Pizzeria Paradiso

Pizzeria Paradiso has operated at 3282 M Street NW since 1991, making it one of the Georgetown restaurants with the longest uninterrupted run in the neighborhood’s commercial history. The restaurant was founded by Ruth Gresser, who built the Pizzeria Paradiso concept around the wood-fired oven and the Italian-style pizza that was less common in Washington’s restaurant market at the time of opening. The more than three decades of consistent operation and the consistent positive recognition in Washington restaurant criticism have made Pizzeria Paradiso the reference point against which other Georgetown pizza is measured.

The wood-fired oven that Pizzeria Paradiso uses produces the specific thermal environment that Italian pizza cooking requires: the radiant heat from the dome ceiling of the oven, the conductive heat from the stone floor, and the convective heat of the hot gases that the wood fire creates produce cooking conditions that a gas or electric oven cannot fully replicate. The combination of high temperature and the specific heat distribution produces a pizza crust with the charred blistering on the cornicione and the properly cooked underside that the Italian tradition requires.

The beer program at Pizzeria Paradiso is one of the most significant craft beer selections in the Georgetown restaurant landscape. The restaurant has maintained a serious beer list through the full arc of the American craft beer movement, from the early period when craft beer was a novelty in most restaurant settings through the current era when craft beer has become a significant food and beverage category. The beer selection covers the American craft brewing tradition alongside the Belgian, German, and British brewing traditions that the international beer culture includes.

Ruth Gresser’s Georgetown original has been followed by additional DC locations, but the M Street address is the founding restaurant and continues to serve as the flagship.

Hours run from 11:30am daily. Ruth Gresser’s Georgetown Pizzeria Paradiso has been followed by additional DC locations, including the Dupont Circle address and others, but the M Street original remains the flagship. The longevity of the Georgetown location reflects the quality that has kept the Georgetown dining community returning across three decades of competing pizza options that have arrived and departed. The toppings at Pizzeria Paradiso have always reflected the quality sourcing approach rather than the mass-market ingredient catalog: the soppressata, the artichoke hearts, and the fontina cheese that Pizzeria Paradiso uses are not the standard pizza chain ingredients. The commitment to ingredient quality is what allows the wood-fired oven to produce a pizza that rewards attention rather than simply filling the hunger. The beer list at Pizzeria Paradiso is among the most complete in Georgetown’s restaurant landscape. The selection covers the Belgian tradition, including the Trappist ales that the Belgian monasteries produce and the Belgian-style ales that the American craft brewing movement has developed; the German tradition of lagers and wheat beers; and the American craft tradition that has expanded so substantially since the Paradiso opened in 1991 that the American craft section of the list is now larger than the Belgian and German sections combined. Hours run from 11:30am daily through the dinner service.