Top 5 Pizza Places in Cary, NC

Cary, NC — Pizza is one of those foods that bonds together with our memories. It’s the food that’s shared at a childhood birthday party, it’s the comfort food that makes a rough day better and it’s an expression of a family’s heritage. Whether it’s New York-style, a Chicago deep-dish or a secret Italian family delicacy, pizza tells a story.

This week we challenged our readers to vote for their favorite pizza spot in Cary and tallied up the totals after 48 hours. The top 5 restaurants together accounted for 80% of all votes, while the remaining 20% of votes were split between an additional 17 restaurants.

1. V Pizza

Clenching the title of the best pizza in Cary is V Pizza, a newcomer to the area’s pizza scene.

Opening its doors on January 20th, V Pizza of Cary is the first of the chain’s locations to be in North Carolina with six other locations in Florida and one in the works in Georgia. The V Pizza staff in Cary had actually worked together in Jacksonville, FL before bringing the restaurant and bar to NC.

“We try not to take ourselves too seriously and we don’t’ shy away from the fact that we are new to this and we’re all relatively young,” said owner Anthony Rapillo.

Rapillo was born and raised in New York City, where he gained a passion for food. He later went on to live in Naples, Italy in 2016 and says that is where he fell in love with the process of making Neopolitan style pizza. With that style as their base, V Pizza makes all their pies in wood-burning ovens handcrafted in Naples. Taking it a step further, with the exception of vegetables that are supplied locally, all of their ingredients are also imported directly from Naples including the highly-refined Italian flour and San Marzano tomatoes that are the lifeline of their pizza.

“We understand that we’re not going to be the cheapest option, but as long as our product is our product, then we feel that the people of Cary and the Triangle will pay a little more as long as they know the standards of our quality,” said Rapillo.

According to Rapillo, it’s not just important for the pizza to be authentic, but he also wants a staff that can be authentic.

“All of our employees are beyond encouraged to be themselves,” said Rapillo. The employees are friendly and might shout a warm welcome as new customers come in.

On the menu is a variety of salads, wings, sandwiches, dozens of local craft beers and their staple, the Neopolitan style pizzas. Something to note if you haven’t had this style of pizza is that there is often more sauce than cheese leaving the middle of the pie wet or soggy and not conducive to being served by the slice. Because of this, Neapolitan pizzas are generally 10’’ personal pizzas and you may need some utensils.

V Pizza also finds a way to give back in their partnership with a sister foundation called V for Victory. In raising money for this organization, V Pizza helps provide aid to kids and the families of kids battling cancer.

“It’s incredible to be voted the best in Cary. When we first came across the CaryCitizen post, it seemed like a pipe dream because we’re so new; we haven’t even been open two months,” said Rapillo.

To grab the newest wood-fired pizza in Cary, head over to Cary’s Shoppes of Kildaire shopping center.

2. Pizzeria Veritas

Veritas is a Latin word meaning truth, and for this New-York Style pizzeria, their motto is “truth is its own standard”. The restaurant is firm in their refusal to compromise on quality which is why they source fresh ingredients locally, including basil from their own garden.

“Between me and my business partner, Mike Martin, our main goal is to produce the best pizza that we can because we’ve both worked in so many different pizzerias over time and we finally got the opportunity to run our own shop,” said owner Steve Gill.

The pizzeria opened it doors in April 2019 and is well known for its monstrous slices that are part of their extra-large house pies and they also serve sub sandwiches, strombolis and calzones, pasta dishes, salads and garlic knots. According to their website, the restaurant will soon offer beers and wines to their customers.

“The atmosphere I would say is classy. We grow herbs in the shop, we’ve got nice artwork and we took the time to make sure it’s really welcoming. We’ve got a chessboard people can play at, a bookshelf and it’s basically us welcoming you into our home and we’ll make pizza for you that we’ve created from our combined experiences,” said Gill.

Pizzeria Veritas is located across from the Maynard Crossing shopping center at 1260 NW Maynard Road.

3. Pizzeria Faulisi

Sous Chef, Eric Motta stands alongside the wood-burning stove with “Faulisi” spelled in tile.

Pizzeria Faulisi is a family-owned pizzeria in Cary’s downtown area and specializes in a very thin crust wood-fired pizza with a bit of char to the crust. Their wood-burning pizza oven features the name “Faulisi,” which is the last name of the family who owns the restaurant. Using kiln-dried hardwoods of Oak and Hickory is the foundation of the process that goes into making their pizzas.

This is a place designed for a sit-down meal as they do not have a phone number and take to-go orders on occasion at the host stand. The menu is straightforward — appetizers, pizza and dessert. Appetizers include wood-fired Ceasar cauliflower, gnocchi and a variety of cheese, bread and salad. Desserts are usually Italian staples like a cannoli or a slice of tiramisu. Customers can also enjoy a glass of wine or beer with their meal.

As for the pizza they all come out to be about 12″, though sometimes they are more circular than other times due to being hand-stretched. You can find Pizzeria Faulisi at 215 E Chatham Street.

4. Salvio’s Pizzeria

Salvio’s Pizzeria is a favorite in the Triangle with one location in Raleigh and one here in Cary. They’re known for thier NY Style Pizza and also serve up wings, pasta, calzones and subs. Keeping connected with their customers, Salvios provides dine-in, carry out, delivery and online ordering.

Salvio’s offers a gluten-free pizza in a 14″ size along with 14″, 16″ and 18″ pizzas that can be made to order or customers can choose from more than a dozen gourmet pizza topping combinations.

You can find Salvio’s at 2428 SW Cary Parkway.

5. J&S New York Pizza

Cary pizza eaters must love New York Style pizza as J&S NY Pizza is the third in the top 5 to put their own twist on the NY classics. Located inside the Arboretum shopping center in Cary, J&S also has locations in Apex and Fuquay-Varina.

Italian food is in the blood of the owners, Josephine and Silvio Cammarata, who are natives of Sicily, Italy. They came to the US many years ago to start a better life and build a family.  The couple have been in business for  40 years, purchasing their first pizzeria in 1980 in Brooklyn, NY.  In 1989 they left Brooklyn and a ventured on to a new restaurant in Kingston, New York.  Later, in 1995, they relocated to Apex, North Carolina and opened up J&S New York Pizza.

As their children  Philip, Venera and Lori got older, they decided to join the family business, opening up their first location in Fuquay-Varina and now, thanks to their loyal customers, the Cammaratas’ have recently opened their third location in Cary.

They offer their customers homemade Italian food, New York-style pizzas, hot and cold subs, and traditional and boneless chicken wings. The Cary location is the only location with a full bar, offering cocktails, beer and wine. J & S New York Pizza is located at 2025 Renaissance Park.

Honorable Mention

It just wouldn’t be right to publish this top 5 without mentioning a soon-to-come pizza place, Di Fara Pizza Tavern. When they saw our outreach to our readers, they posted this funny comment.

Be sure to give the new place a try when they open soon at 111 E Chatham St.

Did your favorite pizza place not make our Top 5? Name it in the comments below along with the reason why it’s your favorite!

Story and photos by Ashley Kairis.