Where to Get Authentic Pizza in Astana (No Tourist Traps)

I have spent more evenings than I care to admit hunting down authentic pizza in Astana, the kind that reminds you of a proper stone deck and a flour-dusted counter, not the sad reheated discs you find near Khan Shatyr. This city has quietly become a serious pizza town over the past few years, with Neapolitan-trained pizzaiolos opening up shop in residential courtyards and along the quieter stretches of Turan and Kabanbay Batyr. If you know where to look, and more importantly when to show up, you will eat very well here.

Line Brew Pizza on Kabanbay Batyr (Left Bank)

If you care about real pizza Astana with a properly blistered cornicione, start here. Line Brew Pizza sits on Kabanbay Batyr Avenue, a few blocks south of the Korme Exhibition Center, tucked into a ground floor space that does not look like much from outside. The dough is fermented for at least 48 hours, and they fire it in a proper Italian-built oven that the owner, a guy named Bakyt who trained in Naples, installed himself when he moved back in 2017. You can taste the patience in the crust.

What to Order: The Diavola with spicy kalbassy sausage, and the white pizza with bryndza and honey. The honey one sounds weird, but the salty cheese against the sweetness works, and locals order it constantly.
Best Time: Weekday evenings between 6 and 8 PM. On weekends the entire Left Bank descends on this place and waits run past 40 minutes.
The Vibe: Loud, smoky, packed with students from Nazarbayev University and expat engineers who work the oil projects up north. Parking on Kabanbay Batyr itself is rough, take the side street behind the building where there is usually space.

What most tourists miss is that Line Brew also brews their own beer on-site, and the unfiltered wheat ale pairs better with the soppressata pizza than anything in a bottle. Ask Bakyt about it, he usually has a fresh keg tapped on Thursdays.

Focaccia on Koshkarbayeva (Old Town, Right Bank)

Focaccia is the kind of place you walk past five times before noticing the little brass plaque by the door. It sits on Koshkarbayeva Street in the older part of the Right Bank, not far from the Bayterek monument, in a converted ground-floor apartment with original Soviet mosaic work still visible in the entryway. They make Roman-style pinsa, which means a thinner, crunchier base than Neapolitan, and they source their mozzarella from a small dairy in Almaty that supplies maybe six restaurants in the whole country.

What to Eat: Pinsa with stracciatella and cherry tomatoes, plus a side of their house focaccia dipped in chili oil. The burrata pizza is also worth the trip if it has not sold out.
Best Time: Lunch, between 1 and 3 PM, when the lunch set (a pinsa plus a drink for around 4,500 tenge) makes it the best value pizza deal in the city.
The Vibe: Twelve tables, no reservations, a playlist of Italian jazz, and a grandmother-type figure named Saltanat who handles the front. She will remember your face after two visits.

The local tip here is to bring cash, the card terminal works but it sometimes drops the connection, and Saltanat gets flustered when it happens. Also, the outdoor table for two by the window is the best seat in the house, grab it before the lunch regulars do.

Mammas Pizza on Turan Avenue (Near Astana IT University)

There are maybe four or five places in Astana doing legitimate wood fired pizza, and Mammas is the oldest of them, opened back in 2014 by a Kazakh-Italian family who actually lived in Bologna for twelve years. The location on Turan Avenue, near the IT University campus, means it draws a younger crowd, but the pies themselves are old-school. The oven runs at 480°C and the entire front of the restaurant is glass, so you can watch the pizzaiolo work.

What to Order: The Quattro Formaggi, made with gorgonzola, taleggio, parmigiano, and fior di latte. It is heavier than a cement block and worth every bite.
Best Time: Friday and Saturday nights after 9 PM, because the staff slows down before then and you get rushed, but after 9 they settle in and the kitchen really takes its time.
The Vibe: Restaurant-casual, families with kids on weekends, and a giant photo wall of Bologna that Italians living in Astana get weirdly emotional about. The seating near the oven gets uncomfortably hot in summer, ask for a table further back.

For the best wood fired pizza Astana experience, ask if Marco is working the oven that night. He is the son of the owner and trained in Modena, and he does a slightly undercooked center that purists love.

Mama Mia on Sarayshyk Street (Diplomatic District)

Ignore the slightly cheesy name and the slightly cheesy neon sign out front, because the pizza inside is the real deal. Mama Mia sits on Sarayshyk Street in the diplomatic area, surrounded by the embassies, which means the weekday lunch crowd is mostly diplomats and embassy staff. They have been open since 2016 and they do a deep-dish Sicilian style alongside their regular Neapolitan, which almost no one else in Astana attempts.

What to Order: The Siciliana with anchovies, capers, and breadcrumbs, and a slice of their pistachio cake if you can save room.
Best Time: Weekday lunch, 12 to 1:30 PM, when the embassies flood in. Get there before noon on Mondays.
The Vibe: Dated but cozy, with checkered tablecloths and a serious wine list by Astana standards. Service can be glacial during the lunch rush, the staff is older and moves at its own rhythm.

The insider move here is to ask for the off-menu "Pizza dello Chef." Every month the head chef, a Sicilian guy named Giuseppe, does a single special pie using whatever good produce he sourced that week. It is never advertised anywhere.

Pizza Forum on Almaty Avenue (Saryarka District)

Pizza Forum is not fancy, and it is not trendy, but it has been feeding the Saryarka neighborhood since 2010 and the regulars will fight you over a table on Friday nights. It sits on Almaty Avenue in a residential block, with a wood-paneled interior that has not been updated in over a decade. The pizza is pan-style, more Chicago than Naples, with thick focaccia-like edges that locals absolutely swear by.

What to Order: The Forym Classic, which is their take on a margherita but with sausage and pickled peppers. Order the pickled peppers on the side, they are house-made.
Best Time: Thursday or Friday after 7 PM, when the neighborhood regulars pack in and the energy picks up.
The Vibe: Loud neighborhood joint, TVs showing KHL hockey on winter nights, and a tiny bar in the back where old men from the apartment block drink vodka. The dining room gets noisy enough that you will leave with a slight headache on Saturdays.

The hidden detail here is the basement. There is a small private room downstairs that seats about ten people, and the owner will let you reserve it for birthdays if you call ahead. Almost no tourists know it exists.

La Trattoria on Mangiysk (Left Bank Riverside)

La Trattoria has multiple locations across Astana now, but the original on Mangiysk Street, near the riverside promenade and the Irtysh embankment, is still the best. It opened in 2018 and was one of the first places in the city to take traditional pizza Astana seriously enough to import San Marzano tomatoes and Caputo flour directly from Italy. The pies are larger here than at most other spots, which makes them great for sharing.

What to Order: The Marinara, no cheese, just tomato, garlic, oregano, and olive oil. If a pizzeria nails a Marinara, you know the rest is going to be good. La Trattoria's version is the best in Astana.
Best Time: Dinner, 7 to 9 PM, especially in summer when you can sit on the riverside patio and watch the sun set over the Left Bank skyline.
The Vibe: Date-night crowd, expensive wine glasses, and a generally more upscale feel than the other places on this list. The patio can get windy in spring and fall, dress warmer than you think you need to.

What tourists usually miss is that the owner, Arman, sources his flour from a small mill in Naples and sells bags of it out of the front if you ask. Serious home bakers in Astana know this and come in regularly to stock up.

Bella Italia on Imanova Street (City Center)

Bella Italia sits right in the heart of the city on Imanova Street, a block from the Bayterek and the main government quarter, and despite the tourist-zone location it does not feel like a tourist trap at all. The owner is a Tatarstan-born guy who trained in Kazan and then did a stage at a pizzeria in Rome, and he has been running this place since 2019. The dough here uses a sourdough starter he brought back from Italy in a jar.

What to Order: The Cacio e Pepe pizza, which is unusual, and the Capricciosa with artichokes. The Cacio e Pepe has no tomato sauce, just cheese and black pepper, and it shows off the crust more than any other pie on the menu.
Best Time: Sunday lunch, when most of the tourists are at Khan Shatyr and the government workers are home. You will have the place almost to yourself.
The Vibe: Compact, bright, with a wood-fired oven visible from every seat. The seating at the back near the kitchen door is where the heat from the oven builds up, ask for a table by the window instead.

The local tip is to look at the chalkboard by the entrance. Whatever appetizer is written there in Russian, the smoked sturgeon spread, is the move. It is made by a fisher on the Caspian coast who ships it up to Astana twice a month, and you cannot find it anywhere else in the city.

Sorrento on Korgalzhyn Highway (Residential North)

Sorrento is a bit of a trek from anywhere central, sitting up on Korgalzhyn Highway in the residential northern part of the city, but the pizza justifies the drive. It is family-run by a Kazakh-Italian couple, Aiman and Marco (yes, another Marco), who opened the place in 2021 after years of running a catering operation out of their apartment. They do not have a sign out front, just a small Italian flag, which keeps the foot traffic down and the quality up.

What to Order: The Tartufo, with truffle cream, mushrooms, and mozzarella, and the spicy salami one with hot honey drizzle. The honey comes from a beekeeper in the Akmola region.
Best Time: Weekend evenings, but call ahead because they only seat 28 people and it fills up.
The Vibe: Feels like eating in someone's living room, which is essentially what it is. Aiman sometimes brings out a complimentary dessert if the kitchen has time. The only complaint is that it is genuinely hard to reach without a car.

The local secret here is the back garden. In summer, Marco grills whole fish from the local market and serves them alongside pizza nights on Saturdays. It is not on any menu and only happens about half the weekends, but if you call him the day of and ask, he will usually tell you if it is happening.

When to Go and What to Know

Astana's pizza scene has its own rhythm that takes a few visits to figure out. Weekday lunches are your best bet for both price and a seat, and almost every pizzeria on this list offers a lunch set between 12 and 3 PM that knocks 30 to 40 percent off the regular menu. Weekends are crowded everywhere, especially on the Left Bank where the residential towers empty out on Friday and Saturday evenings. If you want the best wood fired pizza Astana experience, go in the colder months, between October and March, because the high oven temperatures and the contrast with the cold outside actually improve the crust, and the pizzaiolos are working at their best when the ambient temperature is low.

Reservations matter more than you think. Mama Mia, Sorrento, and Line Brew all have limited seating, and during conference season in spring and fall, when Astana hosts the kind of delegations that bring delegations, restaurants across the city fill up. Bring tenge in cash, smaller places occasionally have card terminal issues. And finally, tipping 10 to 15 percent is standard, in cash, handed directly to the server.

Frequently Asked Questions

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

A mid-tier traveler can expect to spend around 35,000 to 55,000 tenge per day in Astana in 2025, which is roughly 75 to 115 USD at current rates. Budget roughly 12,000 to 20,000 tenge for a mid-range hotel in the city center, 6,000 to 10,000 tenge for meals across lunch and dinner (with a pizza dinner at one of the better spots running around 5,000 to 8,000 tenge for a pie and a drink), 2,000 to 3,000 tenge for two rides on Yandex Taxi across the city, and 5,000 to 10,000 tenge for entry fees to attractions like Bayterek (1,500 tenge) or Khan Shatyr (free entry, attractions inside vary).

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

Astana is famous for beshbarmak, the traditional Kazakh dish of boiled horse or lamb meat served over wide noodles with onion broth, and you should not leave the city without trying it at least once. The best versions in the city run around 3,500 to 6,000 tenge per serving, and the most authentic places to try it are smaller family-run cafes in the older parts of the Right Bank rather than restaurants in the high-rise hotel district. Pair it with a glass of kumys (fermented mare's milk) if you are adventurous, though most tourists start with the milder shubat (camel milk).

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

Tap water in Astana is technically treated and considered safe by local authorities, but most residents and long-term visitors rely on filtered or bottled water due to the taste and the aging Soviet-era pipes in older buildings. Bottled water is cheap and widely available, with a 1.5-liter bottle costing around 200 to 350 tenge at any supermarket or kiosk. Restaurants across Astana serve filtered water by default, and you can request still or sparkling at most mid-range and upscale spots.

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

There is no formal dress code at most pizzerias and casual restaurants in Astana, but modest and slightly smart-casual attire is appropriate when visiting more upscale spots like La Trattoria or during dinner at hotel restaurants. When visiting religious sites like the Hazret Sultan Mosque or the Orthodox cathedral in the city center, shoulders and knees should be covered, and women should bring a scarf to cover their hair at the mosque. Kazakhs are generally hospitable and appreciate a polite handshake when meeting someone new, and removing shoes when entering a yurt or someone's home is standard practice.

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

Vegetarian options in Astana have improved significantly since 2022, but dedicated fully vegan restaurants remain rare, with perhaps three or four across the entire city. Most pizzerias now offer at least one or two vegetarian pies (typically a margherita, a fungi, and a vegetable option), and Italian restaurants like Focaccia and Bella Italia can accommodate vegan requests with advance notice by substituting vegan mozzarella. Vegan-only cafes exist but tend to be in residential courtyards on the Left Bank rather than central areas, and they often do not have English-language menus, so translation apps help.