Margherita pizza with a blistered wood-fired crust, tomato, melted mozzarella and basil on a wooden table with drinks and pasta

Ironside Pizza: Wood-Fired Neapolitan Pies Under the Rainbow Eucalyptus

A few minutes' drive southwest of Shoe Gallery, tucked inside the Miami Ironside campus on NE 4th Court, Ironside Pizza turns out Neapolitan-style pies from a wood-fired oven in a setting so green you'll forget you're in the city. Miami New Times counted it among the first places to open on the campus back in 2014. Trust us, this is the pizza spot you bring people to when you want to show off the neighborhood.

First Impressions & Vibe

The setting is the star. Ironside Pizza calls its Pizza Patio the heart of its location, and it's surrounded by Rainbow Eucalyptus trees, orchids and other flowering plants, butterflies and the restaurant's own herb garden. Miami Ironside says its arboretum holds the region's largest private collection of Rainbow Eucalyptus trees.

You can grab a table indoors or out, and there's a covered garden space for groups who want a little privacy. The restaurant describes itself as casual, intimate and family-friendly, and the set menus even have a kids option with a Margherita or pasta plus ice cream. After you eat, take a walk around the campus and find its segments of the original Berlin Wall, painted by Thierry Noir.

Ironside Pizza's patio with wood tables and dark wicker chairs under a trellis roof, framed by glass walls, vines and greenery

What to Order

Everything starts at the wood-fired oven. Ironside sticks to Neapolitan traditions, cooking with herbs and spices from its garden, ingredients from local farms and real Italian staples. Here's where to start:

  • To share: Nonna's meatballs in San Marzano tomato sauce, burrata caponata or farinata, a chickpea flatbread with ricotta, prosciutto and olives.
  • Margherita: San Marzano tomato, fior di latte and basil. The classic test of any Neapolitan spot.
  • Regina: prosciutto di Parma, Grana Padano, mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and arugula.
  • Diavola Tropicale: 'nduja, pineapple, Calabrian chili and honey, for when you want sweet heat.
  • Half Moon: half pizza, half calzone, with the calzone side filled with fior di latte, smoked mozzarella, zucchini and smoked prosciutto.
  • Pasta and dessert: gnocchi alla Genovese with homemade basil pesto, then the Ironside tiramisù or a Nutella pizza with strawberries.

Eating vegan or gluten-free? The menu offers vegan cheese and a gluten-free crust, so nobody has to sit this one out, and Miami New Times put Ironside on its 2016 list of the five best vegan pizzas in Miami. To drink, there's a spritz bar with Aperol Spritz, Hugo and limoncello, Estrella Damm beers (including gluten-free Daura), wine, and red or white sangria by the glass or pitcher.

Wood-fired pizza topped with prosciutto, arugula, cherry tomatoes and grated cheese, beside a red spritz and a bowl of spaghetti

Know Before You Go

Make a day of it: pizza under the trees at Ironside, then head up to 79th Street and stop by Shoe Gallery to see what just landed.

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