When I saw that TripAdvisor came up with a list of Top 10 Pizza Restaurants in the U.S., I was definitely curious to find out which places made the cut (as well as also find out just how many I’ve visited).

Living in New York City, specifically Brooklyn, we can probably go to a different pizzeria each week without repeating any places that we’ve been to previously.

With that said, on many best pizza lists, one particular place in Brooklyn usually comes in at the top spot- DiFara, located on Avenue J in the Midwood section.

I’ve been to DiFara many times and the pizza is quite impressive but also quite pricey, coming in at something like $5 per slice! The way we bring down the cost a little bit is by ordering a pie. With pizza this tasty, it isn’t hard to polish off 2-3 slices (maybe more for some) in one sitting.

While looking over TripAdvisor’s picks, it was nice to see three New York City pizzerias ranking in the Top 10 (2 of them being like a one minute walk apart), however none of them would be considered in my top 5 NYC picks.

When it comes to picking a top anything list (so to speak), things are definitely subjective.

My Top 5 NYC Pizza list would be: (in no particular order)

• New Park Pizza located in Howard Beach (Queens)
• Rubirosa located in Soho- Little Italy, NYC
• Roberta’s in Bushwick (Brooklyn)
• Pizza Moto- mobile ovens around NYC with a restaurant coming to downtown Brooklyn soon.
• Sam’s Italian Restaurant- Downtown Brooklyn on Court Street

A few others of note would be DiFara’s, Margot’s Pizza (pop-up), Lou & Ernie’s, Saraghina, Speedy Romeo and Paulie Gee’s. I definitely left out some other great pizzas but that’s enough for now.

Here is how TripAdvisor came up with their picks for Top Restaurants: (from TA)

“The TripAdvisor ranking of top U.S. pizza restaurants is based on the quantity and quality of reviews for pizza restaurants, giving more weight to reviews written in the past year. Pizza restaurants were identified as those having a majority of reviews mentioning pizza, a minimum of 500 reviews, and at least 10 percent of reviews mentioning ‘best pizza’.”

So basically TripAdvisor didn’t consult with any experts to select the best pizzas. It is based on user reviews. In my opinion, who is most likely to leave a review for food on TA? My guess would be tourists so this list is clearly flawed.

However, that’s not to say that some great places didn’t make the cut.

Here are TripAdvisor’s Top 10 Pizza Restaurants:

1. Julianna’s Pizza– Brooklyn, NY
2. Pizza Time of St. Augustine- Saint Augustine, FL
3. Moose’s Tooth Pub and Pizzeria- Anchorage, AK
4. Keste- New York City, NY
5. Tony’s Pizza Napoletana- San Francisco, CA
6. Pizzeria Regina- Boston, MA
7. Antico Pizza Napoletana- Atlanta, GA
8. Bill’s Pizza- Palm Springs, CA
9. Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana- New Haven, CT
10. John’s Pizzeria- New York City, NY

I’ve been to 5/10 pizza restaurants from this list. A pretty solid showing if you ask me!

Some thoughts on the places I visited:

When Julianna’s first opened I totally loved it. However, during my last visit or two I wasn’t as impressed. I don’t know what it is but I felt something changed, maybe the sauce.

Kim and I visited Keste one time. It was actually the last stop on a day that we visited like 3-4 pizzerias. I remember enjoying the pizza but not enough to make us hurry back. We should probably try it again when we have a bigger appetite!

We visited Antico during our first visit to Atlanta with a friend who lives in the city. I don’t remember specifics but I do know that we were really impressed. On a future trip to ATL I’d definitely go again unless I found other places worthy of a try.

Kim and I have visited New Haven a couple of times. So far we tried three of the famous apizza shops. To be honest, I don’t recall what it was, but Frank Pepe‘s was our least favorite. I much preferred Sally’s which is right down the block and also really enjoyed Zuppardi’s.

I’ve been to John’s of Bleeker a bunch of times. It’s really never stood out to me but it’s still a must-visit classic NYC pizza stop, being around since 1929! I haven’t gone there in a couple of years so I’m, probably due to give it a try again at some point.

If any of you have tried the other five placed which made the top 10, I’d love to hear your thoughts about them. I’ve heard good things about Tony’s Pizza Napoletana and Regina Pizza and would love to give them (and the others from the list) a try!

If you have any other pizzas to recommend around the US, feel free to share them with us!

One more place that I’d highly recommend is Conte’s Pizza in Princeton, NJ. Last summer, Kim, Lucas and I stopped by a couple of times and absolutely loved it. What makes this pizza stand out are the onions it is topped with.

Find out more about TripAdvisor’s Top 10 Pizza Restaurants here.