This town argues about pizza. Not casually – with conviction. The Neapolitan purists don’t talk to the Detroit-style crowd. The late-night slice people think everyone else is overthinking it. And somewhere in the middle, a quiet majority just wants to know where to get a genuinely great pie without reading a manifesto about flour hydration.
Here’s the ranking. You’re allowed to disagree, but you’d be wrong.
1. Mani Osteria and Bar
Mani at 341 E Liberty runs a wood-fired oven that hits around a thousand degrees, and the pizzas that come out of it are the best in Ann Arbor. Full stop. The crust blisters and chars in exactly the right places. The center stays soft without going soggy. And the toppings are restrained enough to let you actually taste the dough.
The red onion and pistachio pizza – goat cheese, rosemary, garlic cream, chili flake – doesn’t exist anywhere else in this city. It sounds like too many things on one pizza, and then you eat it and realize every single element is pulling its weight.
Mani isn’t cheap, and it’s not fast. This is sit-down, order-a-bottle-of-wine, share-three-pizzas-with-friends pizza. Open Tuesday through Sunday; walk-ins for groups under six, but showing up at 5 PM on Friday will save you a wait.
2. Joe’s Pizza NYC
Joe’s Pizza at 1107 S University is the Ann Arbor outpost of the legendary NYC slice shop that’s been open since 1975. The original Greenwich Village location is a New York institution, and the Ann Arbor version does it justice – which is a sentence that would get you laughed out of most pizza conversations, but it’s true.
The plain cheese slice is the test, and Joe’s passes it. Thin, foldable, with a crust that cracks when you bend it and a sauce-to-cheese ratio that doesn’t require a napkin blotter. This is the pizza you eat standing up, leaning slightly forward so the grease drips on the sidewalk instead of your shirt.
Open until 2 or 3 AM on weekends, which makes it the undisputed champion of post-bar pizza on South University. The other listing has the same details if you’re looking for hours.
3. Buddy’s Pizza
Buddy’s invented Detroit-style pizza in 1946, and their Ann Arbor location carries that legacy without coasting on it. The square pan produces a crust that’s crispy on the outside and pillowy on the inside – a texture that no round pizza can replicate.
The cheese goes all the way to the edge, caramelizing against the pan into a crispy lace border that is, objectively, the best part. The sauce goes on top – stripes of seasoned tomato over melted cheese – which feels wrong until you understand that baking the dough directly against hot steel is the whole point.
If you’ve never had real Detroit-style, Buddy’s is the place to start. If you have, you already know. The original listing has additional details.
4. Bigalora Wood Fired Cucina
Bigalora at 3050 Washtenaw is the pizza spot for the east side of town – the place where families go on Tuesday nights and couples go when they want Italian food without the downtown parking situation.
The wood-fired pizzas are Neapolitan-leaning but slightly more generous with toppings than strict Neapolitan rules would allow. The Margherita is clean and well-executed. The specials tend to be more interesting than the regular menu, so ask what’s new.
The space is bigger than most downtown spots, which means you can actually get a table on a Friday night without strategic planning. They do takeout and delivery too, and the pizza travels better than most wood-fired pies – something about the slightly thicker crust holding up to the box.
5. New York Pizza Depot
NYPD is an Ann Arbor institution. Grabbing a slice here is a rite of passage – the kind of thing you do during your first week in town and then keep doing for the next four years (or forty).
The slices are big, the prices are reasonable, and the quality is consistent in a way that matters when you’re hungry and don’t want to gamble. It’s not trying to be the best pizza you’ve ever eaten. It’s trying to be the pizza you want right now, and it nails that every time.
They do whole pies and pasta-topped slices for the adventurous, plus delivery that actually shows up hot. The location near campus means the late-night crowd skews young, but the pizza doesn’t discriminate by age.
6. Pizza House
Pizza House has the biggest menu of any pizza restaurant in Ann Arbor, and that’s not an exaggeration. Deep dish, thin crust, stuffed pizza, calzones, subs, pasta – it reads like they looked at every pizza style in America and said “yes, all of those.”
The deep dish is the signature, and it’s legitimately good – thick crust, layered cheese, enough sauce to qualify as a stew. It takes 45 minutes to bake, which either means you’re committed to the experience or you’re ordering it for delivery and timing it with a movie.
The delivery game is where Pizza House really dominates. Fast, reliable, and the pizza holds up in the box better than most competitors. If you’re ordering pizza to a dorm, an apartment, or a watch party, this is probably where you’re calling.
7. Anthony’s Gourmet Pizza
Anthony’s does exactly what the name promises – gourmet toppings on a well-made crust. The combinations lean creative without crossing into “is this still pizza?” territory. Think roasted garlic and artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomato and goat cheese, prosciutto and arugula.
The crust is hand-tossed and has real chew to it. The sauce is bright and not over-seasoned. And the portions are generous enough that a large pie feeds three adults comfortably – or one adult who’s had a long week and is making choices.
8. Pizza Bob’s
Pizza Bob’s has been downtown since the mid-seventies, and it feels like it. The booths are worn in. The menu hasn’t changed dramatically. The pizza is straightforward, honest, and exactly what you’d expect from a place that’s survived four decades in a college town.
The thin crust is the move here. Nothing fancy – just a well-made pizza from a kitchen that’s been making the same pizza long enough to get it right. Bob’s is also one of the few downtown spots where you can get a full meal for under fifteen dollars without sacrificing quality.
9. Cottage Inn Pizza
Cottage Inn on State Street is Ann Arbor’s local chain, with locations on Packard, Plymouth Road, and Stadium. It started here in 1948, which makes it older than most of the buildings around it.
Cottage Inn is the pizza you order when you need to feed a group and everyone has different opinions. The menu is broad enough to cover all preferences, the delivery radius covers most of the city, and the quality is reliable. It’s not the best pizza in Ann Arbor, but it might be the most dependable.
10. La Dolce Vita
La Dolce Vita rounds out the list as a neighborhood Italian spot where the pizza is one part of a much bigger menu. The pies are solid – traditional Italian-American style with a focus on quality ingredients – and the restaurant atmosphere makes it a better date spot than most pizzerias.
It’s the kind of place where you order a pizza, split a salad, drink a glass of wine, and feel like you had a proper dinner rather than just “ordering pizza.”
The Verdict
Mani wins on pure quality. Joe’s wins on slices. Buddy’s wins on style. The rest fill every other need – late night, delivery, family, neighborhood, budget. Ann Arbor has enough good pizza that ranking them feels almost unfair to number ten.
For more food recommendations, explore the full restaurant directory on MIAnnArbor.com – including Italian spots, bakeries, and late-night eats.
