Buddy's Pizza — Restaurant in Kentwood

Some of the best Detroit style pizza, but you pay for it.

The Pizza (generally): They are the gold standard in Detroit style pizza. They invented it (see their website and the Wikipedia article). As far as I am concerned, they are still going strong! They take it seriously but have a good time. You can taste it in the semi-sweet dough. It is perfect. Not too sweet, fluffy but very full bodied, and perfectly cooked (not burnt).

They also have a HUGE selection of toppings with a lot of variety. I JUST saw they have anchovies! I gotta try that some time. I had it back when I worked in the pizza industry and it was better than I thought (though VERY salty). They have 8 different cheeses!

A bit of explanation. I was visiting to practice for a food challenge. I was trying to see how much pizza I could eat in 20 minutes. It went down so well because it was soft and delicious. Four slices of pizza weigh almost exactly one pound.

Hawaiian Signature Squares Detroit Pizza - $24.79: Ham, pineapple, and BBQ. The BBQ was a new one on me. I’ve had a lot of different Hawaiian pizzas and this one was a winner for sure. The BBQ sauce was a nice accent (not overpowering) and did really well to compliment. Really, everything was in a perfect balance. The pineapple CAN make it soggy, but they have it so artfully perfect and it was NOT soggy. The cheese was just right and good quality.

I know! Many of you hate pineapple on pizza, but too bad.

Spicy Italian Squares Detroit Pizza - $26.79: My friend ordered this and I had one slice. It was a lot more complicated blend of flavors and a couple are probably in the category where you have to like it. Overall, it was good, but it was a lot more punch of flavor. It did NOT strike me as terribly spicy as far as scoville hot, though. More seasoning spice than hot spice.

Buddy Burger with American Cheese $13.98: I had to. Ordered medium and got it medium. It was juicy. It is a half pound patty, though maybe just a tad shy of that (even after factoring it being cooked down), but not too bad.

The cheese was not completely melted, but still good. It was over all soft and melt in your mouth good. They don’t put ketchup on it, though you can do that yourself which is a bit odd. The shredded lettuce was Romaine (I believe) which is a different wavy yet good texture. It stayed mainly together while eating it and wasn’t too messy which means it was fairly balanced.

The Buddy Burger is normally $12.99 and the cheese is an extra $0.99.

Fries (comes with burger): Wonderful! Perfectly salted. A lot of places over salt, but not them. They were medium cut and perfectly cooked. They were crispy on the outside and semi-fluffy on the inside. They cool fast so eat them quickly.

Service: Good. Our server was stretched thin, but she still didn’t miss a beat. She made sure she took care of us, even when it was the end of her shift and someone later had to take over. No mistakes were made and she even anticipated my unique needs without asking.

Atmosphere: Modern yet flares that harken back to their history. It is mainly casual. Everything was fairly clean and updated. The bathrooms had square bronze sinks, which was a bit unique. The floors sport their original locations street names of Six Mile and Conant. They have booths and tables with chairs. They also have a bar with alcohol.

Conclusion: While it is some of the best pizza you’ll get, it does come with a price tag. I think it is worth it as it was REALLY good quality.

Visited on a...

Very disappointed. We've a family funeral tommorrow and with guests thought easy take out pizza n antipasto salad would be a good idea. I had to wait a additional 25 minutes because the register guy was on the phone. Many people along with me where waiting for their order. Once at home I realized I definatly was given just a plain cheese cheapie pizza n I'd paid for the over priced Sicilian. The pizza was awful. Soaking in grease and stone cold when I got to my house roughly 10 minutes away. It's July and 85' outside. On top of the wrong pizza, way overpriced, greasy, bad service and sloppily made I don't plan on going to order pizza again from buddys. The antipasto salad with a separate vinegar dressing was good. I did add additional cherry tomatoes and some sliced black olives I had in my home. Along with some Italian seasoned croutons. $18 for a modest sized family salad that only has 4 cherry tomato's is over priced. Staff was rude at the counter. I noticed as did other customers. Many other pizza restaurants to enjoy instead of buddys. Oh and the pizza size for $35 was unbelievably small. 8 pieces of grease this size was mega small. Lesson learned even a frozen Jack's pizza from Meijers would of been better quality n flavor. Almost zero tomato sauce on the pizza as well n I am not a fan of lots of sauce. Disappointed buddys pizza . Take your money and loved ones to a...

My wife and I stopped in for an early dinner, around 4 pm or so.

Neither of us had been here before, so we were pretty excited to try it out. We both love Detroit-style pizza but get burnt out eating the same large chain pizza company that's in West Michigan.

When we entered the building, there was no hostess at the counter. We had to wait a few minutes for someone to acknowledge we entered the building. We were prompted to sit down at a booth.

While we sat in the booth, we had to wait 15 minutes for our waitress to show her face. When she arrived she reeked from cigarettes and hit us immediately with news that her husband just passed.

The food was brought to us very promptly, which is probably the only decent thing about our visit. During our meal, a handful of employees walked around with an almost zombie-like personality. The staff looked completely drained, and rush hour wasn't even here yet.

The worker delivering the pizza wasn't even wearing a uniform. He had an old pinkish-red shirt, and Wrangler jeans on.

The food was okay at best, but I wouldn't recommend driving further than 30 minutes to try.

Sadly, the large chain Detroit-style pizza franchises in the area are a better choice.

No decision to go back shortly is on the table at this time. Perhaps we will go back...