Bites Nearby: It's Hip to Be Square at Buddy's Pizza

Overview: Chicago has the deep dish, New York has the foldable thin crust and Detroit has the square pizza. Buddy’s has been lauded as Detroit’s best square pizza by various media outlets, locally and nationally.

Decor: The restaurant is a shrine to the Motor City, with photos of Detroit and sports legends adorning the exposed brick walls in a brightly lit dining room with a combo of booths and tables. It’s a laid-back family-friendly atmosphere.

The Drinks: Every night features a different drink special. Mixed drinks pack a potent punch. Budget-conscious wine drinkers can try one of the house wines that cost less than $6 a glass.

Appetizers: We tried the meatballs and zucchini chips with homemade ranch for dipping. The meatballs were worthy of any Italian grandmother’s Sunday spread with a savory gravy and melted cheese on top. The zucchini were sliced into chips and battered in a well-seasoned batter that unfortunately kept falling off the veggies. The creamy ranch served as a perfect complement to the zucchini. Other appetizer options include oven-baked cheese and bacon fries and mozzarella sticks.

Entrees: Pizza, what else? The square crust is top-notch and perfectly baked to a satisfying crispness. For a classic Buddy’s pie, try the Detroiter: Cheese, pepperoni, tomato basil sauce, topped with shaved parmesan cheese and Buddy’s spice blend. Pizzas are available in four-square or eight-square – great options if you can’t choose between the specialty pies or have a hard-to-please crowd. There’s a pizza for every taste, from Chicken Fajita (cheddar cheese blend, Southwest spiced chicken, picante sauce, roasted peppers, onions and tomato) to Greek (a feta cheese blend, spinach, garlic, red onions, tomato and dill).

But if square crust is not your cup of tea, there are different crust options such as Neapolitan style. In response to a more health-conscious consumer, Buddy’s offers gluten-free and multi-grain crusts as well as “diet options” including lightly cheesed, fat-free cheese or no cheese.

If for some reason you come to Buddy’s Pizza for something other than a slice, try the Robby Burgers. The patty is seasoned well and served on a buttery soft roll and slathered with Robby Sauce (kind of like Thousand Island). Pasta sauces are made from scratch daily. Salads come in hefty portions and are large enough for a meal. We tried the Harvest salad, which had candied nuts, mandarin oranges and greens,  overly saturated in a cloyingly sweet dressing. This was more like a bag of candy than a salad.

Sides: Burgers are served with crispy, well-seasoned fries. Pastas are accompanied by your choice of side salad or soup (made from scratch daily) and oven-baked Buddy rolls.

Desserts: We’ll be honest: We have no clue what’s on the dessert menu because after demolishing a pizza and stuffing ourselves with meatballs, we had no room for dessert. Harvest salad, anyone?   

Service: Our waiter was fast and polite. Even on a Saturday night, we had no problem getting a table and being served in a timely fashion.

Signature Dish: Um, pizza. The pastas and burgers are quite good, too.

Address: 31646 Northwestern Hwy., Farmington Hills, MI 48334

Cost: $$