Fricano’s Pizza

Love this pizza! It’s traditional Fricano family pizza and that’s it! One size, thin crust only, limited toppings and a small paper plate. It’s delicious and even better cold tomorrow. Full bar.

Usually one of favorites pizza spots when we are back home for a weekend.
The only pizza is thin crust pizza, cracker thin.
They don’t have many of the various topping offerings of a traditional pizza place, so you are somewhat limited on what you can do to your pie. Also being thin crust, each pizza is basically a personal pizza so your bill get pretty large pretty quick.
We tried one of the specials on our last visit. It was some sort of Hawaiian (without ham though, again limited options). It wasn’t bad, but it maybe had one small piece of pineapple on each slice. Pretty lackluster.
I am sure we will visit again when we are in town, but out last visit definitely wasn’t the Fricano’s experience of our past.

We have lived here for four years, and this was the first pizza place that reminded me of the best thin crusts that Chicago has to offer. This truly is the best pizza in Michigan. The staff is friendly and the pizza is excellent. Take my advice; if you are going to get pizza do it here. We hate to leave it behind as we move.

Been loving Fricano’s pizza for decades! Its thin crust, cheesy, meaty, bubbly, golden goodness has been devoured by me and my family on more holidays, regular days, and family get togethers than I could possibly count. So many wonderful memories made revolving around this legendary, Michigan deliciousness! (we had some for dinner tonight and writing this post is making me hungry for more!)

I had to laugh at the little glass that my wine came in but other than that I so much more enjoyed this location other than the one in Holland Michigan. This place is light and airy and lots of room and they even have other items on the menu besides pizza can you believe it? They have lasagna and salad and spaghetti and even more selections for pizza. The pizza we got was really delicious and I would return to this location in no time

Pizza had maybe a Oz of sauce on it and their roasted garlic pizza was just a cheese pizza with a ridiculous amount of garlic powder on it. And also the guy that took out order was rude and nit customer friendly at all. Best pizza in Michigan my butt

By far the best pizza in a 45 minute radius of Grand Rapids. Thin crust with a Parmesan crust. No special ordering, you get what is on the menu. I recommend the sausage pizza. The hours are strange but worth figuring out. A must stop anytime I am near Alpine.

Fantastic pizza!!! Service is always good, with plenty of parking and seating inside.

What you need to know before you go:
1. The pizza is very good, but it’s expensive. Know that first. About $ 10+ for a personal pizza.
2. They do not refill soda and it’s a small glass to begin with.
Now, we were there tonight and our waitress was horrible. horrible. Frankly, she is the reason for my post here… She was short with us, never stuck around long enough to take everyone’s drink order at our table (4 people)… We had to catch her on the the next time she visited the table. She was rude. not sure if she was having a bad night or she is always a pain in the a*s. She never asked how the bill was to be split between 2 couples, but she handed it to us before we even had a chance to tell her (Remember what I said about her being short with us…).
We are nice people, we were very nice to her. We couldn’t get a word in with her. For example; when she handed me the bill, I tried to get her attention before she walked away and she kept walking. I KNOW she heard me, she acted as if she didn’t hear me, but I saw her mannerism and I know she heard us. She kept walking anyway… I assure you, we did nothing to warrant being treated like that. We smile, we say please and thank you. Respect…
What was funny, when we paid, the main man behind the counter was really cool! We bantered and thanked each other, had a laugh. It was at that point that piece-​of-​work waitress put on a smile and said «Thank You!» She giving us the ol’ «thank you before you tip’ gig and acting like she gave two shits in front of her boss.
In any case, we wont be back because I never want to deal with her again. I hope the boss reads this because he should evaluate who he has working there.
Fricano’s has a cult like following apparently. perhaps you need to be in the cult to get treated well by the wait staff.
I probably should have said something to the main-​man or even to her, but I didn’t feel like going there at the moment… hate to be passive aggressive here, but it’s what you get when you pay hard earned money and get an experience like we had.

I have had the distinct pleasure of enjoying Fricano’s Pizza for over 30 years. My wife’s family took me to Grand Haven in the early 80’s and have been hooked ever since. The Alpine location is convenient and serves the identical piping hot, crispy, tangy pizza as they have done for decades. I live in Chicago and consider myself an expert on thick and thin crust pizza and have to tell you, Fricano’s is in my top two. It’s a great value and the staff are wonderful people to dine with and provide great service. Highly recommend.

My husband and I love it! We had our wedding rehearsal here 10 years ago and keep coming back whenever we are in town. The best pizza!

The people who own this place and the staff are wonderful people, friendly, and accommodating to children. They are proud of their restaurant, :) everyone treated us so nice (2 adults, 4 kids). They give the kids a big pack of crayons and s bunch of round papers to keep them busy. Love this. Now everyone at my table loved the pizza. I did not. Ideally thin crust is great, but this pizza is thin and just horribly greasy to the point that it just makes more sense to roll your pizza up and eat it. Not fun. While the sauce flavor is great, the cheese and meats create entirely too much grease for this thin little pie. It’s good, but I didn’t love it. Great people though!

The EBA (everything but anchovies) pizza IS as good as it looks and gets! It was a great pleasure to meet and talk with Doug (the owner). When he learned this was my first time enjoying a Fricano’s pizza, I shared a handshake and a «Welcome to the Fricano’s Family!» with him. I believe that. As we chatted, I can tell he and his family’s history/​passion is serving the best ultra/​thin crust pizza in W MI. Doug and his team in the Alpine store (I have not been to other locations) do that and connect on a friendly, personal level as well. And we did have a discussion about onions on pizza. I get it now. You go there and have your own discussion with Doug. I bet he’d be willing to enlighten you too. Enjoy!

I really like this place. Pizza any size you want as long as it is 12″. The only place in town that I can get anchovies on the side. Kind of old school, wine in a juice glass. If you don’t like ultra thin crust pizza go some place else. If you wand a lot of fu-​fu stuff go some place else. If you want the best thin crust pizza with basic toppings Fricano’s is the place.

I went to the Comstock location last night with friends. I’m from Chicago and only do deep dish once or twice a year. Fricano’s has an awesome thin and crispy pizza. I was 2 slices short of knocking off my own pie. Great crust, sauce and they have a very tasty blend of cheeses. This is a wonderful family owned Ma and Pa pizza joint not a national chain. Owner Doug is a classically warm and welcome guy. Our server was fantastic! Friendly and full of life. Go there and have a great pizza at very reasonable prices.

Our first visit didn’t do much for us… We stood at the front door for a solid 10 minutes before someone walked by and told us we could sit at «any table in that row». We sat at our table for 10 – 15 minutes before someone came and asked us «what we wanted». After waiting 40 minutes for 2 small pizzas, our tiny drinks with no free refills were gone and our server never checked on us. The famous pizza… was not that amazing. There aren’t many topping choices, and the pepperoni was extremely greasy. We didn’t feel it was worth the price or the hype.

So after growing up in Grand Haven and having Fricano’s weekly for 20 years I started having withdrawals here in Seattle. Not a problem, Doug made me a dozen pizzas, packed them and sent them off to me here in Seattle. Now I am just saying not since a chief of mine brought me back a fricanos wrapper in the Persian Gulf have I been so happy and homesick at the same time. Now it should be said I have been here 19 years now and still about every summer I send Doug an email. Here’s to you Fricano family!!! Thanks for the best Pizza on the planet.

I’m going to give a simple review for a simple product.
I worked at the N. Park location for over 3 years back around 1999 and had this pizza everyday (ahh, the joys of a teenage metabolism) and never once got sick of it. It’s that good. It’s true, Fricanos only offers thin-​crust, 5 toppings and one size but I’m telling you, it works.
Lastly, I got to know the owner, Doug, when I worked there and I can honestly say that it is extremely rare that you find a business owner who has as much pride invested in keeping the product sacred, as he does. This business and the people behind it are authentic Grand Rapids. Something we don’t see a whole lot of anymore.
Treat yourself to a classic!

Voted «Best Pizza» by PURE MICHIGAN! Yep, I agree! Staff is fun and friendly too!

When our server said almost immediately that they are the Pizza Nazi I knew right away I was gonna like her!
The pizza is very good — and I say this being a fan of a thicker crust usually and theirs is pretty thin. I have tried the roasted garlic basil pizza & the Hawaiian. I would actually prefer chunks of roasted garlic on my pizza but that doesn’t seem easy for me to find. Both were fantastic in my opinion!
Fricanos offers a few different specialty pizzas or about 5 toppings you can choose from to make your own combo. They do not substitute but will remove items from the specialty pizzas listed. However, they will not make a pizza with anything other than the toppings listed. Yes, this means you cannot choose a topping that isn’t on the list even if it can be found on a specialty pizza.
The service isn’t the fastest but the servers I have had are awesome! I can’t wait to go back, I find myself craving their pizza.