood-fried oven to die for. The slight crunch from the panko and the touch of acid from the lime zest, holy cow.

Their other pizzas are also very good, but this one in particular is mind-blowingly good.

Fiaschetteria La Saletta : Pizza Bufala e Trufa

I don’t know why I love this freaken pizza so much. It was the first pizzeria I went to when I first moved to Madrid, so it has a special place in my heart. Located inside Anton Martín market, we generally just refer to it as “Market Pizza” because the name of the place is a mouthful.

What’s fun about this location is it’s super casual with an Italian touch inside the market, so when you sit down to eat you look out onto other market stalls and people walking by. Everyone I’ve ever seen working there is Italian and they have large dangerous-looking poison signs saying they will NOT serve fish with parmesan, even if you ask.

The truffle pizza has tomato sauce, buffalo mozzarella cheese, and generous globs of black truffle goodness. This is the type of pizza you want to eat scolding hot right out of the oven. They serve it uncut with a pizza cutter on the side, so it’s up to you to decide how big you want your pieces. Honestly it’s a miracle I don’t just fold the thing in half and shove it down my gullet like a big ole bocadillo. It’s one of those pizzas that’s almost soggy with goodness, so melty and so rich, not bland at all and seasoned absolutely perfectly. There’s no wood fired oven here, no fancy décor, but I’m telling you this pizza in particular is worth the visit. It’s perfect for a fun and casual date night followed by drinks in the area.

I’ve had several other pizzas here, and while good, I wouldn’t say that I would particularly recommend them vs. one of the many millions of other places in Madrid. If you live close by, definitely. But the truffle pizza, I would go way the heck out of my way and b-line it for just that pizza alone. They also have pastas and sandwiches and even a menú del día, but I’ve personally never tried anything else because I know just what I want.

Here are some other honorable mentions for great pizzerias in Madrid, but there are still so many I haven’t tried that it’s hard for me to justify repeating a place. The above two pizzerias are the only ones I ever go to again and again!

Pizza Posta - a 100% vegetarian pizzeria with a thicker, more Argentine-style pizza crust. Super fun place for a date night or dinner with friends.

López & López - While they mostly focus on to-gos, they do have a small dining area and tons of different pizza options. Super casual and dependable.

Bel Mondo - Ugh I want to hate this place so badly. So “instagrammable” you have to wait to walk up the stairs because everyone is taking pictures of themselves constantly. They don’t even have a phone you can only contact them via instagram! The look of this place is just not for me, way too overdone, way to many people there to be seen, but HOLY COW did their food surprise me. I was not expecting much and to be honest I was pleasantly surprised. Def get the leek appetizer and try not to look around too much.

Isabella - Way up north, this place really impressed me. We had great fresh pastas there and some really great pizza. A little fancier but still comfortable, I only wish they had a larger wine list.

The Bellini’s - Another annoying instagrammable place, but we had some great pizzas on the terrace, which is more casual. Highly recommend the Pizza de Calabaza.

Have a place I haven’t mentioned that I need to check out asap? Please let me know in the comments! I always need more pizza in my life. More pizza menos problemas that’s what I always say.