Italy, move over! The best pizza restaurant in the world has been named and you don’t need to get on a plane to visit it.
That’s right, if you’re looking for the finest slice of pizza on offer, then look no further than Napoli on the Road, situated here in London.
The restaurant, which has sites in Chiswick, Richmond and Soho, has been named the World’s Best Pizzeria at the 50 Top Pizza awards, held in Naples.
“It’s so crazy I don’t know what to say,” chef and founder Michele Pascarella, 34,said at the awards ceremony at the Teatro Mercadante on Tuesday, September 15.
“I’m in shock. I probably need to have a few drinks and a sit down to process this. I can’t explain how big this is. It’s like the Oscars but for pizza,” said Pascarella, who was previously named Pizza Maker of the year at the awards in 2023.
Napoli on the Road first opened its doors in 2016, in the form of a three-wheeled van fitted with a wood-fired oven.
It has since expanded into sites in Chiswick and Richmond, and just this February opened a new restaurant in Soho.
Pascarella, who first moved to the UK at the age of 19, has been widely lauded for being at the top of his game for multiple years now.
Aside from his 2023 win for best pizza chef, his restaurant has topped the separate 50 Top Pizza Europa awards for three consecutive years, starting in 2024.
Tuesday’s win dethrones New York’s Una Pizza Napoletana, which had held the top spot for back-to-back years.
“I think we can finally say, it’s come home … There's no denying that pizza is a serious thing in London,” said Pascarella, who said he is “over the moon and so proud of all of my team”.
The Standard recently paid a visit to Napoli on the Road, which Josh Barrie gave a five-star rating to after trying its pizza tasting menu. He described it as “messy, glorious food”.
He elaborated: “The concept of a pizza tasting menu is mad. More so given Pascarella’s dessert trio includes a mini-Magnum. But this is what London does best: artful lunacy. I cannot chef’s kiss enough.”
