Miami Slice photo
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A beloved downtown Miami pizza joint has just been ranked among the top ten slice shops in America.
Miami Slice took the No. 3 spot on the 50 Top Pizza Slice USA 2026 list. The announcement came Wednesday, May 27, at a ceremony in New York. It’s the downtown pizzeria’s third consecutive year in the top ten, and its highest ranking yet. (Up from No. 6 in 2025 and No. 5 in 2024.)
50 Top Pizza is an Italian-published global guide that ranks pizzerias based on anonymous inspector visits. The Slice category covers by-the-slice spots across the country. This year’s top ten leans Northeast. Brooklyn’s L’industrie Pizzeria took No. 1, and Washington, D.C.’s Slice & Pie landed at No. 2. The next three spots are all New York shops.
Miami Slice is the only pizzeria in the top six outside the New York-D.C. corridor.
Miami Slice photo
Miami celebrates a local favorite
On Instagram and Facebook, the local spot wrote,
“Third best pizza slice in the nation! 50 Top Pizza, thank you for the incredible ranking & including us in the top ten slices in the U.S.A. for the third year in a row. This award means so much to us. From our pizza lab days to today, as we near opening our Coconut Grove location, we wouldn’t be where we are without every person involved and the late nights put in along the way. Feeling grateful and proud. Vamos!”
The top-three finish locks in an invite to the 100 Best Pizzerias in the World ceremony. 50 Top Pizza will host this event in Naples, Italy, on September 15.
From an arepa shop to a slice bar cult favorite
Alejandro Diaz came to pizza through arepas. The Venezuelan-born founder opened the Midtown arepa shop La Latina in 2011 and launched Miami Slice in 2019 as a pop-up inside the same kitchen. The first version was an order-online-only operation that picked up steam during the pandemic with Instagram pies, late-night drops, and a small but loyal following.
Co-founders Jose “Chema” Cardenas, now culinary director of Miami Slice Hospitality, and Santiago Huen, now operating partner of the pizzeria, joined in the early stages. The team moved into the current 1335 NE Miami Ct. space in 2022, a narrow 15-seat counter where walk-in lines form before the doors open.
It all starts with the dough. An extended pre-ferment followed by a long cold fermentation, then a double-bake at high heat that gives the crust its caramelized bottom. The pies are wide and thin, with enough structure to avoid flopping when folded.
Miami Slice photo
Five slices on the menu
The menu has stayed concise over the years with five pies. These include the “Margherita de la Casa” and the “Pepperoni Proper” with cupped pepperoni and a drizzle of hot honey. There’s also the Instagram-famous “La Salsera,” built on red sauce, vodka sauce, and pesto, and the “Leeks on Bacon,” with garlic confit cream and smoky bacon. Last, but not least, there’s the “Mushroom Truffle.” 50 Top Pizza described the pies in its Miami Slice listing as “a pizza with great personality and its own American identity: urban, precise, immediate.”
Miami Slice Hospitality, the group behind the pizzeria, also operates La Latina, Tina in the Gables, and the Gibson Room on Coral Way. Beyond the downtown outpost, the team runs a pizza pop-up at Flour & Weirdoughs in Key Biscayne and a full-service Miami Slice at Fontainebleau Las Vegas on the second level of the resort.
A second permanent Miami location is on the way at 2996 McFarlane Rd. in Coconut Grove, taking over the former Harry’s Pizzeria space. Signage went up in late February.
Miami Slice. 1335 NE Miami Ct., Miami; miamislicepizza.com. Opening in Coconut Grove soon.
