Where to Find the Best Pizza in Medellín
Writer’s note: This is the fifth story in a monthly series on the “best of” Medellín and the surrounding area. To read the fourth story, click here.
This post was updated on Aug. 28, 2013.
Few foods are as ubiquitous as pizza. No matter where you go, you can find pizza, good and bad. Medellín is no different. So let’s focus on the good.
There are a handful of places in the city where you can find great pizza for all budgets. Like other places in this “best of” series, I had a hard time ranking these places.
Taste is always the biggest factor but price comes into play as well because do you really want to pay 20,000 pesos more for a pizza that tastes only 5,000 pesos better? I don’t.
But, as always, your feedback is welcome. We love opening a dialogue at MedellinLiving.com.
Buen provecho!
1. Opera Pizza El Graspo de Uva
I wish I knew about this place before writing this post. It’s a bit embarrassing to leave out the No. 1 place the first time around.
But that’s why I decided to do this revisions post, to make sure I get it right in the end, and El Graspo de Uva deserves the top spot.
It was about 24,000 pesos (or $13 or so) for my pizza (pictured above), but I would pay for it again. The sauce, crust and ingredients were perfect, the prosciutto especially delicious.
Next time you’re around Parque Poblado, keep walking down the hill, down Calle 9, until you’re about a block south of the park, and you’ll see a white building with vegetation growing all over it. Go inside. Have a pizza. You won’t regret it.
2. Pizzeria Olivia Cafe Zorba
This looks more like a place for sandwiches and poetry readings but it’s the pizza that’s going to keep me coming back.
Sure, I’d go back even if I had not just eaten something so good — I like its stealth location on this narrow strip of Calle 8, just off Avenida Poblado — but for me the pizza is the biggest reason to return.
The tomato sauce was perfect. The crust was perfect. The price was perfect (10,500 pesos, or almost $6).
I suppose the only complaint is that there are not a lot of pizza options. But like I said, it’s not really a place that you go to find great pizza.
It just happens to have that.
3. Pizzos Opera Pizza
Owned by four Italians, I learned about this place from a reader who commented on a past post. I went to find out if it would make my Top 5 Italian restaurants in the city, and it snuck in at No. 5.
Yeah, the pasta and other dishes are good. But it’s the pizza that’s great.
So is the price: the most expensive pie is about 20,000 pesos (about $11.25).
As I said last time, they don’t deliver, their only flaw. But that’s fine with me. I live in Laureles, near the restaurant. I can eat there whenever I want.
4. Restaurante Toscano Trattoria e Pizzeria
As you can see, it ranked a little lower for pizza but that doesn’t mean it’s not delicious.
You can choose your toppings so I picked ham, tomatoes and pesto, a good combination, something I’ll do again.
I like the price too, 22,000 pesos for my pizza (almost $12.50), somewhere between Opera and Pizzos, and the owner, Felix, an Italian from his country’s southern region, is so friendly.
An outdoor table, by the sidewalk, is also preferable, considering its location just up the hill from Parque Lleras.
You’ll enjoy the entire experience at Toscano.
5. Cafe Zorba Pizzería Olivia
This nearly dropped out of the Top 5, and only stayed instead of Pizzos because getting up near El Tesoro for a pizza is too much work if you don’t live near there.
The pizza at Pizzeria Olivia is good, but I’ve had bad service enough times that I wonder if I’ll ever go back. The failure to bring me a glass of water unless I ask twice is annoying, but I can put up with it, because that seems to happen at most Colombian restaurants.
But having a waitress who is unfriendly, as well as inattentive, is too much.
Good thing the pizza is good. The sauce and crust are very good, and the price isn’t too bad (22,000 pesos, or almost $12.50), considering I ordered seafood toppings and something unique.
Now if the service eventually matches the pizza, it could make a case for No. 1.
