Top Rated Pizza Joints in Hakodate That Locals Swear By

I have spent the better part of two decades eating my way through Hakodate, a port city where the cold Tsugaru Strait wind sharpens your appetite and the locals guard their favorite tables with quiet pride. When people ask me about the top rated pizza joints in Hakodate, I do not rattle off a list from some algorithm. I tell them about the places where I have sat on cracked vinyl stools at midnight, where the owner knows my order before I open my mouth, and where the dough tells you something specific about this city's stubborn, independent spirit. Hakodate was one of the first Japanese ports opened to foreign trade in 1859, and that history of absorbing outside influences without losing its own identity shows up in every slice you will find here.

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Pizza-King

You will find Pizza-King on the second floor of a narrow building along Yayoi-cho, just a short walk from the Hakodate Morning Market area. This place has been operating since the late 1980s, making it one of the longest-running independent pizzerias in the city. The owner trained briefly in Yokohama before coming back to Hakodate, and you can taste that hybrid sensibility in every pie. The Margherita here uses a tomato sauce made with local Hakodate onions, which are sweeter and milder than what you get in Tokyo or Osaka. Order the seafood pizza if you want something that feels distinctly of this place, topped with squid and shrimp pulled from the morning catch at the nearby market. Weekday evenings after 8 PM are the best time to visit because the after-work crowd thins out and you can actually hear yourself think. Most tourists walk right past this spot because the entrance is unmarked and the staircase is steep. The tables are close together and the ventilation is not great, so you will leave smelling like garlic and wood smoke, which I consider a feature rather than a flaw.

Trattoria Buono

Trattiona Buono sits on the edge of the Motomachi district, the hillside neighborhood full of old churches and Western-style buildings from the Meiji era. The connection between this neighborhood's history and the restaurant is not accidental. The owner chose this location specifically because Hakodate's identity as an international port felt like the right home for a wood-fired Italian kitchen. The oven was built by hand using local volcanic stone, which holds heat differently than the brick ovens you see in Naples. Their quattro formaggi is the dish that keeps me coming back, a blend that includes a Hokkaido blue cheese you will not find on most menus in this city. Go on a Tuesday or Wednesday lunch when they run a set menu for around 1,200 yen that includes a small pizza, salad, and a drink. The hillside location means the walk up from the tram stop is steep, and the restaurant has no elevator, so it is not accessible for anyone with mobility issues. That is the trade-off for a view of the harbor from the upper windows.

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Pizza La

Pizza La operates out of a converted warehouse near the Goryokaku area, the famous star-shaped fort that draws most of the city's tourists. The space is industrial in a way that feels intentional, with exposed beams and concrete floors that echo when the place fills up on weekends. What sets Pizza La apart is their commitment to sourdough crusts, a technique the head chef picked up during a year working in Melbourne before returning to Hokkaido. The dough ferments for 48 hours, giving it a tang and chew that you do not typically associate with Japanese pizza. Their signature is a pizza topped with ikura, salmon roe, which sounds strange until you taste how the briny pop cuts through the richness of the mozzarella. Friday and Saturday nights are packed, so aim for a late lunch around 2 PM when the kitchen is still running but the crowd has not yet formed. The parking lot only fits about six cars, and street parking in this area is nearly impossible during Goryokaku's cherry blossom season in late April. If you are driving, arrive early or take the tram.

Il Sole

Il Sole is tucked into a residential block in the Tomioka neighborhood, far from the tourist corridors, which is exactly why the locals who live here treat it like a second dining room. The owner is a Hakodate native who spent three years in Rome and came back with a conviction that pizza should be fast, cheap, and unpretentious. The prices here are among the lowest you will find for sit-down pizza in the city, with most pies falling between 800 and 1,400 yen. That makes it one of the best answers to anyone searching for cheap pizza Hakodate has without sacrificing quality. The crust is thin and slightly charred at the edges, and the basil is grown in a small planter box on the rooftop. Order the diavola if you like heat, because they use a locally sourced chili oil that has real bite. The restaurant seats maybe 20 people and does not take reservations, so your best bet is showing up right when they open at 5 PM. The neighborhood itself is quiet and residential, with almost no signage in English, so having the address saved on your phone before you leave your hotel is essential.

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Caffe e Cibo Don

Caffe e Cibo Don is located along the canal area near the Red Brick Warehouses, one of Hakodate's most photographed spots. But the restaurant itself is on a side street that most visitors never explore because they are too busy taking pictures of the main buildings. The interior is warm and cluttered in the best way, with shelves of Italian cookbooks and framed photos of the owner's trips to Sicily. Their pizza menu is small, only about eight options, but each one is executed with a precision that suggests the kitchen does not believe in filler items. The Marinara, with no cheese, just tomato, garlic, oregano, and olive oil, is a masterclass in restraint. Visit on a weekday afternoon between 3 and 5 PM when the lunch rush is over and the dinner prep has not yet begun. You might get the owner himself bringing out your food and explaining the provenance of the flour, which he sources from a mill in Furano. The tables near the window get a draft in winter because the old building's insulation is minimal, so ask for a seat toward the back if you are visiting between November and March.

Pizzeria Da Marco

Pizzeria Da Marco is on Tsukiji-cho, a street that runs parallel to the main shopping arcade but feels like a different city. The restaurant opened in 2012 and has built a following almost entirely through word of mouth, with almost no presence on social media. The owner, Marco, is actually from Calabria, and he runs the kitchen alone most nights, which means service can be slow when the place fills up. That slowness is part of the charm if you are willing to wait. His Calabrese pizza, topped with 'nduja, the spreadable salami from southern Italy, is the kind of thing that makes you forget you are in Hokkaido. The wine list is short but thoughtful, with a few Italian reds that pair well with the richer pies. Thursday nights are the quietest, and Marco sometimes experiments with off-menu specials on those evenings. The restroom is down a narrow hallway and the lighting is dim, which can be disorienting if you are not expecting it. But the food more than compensates.

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Ristorante Pino

Ristorante Pino is inside the Bay Hakodate Hotel, near the JR Hakodate Station, and most people assume hotel restaurants are generic and overpriced. They are wrong about this one. The pizza chef previously worked at a Michelin-listed restaurant in Sapporo before requesting a transfer to Hakodate, and he brought his standards with him. The dough uses a blend of Hokkaido wheat and Italian tipo 00 flour, a combination that produces a crust with more structure than typical Japanese pizza. Their bianca, a white pizza with ricotta and truffle oil, is the item that gets mentioned most often in local food circles. The best time to go is Sunday brunch, when they offer a pizza and drink set for around 1,800 yen in a space that is far quieter than the station area outside would suggest. The hotel lobby can be confusing to navigate, and the restaurant entrance is not well signed from the main concourse, so ask the front desk for directions. Most tourists never make it past the ground-floor convenience store.

Sushi and Pizza Mashiro

This one sounds like a gimmick, and I was skeptical the first time a friend dragged me to the Asaichi-dori area to try it. Sushi and Pizza Mashiro is a small counter-style restaurant where the same kitchen produces both sushi and pizza, and somehow it works. The owner trained as a sushi chef for 15 years before developing a parallel obsession with Neapolitan pizza, and the discipline of sushi preparation shows in how carefully the pizza ingredients are handled. The crust is cooked in a gas-fired oven at a lower temperature than traditional wood-fired setups, producing a softer, more pliable base that appeals to customers who grew up on Japanese-style pizza. Order the squid ink pizza, which uses fresh squid from the Hakodate fish market and has a briny depth that pairs surprisingly well with the melted cheese. The restaurant only has eight counter seats and opens at 6 PM, so arriving by 5:45 on a weeknight gives you a reasonable shot at a table. The dual-menu concept means the kitchen can get overwhelmed on Friday and Saturday nights, and pizza orders sometimes take 30 minutes or more.

When to Go and What to Know

Hakodate's pizza scene is busiest from late July through August, when domestic tourists flood the city for the summer festivals and the cooler Hokkaido weather. If you want shorter waits and more attentive service, visit between October and March, when the city is quieter and the restaurants have breathing room. Winter in Hakodate means heavy snow, and some of the smaller local pizza spots Hakodate residents love may close unexpectedly during severe weather, so always call ahead between December and February. Most places accept cash only, and while credit card adoption is growing, carrying at least 5,000 yen in cash is a safe bet. Tipping is not practiced in Japan, and leaving money on the table will likely result in a server chasing you down to return it. The city's tram system is reliable and covers most of the neighborhoods mentioned here, so renting a car is unnecessary unless you are planning day trips into the surrounding countryside.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the one must-try local specialty food or drink that Hakodate is famous for?

Hakodate is most famous for its squid, particularly the morning catch of surume-ika, flying squid, which arrives at the Hakodate fish market in the early hours. The city is also known for shio ramen, a salt-based broth style that originated here in the 1950s and remains lighter and clearer than the miso ramen Sapporo is known for. Locals will also point you toward Hakodate beer, a small-batch craft brewery scene that has grown significantly in the last decade.

Are there any specific dress codes or cultural etiquettes to keep in mind when visiting local spots in Hakodate?

Most pizza restaurants in Hakodate are casual and have no dress code, but shoes should be removed at any establishment with tatami or raised wooden flooring, which includes a few of the older spots. It is customary to say "itadakimasu" before eating and "gochisousama deshau" after finishing. Loud phone calls inside restaurants are considered rude, and many smaller places do not allow smoking indoors, so check for designated outdoor areas if needed.

Is the tap water in Hakodate safe to drink, or should travelers strictly rely on filtered water options?

Tap water in Hakodate is safe to drink and meets the same national water quality standards as the rest of Japan. The water comes from mountain sources in the Hokkaido interior and is generally soft and mild in taste. Most restaurants will serve tap water for free without being asked, and carrying a reusable bottle is both practical and environmentally considerate.

Is Hakodate expensive to visit? Give a realistic daily budget breakdown for mid-tier travelers.

A mid-tier daily budget for Hakodate runs approximately 12,000 to 18,000 yen per person, covering a business hotel or small ryokan at 6,000 to 9,000 yen, two meals at local restaurants for 2,500 to 4,000 yen each, tram fares of roughly 500 to 800 yen, and miscellaneous expenses like snacks and entry fees. This excludes long-distance transportation to and from the city. Hakodate is generally 15 to 20 percent cheaper than Sapporo for comparable dining and accommodation.

How easy is it to find pure vegetarian, vegan, or plant-based dining options in Hakodate?

Vegetarian and vegan options in Hakodate are limited compared to Tokyo or Kyoto, and most pizza restaurants offer only one or two meat-free pies, typically Marghera or marinara styles. Dedicated vegan restaurants number fewer than five in the entire city, and cross-contamination with fish-based dashi is common even at places that advertise vegetarian menus. Travelers with strict dietary requirements should research specific restaurants in advance and communicate needs clearly upon arrival, ideally in written Japanese.