07 October 2026 · 7 min read
Columbus, Ohio has one of the denser pizza scenes in the Midwest: campus-area slice counters near Ohio State, brewery pizzerias in the Brewery District and Short North, take-and-bake shops in Grandview, and late-night counters that stay open after the bars close downtown. With dozens of pizza restaurants listed for the city, prices vary a lot depending on neighborhood, crust style and whether you're ordering a build-your-own pie or a loaded specialty.
We pulled current menu pricing directly from the official websites of several well-reviewed Columbus pizzerias to see what a large pizza actually costs in 2026. The short answer: a large pie runs from about $20 to $32 before tax, tip or delivery fees, with the final number depending heavily on crust thickness, toppings, and whether you're at a counter-service spot or a sit-down brewery pizzeria. Below is what we verified, neighborhood by neighborhood, plus what to expect if you haven't checked a Columbus pizza menu in a while.
Ohio has a regional pizza identity that's a little different from the coastal styles most people think of first. Several long-running Columbus-area chains are known for a cracker-thin, almost crispy crust cut into squares rather than wedges, with low-moisture mozzarella and toppings spread edge to edge instead of leaving a bare outer crust. That square-cut, thin-crust approach shows up across the city's pizzerias even when the restaurant describes itself with a different label, like Adriatico's "New York style" branding. If you grew up outside the Midwest, ordering a square-cut pizza for the first time can be a genuine surprise — it's worth asking how a pizzeria cuts its pies before you order if that matters to you.
Three Columbus pizzerias publish detailed pricing on their own ordering pages, which let us compare sizes and crust options directly instead of guessing:
| Pizzeria | Large size | Cheese price | Specialty/pepperoni price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adriatico's New York Style Pizza | 16" round or 18"x13" rectangular | $22.00 | $24.00 (pepperoni) |
| Pies & Pints (Easton) | Large house pie | $20.00 | $26.00–$32.00 (specialty pies) |
| Artisan Pizza Cafe | Build-your-own | $20.00 | $23.00 (pepperoni) |
Pizza Restaurants · Columbus, Ohio
Adriatico's, a longtime Ohio State campus fixture near Neil Avenue, lists its large pizza in two shapes: a 16-inch round or an 18-by-13-inch rectangular cut, both priced the same at the base level. Toppings add $2.00 to $3.50 each depending on whether they're standard or premium. A loaded large pie with three or four toppings can land in the $28 to $34 range once extras are added, before tax.
Pizzerias clustered around Ohio State's campus tend to price large pizzas on the lower end of what we found, which likely reflects student budgets and high order volume. Adriatico's $22 base price for a large pizza fits that pattern, and Artisan Pizza Cafe, a few blocks away on East 5th Avenue, lands in the same range at $20 for a build-your-own cheese pizza. If you're ordering for a dorm floor or a tailgate near campus, a basic large cheese pizza in the low-$20s is a reasonable starting expectation, with the final bill climbing quickly once specialty toppings are added.
It's worth checking current prices directly before ordering, since campus-area menus can change with the academic calendar, and pizzerias near a university sometimes run student-ID discounts or late-night specials that aren't reflected in standard online pricing.
Not every Columbus pizza spot publishes full menu pricing online, which is itself useful information if you're trying to budget for a quick slice. Mikey's Late Night Slice, a counter popular after the bars close downtown, and Westside Slice, a neighborhood spot on the west side, both keep detailed pricing behind their online ordering systems rather than on their main websites. Westside Slice does advertise a standing Wednesday happy-hour deal: two 14-inch one-topping pizzas for $9.99 during a limited window, which is notably cheaper than any of the full-price large pies we verified elsewhere in the city.
Pizza Restaurants · Columbus, Ohio
Pizza Restaurants · Columbus, Ohio
If a pizzeria's pricing isn't posted publicly, the most reliable way to get a current number is to call ahead or check its third-party ordering page directly, since by-the-slice and late-night pricing often differs from standard daytime menus. Late-night counters in particular tend to run their own specials around bar close that don't show up on a standard menu page.
Sit-down pizzerias that pair pizza with a full bar and table service, like Pies & Pints in the Easton area, price toward the higher end of what we found. Their large house cheese pie starts at $20, but specialty pies with multiple toppings — steak and mushroom, Nashville hot chicken, heirloom tomato — run $26 to $32. That's a meaningfully wider range than the campus pizzerias, reflecting the sit-down format, draft beer list and specialty ingredient combinations rather than a simple per-topping markup.
Pizza Restaurants · Columbus, Ohio
Pies & Pints also sells pizza by the slice on weekdays until 2 p.m., with cheese slices at $4.50 and pepperoni at $5.00, which is a useful way to try the format without committing to a full specialty pie. For a group that wants to split several different specialty pies rather than agree on one, a sit-down pizzeria like this one can actually work out to reasonable value per person, even though the sticker price on any single pie looks higher than a campus counter's.
None of the verified prices above include delivery fees, service charges or tip, which can add $5 to $10 or more to a delivered order depending on the platform and distance. If a pizzeria offers direct delivery through its own site rather than a third-party app, that's generally the cheaper route, since it skips the marketplace commission that's often passed on to the customer in the form of higher menu prices or a larger delivery fee. For a tight budget, pickup remains the most predictable way to pay close to the menu price you see online.
If you're ordering for a group, it's worth asking whether a pizzeria offers a sheet-pan or party-size option. Adriatico's, for example, lists an 18-by-26-inch "Buckeye" party size at $43.50, which works out cheaper per slice than ordering two or three separate large pies — a detail that's easy to miss if you only check the standard size chart.
Pizza Restaurants · Columbus, Ohio
Columbus's pizza scene spreads across several distinct commercial strips, and pricing tends to track the neighborhood's overall dining cost level more than any single factor like distance from downtown. Short North, with its denser restaurant and bar scene, is home to pizzerias like Goodfellas Pizzeria that compete with a broader range of upscale dining options nearby. Grandview and the Brewery District skew toward sit-down and brewery-style pizzerias rather than counter-service slice shops, which tracks with the higher price range we found at Pies & Pints. For a full list of what's currently listed near you, including addresses and current hours, the Columbus pizza and Italian restaurant directory breaks listings down by neighborhood.
Pizza Restaurants · Columbus, Ohio
Pizza Restaurants · Columbus, Ohio
Artisan Pizza Cafe's ordering page lists a build-your-own cheese pizza at $20 with a flat $23 price for a pre-set pepperoni pie, but didn't specify a size tier for either option — worth confirming the exact dimensions when you order if the final size matters for your group.
As a rough rule of thumb, plan on three slices per adult for a casual gathering, with a standard large pie cut into eight slices. That means one large pizza comfortably feeds two to three people as part of a meal, or roughly two to three large pizzas for a group of six to eight. If you're mixing in sides like wings or salad, you can generally reduce the pizza count by about 20 percent. Ordering a mix of a large cheese pie alongside one or two specialty pies tends to cost less per person than ordering all specialty pizzas, based on the per-pie price spread we verified above.
Based on what we verified, three factors explain most of the price difference between a $20 pizza and a $32 one in Columbus: crust and size format (rectangular cuts and party-size sheet pans change the per-slice math), service style (counter pickup versus a full-service brewery pizzeria with table service and a draft beer list), and topping tier (standard vegetables and meats versus premium or specialty combinations). None of the pizzerias we checked publish prices that vary meaningfully just by zip code — the format of the business matters more than its exact location within the city.
If you're ordering a basic large cheese pizza for pickup near Ohio State or a campus-adjacent neighborhood, budget around $20 to $24. If you're at a sit-down brewery pizzeria or ordering a specialty pie with several toppings, expect $26 to $32 before tax and tip. Add delivery fees on top of either range if you're not picking up yourself, and check current prices directly with the pizzeria before you order, since menus change and the numbers above reflect what each site listed at the time we checked.
06 Oct 2026 · 8 min read
A neighborhood-by-neighborhood tour of Chicago pizza: deep-dish downtown, tavern-style squares, a pot pie in Lincoln Park, Roman slices, and more.
Chicago Illinois neighborhood guide
04 Oct 2026 · 8 min read
New Haven apizza, tavern bar pie and Sicilian square pizza explained, with real listings and how true Neapolitan compares.
pizza styles explainer New Haven apizza
03 Oct 2026 · 8 min read
Verified 2026 menu prices from six Philadelphia pizzerias show a large pie running $9 to $35 — here's what explains the spread.
Philadelphia Pennsylvania cost breakdown
