The Slice: Best Pizza in Ann Arbor
A living series tracking the pizza worth eating in this town, one pie at a time.
Welcome to The Slice, our search for the best pizza in Ann Arbor and the surrounding area.
Pizza is the most democratic food in the region. Every neighborhood has an opinion, every student has a go-to, and every transplant has a comparison they can't let go of. This series is our attempt to eat through the arguments and write down what we find.
How We're Evaluating Pizza
We're judging each entry on the things that matter when the pizza is in front of you:
- Crust quality: char, chew, structure, and whether it holds up to the toppings
- Sauce: brightness, balance, and whether it's doing actual work
- Cheese: melt, coverage, and the ratio relative to everything else
- Overall composition: does the pizza feel intentional or assembled?
- The margherita test: if a place makes a margherita, we order it. It's the benchmark
- Repeat-order instinct: would we come back and pay full price?
We're covering wood-fired, Detroit-style, New York-style, coal-fired, and whatever doesn't fit a category. The only requirement is that we'd order it again.
Current Entries
Mani Osteria
Our first entry comes from the wood-fired oven at 341 East Liberty. Mani is known for handmade pasta, but the pizza deserves its own conversation. The crust has a leopard-spotted blister pattern and a chew that tells you about the dough. Toppings are restrained in the Italian tradition.
- Read: The Slice: Mani Osteria
- Order this: The margherita, San Marzano, mozzarella, basil. The baseline for the series.
Supino Pizzeria
Our second entry sends us to Detroit's Eastern Market for New York-style thin crust from Dave Mancini, who's been stretching dough at 2457 Russell Street since 2008. Supino proves that consistency is its own kind of excellence.
- Read: The Slice: Supino Pizzeria
- Order this: White pizza with arugula and lemon, the one that shouldn't work but does.
Jolly Pumpkin Dexter
Our third entry heads west to Dexter, where Chef Maggie Long runs a wood-fired pizza program inside Ron Jeffries' all-sour brewery at 2319 Bishop Cr E. Brewery pizza that refuses to be an afterthought, and the sour beer pairing changes the equation.
- Read: The Slice: Jolly Pumpkin
- Order this: The Pumpkin Poblano, roasted pumpkin, poblano peppers, smoked mozzarella, calabrian chile oil. With a La Roja.
Buddy's Pizza (Detroit-Style)
Our fourth entry leaves the round pizza behind entirely. Buddy's Pizza is widely credited as the originator of Detroit-style pizza: thick, airy crust baked in a blue steel pan, cheese pushed to the edges where it caramelizes, sauce ladled on top in racing stripes. The rectangle that launched a national style.
- Read: The Slice: Detroit-Style Pizza
- Order this: The Detroiter, pepperoni with racing stripes of tomato sauce. Corner pieces mandatory.
Pizza House
Our fifth entry goes to Church Street for deep dish delivery. Pizza House has been feeding Ann Arbor at 2 a.m. for decades. The deep dish crust holds through transit in a way that matters when you are hungry and the temperature is dropping. Not competing with the wood-fired entries on refinement. Competing on reliability, and winning that competition.
- Read: The Slice: Pizza House
- Order this: Deep dish with your preferred toppings, delivered. The breadsticks will arrive first and disappear before the pizza.
Silvio's Organic Pizza
Our sixth entry goes to North University for whole-grain organic pizza. Silvio's is the series outlier: the argument that ingredient philosophy matters before oven tradition does. The crust has weight and nuttiness that white-flour pizza does not have. The margherita is coherent, restrained, and built around a base that reflects actual choices about what went into the flour.
- Read: The Slice: Silvio's Organic Pizza
- Order this: The margherita, which shows the whole-grain crust most clearly. Or anything with earthy, stronger toppings that pair well against a nuttier base.
What's Next
The Slice is built to cover the full range. We have a list. We're eating through it. If you think we're missing a spot, tell us.
Last updated: April 2026. This page is revised as new entries in The Slice are published.