Best Pizza in Michigan, Mani Osteria & Bar Ann Arbor
For those of you local to Ann Arbor or planning to visit for The Game. Mani Osteria & Bar was named the best pizza in Michigan by Mlive. They visited 33 reader submitted restaurants around the state and chose the Ann Arbor location as the best.
The founders of Mani wanted to have both a family-style Italian restaurant and high-style dining, and they hit the mark. "I hope we are re-energizing the Italian-American cuisine. It's something I grew up with," said chef Brendan McCall. "We want this to be approachable, like an Italian American diner restaurant.....this should be a family restaurant. That's the end goal." The staff was extremely knowledgeable and provided great service, answering questions on pizzas and the ingredients. A lot has been written about their wood-fire stoves, but the star of the menu is Executive Chef McCall, who pushes the boundaries of typical flavors. Take the Cippolini pizza -- our choice for Michigan's Best Pizza 2013 -- with mozzarella, roasted arugula, bacon and balsamic, for example, as well as the savory Sausage & Peppers with smoked scamorza, pepperonata and chile pesto. After a few bites, we wanted to keep eating more. The sauce also shines, and features San Marzano tomatoes that are strained and blended with spices to give it a rich and zesty bite. The cheeses are rich and buttery and the ingredients are locally sourced. Their most popular pizza is the Margherita, which has fior di latte, san marzano tomatoes and basil.
November 21st, 2013 at 10:23 AM ^
November 21st, 2013 at 10:30 AM ^
Pizza is not bad if you like thin crust pizza.
November 21st, 2013 at 11:20 AM ^
Never been, but I do know a good thick crust pizza trumps a great thin crust any day of the week, IMO. Thus, I will ignore this poll and continue to think or The Original Cottage Inn as the best pizza with the long lost but not forgotten Thano's Lamplighter as the #1 pizza in my heart.
November 21st, 2013 at 11:38 AM ^
ate many a greek deep dish pizzas there after watching frieder's basketball teams.
November 22nd, 2013 at 1:21 PM ^
November 21st, 2013 at 10:32 AM ^
It's good, but their pizza can be hit or miss. They've got this burratta that's all vinegar, for one. I'm perplexed by its massive popularity and annoyed by their lack of reservations. It's not worth waiting for, for sure.
November 21st, 2013 at 11:08 AM ^
They do take call-ahead. I use this almost everytime I go there. When you're leaving your house, just call and they'll put your name on the waiting list. Usually by the time I get there, I only have to wait 5-10 minutes. I will say, however, that if you are trying to go there after 7, there will be a long wait.
Also, they do take reservations for parties over 8, I believe. My wife and her fam love that place, so you can tell I've been there quite a few times. Their sister mexican restaurant Isalita is excellent at well (right next door).
November 21st, 2013 at 2:49 PM ^
The popularity comes from the lady servers
November 21st, 2013 at 10:33 AM ^
I like a lot of things about Mani, mostly the booze. But the pizza! It's like one of those thin crackers you can buy at Trader Joes, with a wee bit of cheeze on it.
November 21st, 2013 at 11:41 AM ^
cracker thin terrible.
November 21st, 2013 at 10:34 AM ^
Never had it. As much as I hate to say it, the best pizza I've ever had is from a hole in the wall called Adriatico's in Columbus. When my father was getting cancer treatment at The James (great hospital!) we would go there quite regularly.
The only 2 things in Columbus worth mentioning.
November 21st, 2013 at 10:38 AM ^
I LOL'd at that. I'd expect nothing else.
November 21st, 2013 at 12:31 PM ^
November 21st, 2013 at 10:37 AM ^
November 21st, 2013 at 10:40 AM ^
"Best Pizza in Michigan for when you are liquored up"
November 21st, 2013 at 10:45 AM ^
It's the exact same pizza as they serve in the Brown Jug.
The pizza I miss the most is the old In n Out party store that used to be on East U right next to East Quad. Ten times better than Backroom. Lived on that stuff for about two years.
November 21st, 2013 at 11:04 AM ^
couldn't agree more. i think this was the first place i'd ever tried sriracha on my pizza. there were a quite few times a couple of us would woof one of these down on the walk home after $1 pitcher night at mitch's
November 21st, 2013 at 11:59 AM ^
Ah, as soon as I read "Backroom," I immediately wanted to ask if In'N'Out was still there! (Sounds like the party store is, but Tony Bologna's, which I think was the name on the pizza counter is not.) I remember thinking it was funny that the guy's kids, who were like 10 years old, were always working at like 3am when I stumbled through.
I'm sure Sgt. Pepper's awful, awful pizza is still cooking, though. #bitter
November 21st, 2013 at 12:13 PM ^
The building was torn down to build an apartment building. The store itself closed in like 2006 or 2007, IIRC.
And call me crazy, but those kids made way better pizza than their dad. It got to the point where if I walked in and one of the adults was behind the counter, I would usually just leave.
November 21st, 2013 at 4:57 PM ^
This is a phenomenal sub-thread. I remember when Tony Baloney's opened up inside of In n Out. The namesake manned the stand himself in the first couple months, and, I shit you not, said "take it cheesy" to everyone that ordered a slice the first week or so. In N Out was the jam back around1999-2001. I still have a "Jimmy's In n Out" t-shirt. I remember when he and his brother sold In N Out and bought Sgt. Pepper's, and I moved near there and continued buying booze from them.
First time I visited U of M, I was 16, and II went into In n Out and thought it was the greatest store I'd ever been inside: a liquor store that sold all kinds of other sketchy stuff (whip-its in a container at the register; condoms everywhere; possibly pregnancy tests; tons of booze; toilet paper; pizza). Too bad the building was torn down a few years ago.
November 21st, 2013 at 12:03 PM ^
For drunk pizza (or just general pizza) South U Pizza>>Backroom Pizza
November 21st, 2013 at 10:41 AM ^
It's good, but I feel this contest should really be for "pizza places."
For my money, nothing beats carrying out a deep-dish sesame seed crust from the Cottage Inn at Packard & Hill.
November 21st, 2013 at 10:43 AM ^
Says hi.
November 21st, 2013 at 12:09 PM ^
Supino's vs. Mani pizza-off. That is something I could thoroughly enjoy. It's all about what your feeling like though. If you want to go somewhere just to grab a slice of pizza, Supinos wins in a landslide. But Mani has more unique/"fancier" pizzas. Both are great in their own ways.
November 21st, 2013 at 10:45 AM ^
It might be lame because it's a chain, but if I'm being perfectly honest, I've never had any pizza that tastes as good as NYPD. Bella Italia (local to Ann Arbor) is a close second, Pizza House probably a very distant third.
November 21st, 2013 at 10:49 AM ^
This! Something about NYPD tastes so right to me. Very few agree with us though...
November 21st, 2013 at 4:58 PM ^
Yes. Best drunk pizza in Ann Arbor, for me, is NYPD. Slice of four meat and a massive cherry coke. Throw a couple garlic bread knots in there too. Sure. You twisted my arm. Delicious.
November 21st, 2013 at 10:45 AM ^
No love for the "Detroit Style" pizza?
November 21st, 2013 at 10:59 AM ^
Buddy's was #2.
November 21st, 2013 at 11:10 AM ^
I like to see a celebration of what's unique to the area.
November 21st, 2013 at 12:05 PM ^
What is Detroit style? I've seen it referenced a few times recently (not just here, there was some NYTimes, I think, piece about regional pizzas or something a while back). What makes it different from Chicago style deep dish?
November 21st, 2013 at 12:12 PM ^
It's a thick pizza, but not nearly as thick as Chicago-style. While Chicago-style crust tastes like a pie crust (I'm talking dessert pie crusts, now), Detroit-style crust has the consistency of dense breadsticks. Just look up google images of Jet's Pizza and Buddy's Pizza and you'll be able to tell the difference.
I prefer Detroit over Chicago style.
November 21st, 2013 at 12:18 PM ^
Ah, I know exactly what you mean! OK, I didn't realize that that style had a name and that that was Detroit style. I love that pizza, for sure!
Why don't I get more pizza when I'm back in MI? Ugh, c'mon GoBlueinNYC, get your head out of your ass!
November 21st, 2013 at 5:00 PM ^
I'm an Illinoisian, but I too prefer the Jet's style deep dish; I even order it in Chicago. It's excellent. 8 corner with cajun crust is a (good) taste explosion.
November 21st, 2013 at 12:14 PM ^
It's square pizza. Crunchy buttered crusts, lots of cheese, sauce on top. If you haven't tried if before and are in the detroit area, you have to go to a Buddy's location and try some.
November 21st, 2013 at 12:16 PM ^
And the cheese has to be either Wisconsin Brick or a mix between Brick and mozzarella.
November 21st, 2013 at 12:17 PM ^
November 21st, 2013 at 3:17 PM ^
And the little edges of crust that get a little charcoal-y. Mmmmm.
And yes, I stopped by NYPD today, partly because of this thread.
November 21st, 2013 at 10:48 AM ^
never had much Pizza while in Ann Arbor. Always worried about getting "fat". But I can totally jump in on any salad bar discussion. Markley had a nice one. And for a caloric splurge, the ever popular "salad jammed in bread" as the hubby calls it, the Chipati!
November 21st, 2013 at 5:01 PM ^
You missed...so much. Chipati is good, though.
November 21st, 2013 at 10:52 AM ^
than pizza. Their pepperoni pizza is completely mediocre.
November 21st, 2013 at 11:23 AM ^
November 21st, 2013 at 11:00 AM ^
I dont know, Cottage Inn downtown has pretty damn good pizza. The crust is probably the best I've had.
November 21st, 2013 at 8:09 PM ^
November 21st, 2013 at 11:03 AM ^
November 21st, 2013 at 11:09 AM ^
November 21st, 2013 at 11:13 AM ^
I was an Alpha Phi. But I was loyal to the Pizza House sauce.
November 21st, 2013 at 5:33 PM ^
November 21st, 2013 at 11:15 AM ^
November 21st, 2013 at 11:54 AM ^
I've only had their pizza once but I definitely have to agree with you. Their deep dish and sicilian pizzas are great. I got a pizza that had whole cloves of garlic as a topping.
Cottage Inn is a close second.