Bird Pizzeria
Pizza restaurant · Belmont ·
New Haven-style thin crust pizzas with unique toppings and kale salad
New Haven-style thin crust pizzas with unique toppings and kale salad
"Husband and wife duo Kerrel and Nkem Thompson opened Bird in 2021 with not much more than a pickup window, a hanging sign, and a pizza oven. Today, this Optimist Park neighborhood spot has received nationwide acclaim, including one of The New York Times’s Best Pizza Places in the country. Formerly limited to walk-ups and online ordering, the restaurant now offers intimate dine-in counter or table seating (reserve ahead). The East Coast-style pizza is flavorful — balanced between salt, sweet, and tang — and offers red, white, and vegan options and simple toppings like pepperoni, Calabrian peppers, and hot honey, on a unique bendy, thin, and soft crust. Simple add-ons, like kale Caesar salad and bottled Mexican Coke, make this a Queen City destination." - Shindy Chen
"Pizza from Bird Pizzeria is an easy, crowd-pleasing tailgate pick that many people bring along on game days." - Kayleigh Ruller
"For a while, Bird was a sly spot on a corner strip in the Optimist Park. But then, the New York Times called it one of the best pizza restaurants in the U.S., and since then, it’s been a bit of a commotion trying to pre-order one of the pies. But the buzz is for good reason. Bird’s crust is molded and crisped with deftness, making for a chewy-enough-sturdy-enough base. Customers can build their own pies; if you do, get the hot honey drizzle, whether you’re rocking with a red or white sauce. Ingredients are achingly fresh, and the cheese caramelizes to a picture-perfect light golden brown. Pros know to take it to-go and head next door to Substrate for a crushable red wine." - Kayleigh Ruller
"A compact Charlotte pizzeria with a deliberately tight menu—plain, white, and vegan pies plus a kale Caesar—that opens late afternoon and often sells out early on busy nights; the limited offerings reflect the constraints of a 500-square-foot kitchen and a four-person team, and the owners prioritize keeping the operation manageable so they can balance parenthood with running the business." - ByKate Kassin
"Opened in December 2021 by married co-owners Kerrel and Nkem Thompson, this compact takeout-only pizzeria reflects the couple’s personal tastes—so much so that green peppers are deliberately excluded because Nkem dislikes them. Working without formal culinary training, they developed recipes through trial and error: Kerrel spent two years formulating a special blend of organic flours to achieve a crisp, edited crust, and the topping list is intentionally concise (Calabrian peppers; paper-thin red and white onions; hot honey; sausage; pepperoni). Pizzas are baked at a roaring 625°F in Pizza Master ovens inside a kitchen no larger than a closet, producing East Coast-style pies that fall between Detroit-style squares and Neapolitan influences and echo the Cleveland-style the couple grew up with. Located on East 15th Street at the edge of Uptown Charlotte near Optimist Hall in a former strudel shop, the operation relies on a pick-up window, heavy online pre-orders and outdoor or to-go consumption (no dine-in), with lines often forming before opening. After Easter the menu will expand—now with a liquor license—to include slices, small plates, vegetable-forward salads and collaborations with neighborhood breweries, while intentionally avoiding clichés like meatballs." - Timothy DePeugh
