Driving down an avenue in Downtown Pensacola, you can pass a towering edifice that evokes the haunted castles of Gothic legends. What many people come here for, though, isn’t ghost-hunting, but rather cheesy pizza slices at the on-site O’Zone Pizza Pub. While Pensacola is famed for its oceanfront, with an affordable Florida beach that’s perfect for swimming and sunshine, one of its most highly regarded dining spots is the O’Zone Pizza Pub, located in the dark basement of a former hospital. The hospital setting lends an eerie ambiance to the pizza joint, but locals assure that the pizza is to die for.
O’Zone Pizza Pub’s home, the former Sacred Heart Hospital, is a bit of a historic landmark worth visiting in itself. It was built in 1915 in a Gothic Revival style as one of Pensacola’s biggest hospital facilities and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, it’s known as Tower East and houses both office spaces and businesses, including the pizza parlor.
The great thing about O’Zone Pizza Pub is that its setting, while unique, isn’t just a sensational cover for mediocre pizza. The food itself has a strong reputation. In 2024, the shop made it to the top four of favorite Pensacola pizzerias voted for by locals in the Pensacola News Journal. Meanwhile, the Local Experts Team from Florida Panhandle gave the shop 4.5 out of 5 stars, highlighting its Roman-style crust and variety of topping options.
Plan your visit to O’Zone Pizza Pub
Tower East, where O’Zone Pizza Pub is, is pretty easy to spot — a fortress-like monolith on North 12th Avenue, just around a 10-minute drive from the Pensacola International Airport. (It’s also about a 30-minute drive from the Tarkiln Bayou Preserve, one of Florida’s best-kept secrets.) The entrance to O’Zone is on the left side of the building (its sign might be obscured by vines), and then you descend into the basement where the pizza is served. There’s seating inside with table service, though you can also order takeout…