Mid-Michigan Dining

• 1995 Cedar Street
• Holt, MI 48842
• (517) 699-1000
• Website
• Menu
• Original Review (4/11/08)

Cottage Inn Pizza on Cedar Street in Holt.

J converted me.  I used to be a deep dish pizza guy, but where she grew up on the South Side of Chicago, thin crust rules.  Over time, she broke me down and now all I want is a thin and crispy pie.  We haven’t had a whole lot of luck finding those in Mid-Michigan.  It’s not because no one does it.  It’s because we never looked.  When you call and just order a large pizza, most places give you the same crappy not quite thin, not quite thick crust.  If you ask, you just might get a good pizza.

That’s the case with Cottage Inn.  We went almost a year without realizing they do a thin crust.  When we first started checking out the local and regional pizza places, Cottage Inn was up first.  The pizza was good, but I said it was ” still too much like the other chains.” 

I don’t know why, but for some reason, J actually decided to look at the menu one weekend when I was working.  She saw an option for thin crust, so that’s what she ordered.  She took one bite and fell in love.  It reminded her of home.  In Chicago, if you order a thin crust pizza, the pizza is cut into squares, not triangle and that’s how Cottage Inn cuts their thin crust. 

I was coming home late from Ann Arbor one night and I had to turn around after four hours sleep and work in East Lansing.  As I was leaving Ann Arbor, J called and asked if I was hungry.  Of course I was, so she offered to order a pizza.  It was pretty late so I wasn’t sure they would still be open, but they were and our pizza arrived at 12:25 AM which was about five minutes before I got home. 

An All Meat Thin Crust Specialty Pizza from Cottage Inn in Holt

She decided to order two pizzas.  I would have been ok just splitting a large cheese with her, but she thought I would like the All Meat pizza which comes with pepperoni, ham, Italian sausage, beef, bacon, and three different cheeses.  It was delicious.  I had to force myself to stop.  That had to be so bad for me at 12:30 in the morning. 

J wanted a cheese for herself, but they only do the thin crust in medium and large, so she had to order a medium.  She only had a few pieces and left the rest for me.  I have a full pizza in the fridge now between my leftovers and her leftovers.

I hate that it took us so long to find Cottage Inn’s thin crust.  For the last year, I’ve looked at the Michigan chain as just another pizza place.  They should make the thin crust their signature.  It would make them stand out in a crowded market.