Welcome to the neighborhood Saxony Pizzeria in the old Rails location. This place recently opened and the Rails signs are still up on the building, but a quick banner shows that Saxony Pizzeria is the new resident of the corner location.
Is this becoming one of those cursed locations that seems like it should work but places just can't stay open? Since we've been on the northside, it's been a South of Chicago, Rails, and now back to a pizza place again. The physical space is nice with a huge patio on the sidewalk, indoor seating to the right and a full bar to the left. It looks like the same bar top has stayed for all 3 restaurants, which is fine because it's a huge sturdy built-in and does the job.
This place is walking distance to a huge apartment complex and the entire Saxony neighborhood. I was not at all surprised to see dads tucking in here for a beer and to watch the game. Since it's not on a busy strip, this actually gives the place a permanent friendly local and neighborly vibe. It looks like they are doing a lot to attract new business, and have weekly live piano that they share on Instagram.
I made a point to write in my notes "jam band bar tunes playlist from 2003" in a good way. I was in such a good mood I decided to try one of their home made infused pineapple shots.
Okay on to the food. We got breadsticks and each got a Detroit style pizza. The breadsticks appear to be home made from the same dough as the pizza crust. They have irregular shapes which is usually a good sign that they are not from a freezer bag.
The breadsticks were seriously awesome, with a golden brown crackly patina on the outside brushed with garlic butter, and warm and fluffy on the inside. They have beer cheese, nacho cheese, or marinara dipping sauce.
The Detroit Style pizzas only come in one size, and they are gigantic as far as Detroit style goes. Usually Detroit style is 4 or 8 pieces so that every piece is a corner or an edge piece to get the crispy cheese around the outside. Here they are large square pizzas that have middle pieces so not every piece is an edge.
The crust itself was good, a firm sponge with an audible crackle that can hold the weight of the toppings, but I could have used more of that classic Detroit crispy cheese around the edges to the point where it's climbing the pan. And the middle pieces - I'm just not used to that, so it was different. The middle of the pizza actually got kind of sunken and undercooked - which is probably why most places don't do this large for Detroit style. Chris also said minus points for lack of fluffiness.
The sauce was really good and the overall flavor of my sausage mushroom pizza was good. They don't have any specialty or named pizzas on the menu, you just get cheese, meat lovers, veggie, or make your own.
Okay so overall this place brings the energy and the service but the execution of the strangely large Detroit style was not our favorite. There's probably a reason most places have smaller Detroit style and use rectangular pans instead of huge squares with undercooked middle pieces.