There are questions every growing city eventually has to answer.

How do we fix traffic?

How much more can South End possibly build?

Will the Panthers ever stop hurting us?

And now:

That last question arrived on r/Charlotte this week after one Redditor encountered a pizza place in Birmingham serving a 36-inch pizza and wondered whether the Queen City had anything capable of competing.

See the original r/Charlotte thread →

Charlotte took the assignment seriously.

A normal large pizza is around 14 to 16 inches.

Once you get into the upper 20s, you’re no longer ordering a pizza.

You’re arranging transportation.

Several Redditors mentioned experiences trying to move pizzas of this size. One said a giant pizza box barely fit through a normal household door. Another remembered ordering a 36-inch pizza and being thankful they owned a hatchback.

Someone who used to deliver food recalled discovering that a giant pizza wouldn’t even fit through the door of their two-door coupe.

The Reddit thread quickly produced a handful of names.

Benny Pennello’s in NoDa came up repeatedly. The shop is known for oversized New York-style slices cut from 28-inch pies, which explains why ordering one slice there can feel suspiciously similar to ordering a whole pizza somewhere else.

Then there’s Zämbies Pizza, also in NoDa, which received one of the more enthusiastic responses in the thread.

Charlotte’s pizza geography is apparently developing a pattern: if you want pizza large enough to require architectural planning, start on North Davidson Street.

PIE.ZAA also entered the conversation, giving South End its representative in the oversized-pizza arms race.

And over in Mint Hill, Redditors pointed toward Big Guy’s Pizza, which has also been mentioned for giant pies.

One suggestion that stood out in the thread was The Corner Crust Pizza & Brew in Cornelius.

Corner Crust advertises a 28-inch Giant Party Pizza, which is reportedly large enough to feed roughly 8 to 10 adults.

Calling a 28-inch pizza “party size” feels appropriate.

Then Monroe entered the chat.

Multiple commenters pointed toward Pepperoni’s Pizza, saying it makes a 30-inch pie.

That gives it a strong claim to being one of the biggest pizzas in the Charlotte region.

Thirty inches is roughly the width of a standard interior doorway.

Naturally, after spending considerable effort determining who has the largest pizza, somebody asked the question that threatens the integrity of this entire investigation:

And just like that, everything fell apart.

Because this is Charlotte Reddit, where no restaurant recommendation can survive for more than seven minutes before somebody arrives to explain why your favorite restaurant is actually terrible.

Benny’s had defenders.

Benny’s had detractors.

Zämbies had fans.

Someone suggested Bisonte’s sheet-pan pizza instead.

And then one commenter offered the philosophical observation:

Another responded:

Case closed.

After reviewing the evidence, we can make a preliminary determination.

Charlotte proper has several places playing in the oversized-pizza division, with NoDa especially well represented.

Corner Crust in Cornelius brings a verified 28-inch monster to the conversation.

And if we’re counting the broader Charlotte area, Pepperoni’s in Monroe appears to be pushing things to 30 inches.

The Birmingham pizza that started this whole discussion?

Frankly, that’s unacceptable for a city with this much banking money.

Some Charlotte entrepreneur now has an opportunity to restore civic pride by building a 37-inch pizza.

We don’t particularly care whether it’s practical.

We don’t even know where you’re going to get the box.

We just know Birmingham cannot be allowed to have this.

Curated Sources: r/Charlotte | Corner Crust Pizza & Brew | Pepperoni’s Pizza