Buddy's Will Leave You Stuffed-In a Good Way

I have been eating at Buddy’s Pizzeria ever since I was a kid. Located on Plymouth Road in Livonia, going to Buddy’s became somewhat of a ritual for our family. After attending 5 o’clock mass on Saturdays, more often than not we found ourselves heading on over to Buddy’s for dinner. Like most kids, I dreaded the boredom that was church, but the lure of going to Buddy’s after mass was just the incentive I needed to behave.
Now an adult, I don’t go as often as I did in my youth. My most recent experience was this past Friday night with a friend of mine. The evening did not start out well as it was cold and rainy, added to the fact that all of the handicapped parking spaces were taken up. As it was a Friday night, I thought the twenty minute wait to be seated was reasonable. The waiting area was cramped, not a place for a claustrophobe. I liked that instead of announcing your name on a speaker, they handed out an electronic device that beeped when your table was ready.
After getting seated at our booth, we were attended to promptly by the waitress. A middle-aged woman, she was pleasant and professional; we never had to ask for anything twice. They only had Coke products, which was a minor disappointment since I normally have Mountain Dew when I eat out. Our drinks were brought to us quickly and we ordered our food. We only had to wait about ten minutes for our food, although there was a false alarm as the table next to us had almost the identical order served to them just a few minutes before ours. Buddy’s is well-known for being Detroit’s #1 deep dish pizza, so I ordered the four-piece pepperoni. I could see why they have that reputation, although for my taste I could’ve used a bit more tomato sauce. It was very filling as I managed to finish only half of it. A recent addition to the menu, Buddy’s is now offering a thin-crust gluten-free pizza, which was good since my friend has a gluten intolerance. It tasted great, evidenced by the time it took for her to devour it. She also had a Greek salad to go with her pizza. The salad was brought out in a silver bowl, which I thought could’ve been easily mistaken for a dog bowl. As for the salad itself, she described it as not being very “Greeky”, which I hope makes sense because I’m not much of a salad eater myself. Although I was too full for dessert, I helped myself to the bowl of free suckers at the front entrance as we left.
I refuse to grade a restaurant on the typical star rating system. Most 5 star restaurants involve wearing a tie and speaking a different language and I wouldn’t be caught dead at those types of restaurants. I prefer to use the Siskel and Ebert method. Buddy’s presents a very family-friendly eating experience with sports related décor throughout the restaurant. They have a gigantic gumball machine in the front, although I’d hate to be the one to eat the last gumball as it is probably years old by that time. You should have no trouble finding a dish you like. Buddy’s offers a wide variety of appetizers, salads, burgers, and pizza; and the prices are affordable, especially in this economy, so you can expect to pay less than $10 for a meal. Overall, I give Buddy’s a thumbs up.

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Data Sieve. Buddy's Pizza-Detroit's #1 deep dish pizza. Buddy's Pizza. n.d. Web. October 18 2009. www.buddyspizza.com