03 October 2026 · 8 min read
Ask ten people in Philadelphia what a large pizza costs and you'll get ten different answers, and all of them will be right. This city runs the full range: $9 cheese pies from corner pizza-and-luncheonette counters, $18-$26 whole pies from the newer square-pie shops south of Washington Avenue, and $25-$35 pies from the reservation-only, cash-conscious craft spots that get written up in national food press. We checked the posted menus on six Philadelphia pizzerias' own websites in 2026 to see what actually separates a $9 pie from a $30 one, and the answer has less to do with hype than with what's in the dough and on top of it.
Philadelphia is also a city with its own pizza grammar. Alongside the round New York-style pie, you'll find square and rectangular "tomato pies" sold cold or room-temperature from Italian-American bakeries, grandma-style pies with no ring of sauce left bare at the crust, and a steady supply of late-night slice counters that have nothing to do with trend pieces and everything to do with feeding a neighborhood. Price in this city tracks which of those traditions a shop is working in as much as it tracks ingredients.
If you're ordering for yourself, a family, or an office in Philadelphia, this breaks down what you're likely to pay and why, using real prices pulled from current menus rather than guesses.
At the low end, El Greco Pizza & Luncheonette in Olde Kensington lists a plain cheese pie at $10.75, with specialty pies like their Mediterranean or BBQ Chicken running $14.25 to $15.75. These are classic luncheonette-style whole pies, the kind meant to feed a couple of people without much ceremony.
Pizza Restaurants · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
San Lucas Pizza in South Philadelphia prices similarly: an $11 cheese pie, with topped versions from $12 to $17, and a $25 shrimp pie at the top of the list. Both of these are straightforward, family-friendly operations where the price mostly tracks how many toppings are involved.
Pizza Restaurants · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
At the other end of the spectrum, Pizzeria Beddia in Fishtown sells whole pies only, no slices, starting at $25 for a classic tomato-and-mozzarella pie and running to $30 for a roasted-pepper version, with add-ons like pepperoni or sausage at $6 each. It's a destination pizzeria with walk-in and online ordering through Toast, a private hoagie room by reservation, and hours that run into the evening Monday through Saturday.
Pizza Restaurants · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Here's how the posted menus compare, based on what each pizzeria lists for its plain or classic cheese option versus its top-end pie:
| Pizzeria | Neighborhood | Cheese/Classic Pie | Top-End Specialty Pie |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Greco Pizza & Luncheonette | Olde Kensington | $10.75 | $15.75 |
| San Lucas Pizza | South Philadelphia | $11.00 | $25.00 (shrimp) |
| City Pizza | Old City | $8.99 | $27.95 (stuffed) |
| Square Pie | Passyunk Square | $14-$20 (small/large) | $26 (large specialty) |
| Wood Street Pizza | Center City | $19-$25 (small/large) | $35 (large cheesesteak) |
| Pizzeria Beddia | Fishtown | $25.00 | $30.00 |
Check current prices before ordering, since menus change, but the pattern holds: whole-pie pricing in Philadelphia tracks neighborhood, pie size, and how much hand-finishing goes into the toppings, not just square footage of dough.
Before square pies became a trend piece, Philadelphia already had its own version in the tomato pie, a cold or room-temperature rectangular pizza topped with a thick layer of tomato sauce and little to no cheese, traditionally sold by the tray at Italian bakeries. CJ & D's Trenton Tomato Pies on Passyunk Avenue carries a 4.8-star rating from 113 reviews under that style name, though its current menu and pricing are posted only through its Instagram page rather than a standalone website, so the best way to check today's prices is to message the shop directly or call ahead.
Pizza Restaurants · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
For a different kind of Philadelphia pizza experience, Lorenzo and Sons Pizza on South Street is a high-volume, late-night slice counter with a 4.5-star rating across more than 3,300 reviews, the kind of place built around walk-up counter service rather than a sit-down menu. As with CJ & D's, its current pricing lives on social media and in-store rather than a dedicated menu page, which is common for slice counters that turn over stock fast enough that a printed price list goes stale.
Pizza Restaurants · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia's square and rectangular pizzas, sometimes labeled Sicilian, grandma, or simply "square," tend to sit in the middle-to-upper part of the price range. City Pizza in Old City prices its Sicilian square pies from $17.98 for a plain cheese version up to $23.99 for specialty toppings, well above its $8.99 round cheese pie. The jump reflects more dough, a longer proof, and in most shops a thicker, more involved topping layer that runs edge to edge.
Pizza Restaurants · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Wood Street Pizza in Center City, which sells 14-inch small and 20-inch large pies rather than Sicilian squares, shows the same effect from a different angle: its standard pie runs $19 to $25, but a Grandma pizza (a thinner, garlicky square-style pie with no center sauce ring) jumps to $24-$32, and a loaded cheesesteak pizza tops out at $35. Specialty toppings and a less common format both add to the price, regardless of whether the pie is round or square.
Pizza Restaurants · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Both of these menus make the same point from opposite directions: a plain round cheese pie is the cheapest thing on the menu almost everywhere, and every step away from it, whether that's a square format, a less common topping, or a longer dough process, adds a predictable few dollars. None of the six sites reviewed here charge a flat "size surcharge" for square versus round; the cost difference tracks the specific pie, not the shape alone.
The $25-$35 pies aren't larger than the $9-$11 ones in most cases, so the premium is coming from somewhere else. At Pizzeria Beddia, it's a longer-fermented, 100% organic-flour dough and a no-reservation, limited-run model that keeps output small. At Wood Street, the jump from a plain pie to a Grandma or cheesesteak pie reflects the extra prep for a less standard topping combination. None of the listings reviewed here mention delivery radius or online-ordering fees for these premium pies specifically, so if that matters for your order, check the restaurant's own site or call ahead.
Square Pie in Passyunk Square splits the difference: an 8-by-8-inch small red or white pie runs $14, a 12-by-12 large is $20, and specialty pies with toppings like roasted squash or porchetta run $18 to $26, with additional toppings priced separately at $2 (small) or $3 (large) each. It's a useful middle case for a group that wants something more composed than a plain cheese pie without paying craft-pizza prices.
Pizza Restaurants · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
None of the six menus checked here publish a flat delivery fee on their own websites; several route delivery through third-party apps, which add their own service and delivery charges on top of the menu price. Square Pie, for instance, notes on its site that delivery runs through outside apps rather than an in-house driver. If you're ordering for a group and trying to land on a per-person budget, it's worth pricing out the order directly on the restaurant's own ordering page first, since third-party delivery apps typically add a noticeable markup before tip. For a walk-in, phone, or direct online order placed through the restaurant's own site, the prices above are what you'll actually pay before tax.
Takeout timing is worth planning around, too. Pizzeria Beddia lists dining room hours starting at 5 p.m. on weekdays and lists its private hoagie room as requiring a 30-day advance reservation, which tells you this isn't a last-minute order even for takeout. By contrast, a counter-service shop like El Greco or San Lucas is built for same-day, call-ahead pickup, which is the better option if you're ordering within the hour.
Only two of the six menus reviewed, Square Pie and Wood Street Pizza, post two sizes side by side, which makes it possible to see the size premium directly rather than estimate it. At Square Pie, moving from an 8-by-8-inch small to a 12-by-12-inch large adds $6 to a plain red or white pie and $8 to a specialty pie. At Wood Street, moving from its 14-inch small to its 20-inch large adds $6 to the standard pie and $8 to $11 on specialty pies like the Grandma or cheesesteak versions. In both cases, the size jump costs less than ordering a second small pie would, which is the simplest rule of thumb for a group order: one large pie almost always beats two smalls on a per-slice basis.
If you're feeding a family of four, a single large pie from most of these pizzerias covers the meal, and a $17-$25 whole pie compares well against most individual restaurant entrees in the city. For an office order or a party of eight to ten, two to three whole pies is the usual math, and mixing a plain cheese pie with one or two specialty pies keeps the per-person cost down while covering different tastes.
A few practical notes based on what these six menus actually show:
If a specific style matters to you, whether that's a classic round pie, a square cut, or a tomato pie sold by the tray, look at the category listing for Philadelphia pizza restaurants to compare more options by neighborhood before you commit to one order.
The takeaway: in Philadelphia, a plain cheese pie from a corner luncheonette runs $9 to $11, a square or specialty pie from a neighborhood pizzeria runs $18 to $26, and a reservation-style craft pie tops out around $30 to $35 — the gap is driven by format, dough process, and topping complexity, not simply size, so match the order to the occasion rather than assuming "large" means the same thing everywhere.
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