Pizza Lupo Review – Giant Pies in the Heart of Lawrenceville

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Published by Jeremy. Last Updated on November 22, 2023.

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Although Pittsburgh is home to one of the highest number of pizza shops per capita in the country, we could always use more.

When we heard that Pizza Lupo opened up in Lawrenceville in December 2020, we knew we had to get in as fast as possible to try it out. This was especially true after we saw photos of the pies as they seemed right up our alley.

We quickly placed an order and were not let down with what we got.

Warning – The Small Pie at Pizza Lupo is Huge

Pies from Pizza Lupo Pittsburgh

Before we get into discussing the flavors of the pizzas at Pizza Lupo, we need to talk about the size.

If you're like us, you probably glance over the build-your-own section of any pizza menu and jump straight to the specialty pies. At Pizza Lupo, these are listed as small and large (at the time of our ordering, sizes were only listed on the BYO section which we didn't notice it). We hesitated on the $16-$18 price for a small specialty pizza but didn't put much thought into it beyond that.

It was only when we picked our pizzas up that we realized Pizza Lupo's smalls are 14″- about on par with other pizza shop's large. Now it made more sense. So, with a veritable feast in hand we returned home with two of Pizza Lupo's pies in the traditional round style (sadly the Grandma style pie was sold out and we'll have to return to try that).

Pizza Lupo White Pie

The first was the White Pie with garlic cream, fresh mozzarella, ricotta, sausage, tomato, and basil and the second was the Tropic Thunder with tomato sauce, smoked mozzarella, bacon, roasted pineapple (our ears perked up at the roasted aspect), jalapeno, red onion, and chili oil. 

Two things jumped out at us instantly- Pizza Lupo rocked the distribution of toppings such that you can get a mix of nearly every topping in every single bite and the crust itself is quite thin (something we love in our pizzas). 

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Pizza Lupo's Tropic Thunder

While we generally don't like to compare restaurants to each other in most reviews, we do have to say if you are a fan of Badamo's pizzas, you're going to find Pizza Lupo to be quite similar in many respects (this is a good thing). This is because the balance of thin crust, evenly distributed toppings, slice size at large, and robust flavor profiles all work in harmony here and deserves high praise all around.

Perhaps our favorite part about the pies here were the toppings. Apart from the generous distribution the flavors were fresh, distinct, and played off each other well. You could recognize every topping when you bit into a slice, but no one flavor jumped out over the others- truly well balanced in all respects.

The two pies we bought from here lasted us the better part of a week, and warming them back up on our cast iron resulted in a wonderfully crispy crust like you get at places that sell these style pies by the slice (hopefully one day Pizza Lupo will do the same). But for now, we will be ordering an abundance at this one, and hopefully soon will be able to return to try out their Grandma style pie as well.

Pizza Lupo is located at 5123 Butler Street in Lawrenceville.

Looking for more pizza in Pittsburgh? Click the previous link to check out our guide!

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