Lauren Drewes Daniels
Audio By Carbonatix
More than a decade ago, Mister 01 opened as a “hidden pizza spot” in South Beach, Miami.
Since then, the micro-chain has spread to more than a dozen locations across Florida, Texas and Georgia. PMQ Pizza Magazine’s 2025 Pizza Power Report ranked Mister 01’s Grapevine location as the best independent pizzeria in the U.S. for the second consecutive year.
The magazine uses a People’s Choice ranking of the country’s most popular independent pizzerias according to crowd-sourced reviews. It averaged ratings for highly acclaimed pizza restaurants on Google, Yelp, Trip Advisor and Facebook. Also, the number of reviews a restaurant receives adds some weight to the score.
Mister 01 was brought to life by chef Renato Viola, who believes extraordinary pizza requires the utmost attention to detail and the finest ingredients to produce a masterpiece.
Viola was born and raised in Southern Italy, where he was an apprentice for some of Italy’s best pizza chefs by age 11. He would later go on to win two Pizza World Championship titles in Monte Carlo, which shone a spotlight on his “Star Luca,” star-shaped pizza filled with fluffy ricotta cheese, mozzarella, Italian tomato sauce and Calabrian spicy salami.
When Viola came to settle in Miami Beach, he entered the U.S. on a special 01 visa, which is reserved for those with internationally acclaimed “Extraordinary Artistic Ability.” Hence, the name Mister 01.
He opened Mister 01 with the intention of creating something truly extraordinary and has gone on to prove himself with 20 restaurants and repeated No. 1 rankings.
In a heartfelt Instagram post, Viola reflected on the big win: “To be named America’s best independent pizzeria is a dream, but YOU are the reason that dream comes true every day. Every pizza we serve, every table we set, and every memory we share wouldn’t be possible without our incredible guests. Grapevine, you’ve made this honor happen, and we can’t thank you enough for your support, your smiles, and your love for Mister 01.”
There are four Mister 01 locations in Greater Dallas: the award-winning shop in Grapevine (129 S. Main St.), and those in Mansfield (1520 E. Debbie Lane), Flower Mound (4630 Long Prairie Road) and Dallas (3838 Oak Lawn Ave.). All four locations sport 4.9-star reviews on Google.
