Mid-Michigan Dining

• 1219 E. Grand River Avenue
• East Lansing, MI 48823
• (517) 203-0303
• Website
• Menu

Topper's Pizza on Grand River Avenue in East Lansing.

Now that it’s NASCAR season again, Sunday’s can get pretty lazy.  When the race is a west coast race, it really gets lazy because the race starts so late, it goes right through dinner.  J and I were hanging out on the couch flipping back and forth between the Shelby 427 and the Illinois vs. Michigan State basketball game.  Once we saw MSU had the game wrapped up, we started thinking about dinner.  J suggested pizza.  I was game.  Once again, we tried Izzo’s Pizzeria in Old REO Town only to find them closed again.  I continued to drive around before I ended up in East Lansing.

Topper’s Pizza is on Grand River Avenue in East Lansing.  The store is fairly new having opened just before Christmas.  Topper’s is a chain out of Whitewater, Wisconsin with locations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and North Carolina.  The East Lansing location is the only Michigan location.

The store is pretty small, but there are a couple of tables should want to dine in.  There’s also some leather chairs and a couch  in a little waiting area.  Since I was driving aimlessly, I didn’t call my order in.  I went to the counter to place my order.  I ordered a large cheese pizza and tried to tag on a single order of Cinnamonstix.  The lady taking the order it would actually be three bucks cheaper if I ordered a triple order of Cinnamonstix due to a promotion they had going on.  I didn’t really need that much dessert, but I did it anyway to save money.  After that was hammered out, she asked if I wanted extra cheese since I got one topping on the pizza, I said, sure.  She didn’t have to twist my arm.

I took a seat in the waiting area and waited.  It was only about ten minutes or so until my pizza came up.  When she handed me to large pizza boxes, I knew I had over ordered, but the way I looked it at was I only spent $15 and leftovers wouldn’t go to waste.

By the time I finally made it home, J was starting to worry about me.  I told her it took my three tries to find a pizza place we hadn’t eaten at yet, but I had been gone an hour and a half.  I put both boxes on the table and J thanked me immediately from the Cinnamonstix. 

The pizza was typical chain pizzeria pizza.  The cheese made things really, really tough.  It really looks like the pizza’s are made somewhere else, frozen and then topped when right before they went in.  There were no visible cut lines on the top of the pizza and everytime we tried to pull a piece out, all we got was crust.  The cheese just stayed where it was because it wasn’t cut.  We ended up with a big pile of cheese in the middle of the box.  The pizza was nothing special.  It was alright and if I lived close, I would order it again, but I won’t be going out of the way.  Like I’ve already said, it’s just a typical chain pizza.  Thick crust, a sauce that doesn’t stand out, and cheese that doesn’t stick to the pizza.

The Cinnamonstix were a different story.  They were delicious.  J only had a couple pieces of pizza so she could save room for the dessert pie.  The triple order of cinnamonstix were the size of a large pizza.  The dough was cut up into breadstick size.  They were covered with cinnamon sugar and a vanilla frosting.  I had a few leftovers later and they were still good cold.

Topper’s Pizza was fine.  It was a good meal at a decent price, but it wasn’t anything special.  It didn’t stand out from the competition at all.  The pizza was sloppily made and reminded me of Papa John’s.  Why can’t a chain do a thin crust with a really flavorful sauce?  Why do they all have to be the same?  The Cinnamonstix were delicious and worth the price.  I really could go back and just get an order of these.  If you’re in East Lansing, Topper’s Pizza is worth the call.  If you have to drive a half hour to pick it up, I would pass.