The Best Pizza in Dubai, Rated Honestly

Most Dubai pizza arguments are really style arguments. Neapolitan is the soft, wet-centered, leopard-charred one you eat with a knife and fork, and da Michele, Rossovivo and Akiba Dori are the ones doing it properly. New York is the wide, foldable slice with a crisp underside, and that lane belongs to Pitfire and 'Za 'Za Slice. Roman is the thin, crackery base built for speed and delivery, which is exactly what 800 Pizza has been doing since 2007.

None of these is better than the others. They are built for different nights. Know which one you are in the mood for before you order, and the choice gets a lot easier.

'Za 'Za Slice is the answer to both. It was Dubai's first by-the-slice bar, the New York squares run around AED 23 to 29, and the kitchen stays open until 4am, so it covers the post-night-out order and the quick weekday slice at the same time. The Red, with its hot honey, is the one people come back for.

For late-night with a few more branches around town, Flippin Pizza does honest foldable slices at value prices. And 800 Pizza is the delivery workhorse when you want a thin Roman base at the door without thinking about it.

Marina and JBR: da Michele and Akiba Dori both have JBR outposts for authentic dough, Il Motto does wood-fired with a Walk view, and Luigia at Rixos is the big-group option.

JLT: Pitfire for the crust, Franky's at The Park for a straight-up neighborhood pie.

Business Bay: Naughty Pizza, family-run and the best value in the area.

Al Quoz and Internet City: Rossovivo, the pick the local Italian crowd defends.

Al Barsha: FALCONE in Galleria Mall for neo-Neapolitan, 800 Pizza for Roman delivery. Al Wasl and Umm Suqeim: Moon Slice for inventive slices, Blu for pizza on the water.

Ask about the ferment. The best spots here proof their dough for a long time, 24 to 48 hours at Rossovivo, 72 at Pitfire, and that slow rise is what gives a crust flavor and a light chew instead of a flat, doughy base.

Look for leopard-spotting on a Neapolitan crust, the sign of a properly hot oven, and steer clear of a base that just tastes flat and burnt. Then check the center: a good Neapolitan is meant to be soft and a little wet, so a knife and fork is a feature. And a great slice should fold without the tip flopping or the oil pooling, which is the tell that separates 'Za 'Za and Pitfire from the greasy imitators.

Dubai's hotels serve some genuinely good pizza. Gordon Ramsay Street Pizza at Atlantis runs an unlimited deal around AED 105, which reads as value only because everything else at Atlantis is priced higher. Fi'lia, Scalini and The Nice Guy with its lobster pizza make perfectly good pies too.

The catch is what you are paying for. At these spots a large share of the bill is the address, the design and the service rather than the dough. If it is a special night and the room is the point, they deliver. If you just want the best pizza your money can buy, the authentic and value picks above beat them, and it is not close. It is the same brand-tax we flagged in our best burger in Dubai guide, where the famous chains draw near-universal value complaints.