Style guide

Best Tavern Pizza

A ranked guide to Tavern entries across The Slice Index.

43 entries · 35 open · 8 closed/archive

What defines this list

Tavern is strongest in Cincinnati, Chicago, Chain. The page groups the style across cities so the best examples are not trapped inside one local list.

Top examples include Pizz’Amici, Wayfarer, St Francis Apizza. The ranking is crust-first: bake, structure, sauce, cheese, and repeatability matter more than reputation.

14 entries have full review text. Score-only records remain in the index but are less editorially developed.

#1
Pizz’Amici

Pizz’Amici

Chicago · West Town · Tavern · Jun 2025

9.6Top Tier

Pizz’Amici (“Pizza Friends”) started as a DIY project among friends - first in a Ukrainian Village apartment, then as @EatFreePizza, followed by “Pizza Fried Chicken Ice…

#2
Wayfarer

Wayfarer

Cincinnati · Dayton, KY · Tavern · Apr 2025

9.5Top Tier

This is one I’ve been looking forward to writing. I first reviewed Wayfarer in January 2024 from a pop-up at Mike Dew’s kitchen. I was highly impressed (you can go back a…

#3
St Francis Apizza

St Francis Apizza

Cincinnati · Oakley · New York, Tavern, New Haven · Sep 2025

9.4Top Tier

@stfrancisapizza is the pizzeria I’ve posted about the most, not just because they produce top-tier pizza but also because they are regularly improving - the sign of a gr…

#4
Prince Street Pizza

Prince Street Pizza

Chicago · West Loop · Sicilian / Square, Tavern · Jun 2025

9.1Top Tier

My first ever post from this account was a review of Prince Street Pizza’s Hollywood location (I was out in LA for a football game). The original Manhattan shop has long…

#6
Joe’s Pizzeria

Joe’s Pizzeria

Dayton · Dayton · Tavern · Oct 2024

7.7Worth the Calories

When I mention “Dayton Style,” the cliché response is always, “It’s an attitude as much as a wardrobe.” And indeed, effortlessly chic is the ultimate Dayton uniform. Eleg…

#7
Massey’s Pizza

Massey’s Pizza

Columbus · Tavern · Mar 2024

7.7Worth the Calories

Founded in 1949, @masseyspizza is the inventor of “Columbus Style Pizza”. That style (later spread more widely by by @Donatos) bears more than a little resemblance to Chi…

#10
Ron’s Pizza

Ron’s Pizza

Dayton · Miamisburg · Tavern · Feb 2025

7.3Worth the Calories

I recently found myself in Miamisburg, Ohio, a picturesque small town full of surprisingly bustling shops just south of Dayton, Ohio (One of my top two Daytons in the gre…

#12
Jim & Jack’s

Jim & Jack’s

Cincinnati · Tavern · Oct 2022

6.5Worth the Calories

This is an old “honky-tonk” on River Road, a few miles west of downtown Cincinnati that boasts the “Tri-State’s Best Pizza”. In my experience, old honkytonks are not trad…

#13
Killer Queen

Killer Queen

Cincinnati · Tavern · Apr 2023

6.5Worth the Calories

The nice folks at @foureg (the brain-trust behind @keystonebar, @igbys, @rosedaleotr, etc) invited us to the grand opening of their new cocktail bar / pizzeria at the Ban…

#14
Fessler’s Pizza

Fessler’s Pizza

Cincinnati · Tavern · Apr 2023

6.2All Pizza's Good, Right?

I recently attended a “Veracity” comedy show at @improvcincinnati. In this show series, sketches are improvised based on the stories told by a guest speaker. This particu…

#20
Mio’s Pizzeria

Mio’s Pizzeria

Cincinnati · Tavern · Jan 2023

5.6All Pizza's Good, Right?

Italian for “My Own Pizzeria” Mio’s is a five location Cincy chain founded in 1975. They are know for their stuffed pizza (which I’ll cover in a future review) and overst…

#23
Donatos

Donatos

Chicago · Tavern · Sep 2022

5.3All Pizza's Good, Right?

“Columbus-style pizza” is a post-war innovation by @masseyspizza. It bears more than a little resemblance to Chicago-thin crust (see @vito_and_nicks) & also Dayton-style…

#27
Padrino

Padrino

Cincinnati · Tavern · Feb 2023

4.7All Pizza's Good, Right?

This Ft Thomas spin-off of the “OG” @padrinoitalian in Milford specializes in thin crust pizza. I like the subtle Godfather reference, ‘Il Padrino’ being Italian for ‘The…

#36
Grabowski’s Pizza

Grabowski’s PizzaClosed

Denver · Tavern · Jul 2022

8.0Great

This is a pizzeria I had long had on my list to try after discovering them on Instagram (@grabowskis_pizzeria). Grabowski’s is a Denver pizzeria that serves a Chicago thi…