Have you ever scrolled by something on the internet and thought, oh, that’s trash!
I did that today. My colleague Chuck Jackson sent me a new list compiled by Yelp, you know, that website where people go to yell at waiters from behind their phone, of the best pizza joints in the U.S. and Canada.
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At first glance, it was just another pizza list. I assumed we’d see the usual suspects for Michigan -- Buddy’s, Shield’s, maybe Supino, Green Lantern -- the classics. Or maybe one of the newer gems, like Michigan & Trumbull or Grandma Bob’s, Jolly Pumpkin, or something. Instead what I saw was what could only be described as pizza sham.
Not only are none of those classic pizza spots on this list, there’s a Detroit-style pizza spot at No. 16 -- and it’s in Texas, and it’s before any Michigan pizza shop on the list.
Apparently you now have to drive down to Lewisville, Texas, over to Motor City Pizza (that’s really the name), for the best Detroit-style pizza now.
By now you must be thinking -- Ken, there’s got to be better Michigan spots on the list. Right? Ken?
Here’s where things get really dark. Not only are there no classic spots on the list, there are also no Michigan pizza joints on the list until the No. 72 ranked place Patellie’s, which is over in Three Oaks.
The only other Michigan place comes in at No. 85, Spicy Slices over in Novi. That’s it. Two places out of 100.
I have nothing against those two pizza places. I’m sure they’re great. I wish them nothing but pizza success. But for this Yelp list to just ignore the deep pizza roots of the Detroit area -- it’s just blasphemous.
Yelp described the list gathering methodology as: “This is an all-time list of the Top Pizza Spots in the US, according to Yelp. We identified businesses in the pizza category, then ranked those spots using a number of factors including the total volume and ratings of reviews.”
This is such a flawed method -- most Yelp reviews are for the wrong reasons. They’re either to complain about something, or to get your score up. Yelp is not an accurate representation of restaurants. And they know this.
For now, instead of Yelp, I’m just stuck here saying, Welp. Toss this list in the garbage and move on.
Related: How long can you leave pizza out? We scientifically tested it. Here are the results