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I've eaten some of the greats -- Una Pizza, John's, Grimaldis, Ginos, Home Run -- so i am pretty particular. Supinos is outstanding pizza. Michigander's like square pizza, and you really can't compare it to a thin crust. Tomato apizza is another great pizza.

Now, if you really want square -- Buddy's is great.

Deep Dish -- Pizzapapalis is great.

Alibi is not that great. It suffers from the same problem of many Michigan pizza. You look at the bottom of the crust and you see grid marks from a pan. This leaves a horrible aftertaste in your mouth. But, locals seem to like it.

I'll pass.

@climbhighak--how can you throat punch a buddy if his head is up his ass?

I have a slightly different question: I grew up knowing that tipped employees were paid only a fraction of minimum wage and had a 10% (terrible service) min tip with a 20% (good service) standard, but here in SF wait staff is paid the city minimum wage (higher than the national min wage) and most restaurants add a health care cost surcharge to support the city's universal health care coverage. I really think tipping in excess of 15-20% is extreme in this situation.

Also, many restaurants that add tip have started adding the tip (usually a few percent higher than 15%) to the total bill, not the pre-tax amount. which increases the tip by ~10% or >1.5% of the bill. If the service is especially good I usually add a bit more in addition to the pre-determined amount, but not if the tip is based on something other than the food and beverages ordered.

That being said, whenever I eat out with a friend who i know under-accounts for tip and tax when figuring their share of the bill, I always pay with cash and throw in a few extra bucks. BistroMath never ceases to amaze!

Thank goodness my friends all love to eat and tip well. When my husband and I eat out, if he foots the bill, I pay the tip. He's European, so rather than have him rant endlessly about why it's not his problem that American businesses take advantage of their workers, I pay the tip and he shuts up.

Also, in our tough economic times as more people use coupons for dining, I also tip on the amount of the full price of the meal, not the reduced price of the meal. I tip on the free meal of the "buy one meal, get one meal free" deals, because I know cheap diners out there will tip only on the amount they're paying. Yes, this is overkill. I've never worked in the service industry, but not everyone has the skills or resources or luck to find a good paying job at all times.

So it is very situational, but if say it is with friends I will make them aware that of my displeasure with an inadequate tip. Though it's not necessarily my place to teach this person about proper tipping as a friend I don't want to be continuously confronted with this situation with them thinking it is okay. Sometimes I'll even bring the server into the discussion sometimes as I don't think it's okay behavior. Now obviously if it is someone that you aren't on equal footing with it can sometimes be easier to somehow discreetly give money to the server. I think the real discussion about tipping is whether you do base it on the before or after tax total. A 20% tip should be considered standard for normal good service.

@ Liveto eat and joyy-
Same thing here. Problems calculatiing a simple tip.

"Can people really claim to be so ignorant about how much to tip? Move the decimal over one to the left and double it." or 10%, then double it.

Bill- $45,
10% is $4.50,
double it- $9 dollar tip

Your method is easier, but mine has helped a few math whizzes too.
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As for short tipping- I usally throw extra dollars in to make it 20%. If it's going to be an issue, I either slip money under my plate or excuse myself before the server returns to pick up the bill, catch the hostess and ask them to make sure our server gets "this" (some extra bills).

My frequent lunch buddy at work always undertips, mainly because she's never worked in the service industry and otherwise dines with her husband, who manages all their finances and prob knows how to do the math for tipping. We always split the lunch check, but on her $13 bill, she'll leave a dollar. Maybe I'm an overtipper (I've worked in the industry) and this isn't fine dining, but I feel like she should know to leave at least $1.50. Worse yet, another colleague looks to her to see how much she should tip on her lunch bill.

Can people really claim to be so ignorant about how much to tip? Move the decimal over one to the left and double it.

My mother and grandmother (mom's mom) are painfully bad tippers (it's a symptom of a larger issue, where the tip is perceived as "extra" or more of their hard-earned money). I used to try and and state my case as passionately and eloquently as possible, but I just got annoyed stares and accusations of throwing my money around needlessly. Since neither of them are big on eating at expensive restaurants ("such a waste!") I'll either offer to cover the bill as a way around the issue, or at least offer to cover the tip, as my way of contribution.

@rhinny - there's just no explaining to some people. It is what it is.

woops...that's @climbhighak, not @climbinghighak

Oh god! When eating out with a certain family member, I always have to tuck at least 20% in cash under a saucer or the bill folder, but secretly and only just as we get up to leave. I do this even for substandard service, as putting up with her garbage for an entire meal deserves fair payment (when do I get my tip?).

She thinks that it's generous to leave $100 for a $96 meal. Her reasoning is "if servers want to make more than minimum wage, they should get different jobs." This, of course, is ignoring the fact that they have that exact job *because* they (rightly) expect to make more than the minimum wage. ALSO: I have explained the way that tipping out the kitchen and bar works (having been a restaurant bartender in the past and survived off that tip-out myself...), but still, that has no effect. I cringe every time. Some people can see no logic.

I make sure to openly mock those who under tip. An extra few bucks is really that big of a deal to you? If you've ever worked for tips in your life you'd realize what a difference a couple bucks here and there makes.

Meh, it was becoming more foodie lifestyle mag than anything else. I liked the recipes well enough, but the writing was pretty terrible.

Tomatoes in Farmington Hills (two shops, one using a coal-fired oven) is simply the best. It's a New Haven style of pizza (disclaimer: I'm from NY metro) and the crust, tomato sauce and cheese are all first rate. Their sausage is killer, too. Buddy's, of course, is the star of the Detroit style of pizza. A friend of mine took me to the original store in 1981 and I've been a fan ever since.

@figlet: You're right, Sylvio's is the goods. The crust is excellent. Just had a slice there the other day. It's a Napoletana style.

Went to Loui's in Hazel Park and was disappointed. Sauce was way too salty.

NYPD in Ann Arbor has fallen prey to that peculiarly Midwest overcheesing syndrome, the slice thereby losing its balance. I think that that is what happens when you let the kids make the pizza.

Another very decent pizza not mentioned is My Cousin's New York Pizzeria in Bloomfield Hills. Sauce isn't as good as Tomatoes, but it has all the characteristics of a NY slice. One of the owners if from Brooklyn, NY. Hmmm...I'm gettin' hungry.