Motor Town Pizza — Restaurant in Richmond Heights

—10/17/20 Update— Wow, their customer service is incredible. After my original review, they reached out to me personally and assured me that they were listening to feedback. They even implemented one of my suggestions – having the option to put the sauce on top like traditional Detroit-style pizza. They even gave me a credit so I could try the pizza again on them and see how I liked it after the changes.

I’m happy to report that my second experience was much better. I ordered the same pizza (Model P) for a direct comparison. The crust was way better this time – thick and airy instead of thin and dense. I also got the sauce on top like I wanted. It was much better overall.

My wife got a pepperoni, pineapple, and crunchy garlic. She thought her dough was a little on the underdone side. She had also hoped for more pineapple, but was glad that at least it was fresh pineapple unlike most pizza places which use canned.

We tried the Nutella Gooey Butter cake again and once again we’re not overly impressed. I think it would be better if they didn’t bake it quite as long so it were more gooey. It wasn’t bad, but just tasted like a cakey brownie.

The last thing of note is that I wish they had included napkins and utensils. We took the pizza to the park to eat and when I opened the bag, only the gooey butter cake was inside. It’s a pretty messy pizza to eat.

But overall, the customer service can’t be beat and their pizza is better and more consistent than when they opened.

—Original Review— Let me start off by saying that I’m a pizza aficionado who reads Pizza Today magazine for fun and who goes out of his way to try every new pizzeria in the St. Louis area. Furthermore, Detroit-style is my very favorite style of pizza. It’s difficult to find in the area, with Jet’s and Little Caesar’s deep dish being the two best options.

Thus, I was thrilled when I heard about Motor Town Pizza! Unfortunately, it failed to live up to my expectations.

I ordered the Model P (brick cheese, volpi pepperoni, and crispy garlic) and my wife for the El Dorado (Chihuahua, smoked provolone, chorizo, jalapenos, and pineapple).

CRUST: The first thing I noticed was the crust inconsistency. My wife’s had a nice airy rise, as Detroit style is supposed to. Mine was thin and dense.

SAUCE: A signature of Detroit style pizza, aside from the brick cheese and the special pan, is that the thick sauce goes on top, typically in long streaks. That was not the case with either of our pizzas. They more closely resembled Sicilian style, with the sauce under the cheese.

TOPPINGS: The authentic brick cheese was good and crisped up nicely at the edges. The pepperoni was decent but I would prefer for it to crisp and cup instead of stay limp. Surprisingly, the star of the show was the crispy garlic! I love garlic, but I can’t recall ever having a crispy variety of it until now.

DESSERT: The only dessert option is Nutella gooey butter cake, which we were super excited about because it combines two of our favorite desserts. It was okay but really just tasted like a brownie. We didn’t get much gooey butter texture or Nutella flavor, surprisingly.

OVERALL: While it was disappointing this time around, I do see promise and room for improvement. I will give them credit in that they are listening to customer feedback, as I noticed that the Model P originally came with 4 pepperoni slices and now includes 8. I trust that they will take my feedback and make further improvements. The crust consistency is the major thing, and I also hope they consider doing the sauce in thick streaks along the top as is tradition. If they need inspiration, I’d encourage them to check out Via 313 in Austin, which is a Detroit-style pizzeria that just won Pizzeria...

5-16-25 well priced pizza & drinks from a cooler+wine, beer, canned cocktails! Pizza, subs, salads, appetizers, chips, dessert and specials. The NY crust Cheese and the Detroit crust Model P were pretty darn good fresh out the oven. I like my NY crust more golden-well and more melt in mouth than dry cracker-like. But that Detroit crust! Wow. Truly something special. This place is worth a visit just for that! Mine could have been a little more golden-well but the texture of that crust is insanely delicious inside & out.

Atmosphere was quaint & peaceful sitting at the window. Service was 100/10! I thought Gregory was the owner and the cooks were his sons. Because his service felt like a dad taking care of his family and friends! He makes the food taste even better. I was pretty lucky to walk up to this place after walking out of both Drakes & Red Robin which were steps from my hotel. I noticed there was a constant flow of traffic so I reluctantly chose pizza over Thai. Once inside Gregory was constantly cleaning and so attentive to both the customer & the kitchen that alone made me sit down and order 2 pies! From the inside to the outside he was making all the customers a priority. A truly thoughtful and professional man with a genuine care for your experience.

5-17-25 2nd visit anxious to try the salad. I was prepared to buy Chop Shop and the Kale salad but was told they would mix them. Somehow I ended up with just Kale and Romaine lettuces dressed up. No toppings. Totally forgot I wanted to add Chicken. Once I made it back to the hotel all I had was $12 worth of lettuces. That wasn’t the plan. Salad was packed tight in a carryout box covered in fingerprints. Safe to say I don’t think I’ll...

UPDATE - The owner generously reached out with free coupons to let us try their pizza again. I will say that we were MUCH more impressed the second time around! We ordered a detroit-style pizza as well as a round-crust-style pizza. I wasn't sure what to expect with the round crust (since the detroit is clearly the specialty), but it was absolutely delightful! It had a bit of a chew to it that was almost reminiscent of a sourdough crust. The detroit-style was much much better this time too, and we really loved the fresh pineapple and crispy shallot toppings! Everything was truly delicious, we will definitely be going back!

Tip: if you order the pizza as take-out, I might recommend ordering it uncut (and cutting it at home). The bottom of the detroit-style was still a bit soggy by the time we got it home (but crisping it up in a skillet on the stove really helped! We do this for all leftover pizza too, it's a great hack to bring life back to a less than crispy crust!).

ORIGINAL REVIEW - We love Detroit-style pizza and were really excited to try this place. We picked up an order for carry-out a few weeks ago, and unfortunately both pizzas were undercooked (we had to cook them in our oven at home to get the dough to a point where it wasn't raw in the middle). I would say our overall impression of their pizza (once fully cooked) was that it felt heavy/greasy (perhaps too much cheese?). The Nutella gooey butter cake was pretty dry and a bit...