A west London pizzeria has been crowned the best pizza restaurant in the world

Step aside, Naples. Move over, New York. If you want the best slice of pizza on the planet, you only need to jump on the District line to Chiswick.

London’s own Napoli on the Road has just been named the World’s Best Pizzeria at the 50 Top Pizza World Awards. Founded by chef Michele Pascarella, the restaurant celebrated the win at a ceremony at Teatro Mercadante in Naples – the perfect place to pull off a victory like this. If you are going to be named the best ’za on earth, you might as well do it in the city that invented it.

While judging pizza sounds like a dream job, the process is rigorous. The awards rely on nearly 1,000 anonymous inspectors worldwide with zero ties to the restaurants they judge. Every contender is visited twice, with judges scoring the experience from dough structure and ingredient sourcing to service and hospitality. It takes a lot more than a good crust to win, making this homegrown victory all the more impressive. 

Last year, Napoli on the Road placed fifth at the same World Awards, well behind the reigning champion, New York’s Una Pizza Napoletana, which had held the world’s top spot for two years running. This year, Pascarella didn’t just climb the rankings but knocked the champion off the top spot completely.

This is just the latest trophy in a relentless run of accolades for Pascarella. He was crowned the world’s best pizza chef back in 2023, and his restaurant has topped the separate 50 Top Pizza Europa awards for three consecutive years from 2024 to 2026, with his signature pizza, Ricordi d’Infanzia, winning Pizza of the Year at the 2025 edition of those same Europa awards. 

Pascarella moved to the UK from Maddaloni, near Naples, at just 19. He started Napoli on the Road in 2016 as a three-wheeled Piaggio Ape van fitted with a wood-fired oven, slinging pizzas at farmers’ markets and outdoor events across London long before the business ever had chairs and tables. The operation has since grown into bricks-and-mortar restaurants in Chiswick and Richmond, with a third site opening in Soho back in February, home to Pascarella’s pizza tasting menu drawing on his childhood and Italian heritage.

Time Out’s guide to the best pizza restaurants in London.

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