Una Pizza Napoletana: NYC’s award-Winning pizzeria and its vegan options

A little peek at the majority of the vegan options at Una Pizza Napoletana, the World’s Best Pizzaria, 2024, 2025

When it comes to pizza, few names carry the weight of Una Pizza Napoletana (175 Orchard St.) This New York City restaurant, created by legendary pizzaiolo Anthony Mangieri, has become a global destination for pizza lovers. And, yes, vegans we are included in this statement. While the menu is extremely limited in terms of vegan options, you know that if there are vegan options at a pizza spot, I’m there. 

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What can I say about the few vegan dishes available? Well, it’s fair to say the options echo what has earned Una Pizza Napoletana its reputation as the world’s best pizzeria.

Awards and Recognition

Una Pizza Napoletana isn’t just popular. It’s one of the most honored pizza spots in the world. For two consecutive years (2024, 2025), the restaurant was crowned the World’s Best Pizzeria by the influential 50 Top Pizza guide, beating out Italian heavyweights in 2024 and tying in 2025 with I Masainelli di Francesco Martucci (which offers a vegan pizza on its menu). It also earned a coveted Michelin Bib Gourmand for high-quality dining at excellent value. 

For a small Lower East Side restaurant open only three nights a week, it’s got quite the laundry list of recognition.

Anthony Mangieri: The Pizza Maker Behind the Legend

PHOTO: Dara Pollak. Rolling out the world-famous pizza three nights a week at Una Pizza Napoletana.

Anthony Mangieri has been hailed as one of America’s most influential pizzaiolos. A maker of pizzas for more than three decades, Mangieri has been in and out of NYC with his ‘zas. He moved his NYC spot to San Francisco and then returned to the Big Apple in 2018. 

Known for his Neapolitan style, he’s added his own twist on the pizzas which are natural-leavened. He’s led Una Pizza Neapoletana to prestigious recognition for years. The most recent title of World’s Best comes right after being named the top pizza restaurant in the US for the fourth consecutive year.

Vegan Options at Una Pizza Napoletana

While Una Pizza Napoletana is not a vegan pizzeria, it does offer a few dishes for plant-based diners:

Fluffy crust, tangy sauce, fresh herbs are what you’re getting for vegan pizza here.

Marinara Pizza: A true Neapolitan classic, the pizza comes topped with a San Marzano tomato sauce with Amalfi Coast wild oregano, NJ garlic, basil, Sicilian sea salt and Una EVOO. It’s naturally vegan, and arguably one of the best marinara pizzas in the world. 

O-live you, mean it.

Marinated Olives: These tiny salty gems include the stones, and include a mix of Gaeta, Cerignola, Castelvetrano and Taggiasca olives with a squeeze of lemon and dash of rosemary.

High protein, high fiber, these firm beans are one of the vegan options at Una Pizza Napoletana

Lupini Beans: You can get these babies to start your meal, too. They’re served in a light tossing of fennel pollen, parsley, chili and Una EVOO.

Roasted Peppers: When it’s on the menu, grab this dish. Mangieri calls it “one of the most beautiful versions of roasted peppers.” 

Seasonal Sorbetto: Dairy-free, refreshing, and creamy, the seasonal sorbettos are the perfect, light way to end the meal.

It’s worth noting that Una does not offer vegan cheese or substitutions. They also won’t give you olive oil to dip it’s puffy crust into, telling me when I asked for it “we sell it, so we can’t give it to you at the table.” Which is a bummer, but also I didn’t mind because the pizza was really good. 

The Lowdown

So, here’s the skinny on the spot.

Never not busy, reservations open two weeks out at Una Pizza Napoletana.

It’s only open three days a week — Thurs. – Sat. at 5 p.m. It’s last reservation is at 9:15 p.m. The spot is high demand, and you can only make reservations via Open Table. They open reservations two weeks out, at 9 a.m. EST. If you’ve got a specific date you want, they suggest setting an alarm because these tables go quick.

If you don’t get a coveted reservation, you can walk-in. Mangieri makes the dough every morning and reserves one pizza per person for reservations. They save a few for walk-ins. But, take note if you’re chancing it. Una Pizza Napoletana reports folks line up starting at 4 p.m. and they sell out of dough quickly and before everyone in line can get one. They do offer a waitlist and will texts guests on the waitlist if spots open throughout the night.