The 15 Best Pizza Places In Detroit, 2023 Edition

Detroit is known as Motor City, due to the central role of the metropolis in the American automotive industry. The city's technological innovations spilled over onto its food scene when Detroit style pizza was invented: it was first created when someone used steel pans from nearby car factories to bake large sheets of pizza. This regional style has since become popular for its crispy, cheesy edges. 

Of course, the city offers more than its signature style of pizza. New York style and regional styles can also be found around town. The bottom line is that Detroit has a lot to offer when it comes to pizza. In fact, knowing which spots are worth exploring might even feel intimidating with so many options on the table. Luckily for you, we've tracked down some local highlights.

From bakeries that produce the freshest dough to restaurants that whip up truly inventive flavor combinations, we're happy to showcase some of Detroit's best pizza places.

One thing that sets the restaurant Bigalora apart from the pack? The fact that it makes its pizza with sourdough. Truth be told, the Italian word "biga" roughly translates to "sourdough starter." Biglora's dough is fermented for 72 hours and doesn't use any commercial yeast or sugar. After the fermentation process, the dough gets blistered to perfection in the restaurant's ultra-hot ovens. The end result is a deliciously complex crust that keeps diners coming back for more.

Bigalora also uses slow-roasted tomatoes, a sauce made from scratch, freshly shredded cheese, slow-braised meatballs, and more homemade touches. The restaurant's focus on quality makes it one of the best places to get pizza in Detroit. The menu at Bigalora is smartly curated, offering a wide variety of small plates, different pizzas, pasta, soups, salads, and desserts. 

The Pistachio white pizza pie is a standout, featuring ingredients like imported buffalo mozzarella, pistachio pesto, house-made sausage, and lemon confit. The pesto and lemon add a hint of brightness that helps balance out the richness of the homemade sausage. The restaurant also offers options for gluten-free crust and vegan cheese in order to cater to various diets and preferences. 

At Mootz Pizzeria + Bar, the pizza toppings are generous. There are classic pizzas like the Beast Of Burden, which comes with pepperoni, sausage, and ricotta. But there are also slightly fancier pies with more complex flavors, such as the Juliet with toppings like prosciutto, fig jam, and gorgonzola. Mootz's expansive flavor combinations are what elevates it to one of the best spots to get pizza in the city.

One popular pizza from Mootz's menu is the Margherita pizza. As a clearly satisfied customer on Yelp puts it, "The crust is thin, yet sturdy enough to hold the toppings without getting soggy. The sauce is rich and tangy, perfectly balanced with the creaminess of the cheese. Trust me when I say that Mootz elevates the classics to a whole new level!"

Mootz also has some excellent appetizers. Case in point: the Truffled Bumblee with whipped sheep's milk ricotta, bee pollen, honeycomb, fig, and truffle honey served with walnut focaccia bread. If you're in the mood for Italian food with the occasional modern twist, Mootz is a definitely worthwhile destination in Detroit.

One look at the menu of Ottava Via explains the enthusiasm behind this Italian restaurant in Detroit. The pizza menu is succinct, but it has chosen its dishes carefully. It's simply divided into two different sections: Rosso, a selection of red pizzas, and Bianco, a selection of white pizzas. In the Rosso section, there's a classic Margherita pizza topped with sweet basil. In the same section, there's the Rucolina pizza, topped with aged provolone, Serrano ham, arugula, a farm egg, and pepperoncini. Another highlight is the Short Rib pizza, topped with Tuscan-braised beef short ribs, onions, and pepperoni.

If you're looking to share an appetizer before your meal, Ottava Via has you covered there, too. The Arancini — which is made with fried rice balls packed with Taleggio cheese and prosciutto — is a perfect way to kick off the meal. The restaurant also has an outdoor fireplace on the patio, which is especially nice during those chillier nights that Michigan is known for.

Sicily's Pizzeria has nearly 20 specialty pizzas on its menu to choose from. Most of these pizzas are available as a classic round pie or in a pan-baked Detroit-style square. This pizza is made from a delicious sourdough crust. Some say that Sicily's Pizzeria makes some of the best pies in the city. The sourdough crust has great flavor and just the right amount of chew.

When it comes to vegetarian pizzas, The Bad Hunter is an excellent choice. This pizza features a garlic white sauce base with mozzarella, marinated artichokes, mushrooms, spinach, onions, and sun-dried tomatoes. The garlic sauce on this pizza adds a tasty touch of creaminess that complements the vegetables and amps up the overall flavor.

On the meat side, the Meatball Special is another popular choice. It's made with tender homemade meatballs, beef pepperoni, red onions, and green peppers. The pizzas here are baked until they're nice and crispy, with lightly charred edges. The end result is a pizza with a little crunch on the outside that's soft and fluffy on the inside. The salads here are also exceptionally delicious, with many of them featuring organic greens.

Motor City Brewing Works is more than just a place to grab a beer. The food at this cozy brewpub is well worth your time, and its oven-baked pizzas are particularly delicious. These pizzas are baked in a traditional circular pie and feature a puffy crust that's thick yet airy.

One of the more inventive pizzas on the menu is the Sopla Fuego, which comes with habanero sauce, anejo queso, chorizo sausage, red onion, and jalapeño peppers. The pizza is garnished with dollops of sour cream and fresh cilantro. While all of these toppings would certainly feel at home on a taco, the truth is they also work beautifully here in the form of a pizza. The habanero sauce adds a hint of fruity heat that brings out the flavor of the chorizo, while the anejo queso adds some pleasant sparkle to each bite.

The Roasted Pear & Fig pizza is another winner. Topped with gorgonzola, olive oil, spices, and red onions, this pizza delivers big flavors with just a few humble ingredients. The fruitiness of the pear and the sweetness of the fig are balanced with the funkiness of the gorgonzola to create a wildly delicious flavor. To taste some of Detroit's best bites, Motor City Brewing Works is a safe bet.

Green Lantern Pizza is a small chain of restaurants located just north of Detroit. The company has a smartly curated menu with three different kinds of pizzas available: round, square, or thin crust. Offering these various styles of pizza caters to different preferences. Green Lantern's pan-baked square pizzas are what it's most known for, though — and it's easy to see why. While the edges are golden brown, the rest of the cheese on the pie is still nice and gooey, creating the best of both worlds.

This spot's pizzas are generously covered in cheese and toppings. The toppings are evenly distributed across the surface of the pie, which creates a balanced bite. This may seem like a small detail, but if you've ever had a pizza with toppings haphazardly piled across the pie, you understand that mindfully distributed toppings make a big difference and affect the overall quality of the pizza.

One thing that nudges Green Lantern into the realm of true excellence is its Octopie. The Octopie is a pan-baked pizza that consists entirely of corners. You know how the corner slices in pan pizza get those cheesy, crunchy edges? Well, the Octopie takes that to the max. If you love pan pizza, Green Lantern is worth a pit stop.

Pie Sci Pizza has a unique vibe that helps it stand out from its competition. While other pizzerias strive to conjure up the predictable rustic feel of a European courtyard, Pie Sci's atmosphere is heavily inspired by music. The menu makes allusions to artists as disparate as Wu-Tang Clan, Björk, and The Beatles. The restaurant's logo — a one-eyed creature clutching an exploding beaker — looks more like a Halloween character than a pizza mascot. All of these details converge to create a singular style at Pie Sci that somehow comes across as effortlessly charming in its defiant strangeness.

As expected, the restaurant plays around with some creative flavor combinations. Tajin chili-lime crust, citrus-marinated kale, spiced cauliflower, and a raspberry emulsion drizzle are just a few of the alluring pizza toppings that you'll find at Pie Sci. If you want to build your own pie, there are tons to pick from that you probably won't find at other pizza joints. Poblano peppers, tofu bacon, dates, and jackfruit are just a few of the options on the table. Is Pie Sci your best bet for a traditional pizza? Of course not. But that doesn't make it any less delicious or interesting. Pie Sci is definitely one-of-a-kind, which helps it land a spot as one of Detroit's best and brightest.