Intro: A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to eat at Square Pie Guys in San Francisco. Located near Civic Center (on Mission Street) in San Francisco, this pizza joint is serving up Detroit style pizza in the Bay Area. It just recently opened a few months ago but is already widely popular. I have always been a big fan of deep dish and Detroit style pizza so going to Square Pie Guys was a no brainer for me.
First Impressions and Ordering: Upon entering the restaurant, I notice that it seems smaller than what I had originally expected. When you first enter, you are immediately standing in front of the cashier and cash register with a big menu board above. The menu lists all their pizzas, salads, drinks and desserts. On your left when you enter are stairs that lead to extra seating and a balcony area. Immediately behind the cash register is the kitchen and pizza making area. Also, if you continue to walk forward past the cash register, there is lower level seating. Since we were standing right in front of the cash register when we entered, we decided to order some food. We ordered a 6*8 pizza (a pizza with 48 pepperonis), a chilled bowl salad (salad with kale, tomatoes, beans and broccoli) and some monkey bread for dessert. We then proceed to sit upstairs as there was not much seating downstairs. Also, by sitting upstairs, we were able to get an aerial view of the kitchen and the chefs making the pizza.
The Food:
The first thing to come was the salad. This salad contains tomatoes, beans, sunflower seeds, broccoli and a spicy sun-dried tomato vinaigrette. This salad was huge– it could have been a full meal for one person— and served in a big cold bowl. I took some out of the bowl and put some onto my plate. After taking a few bites of the salad, I realized that it was a good salad but not a great salad. I really liked the dressing because it went really well with the kale and the other ingredients. I also really liked the beans and tomatoes as they added nice color and flavor to the salad. But, I did not really care for the broccoli in this salad. The broccoli was cut into big pieces that were hard to eat and did not really mix well with the dressing. Aside from the broccoli though, this salad was good and I recommend getting it if you substitute out the broccoli.
The next thing to arrive was the pizza. All of the pizza at Square Pie Guys are Detroit style and cut into 4 big slices. When the pizza arrived, I instantly took one of the big slices and begin to eat it. I usually eat pizza with my hands and without a fork and knife. But, I ate this piece of pizza with a fork and knife because it was too hard to grip with my hands. Upon taking my first bite of the pizza, I knew that it was a good piece of pizza. The cheese was melted perfectly and the pepperoni added really nice flavor. Also, the crust was unlike any crust that I had had before. It was like a deep dish pizza crust and had an amazing flavor that blended really well with the cheese and sauce. We immediately devoured the whole pizza and realized that we had to order another pizza because we liked it so much.
The last thing to arrive was the monkey bread. When we first ordered this dessert, I was a little bit skeptical because I was afraid that it would be too sweet. But, upon eating my first bite, my skepticism was washed away. To make this monkey bread, they fry up the pizza dough and roll it in sugar and combine it with a caramel dipping sauce. My first bit of this monkey bread was amazing. The dough was cooked just enough but not too much so that the bread was still a bit doughy in the middle. The caramel dipping sauce added a nice sweetness to the dish but did not make it an insanely sweet dish. After eating my first little square, I instantly went back for more until it was all gone. Overall, this dessert was very good.
Overall: Overall, Square Pie Guys has very good Detroit Style Pizza and I highly recommend visiting when you have the chance. Although their salad was lacking a little bit, the pizza and dessert made up for it and then some. Overall, great pizza and I am definitely going to be coming back soon. Great job and many thanks to the team at Square Pie Guys!
Stars: 4/5
Walker's World 