Still one of my favorite pizza pies 15 years later. I just love this place. Great spot to meet up with friends and share a pie.

Once upon a time, this place wasn't just a pizza restaurant--it was a pilgrimage site. People whispered about its crust like it was sacred text, and its awards lined the walls like a shrine to melted cheese and triumph. "Best Pizza" many years running back when that actually meant something. Now? It feels less like a restaurant and more like a nostalgic reenactment gone very wrong. The menu still reads like a dream--Carolina crust this, atomic sauce that--but ordering has become a real exercise in imagination. Half the ingredients are apparently on a spiritual journey and no longer physically present. You'll ask for sharp cheddar and get a thoughtful pause, followed by, "We don't have sharp cheddar, we might have a Wisconsin sharp cheddar?" --which, to their credit, has the word "cheddar" in it. The staff move with the energy of a group project that everyone forgot was due today. Pizzas emerge... interpretively. You might order a margherita and receive something that captures its essence, emotionally, if not structurally. It's less "wrong order" and more "pizza as a suggestion." A master of creative problem-solving, this cashier has boldly redefined the concept of "making change." Why fumble with buttons and math when you can simply hand over two beers and call it even? It's less of a transaction and more of a surprise gift exchange--one where the rules are unclear and the outcome is mildly concerning. And the wine list--oh, the wine list--is a beautiful historical document. A relic. A time capsule from at least six months ago, when bottles still existed and hope flowed freely. Now, asking for wine feels like asking about a long-lost friend. "We don't have that," they'll say, gazing into the middle distance. Still, there's something oddly annoying about it all. Like walking into a once-revered theater that still clings to its golden-age reputation. The performances feel like echoes rather than art, the lighting flat where it once dazzled, and every scene drags with the weight of trying to live up to a forgotten past. It's not bad enough to be a disaster--just disappointing enough to make you wonder if the hype was ever real or if you're just eating the ghost of someone else's great experience. Cheers! read more

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No table service. Ordered pizza shindig 14 inch $24.64 pizza knots $7.20 and 2 drinks $5.70. Pizza took long time to come. Crust and pizza was not as pictured. Very thin toppings were small. Drinks were watery ice was foul tasting making drinks taste spoiled. Knots never came. When I went back to counter to ask for a refund on the knots the girl glared at me and came out with a box and handed it to me. When I took them back to the table to look at them they were just dry bread tied in a knot. No oil. Or garlic on them. Did not look like they were very brown. When back asked to speak to manager the same girl just looked at me and made no attempt to engage with me as to what the issue was. I could see I was getting nowhere with this order. DONT EAT HERE. AND DONT DRINK THE DRINKS. read more

Great pizza but parking and service are bad. I wish i could give them a better rating. Oh well there are other places read more

it taste like big 3 chain pizza for 28 bucks: weirdly sweet dough its a shame this place used to be good read more

Lilly's Pizza - Pizza Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

The glory days of Lily's Pizza are long gone. Once upon a time, this was the place for solid food and chill vibes. Now it's the place where your order goes to die. Every visit feels like a gamble -- and lately, the house always wins (and you don't). They'll mess up your order, argue that they didn't, and do it all with the kind of smug confidence that makes you question your sanity. The service? Think DMV with marinara. The kitchen? Probably still waiting on a ticket for wings I ordered an hour ago. Even the pizza -- once the saving grace -- is now a sad reminder of what was. In a word: hard pass. In a few more: what happened to this place? read more

The food has never been the issue but the service is absolutely awful. Now it's starting blend into the food. Last few visits the pizza is undercooked even when specified well done and they refuse to accept any responsibility. The service has been getting worse and worse since the first time I ever ate here. Really hate seeing a great place go downhill so fast. Wish they would change ownership read more

Lilly's is always good and a Raleigh institution. It always seems to get more crowded as the night goes on. The staff is friendly, and it could probably use an overhaul but then maybe that's part of its charm. I'm not sure if it's changed in 20 years or more. read more

Lilly's Pizza - Old sticker fridge - Pizza Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

Terrible service... no one cares...no one cares...no one cares. Lilly's is not anything what it used to be. If you go in and sit down, you might be OK if you try and order online or DoorDash you're gonna be screwed ! read more

Years ago this was my favorite pizza spot in town. Ordered a meat and chicken pizza tonight. This might be the worse pizza in town. The dough immediately separated from the toppings. Slid right off. No seasoning. Bland. No crunch to the crust. Absolutely bummer. read more

Nice vibe at five points, staff seemed nice enough. We ordered three 14" pizzas, an order of wings and drinks for the five of us ... all ordered at one time in a single order at the walk up counter around 6PM on a Wednesday evening. Our wings arrived at our table in a few minutes, somewhat undercooked. We all agreed we probably would not get wings here again. About five minutes later, a slightly undercooked mushroom loaded specialty pizza arrived at our table. It was quite tasty and we all agreed we would definitely get this again! Although we would like it a tad more done. About 30 minutes later (no exaggeration) a Hawaiian pizza arrived very much undercooked and we mostly left this uneaten to take home and re-heat/cook later! We are beginning to think they perhaps having an oven problem? About 40 minutes later, a full 75 minutes after we ordered our food ... our third pizza which was a speciality meat loaded pizza arrived ... very much over cooked and with burnt crust. We ate most of it leaving a few burnt bits for the trash can. This last pizza was perhaps also tasty if not for the occasional charcoal bites. Probably pass on going here again. read more

10/10 !! The super duper pizza was amazing. There's a sweetness to the crust maybe? Either way I love it. Never change! Definitely a tucked away, if you know you know location. But, once you know you'll be back for sure. read more

The pizza was really tasty, with a perfectly baked crust and high-quality toppings. The cheese was gooey, and the sauce had just the right amount of seasoning. The restaurant had a relaxed atmosphere, and the staff was friendly. read more

Lilly's Pizza - Pizza Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

Great food and greater service. While waiting for our pizza Mohsin entertained us with great conversation. Quote of the night "I got Mohsin in the ocean" - Mohsin read more

Lilly's Pizza - Pizza Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

First time trying, and last time. Insane that the place is raising already excessive prices. Between the website, the board and paper menus they were all wrong. But they have a sign on the counter saying the prices aren't right, but don't tell you what they are. $30 for a 16" pizza is ridiculous at a counter service place. Tastes Similar to Dominos. Wings were rubbery and undercooked. And for $10+ for a Cesar salad (romaine with a few shreds of parm and pizza crust croutons) in a to go container they wanted to charge for extra dressing. smh. Save your money. There's better out there. read more

Why are stars so low...?? At least a 4 star. Doode the pizza and salads are bomb. Rival mellow imo. Smaller but the heart is in the food. It's not dominoes so it's certainly a more elevated price range- worth it considering how worse off you find just a bit cheaper. Guys waited outside for us when we picked up a few mins b4 their closing time during work wk. super generous and happy to receive us read more

The Super Duper rocks. Homemade organic tomato sauce, monterey jack, sharp cheddar, pepperoni, italian sausage, Mozzarella, all-natural ground beef & bacon. pizza has what I want. Check it out online for the menu before you arrive so you know what's going to be good for you. read more

Lilly's Pizza - Pizza Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

Ordered ahead of a crowd , with little kids , they brought out the pizzas we had ordered to later comers.... Apologies after we had asked and waited, but after an hour No free drink or anything. Not recommending, not coming back. Fun decor read more

We ordered food in the morning for a delivery for 7pm. It had been an hour and we still have not gotten an update on when it will arrive. It was pre paid and it was only a couple pizzas. No excuse read more

We ordered the Gus pizza and added roasted potatoes. As someone who loves mushrooms on a pizza and in general this pizza was OVERLOADED with mushrooms. It was inedible. We spent a lot of time removing the mushrooms under the cheese and the pile of mushrooms removed from two slices of a 14 inch pizza was astounding. I have never in my life seen such a mound of fungi. The mushroom flavor was overwhelming. There are many types of mushrooms listed on the menu that top this pizza, but my lord the amount was crazy! (Picture of the mushroom pile removed from 2 slices) Positives: -The crust was delicious -Lots of unique and creative pizzas and toppings read more

Lilly's Pizza - Mushrooms removed from two slices of pizza. One of the dissected slices of pizza next to it for size reference. - Pizza Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

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We love Lilly's Pizza Drove by it for years, wife and I finally went. It's got the hole in the wall eclectic look. When you walk in the door that yeasty pizza dough brick oven smell hits you. We get a medium pizza with pesto as the base then top it with pepperonis, Bacon & Kalamata olives yum yum read more

Lilly's Pizza - Pizza Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

I have been intermittently going to Lilly's for years during family trips to NC. It's a delightfully weird indie contribution to the flowering Five Points neighbrorhood. As has been the trend nationally, the vegan options (my preferred choice) have gotten appreciably better over the years and they can now make one of the better vegan pies I've had in the South. Lilly's features local art ranging from children's drawings through professional quality. It may be for sale--I've never asked. There's a mannequin in shades at the front counter. I've never asked about that, either. There's a model airplane and other bric-a-brac hanging from the celing. You just go with it, as the funky vibe is sort of what you're there for. It is true that you will wait a while for your food, that you have to track down your own utensils and napkins, that Lilly's is short on frills, but those are all things that you pay for at other places, and the self-service ethos keeps the place on the cheaper side. All I can say is that you'll figure out pretty quickly if it's your scene or not. I'm a fan, and it's a cut above the corporate joints. Draft and bottled beers are availalbe. Parking is on street. Masking protocols are iffy. read more

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Just replying back to the response I got. If you do not offer what I ordered then I recommend not having it on your online ordering... That makes it even more ridiculous. Also they only called to verify I wanted prosciutto on the whole thing and the olives only on half. Never was asked which olives we wanted and I never said black olives. Regards read more

Lilly's Pizza - Menu proving what I ordered - Pizza Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

Their service is worth -2 stars, the cheesy bread looks like a kindergartner made it and I waited an extra 30 minutes unnecessarily for a pickup order. Avoid this place at all costs. Let's start with service, the lady at the front is helplessly slow. The owner is not smart enough to bifurcate carry out (order online) from folks who are placing their orders in person. The line was nearly out the door and took 15 minutes. After finally reaching the front, my order wasn't ready yet (mind you this was already 15 minutes after my expected pickup time), so the lady asked me to wait. They did not have an item in my order so I just asked for a substitute since I already paid. The food comes out 15 minutes later, missing another item I paid for too. Everyone looked disgusted in this place and pissed to be there, have a strong feeling I'm not the only one who will never return. They also have a subpar health score, another huge red flag. Next the food. Cheesy bread was laughable, looked disgusting and tasted even worse. The pizza was a 2 out of 10 at best, sauce was not good, crust was not good, toppings were mediocre. They left out ranch, even after up-charging for it. Caesar salad was not good either. Would recommend making your own food, guaranteed you can do better, and quicker too! All in all, 1 star, wish I could give it less for how horrible the service was. This place needs to fire the slow lady up front, split two order and pickup lines, and improve their food significantly or they'll be out of business in no time. Threw away $50, and got a crappy meal after 30 minutes of waiting after my pickup time. Try every other pizza shop in Raleigh before this one read more

Lilly's Pizza - Throw up worthy cheesy bread - Pizza Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

It has been years since I have been to Lilly's and I'm bummed that I clearly have been missing out! The reason I think it has been so long is because I had a couple of encounters where the wait after ordering was just not worth it and they were always so slammed. Yet again this was yearssssssss ago, so we just stayed away awhile thinking that was always going to be the case. I was gladly mistaken during our most recent visit, where we received our freshly out of the oven pizza in a timely manner and we didn't have to stand in a line that went out the door. It was also a Friday night, so not sure where the crowds were, but we enjoyed the calmer atmosphere as our toddler brings enough chaos into our lives. And the pizza was phenomenal! We ordered the garlic knots and a large Super Duper. I don't think I've ever seen my toddler eat so much food in one sitting. I think it helped a lot that the pizza crust is so fluffy and easy to chew. A lot of other pizza places have a chewier crust that can sometimes be too much work for my son to eat, so Lilly's is definitely going to be our go-to pizza spot for the forseeable future for this reason. And also the amount of meat that was on our pizza was awesome too! So much flavor! read more

Decided to give this pizza spot a go since Iv heard great things. Being from Buffalo I am a bit picky about my pizza and probably like my pizza slightly different than others- more on the thicker side. When we walked in it smelled delicious but it was a bit on the Smokey side inside, but it really didn't bother me. The service was great, we ordered your typical cheese and pepperoni pizza - though they offer a wide variety of specialty pizzas that I plan on trying soon! We also ordered the cheesey bread. The cheesey bread was decent, I am not sure if I'd order it again though. The pizza was very good, not too thin and had a good amount of cheese on it. I can't wait to come back to try a specialty one! read more

Pizza was very good. Delivery via GrubHub was not. Hence it was cold upon arrival.

Lilly's Pizza is a local pizza joint located off of Glenwood Avenue in Five Points area. They serve up some great tasting pies. Lillys is always for my go-to for pizza. My favorites are Dante's Inferno, which is their take of a bbq chicken pizza and Super Duper, which is a meat lovers favorite. Their pizza is always perfectly cooked with a generous amount of cheese and toppings. read more

Lilly's Pizza - Dantes Inferno - Pizza Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

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This used to be my favorite pizza in raleigh. Unfortunately with the new ownership the pizza isn't as good, service is slow and it's not the same. do not go. oak city pizza is way better. I've been going to lilly's for 19 years and it saddens me how awful it has gotten. take your pizza business elsewhere. read more

I've certainly dealt with the long wait times before, but I generally only get Lilly's take-out these days so this review is purely about the quality of the pizza: it's not great. Serviceable, sure. But underwhelming given the price point and the reputation and history of the restaurant. Pizzas from Lilly's are consistently undercooked, with the dough soft and chewy in an unpleasant way (and way too sweet to my palette but I get that's their thing). Toppings, too, seem as if they were added at the last moment, raw and cold, and not of great quality - the black olives taste as if they came from a can. My impression is that they struggle to turn around pizzas quick enough (see the many, many complaints about wait time), and thus they are not spending the requisite time in the oven. This is the charitable explanation at least, otherwise, if this quality of pizza is intentional, then, yikes. I probably eat Lilly's a half-dozen times a year and it's like this every....single...time. For a few dollars more, you can get a larger and significantly better quality pizza from a place like Oakwood Pizza Box or Trophy. For a few dollars less, you can get Papa Johns, which rivals Lilly's most days, or a decent frozen pizza from the grocery store and feel just as satisfied. As a result, I just struggle to find reasons to go out of my way to eat here, and as a bonafide Raleigh institution, I wish they'd represent our city better by upping the quality of ingredients and attention to detail of the cook. read more

Lilly's isn't super fast nor do they make thin NY style pizza.... If you're one of those "pizza should fit into this specific mold to be great" people just go somewhere else. What Lilly's does offer and has for years... is really interesting and uniquely delicious pizzas. Big Star, Buddha, and the Nonna are among my favorites. Lilly's convinced me that things like pistachios, potatoes, and even mandarin oranges do belong on top of pizzas! One thing I really love about Lilly's is I can order a pizza loaded with vegetables and it is delicious and I feel a tiny bit better about the huge amount of pizza I consume. Also I love their crust. It's fluffy and I never let a bite of it go to waste. The inside is often smoky so if I am taking some one sensitive to that we order to go and eat it with a beer at Crafty beer, wine and spirits which is close enough to walk to. If you are somehow still hungry the cake at Hayes Barton cafe is so good it might change your life. There you have it... start at Lilly's and have a whole food and bev adventure in five points! read more

Heard great things about Lilly's & I get that you're blowing up with business due to winning the people's choice award last week or whatever. But my family and I stopped in for dinner and ordered our food, waited over an hour, got some burnt garlic knots that didn't have any garlic on them, and watched everyone else get their food when they'd all arrived after us. My husband and son were super patient, but if you had some stronger organization to the place, you'd be better off. At this point, I've paid $50 and am sitting out here in the heat still waiting on my dinner that I should've had an hour ago. Do not recommend. The food looks delicious- if you can ever get yours. Signed, Famished in Raleigh read more

Excellent Hawaiian Pizza! I was a little concerned that mandarin oranges were included in the Hawaiian, but that added ingredient made the pizza phenomenal! We also ordered a cheese pizza that was very good. Nice atmosphere, and friendly staff. read more

I love Lilly's. I've been coming here since 1998. It's changed a little, but not for the worse. Raleigh is lucky to have her. read more

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Literally the best pizza I think I've ever had. The crust is so thick and fluffy and the atmosphere is so interesting! They have a ton of cool gizmos and gadget looking decor! Highly recommend. read more

I am really amazed by the number of pizzas that are available. I have to admit that there are a lot of combinations I am not ready to try it. But the pizzas we have tried have been delicious. My son is a really picky pizza lover and he really enjoys the original crust 4 cheese. Last time we ordered was for his birthday. He devoured a medium pizza and my husband and I split a pizza topped with roasted eggplant. I wish the eggplant had been cut larger, but otherwise it was yummy. We also split a Fuzzi Duck salad. Honestly, the name is what drew us in. The salad was tasty. read more

Always my all time favorite for years! I moved and wish they delivered to Pensacola! How can I survive? I have all my friends hooked on Lilly pizza now! read more

This was one of the most delicious pizzas I've ever put in my mouth. When spending a long weekend in Raleigh, I was suggested to go to Lilly's by two different friends and I figured it must be good. I decided to check in out on Friday evening around 7pm. I didn't know what to expect and when I walked in, there was a line of about 15 people from the bar/ordering area through the restaurant so I immediately hopped in line. There are no signs telling you what to do or anything so I was a little confused but I asked the guy in front of me and he said that the menus were all where you order. No one else had menus, which makes me think that they were all regulars and already know what they were going to order. If so, that's a good sign. I was very pleased with their menu, a lot of super unique pizza choices and some great vegetarian selection. I decided to order a small caesar salad and The Big Star Pizza which had Pesto, Mozzarella, Gorgonzola, Fontina, Roasted Red Peppers, Parmesan & Pistachios. I love the vibe of Lilly's. It's super casual and fun feeling. Against the walls are four-person tables and in the middle are long tables for groups or just mismatched pairs to sit. It's really high energy in here because it's busy and there were a lot of different groups (friends, families, etc) but yet, feels really chill and inviting. Also, the bathroom doors are amazing and I highly recommend you walk back to the bathrooms to see these masterpiece paintings when you visit. When my food came, the salad was fine, nothing special but the pizza, oh my goodness, the pizza. It was magical! I've seriously been daydreaming about it since eating it a few weeks ago. The crust is really soft and chewy and the toppings were a whirlwind of flavors. I mean, really, who puts pistachios on their pizza? I had never heard of such a thing and I'm grateful that I tried it because it was so delicious and added a nice texture. The gorgonzola was another nice addition. I ended up eating over half of the pizza there because I couldn't stop and took the rest to go home. I appreciated that they had a big stack of to go boxes out so you could just grab them yourselves and head out when ready. 10/10 I hope I have a reason to back to Raleigh again someday so I can eat Lilly's again. read more

Getting ready to get some pizza! Early afternoon delight! Pizza is good. Liked the crust. Cheesy bread... I'd pass next time. Nice place outside nostalgic inside. Give it 4 stars read more

Lilly's Pizza - Pizza Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

Tried Lily's Pizza for the first time and was not disappointed! The wait staff and cook were very kind and attentive. My fiancé and I ordered a small pizza to share and we're both satisfied. Very nice little outdoor seating area. We'll be back soon! read more

Lilly's Pizza - Pizza Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina