The Battle Begins With Round 64 of Cheesy Pizza Cup 2023

The Battle Begins With the Round 64 of 2023's Cheesy Pizza Cup

Katie Coy | Jan 12, 2023 3:53 pm | Add a comment | 136 reads

The votes are in and the brackets are set as we go into Round 64 of the Beijinger’s 2023 Cheesy Pizza Cup. Now, Beijing’s best pizza purveyors will face off against one another until just one remains.

The top four seeds this year are some of Beijing's familar favorites, with Pyro (last year's #3) topping Bracket A, Bottega (last year's #8) topping Bracket B, Tube Station (last year's #5) topping Bracket C and Forno (last year's #2) topping Bracket D. In what may be a shock to some, 2021 Pizza Cup champ Pie Squared was not seeded in the top four (though not far behind, starting this year's competition as the second seed in Bracket B).

Joining the ranks for this year’s Round 64 are also 12 newbies, with Joe's Pizza leading the pack as the highest seed (3rd in Bracket C). Also making their debut are Cheesy Pizza Cup participants COMMUNE·X (6th in Bracket C) and Wobbit Bistro (10th seed in Bracket A).

The 13 other participating restaurants in our Cheesy Pizza Month have also managed to make it through to this round. So why not go out and try their pizzas, collect stamps/stickers and win prizes? You can see full details on participating here.

But now let’s take a look at the matchups in this round, listed by bracket. (The number in parentheses indicates their initial ranking, "New" indicates a new venue this year; and an asterisk(*) indicates a participant in Cheesy Pizza Month.

BRACKET A

PYRO PIZZA* (1) vs Nine Road Pizzeria (16)
GUNG HO!* (2) vs Assaggi (15)
Q Mex Bar & Grill* (3) vs Kitty & Daniel (14)
Pizza Saporita (4) vs Saizeriya (13)
LA PLATEA* (5) vs Ponte (12)
Domino's Pizza (6) vs MOJAR (11) (New)
Georgia's Feast* (7) vs Wobbit Bistro* (10) (New)
Hulu (8) vs Tavola Italian Dining (9)

BRACKET B

BOTTEGA* (1) vs Mr Pizza (16)
Pie Squared (2) vs Xian Bar (EAST, Beijing) (15)
Great Leap Brewing* (3) vs BUONA BOCCA (14)
Kro's Nest (4) vs Frasca (13)
The Local (5) vs Lily's American Diner (12)
Peter Pan (6) vs Canotto by The Pizza Show (11) (New)
Yummy Box (7) vs Barblu (10) (New)
Turkish Feast* (8) vs Scott's Family Ristorante Italiano (9)

BRACKET C

Tube Station (1) vs Champion Pizza (16) (New)
Jing-A Brewing Co.* (2) vs Laker's (15)
Joe's Pizza* (3) (New) vs Big Pizza (14)
COMMUNE RESERVE* (4) vs Mao Mao Chong (13)
Pizza Marzano (5) vs EATA (12) (New)
COMMUNE·X* (New) (6) vs Paddy O'Shea's (11)
Pizza Hut (7) vs The Rug (10)
EATALIA (8) vs Citywalk Red Oven Pizza Bakery (9)

BRACKET D

FORNO* (1) vs MIO, Four Seasons Hotel (16)
Annie's (2) vs La Mezzaluna (15)
La Pizza (3) vs TOWNSQUARE CAFE · ARTYZEN HABITAT BEIJING (14) (New)
PAPA JOHN'S PIZZA (4) vs IL Fuoco (13) (New)
THE PIZZA SHOW (5) vs NBeer Pub (12)
The Cheesecake Factory (6) vs TIGERS (11) (New)
Home Plate BBQ (7) (New) vs Brotzeit German Bier Restaurant* (10)
Plan B (8) vs TIAGO (9)

Voting in this round closes noon, Jan 16, so if you see any of your favorites on the list you’d better get voting now so that they can make it into the subsequent rounds:

Round of 64: Open now
Round of 32: Jan 16
Sweet 16: Jan 20
Elite Eight: Jan 31
Final Four: Feb 6
Final Taste-Off: TBA

Meawhile, last round we asked you to caption the last panel of the following cartoon, and here were our favorites: