I moved from California about 6 months ago to Pearland, Tx. I rarely leave Pearland, but my gf works a couple of doors from Star Pizza, and after going there about twice, I now Love Star Pizza!!!!
I have to drive about 25 minutes, including freeway, but I still make the trek just to get a couple slices of pizza, the roasted garlic with goat cheese, or a ceasar salad.
So, I just saw your comments address on a menu that my friend has, and I thought I’d let you know. There was a couple of places that I loved in Cali, and I must say that you are up there at the top. I love whole wheat crust too.
–Rahul
Let’s get two things straight. First: It is next to impossible to get truly great pizza outside of New York City. Really. I was born and raised in Houston, and I love the city for what it is, but it certainly is not a mecca for outstanding pizza. Let’s just accept that and move on.
Second: Deep dish pizza is not pizza. It is a casserole. Deep dish pizza can be fantastically delicious, very true. But it’s just not pizza.That said, Star Pizza offers the best pizza available in Houston, Texas. The crust, most important part of pizza, has both excellent taste and a pleasant texture, although I would enjoy a crust with a bit more char. The sauce is well-balanced and well-suited to the pizza. The cheese is excessive, but here’s a thought… ask for less cheese. Personally, I enjoy overindulging in too much cheese, but I can see why others might want less. So ask for less, duh. I’m vehemently against piling loads of toppings on a pizza, and have a limit of three individual toppings per pizza. I find the quality of toppings to always be up to par.
In conclusion, Star Pizza absolutely has the best pizza in Houston. Cities in the northeastern USA have pizza even better than Star’s. And for the record, deep dish “pizza” is simply a peculiar perversion of proper pizza protocol.
–Ed C
The pizza there comes with big chunks of veggies and fresh ingredients. Their salads are always very good too.
–Kate
Star Pizza is one of the best (if not the best) pizza shops in Houston. The pizzas don’t feel greasy, are not really salty, and taste really fresh. We usually order a deep-dish Starburst, but last weekend, we decided to try a half/half combo margherita/sauteed spinach thin crust. The former was really good, but I’m not too keen about the spinach pizza. I used to think their pizza was a bit soggy, but after a visiting Gino’s East and the original UNO Pizza in downtown Chicago a couple of months ago, I think Star is just about as good. The service is hit or miss, but the food is well worth every penny. It’s not too expensive either (probably $10-12/person) I wish it was closer to home (Sugar Land), but on the flip side, it’ll give me more incentive to travel to that part of town.
–Chris C
We go out of our way to get to any of their locations. Do yourself a favor, try the rosemary, garlic & alfredo chicken deep dish pizza with whole wheat crust. …best in tha city.The good part is, that unless you are a circus freak, you will NEVER finish an entire deep dish pizza. Breakfast the next day is a given. …mmm I can almost taste it now!!!
–Tech Nupe
Not only does Star Pizza crank out delicious Chicago and New York-style pizzas, but they also have tasty salads and appetizers. I appreciate that they offer wheat crust. They consistently use fresh flavorful ingredients, which is what makes their pizzas so wonderful. My favorite is the Starburst deep dish with wheat crust. Yum!Be prepared to wait a little while for your pizza though since they are made fresh and take a while to make.
–kmays
*Dislcaimer: Review for Delivery Only*
Nothing says “join us for a house party” quite like pizza & booze. Or at least that was the angle my friend went for a few months back. It worked, since quite a few people RSVP’d, so she called up this place to deliver while we enjoyed some adult beverages & avoided driving. Despite it being a hectic holiday weekend, Star Pizza came thru and delivered on time & for relatively cheap. We ended up with 4 large pizzas of varying toppings & had enough to feed everyone that evening and several hungry stayer-overs the next day. I was particularly a fan of the pepperoni & the supreme – both were absolutely loaded with toppings and the sauce was perfection. I’m not big on crusts to begin with, but this stuff was pretty darn good. Definitely a fabulously made & well-rounded pizza (no pun intended… ok, maybe a little bit).
I can’t bring myself to do 5 stars just yet because I haven’t dined in here. I’ll make sure to get off my duff next time & go to the restaurant itself for the full Star Pizza experience!
–Rachael M
I have not been to the Star Pizza down by River Oaks, but this one is fantastic. I have been here four times, always leave satisfied! Excellent ingredients, large slices, fresh ingredients, cheesy mouthfuls and never a complaint from me. I have had spinach, canadian bacon and mushrooms. soooooo bueno, my fave pizza joint in town! AND they have buffets too, not sure what time though or what days
–Roberto T
My boss decided to splurge on good pizza instead of the usual Pizza Hut (bleh) for our Friday meeting.
This was my first time ordering from here, I had eaten at the Upper Kirby once before and liked it ok.
I ordered 4 pizzas. One pepperoni and one sausage for the nit picky eaters, one Joe’s (spinach) and one Chicken Alfredo pizza both on hand tossed wheat …my choices of course. They quoted me an hour and showed up in 45mins.
The quality of these pizzas blew all my co-workers away. (Poor deprived people…they live outside the loop lol)
The specialty pizzas I picked out were phenomenal. Cooked to perfection and fully loaded with the fixin’s. They gave us complimentary plates, massive napkins and plastic silverware.
FYI: If you order with a credit card they will need to take an imprint of it when the delivery person arrives.
It’s half an hour later and I can still hear them commenting on how great it was. Tee hee!!!
–Julie P
I think the first time I went to this Star was in the early 90s. It was a school field trip and a super-cool teacher brought us here after a school production (yuck) of the Houston Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet. Until I moved closer to downtown, I always thought of this one as “the backup Star locale.”
While the original Star near Shepherd and 59 is my favorite, I still really like this one. It’s big, convenient, easy to find a parking space, I’ve never had to wait for a table, and perfect for large groups.
My “favorite” pizza has changed over the years based on my moods, but really all of their pizzas are fantastic. Veggie Starburst (which they just call Veggie now), Hank, Ben, Marilyn, and Starburst are some of my favorite pizzas ever. I’ve recently tried the Chicken Alfredo and am slightly on the fence about it. Also, since they really pile on the toppings the best way to go is with the Chicago. Actually, the crust is half of the awesomeness that is Star Pizza.
All I’m going to mention about the wait time is that it is WELL WORTH IT. But I’ll suggest that you may want to order a salad or garlic bread with cheese to appease your grumbling stomach.
The salads are great for a restaurant whose focus is pizza. The Spinach Salad or Chelsea Salad (Mixed greens, Gorgonzola, toasted walnuts, sun dried tomatoes) are great. You can also add Rosemary Chicken for about $3. It makes a great lunch.
A couple of coworkers and I recently ordered quite a few pies to feed (and as a thank you to) a small army of other coworkers. The wait time on eight pizzas was just over an hour. That’s from the time we ordered until delivery. I was impressed, but most people were grumbling. They’d never eaten Star and didn’t realize there would be a wait; they were starving. Well, as a testament to the awesomeness of the pizzas, everyone (on full bellies) was raving “that this was the best pizza” they’d ever had.
–Gretchen P
Loved that they have a wheat crust option! I ordered a pepperoni, goat cheese, and black olive pizza for pick-up. I was quoted 30 min. and when I arrived it was ready. I sped home because the aroma from the pizza smelled soooo good! Best pizza I’ve had in awhile! I will definitely order one again. Maybe next time I’ll get it delivered!
–Briana T
MmMmMm I highly recommend this place…The Star Deluxe Pizza, NY Style on wheat bread is great. So are the greek salads. Love it
–Vanessa R
Best deep dish pizza in Houston outside of Chicago. I got a pepperoni pie here with the deep dish whole wheat, Absolutely fabulous!!! The sauce is thick and chunky so I would order it with EXTRA cheese to compensate for the sauce. This place is AWESOME!!!!
–Ken W
You can’t talk about pizza in Houston without mentioning Star Pizza. I have been doing the lunch buffet here for years. Best pizza in Houston, great ingredients, friendly staff….I really can’t think of any negatives.
–Max W
I’m going to be honest, and you might hate me for this, but I’m not a huge fan of pizza. This place sells pizza, and I am lactose intolerant. It’s been a really sad development. Fortunately, you can customize your pizza down to “no cheese, please.” And call me spoiled- Star Pizza is the only pizza I crave!
The ingredients are fresh. The appetizers are yummy to share or hoard for yourself. The venue itself is casual, bustling, and a great hang-out place.
Star Pizza’s service is friendly, attentive, and they get the order right. BF and I order a very complicated pizza. We start with the salsa verde pizza with spicy tomatillo sauce topped with roasted poblano peppers, pan-fried garlic, and feta cheese. We want medium, wheat crust, half with cheese, half without, the half with cheese WITHOUT the peppers, the half without cheese ADD avocado, but add chicken to the entire pizza… etc.
And they NAIL the order every time. And the crust is totally worth the carb intake, trust me.
–Rose K
So, after trying the Star Pizza out in the Heights last year, I did not think I’d be coming back. But thanks to some rave reviews and the boyfriend’s random suggestions – we ended up here for lunch today and I was definitely left impressed.
It’s located right in between Shepherd and Kirby, near 59. They have signs once you’re on Shepherd, so that you’re directed to the right place. They have their own parking lot, which is always a great thing in the Upper Kirby area. Once you go inside, someone greets you right away, hands you menus, and lets you decide where to sit (totally a plus, because I love booths and sometimes, servers aren’t as keen on giving you booths! I don’t know why.). We did indeed pick a booth to sit at and I was amazed at how tiny and cramped this place seemed! And the other thing I was amazed at were the amazing paintings on each backrest of these booths. The artwork was great and really gave me something entertaining to do and look at while waiting for the food.
After some discussion, we decided to get the “Chicken Alfredo” deep-dish with a white crust. We had actually gotten the exact same thing the last time we went to the other location, but figured since we’re trying it with the deep-dish crust, it might be different. What sucked was waiting around 30 minutes for our food to come out, especially during slow business hours and no other customers. But, I guess that’s the price you pay for having pizza made to order, right?
Once the pizza did come out, I eagerly took a slice and took a bite only to realize that I absolutely love it! The pizza was very cheesy and you could completely taste the chicken, the gorganzola, and the cheese. It wasn’t your ordinary deep dish pizza, as it was only the crust that was “deep,” whereas the actual pizza was just a normal size. The crust was also a bonus after I got done eating the pizza, so I was definitely satisfied.
The atmosphere is so calm and “hip” that you can stay there for hours not feeling totally out of place. The servers are attentive and the food is definitely great! I was left impressed and will be making many little trips back, because I LOVE pizza and the thing I love more than that is DELICIOUS pizza.
–Shaz B
I was skeptical about trying this place out at first, however, after being unable to decide where to go grab lunch, Star Pizza was suggested and I agreed. The place has been here for as long as I can remember and I’m glad that I finally tried it! I’m sure all the other reviews have already said everything already but I’ll put in my two cents, as well.
The pizza took close to 30 minutes to come out but it was well worth the wait. I ordered the Chicken Alfredo Chicago Style, of course, and it was deeelicious! I can’t say that it was a true Chicago-style pizza, the crust was pretty thin but it was still all that and much, much more. The crust meshed so well with all the other ingredients and the cheese was all gooey and tasted delicious.
Our waiter was pretty good. He had drinks out quickly and took our order soon after. It was the waiting for the pizza that was really a bummer but that was beyond the waiter. When the pizza finally did come out, he made sure that everything was okay and taken care of.
Overall, this is probably one of my favorite pizza spots, so far. Not my first, but definitely up there. The pizza is really good and the staff makes sure you have everything you need. The pizzas are slightly more expensive than other places but it’s worth it. If you’re in the area, come eat here! You will not be disappointed.
–Michael E
Back in November, we flew to Houston for a very quick visit. The original reason was so that my friend had enough legs on American Airlines to keep her status for the next year. Sure, that’s great and all, but my reason for flying from Dallas to Houston was to eat at Star Pizza!
Jenn had never been to Houston, and me being a homesick Native Houstonian, she had listened to me rave about Star for two and a half years. We left Hobby airport and went straight to Star. The garlic bread with cheese quickly found its way to our table and my tastebuds were on a fast and furious trip thru memory lane.
Then we ordered a small pizza, half Margherita and half Joe’s with mushrooms. Every bite lived up to my dreams and memories, but we had made one crucial mistake. We ate “breakfast” at TGI Fridays at the airport and were too full to completely finish the pizza. Leaving with half the pizza still on the plate was heartbreaking, but I knew we couldn’t take the leftovers as we wouldn’t be to the hotel for hours and I didn’t know if it had a refrigerator.
Star Pizza… still the best pizza I have ever had… and totally worth FLYING from Dallas to Houston just to eat there.
–Aimee Z
I really don’t like pizza. I really just don’t like any type of bread, pizza crust, tortillas, rolls, etc. I think of bread as either A) a utensil with which to eat other yummy food (rotis, naan, injera bread) or B) A container to hold yummy food (buns, pita pockets, tortillas, pizza crust).
But I actually LOVE Star Pizza. Why? Because their pizza is all about the toppings! We ordered a thin crust Starburst. It was loaded with ground beef, Italian sausage, pepperoni, onions, mushrooms, and green pepper. I didn’t even know the crust was there until I got to the edge of my slice! I actually did have a couple of bites of crust though. And I have to admit, I liked it! This sounds weird, but it tasted like crunchy Krispy Kreme donuts without the sugar glaze. Sweet, yeasty goodness. YUM.
We also had the roasted garlic appetizer. It’s a simple appetizer and easy enough to make at home, but who has the time to roast a couple heads of garlic? It comes with bread, a small scoop of goat cheese and a sprinkling of sun dried tomatoes. You squeeze out the garlic and spread it on the bread with all the other goodies. This was the perfect accompaniment to our bottle of wine. This alone filled us up, so we might stop by in the future just for this app!
It does take about 30 minutes for the pizza to come out, so if you’re starving please order an app and don’t complain. The pizza is well worth the wait. We had two different waiters serve us, both very efficiently. Bonus- our meal of app, pizza, and wine came in under $50. With plenty of leftovers for another meal. SCORE!. We’ll be back.
–Shefali M
To me, the best pizza in town. Although that’s a highly-contested title that involves lots of debate about crust and so much more, it’s just plain my favorite. Whole wheat crust, cheese, and hamburger topping is all I need to be transported to a place of sheer pizza ecstasy.
One big bonus is that Star let’s you order pizza by the slice, any way you want it. Sure, it takes some time to make this stuff from scratch, but order up a big fountain drink and make sure to bring along some good conversation, and the wait will be worth it.
—Katie F
My parents were eating here before I was born. Eventhough I actually live in Chicago now, I still crave Star’s very own “Chicago Style” pizza.
I have considered many times that these memories could be clouded by nostalgia, and that it may not really be *as* good as I rememebered. But, on my last trip to Houston, I revisitied it and it was so good, in fact, that we went twice in a four day trip.
The deep dish, whole wheat Joe’s cannot be missed. It’s so garlicy, has the perfect ratio of ingredients, the best sauce and the most amazing crust.
The garden salad is also pretty impressive. It’s full of super fresh, top quality vegetables. Make sure you get the house dressing. It’s fantastic.
Also of note, they deliver wine and beer! Who else does that!
–Crystal M
What sounds good anytime of day? A SLICE OF PIZZA!
But not just any kind of pizza. I’m looking for a Chicago style, deep dish, pizza. Something that will fill my stomach up and satisfy my craving. What better to wash down a pizza with, than a nice cold beer?
Star Pizza has both!!!
Arrived close to 10:30pm. The parking lot was full so had to move it to the streets. Walked in and my boyfriend and I were seated immediately. Looked over the menu and didn’t look at anything but the pizzas! I noticed they had more to offer, but what I came here for was some deep dish pizza and I found it…Starburst with a whole wheat crust.
So we placed our order: 2 glasses of St. Arnold’s and a medium deep dish Starburst with whole wheat crust. Like the wheat crust makes the meal any healthier, but hey at least it’s some peace of mind. Our beers came out and we sipped on those until our pizza was ready. I must say this place is a great place to people watch, especially as the night went on. I was getting hungry watching everyone eat their pizza that I kept looking at my phone wondering when our pizza will come out. I had to keep in mind that we ordered a whole pizza and it’s going to take several minutes. Definitely worth the wait!
The dish finally arrives. Just what I wanted! The smells of the meats and cheese were oh so delicious. I dove right in and got myself a slice and with knife and fork in hand, began to dig in. YUMMY!!! The amount of cheese and meats and sauce were perfect. The crust was crisp all around and baked perfectly.
We ate the whole thing, to both of our surprise. It was just that good, we couldn’t stop eating!
–Christine M
It took a little while for me to warm up to this place. I can say now I really enjoy the food. We had the garlic and goat cheese and cheese bread for appetizers and of course pizza and spaghetti. The service was wonderful and the food hit the perfect spot. I liked the cheese bread but not everyone at my table would rave about it. All in all it was exactly what I was craving.
Another thing, every time we go we sit in a totally different area, which always feels like it’s a new place. This last time we went upstairs and it was so adorable.
Oh and it happens to be across the street from Amy’s so it’s a bonus in my book.–Vanessa G
For our first Star Pizza experience, we ordered the Hank’s NY thin crust pizza (sausage, mushroom, olives). The sausage was some of the best I’ve had on a pizza. Like others have said, this is a cheese heavy pizza where the sauce takes a backseat. That’s not to say that there weren’t a ton of toppings on the pizza. It’s just that the sauce is pretty neutral. I would have preferred a spicy sauce. I’d rate Star’s pizza better than NY Pizzeria, California Pizza Kitchen, and Costco (which actually has pretty good pizza at a great price… but I digress).
Another plus: We phoned in the order at 7:00 pm on Saturday night. The pizza was ready in about 20 minutes. Which was very impressive considering how insanely busy they were when we showed up. I’m not sure I’ve seen a busier pizza parlor. The staff was very friendly, and offered the usual cheese and peppers to-go. All in all, I wouldn’t hesitate to go back.
–David G
I first visited Star after it topped the Houston Chronicle “Best Pizza in Town” list in 2002. From then on I was hooked. They use the freshest ingredients, but most importantly, they bake the pizza when you order it!
That said, it takes 30-40 minutes to get your food once it’s ordered, but when they bring it out and set it on your table, you know that it doesn’t get any better. Snag some cheese bread and a salad and you don’t notice the delay!
–Keaton B
Star specializes in super deep-dish, eat-with-knife-and-fork pizzas. They make their own crusts, whole wheat or white, and it’s delicious. You can get pretty much anything you want as toppings. They have some interesting combinations to choose from, or you can make up your own. I like ground beef, bacon and broccoli best myself.
Star delivers, but since they do the crust fresh, it can take quite a while, sometimes over an hour, to get your pizza. The restaurant itself can get pretty crowded and loud at peak times. The prices are a little high for pizza, but it’s pretty hearty fare, and it goes further than you think it will.
I don’t live in Houston anymore, but when I come back to visit, Star is the first place I want to go– my classic favorite.
–Kate S
This is THE place to get a pizza- especially a deep dish pizza! This isn’t your artsy fartsy type of pizza. It’s a pizza pizza… all of the ingredients are fresh and top notch. It beats the pants off of any of the major chains.
My favorite is the deep dish veggie on a whole wheat crust. The starburst and Joe aren’t far behind! Oh and the salads are great. Again- fresh crisp ingredients. I think all of their dressings are homemade. My favorite- honey mustard.
I’ve been eating at Star (mostly the Shepherd location) for over a decade and it never disappoints. The staff are all eclectic Austin cool (especially at the Shepherd location). Very friendly and prompt service.
–Michael L
