An Italian pizza organization ranked Ken’s Artisan Pizza, the wood-fired Southeast Portland pizzeria, as the 44th best pizzeria in the world on Monday in a ceremony at the Teatro Mercadante in Naples, Italy.
This marks the third consecutive year the pizzeria founded by baker Ken Forkish — and now owned by his old friend Peter Kost — has made the Top 50 Pizza list, which recognizes pizzerias from Italy to Japan to Brazil and more. It was previously ranked 19th in 2023 and 28th in 2024.
A few things to know about the Top 50 Pizza group. Based in Naples, their methodology — how they actually go about compiling the list — is fairly muddy. The group claims their rankings are based on visits from “anonymous inspectors.” But the cost in travel and food expenses of actually visiting all the notable pizzerias in the world would be astronomical for any group (even Michelin relies on local tourism agencies to fund its guides), so Top 50 is likely relying on unpaid volunteers to submit reports from their visits to local pizzerias. Did someone actually revisit Ken’s since chef Vincent Krone departed earlier this year? There’s no way to tell.
Additionally, Top 50’s emphasis is almost exclusively on Italian-style pizza, with most featured restaurants specializing in wood-fired pies with traditional Italian or Italian-style ingredients. Among represented countries, Italy unsurprisingly boasts the most restaurants on the list, with 41, while most of the top-ranked American pizzerias describe themselves as Neapolitan in style. (Which could help explain why Portland’s best pizzeria has never sniffed the list.)
Further confusing the issue, the Top 50 Pizza list for 2025 is actually a top 100, or rather a top 104, since this year’s ranking includes four ties, including in the No. 1 position, a spot no list maker worth their finishing salt would ever dream of including a tie.
Still, many pizza experts, including Forkish, give the list some credence, and the places I’ve visited, including Ken’s itself and Pizzeria Sei in Los Angeles (No. 9) have been excellent.
Your first time visiting Ken’s Artisan Pizza? Check out our updated review from our 2025 guide to Portland’s best restaurants:
In the years since baker Ken Forkish sold Ken’s Artisan Pizza and moved to Hawaii, everyone from random travel websites to fancy Italian pizza ranking organizations have named his old Southeast Portland restaurant one of the best pizzerias not just in America, but the whole world. Now run by Peter Kost with chef Jesse Skiles, Ken’s Artisan Pizza often bakes 300 pizzas in its roaring oven each night for crowds that line up well before opening — that’s roughly one wood-fired pizza for every minute the restaurant is open. The pizza, thin and deeply charred, remains as good as ever. Ditto for the fresh salads and roasted veggies. But the annual notices sure have made it harder for neighbors to drop by for a bite and a glass of wine.
See where Ken’s landed on our annual guide to Portland’s top restaurants, a ranked list — with no ties — of restaurants I’ve personally revisited in the past year. As with all our reviews, we went to each restaurant in the guide and dozens more besides without advance notice, paying for our own meals along the way.
Visit Ken’s Artisan Pizza from 5 to 9 p.m. (or later) Tuesday-Saturday, and 4:30 to 9 p.m. on Sundays at 304 S.E. 28th Ave., 503-517-9951, kensartisan.com. Earlier this year, Ken’s opened a second location at 1033 N.W. Bond St. in Bend.
— Michael Russell; [email protected]
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