Pizza Delicious

The Verdict

Pizza Delicious is worth booking on a return trip for one simple reason: it holds up. The Bywater spot has appeared on Opinionated About Dining's Cheap Eats in North America list three consecutive years; Recommended in 2023, ranked #410 in 2024, climbing to #410 again in 2025; which means the kitchen is consistent, not coasting. If you've been before and are wondering whether standards have slipped, the OAD data says no. If you haven't been, this is the most direct case for a casual lunch or dinner in New Orleans' Bywater neighborhood.

The Space and the Experience

Pizza Delicious occupies a low-key room in the Bywater, one of New Orleans' more residential and relaxed neighborhoods, sitting well outside the French Quarter's tourist circuit. The physical setup reflects the venue's origins: this started as a Sunday pop-up run by two New York transplants who wanted a credible slice in a city that didn't have one. When they moved into a permanent space at 617 Piety Street in 2012, the ethos didn't change, the room is casual, the format is accessible, there's no performance attached to the meal.

For the food-focused traveler, the spatial informality is part of the point. You're not booking a room with a dress code or a tasting menu preamble; you're sitting down in a neighborhood pizzeria that happens to have earned national recognition. The counter and table setup suits solo diners and small groups equally well. Larger parties should call ahead given the room's scale, though no seat count is published.

The Pizza

The formula is deliberate: cheese in proportion rather than excess, sauce that doesn't tip into sweetness, a crust that reads as both crispy and chewy. That balance is what OAD's cheap eats evaluators have recognized consistently. For a city whose dining identity is rooted in Creole cooking and seafood, Pizza Delicious has carved out a specific and defensible position, it's not trying to be a New Orleans restaurant, it's trying to be a good pizza restaurant that happens to be in New Orleans. For the explorer-type traveler who wants to eat well across categories rather than staying narrowly in regional cuisine, that's a feature, not a gap.

Compared to other nationally tracked pizzerias, it sits comfortably alongside peers like Ken's Artisan Pizza in Portland and 11th Street Pizza in Miami, venues that earn recurring critical recognition without shifting into fine-dining territory.

Drinks

No drinks program data is available in the venue record. Given the pizzeria format and price positioning, expect a direct beer and wine selection rather than a dedicated cocktail program. If a serious bar program matters to your evening, pair this lunch stop with a later visit to one of the city's better cocktail bars, see our full New Orleans bars guide for options worth booking around.

Booking and Timing

Pizza Delicious is easy to book relative to the rest of New Orleans' most-tracked dining options. For a guaranteed seat without pressure, Tuesday through Thursday lunch (open from 11:30 AM) is the lowest-friction window. Sunday through Thursday the kitchen closes at 9 PM; Friday and Saturday at 10 PM. The venue is closed Mondays.

Booking difficulty is rated Easy, which puts this in a different category from New Orleans' harder-to-access restaurants. You don't need to plan weeks out, but showing up at 7 PM on a Saturday without checking in first carries some risk.

Value and Positioning

No price range is listed in the venue record, but the OAD Cheap Eats classification is the clearest signal available: this is a venue where you can eat well without a significant spend. For New Orleans visitors working across a range of price points, perhaps booking Bayona or Commander's Palace for a full-format dinner, Pizza Delicious slots in as the low-cost, high-reliability lunch or casual dinner option that won't feel like a compromise. It's the kind of place that earns its place on a thoughtfully planned trip to New Orleans rather than filling a gap in it.

For broader context on eating and drinking in the city, see our full New Orleans restaurants guide and our full New Orleans hotels guide.