The Best Neapolitan Pizza in Salt Lake City: How Brooklyn Roots and Italian Tradition Collided at Pizza Nono in 9th & 9th

The first thing you notice when the garage door rolls up at Pizza Nono isn't the wood-fired oven glowing orange at 900 degrees, though that's impressive. It's not even the smell of San Marzano tomatoes blistering under fresh mozzarella, though that'll stop you mid-step on the sidewalk. It's the way the entire place just... opens. Inside becomes outside. The communal table stretches toward the patio. Summer evening light floods the brick and reclaimed wood. And suddenly you're not in some sterile fast-casual joint—you're in a neighborhood pizzeria that feels like it's been here for decades, even though Will McMaster only opened it in 2017.

One customer captured the experience perfectly after their first visit: "We absolutely loved their Margherita pizza! Seriously pure bliss! This place is easily one of the best pizza places in Salt Lake City!" That kind of enthusiasm isn't rare at Pizza Nono. It's the baseline.

From Cobble Hill to 9th & 9th: Will McMaster's Pizza Journey

Most people don't open one of Salt Lake City's best Neapolitan pizza spots as their first restaurant. But Will McMaster isn't most people. Growing up in Brooklyn's Cobble Hill neighborhood, McMaster spent his formative years frequenting the kind of no-nonsense pizzerias that defined New York's food culture. Not the tourist traps. The real ones. The places where quality ingredients on great bread—a philosophy he borrowed from legendary Brooklyn pizzaiolo Paulie Gee—mattered more than flash or gimmicks.

After the 2008 financial crisis pushed him back to Salt Lake City from New York, McMaster started a consulting business. But pizza kept calling. He built a wood-fired oven in his backyard and started experimenting, teaching himself the art of Neapolitan pizza through trial, error, and an almost obsessive attention to ingredient quality. Then he went to Italy. Those trips solidified everything—the techniques, the philosophy, the understanding that great pizza isn't about complexity. It's about doing simple things perfectly.

When he finally opened Pizza Nono at 925 East 900 South, the name itself was a love letter to the neighborhood. "Nono" means "ninth" in Italian. The restaurant sits at the heart of the 9th & 9th district. It's the kind of linguistic synergy you can't manufacture.

Brooklyn-Style Neapolitan Pizza Meets Utah Speed

Here's what makes Pizza Nono different from every other wood-fired pizza restaurant in Salt Lake City: speed without sacrifice. McMaster designed the entire operation around a fast-casual model that doesn't compromise on artisan quality. You order at the counter. You grab your own plates and silverware. You bus your own table. But what arrives at your table in just minutes is the real deal—Neapolitan pizza made with organic flour, San Marzano tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella, pulled from a custom wood-fired oven that hits temperatures most home ovens can only dream about.

The wood-fired pizza oven can turn out perfectly browned and bubbled pizzas in just a matter of minutes. One regular customer observed something that speaks to McMaster's precision: "I love that my pizza crust rarely is burned on the bottom (maybe once), unlike most of the other pizza restaurants that have a wood-fired oven. That takes pizza-making skills, and their pizza makers have been at the restaurant since it opened."

That's not luck. That's technique. And it's rare.

The menu is deliberately tight—four core pizzas plus a weekly special. A couple salads. Seasonal sides like the famous broccolini with lemon and balsamic. That's it. The simple and straightforward menu helps keep quality high. When you're not trying to be everything to everyone, you can perfect the things that matter.

The Pizza Everyone Talks About: Margherita, Rocket Man, and the Beehive

Walk into Pizza Nono on any given night and you'll hear the same pizzas being ordered over and over. Start with the Margherita ($11)—it's the litmus test for any Neapolitan pizzeria. At Pizza Nono, it's textbook perfect. Tomato sauce that tastes like actual tomatoes, not sugar. Fresh mozzarella that melts into creamy pools across the crust. Grana Parmesan for that subtle nutty bite. Fresh basil. A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. The crust is where McMaster shows his Brooklyn training—slightly sweet and amazingly tender, completely avoiding the leathery texture that many flatbread pizzas fall into.

One food blogger who's tried hundreds of pizzas described it simply: "Will we ever eat another pizza from Utah again that's not from Nono? Most likely not."

Then there's the Rocket Man ($13), which has been called "as close to perfect as pizza can get." It's a white pizza topped with fontina and fresh mozzarella, then piled with peppery arugula and thin strips of prosciutto di Parma right out of the oven. The arugula wilts just slightly from the heat, the prosciutto practically melts into the cheese, and the result is this perfect balance of rich, buttery, peppery, and nutty flavors that somehow all make sense together.

But if you want the most Utah pizza Pizza Nono makes, order the Beehive ($13). It's named after the state symbol, and it delivers on that local pride with tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, Calabrese salami, pickled jalapeños, and a honey drizzle that ties the whole thing together. Sweet, spicy, savory. Reviewers consistently praise it: "Cheese was the star. Nice bit kick from peppers and nice honey without overpowering it." Another regular keeps it simple in their recommendation: "Pizza Nono has been a great addition to the 9th and 9th restaurant scene! The food is great and reasonably priced - recommend the broccolini and the beehive pizza."

Don't skip that broccolini, by the way. It's not just a side—it's one of those simple-but-perfect dishes that shows McMaster's commitment to doing vegetables right. Roasted with lemon, balsamic, and grated Grana cheese, it's the kind of thing you order every single time.

The 9th & 9th Vibe: Where Garage Doors Meet Great Pizza

The space itself tells you everything about McMaster's aesthetic. He transformed what used to be a run-down insurance office building into something that feels simultaneously Brooklyn-cool and neighborhood-authentic. Much of the west-facing wall is made of open bay doors, which create a unique and memorable space by blurring the separation between the inside and outside.

On summer evenings, when those garage doors roll up and the patio doubles the dining area, Pizza Nono becomes exactly what the 9th & 9th neighborhood needs—a gathering spot where you can watch your pizza get made while sipping wine and catching the last golden hour light. There's a big communal table down the middle. Smaller tables along the sides. Tin plates and vintage water glasses. A letterboard menu. String lights. It has that effortlessly cool vibe that you can't fake.

One reviewer captured the energy perfectly: "The crust was cooked to perfection. I came out of this joint a free loading, tree hugging hippie with liberal political views and a fancy for a girl named mary jane, or at least that's the vibe I felt from within the joint." That's 9th & 9th in a nutshell.

The fast-casual model means you're part of the process. Order at the counter. Grab your silverware. Find a spot. Watch the pizzas fly out of the oven. Bus your table when you're done. It's the anti-thesis of precious fine dining, and that's entirely the point. McMaster wanted a neighborhood pizza shop that felt accessible and real, not a destination restaurant that required a reservation three weeks out.

Local Ingredients, Brooklyn Standards, Italian Soul

What separates Pizza Nono from the growing field of wood-fired pizza restaurants in Salt Lake City is McMaster's refusal to compromise on ingredients. He uses organic flour for the dough. San Marzano tomatoes from Italy for the sauce. Fresh mozzarella. Prosciutto di Parma. Grana Padano. Fontina. Quality Calabrese salami. The ingredients list reads like he's still sourcing for a Brooklyn pizzeria, not cutting corners for the Utah market.

And whenever possible, he sources locally. Those pickled jalapeños on the Beehive? Local. Seasonal vegetables like the broccolini and roasted cauliflower? Sourced from Utah farms when available. One monthly regular noted: "We love and appreciate the high quality of the ingredients they use, as well as their focus on buying from local farms and businesses. Because they don't skimp on their ingredients' quality, the pizzas just taste better!"

That commitment extends to the weekly pizza special, which McMaster uses as a playground for seasonal ingredients and customer suggestions. Past specials have included everything from roasted apricots with burrata to Meyer lemon pizzas to ricotta and pepperoni variations. Customers can even vote for their favorites or suggest new combinations through the website. It keeps the menu fresh without losing the tight focus that makes Pizza Nono work.

Planning Your Visit to Pizza Nono

Pizza Nono sits at 925 East 900 South, right in the heart of the 9th & 9th neighborhood—one of Salt Lake City's most walkable and vibrant dining districts. Hours are Monday through Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday through Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. They're closed Sundays, which is one of the few downsides regulars mention.

Here's what you need to know: Get there early or be prepared to wait, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. The space is small—maybe 30-40 seats inside, plus the patio. There are no reservations. It's first-come, first-served, which is very Brooklyn of them. Online ordering for takeout is smooth and efficient if you want to skip the wait.

What to order? Start with the Margherita if you've never been—it's the benchmark. Add the Rocket Man if you're with someone who can share. Get the broccolini. Seriously, get the broccolini. If you're feeling adventurous or want something with a Utah twist, the Beehive delivers every time. They have beer and wine, and the wine selection is thoughtful without being pretentious.

Gluten-free crust is available and made in-house, which is rare. Multiple celiac-aware reviewers note it's some of the best gluten-free pizza crust they've had, though there are cross-contamination concerns given the single oven setup—so proceed according to your own sensitivity levels.

And if you're still hungry after pizza? Cross the street to Dolcetti Gelato. McMaster doesn't serve dessert, but he knows his neighbors do it better than he could anyway.

Why Pizza Nono Matters to Utah's Food Scene

When McMaster launched Pizza Nono via a Kickstarter campaign back in 2017, he raised just over $13,000 from 104 backers. Those early believers weren't just funding a pizza restaurant—they were investing in the idea that Salt Lake City deserved the kind of neighborhood pizzeria that Brooklyn has on every other corner. The kind of place where quality ingredients and simple execution create something special. Where fast doesn't mean cheap, and casual doesn't mean careless.

Seven years later, Pizza Nono has proven that model works. McMaster's now expanded the family with Nona Bistro (a wood-fired outdoor dining concept on 900 South) and Notes (a natural wine bar in the same building). But Pizza Nono remains the foundation—the place where he proved that Salt Lake City diners would show up for authentic Neapolitan pizza made the right way, even if they had to sit at communal tables and bus their own dishes.

In a city where pizza often means The Pie's late-night college slices or chain delivery, Pizza Nono occupies a different space entirely. It's artisan without being precious. Fast without sacrificing quality. Neighborhood-focused without being exclusive. And most importantly, it's really, really good pizza. The kind you think about days later. The kind that makes you drive across town on a Tuesday just because you need that Margherita.

One food writer summed it up after eating through Salt Lake City's pizza landscape: "I haven't tasted a better Margherita pizza than the one at Pizza Nono." For a Brooklyn kid who came home to Utah and brought his pizza obsession with him, that's the highest compliment possible.

Pizza Nono
925 East 900 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84105
(385) 444-3530
pizzanono-slc.com
Instagram: @pizzanono