530 76th Street SW #500I don’t get called to Grand Rapids much anymore. For seven years, I went there every day but since we opened an office in Kalamazoo, I tend to get to stay closer to home.
Last Thursday, there wasn’t much for me to do in Kalamazoo and they were short in Grand Rapids. My boss asked if I could work up there for the day. I was given an assignment that took me right up to and past my quitting time of 6:30. I told J it was going to be closer to 8:00 before I got home. She had already made plans to go to dinner at one of her friends with the kids anyway so it wasn’t that big of a deal.
I was on my own for dinner. That’s fine. I like stopping to pick up a pizza for myself. There are a few places I usually stop between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo, but you know me. I wanted something different. So I did a Google search for a place near Byron Center.
This is where the story gets hilarious. I found a place called Joe’s Way Too on 76th Street. It was close to the highway so I called in an order. I couldn’t understand what the person answering the phone said but I thought I heard “pizzeria.” I put in an order for a 16″ pepperoni pizza. He told me it’d be about 20 minutes.
I went to the address listed for Joe’s Way Too and found Mannie’s Pizza. No big deal. Pizza places change all the time. As long as I could get a pizza, I wasn’t too worried about the name. It was going to be a new experience either way.
So, Mannie’s Pizza is on 76th Street just west of the US-131 interchange. There’s a small strip mall there with a fitness studio next door blasting music so loud it was shaking the walls of the pizza shop. The Google street view shows Joe’s Way was still there as of August of last year so Mannie’s must be fairly new to the area.
I walk in to the business about twenty minutes after I called. There’s an order counter directly in front as you walk in. It’s covered in wood paneling with a stainless steel top. There are pizza by the slice ovens off to one side but they only do that during the lunch hour.
A guy came out of the kitchen and I told him my name. He came back to double check and said all he had was an order for not me. It was wings and a sandwich. I had ordered a pizza. He asked me if I called the right location. I gave him the number I called and he said that wasn’t for any of their locations. So I have no idea who I called and there’s probably still a pizza sitting there for me somewhere.
I had no idea who I called and I didn’t want to figure it out. I asked if they could just make me a 16″ pepperoni pizza and I’d just buy it from them.
It took a little over ten minutes for the pizza to be made and boxed up. I took a seat in the small dining room. There are about half a dozen tables so dining in is definitely a possibility, but I really wanted to get home. There was a special on a 16″ one topping, so the pizza cost me a little over ten bucks.
I have actually had Mannie’s Pizza before having stopped at the location in Otsego one night after a job near Bittersweet Ski Resort. Like this one, the Otsego has recently become a Mannie’s after being a Joe’s Way for several years.
I grabbed one slice while I was sitting in the parking lot because I was really hungry. I hadn’t had time for lunch so the last thing I had eaten was a handful of animal crackers I stole from my bosses desk.
The pizza has a really nice thin crust. It’s pretty uniform all the way so I would think that it’s not hand tossed. There is no crunch to the crust but it’s also not super doughy.
The top of the pizza was cooked real well. There was a nice golden brown layer of cheese that held on to a thick layer of sauce. The could really use a little sweet or a little spicy but it’s a solid pizza sauce which lets the golden brown delicious cheese and greasy, spicy pepperoni really stand out.
I had no intention of going to a Mannie’s Pizza when I first made the call to order but I’m not mad that’s where I ended up. This is the second time I’ve found a Mannie’s along my travels and both times, I’ve been happy with what I brought home.