Fricano's Pizza Tavern — Restaurant in Grand Haven

My boyfriend and I are on vacation and our first night here we decided to come to this pizza place after reading reviews and googling that this was a must have when vacationing here. Let me paint you a picture, we arrive and it was seat yourself, there were only maybe 4 other tables when we arrived who had all been served. We ordered our drinks and said we would need a couple minutes to order our pizza because we weren’t sure how it all worked since it was our first time there. She came back, without our drinks and we ordered our pizza. About 5 minutes after ordering our pizza another table arrives and sits beside our table so they got the same server, they ordered their drinks (we still didn’t have ours at this point) and she brings theirs out and tells them, oh I need to get their drinks still, and takes another FIVE minutes to do so. THEN a pizza comes out and I told my BF to watch out our pizza was coming, but nope, it got sat down at the table of the people who came in and ordered after us. There was another table that came in about 15 minutes after we ordered with another server and they also got their pizza before us. I told my BF, the table beside us got our pizza. Finally their actual pizza came out and the lady who brought it out asked what our pizza was and I told her. Our server continued to apologize to the table who she gave OUR pizza to, but never apologized to us, didn’t even approach us. We waited over and hour for our pizza to be remade. Our ticket was not even discounted in the slightest and our server had at once approached us and said, “I don’t know why your pizza isn’t out yet,” instead of admitting she messed up. So when leaving a lady asked if we had been helped and I very nicely said I just have a quick question, “I don’t understand why we waited over an hour for our pizza after ours was given to the wrong table and never got the slightest apology nor even a little discount for our horrible service.” The lady said VERY rudely, “I’m who you need to talk to what can I do to make you happy?” And then proceeded to basically tell us we could leave and not to pay. This was done so unprofessionally. I have never had such horrible service somewhere and then been treated that way by “management” when telling them about our horrible treatment and service. I would give this place 0 stars if I could just for the treatment we experienced alone. We are very good tipping people and it takes a lot to make us mad, but this place topped it for me. Never...

Fricano's is considered to be one of the most famous pizzerias in all of Michigan. Many people feel it is also the best. I can't judge whether that is accurate or not, but Fricano's does make a very good pizza. Fricano's serves up a type of pizza called "Tavern-style," which makes a lot of sense given that "tavern" is in their name. Tavern (or "bar") pizza is ultra-thin crust, with a thin layer of flavorful red sauce and mozzarella cheese. Now I am partial NY-style pizza, but I've got to admit this pizza was better than good. Each pizza we tasted was surprisingly different. My everything didn't taste like a cheese with some toppings - it tasted distinctive of its own. Slightly salty, a little fishy, with bright fresh homemade italian sausage, this pizza was flavor packed. The cheese only needed some more time in the oven (apparently this is called "crispy," though we didn't order it that way), but was still an above average pie. The sausage and mushroom was also very good, though the quality of the sausage was much higher than that of the mushrooms (which, despite being imported, are still canned). The atmosphere is reminiscent of a dive bar and the building is showing its age, though this really all adds to the charm of the place. Service is efficient and competent, but not overtly friendly. There are some limited craft beers available (mostly Bell's regular and seasonal offerings) If you're capable of appreciating different styles of pizza for what they are, then Fricano's is highly recommended. However, if you're looking for Chicago style stuffed pizza, a Neapolitan, or a NY-style thin, Fricano's may not be the...

Food was good. Very busy for a Tuesday night, and ended up walking in with a lady who had a group of 8 that hadn't all showed up. I had a group of only 2. After waiting for about 10min and noticing a table open the entire time, I talked to the cashier and politely mentioned that I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't mistakenly included in the group of 8 and it was just me and my daughter. We waited for another 5+ min to be seated at the table which was available the entire time. This was a bit frustrating but being that it was as busy as it was, it was understandable. After this minor inconvenience the rest of the meal and service was very good. This was our first time at Fricanos so I didn't really know that there was only 1 option of pizza with 5 toppings available, Plain cheese, sausage, pepperoni, green pepper, mushrooms, and anchovies, or of course any one combination of these toppings. I was very surprised there weren't any other options, no bread sticks, appetizers, salads, just pizza and drinks. It was at least another 20min wait for the pizza which was okay because I was in good company. Pizza came hot! We ordered sausage and mushroom. Unfortunately mushrooms are from a can, but at this point I was so hungry and the waitress was so busy I didn't even bother asking questions. The sausage was top notch, and I would definitely recommend it. I wouldn't so much request the mushrooms again. Pizza was delicious and could've easily put down another one, but it was a good size portion for my daughter and I. Prices were good, and I will be back but next time I'm...