The best pizza city in the U.S. is none other than San Diego, Calif.
Wait, what?
TripAdvisor on Wednesday released its list of the top 10 American cities for pizza, based on reviews of its traveling customers. But the list, led not by powerhouse metropolis New York or Chicago but by midsize San Diego, immediately stoked fierce debate, and in some quarters even ridicule.
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According to TripAdvisor, San Diego is followed by Las Vegas and Boston, with New York in fourth place, and Chicago — home of the deep dish — not even in the picture.
The online magazine Slate declared, “TripAdvisor loses its mind,” and the blog Eater said the list was “just nonsense.”
TripAdvisor said the top spots were determined by the highest average rating, by city, for all restaurants that serve pizza. It did not take into account any other factors.
It wasn’t all bad news for fourth-place New York. Reviewers often held up the city as the standard for comparison. One San Diego reviewer mentioned that the pizza was “as good as being home in New York” while another Las Vegas commenter mentioned pizza there was just as good as “Brooklyn pizza.”
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Other cities that made the list include Seattle, Wash., Austin, Tex., San Francisco, Calif., Indianapolis, Ind., and Philadelphia, Pa.
“TripAdvisor travelers reveal that some of America’s best pizza is being tossed on the West Coast, which flies in the face of the common perception that pizza is only a Northeast or Midwest specialty,” TripAdvisor spokesperson Brooke Ferencsik said.
The top 10 cities for pizza, as determined by TripAdvisor:
- San Diego, California
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- Boston, Massachusetts
- New York City, New York
- Seattle, Washington
- Austin, Texas
- San Francisco, California
- Indianapolis, Indiana
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Phoenix, Arizona