Bozz Eats: Vango's Pizza in Marquette, MI

in #tasteem5 years ago (edited)

title_image

The Upper Peninsula(UP) of Michigan is home to a plethora of culinary rarities. As much as it is a part of our state, the UP is also a land unto itself with vast expanses of wilderness and all manner of individuals.

This was actually supposed to be a review about an entirely different place called Congress Pizza in Ishpeming. While we were camping up in Marquette, we realized that Congress didn't open until 4 PM and we decided our time would be better spent around the campfire.

However, I still had a "jonesing" for pizza, and not just any kind of pizza. In the years I have travelled in the UP, I have found like New York style, Detroit style, and Chicago style, they have one all their own.

Similar to what many call Minnesota style (which makes sense given the proximity though the actual existence of this style is widely debated, just Google it), the pizza consists of a relatively thin crust cut into squares with lots of fresh toppings.

I tend to refer to it as salsa on a saltine, but in a absolutely mind blowingly tasty way.

Anyway, long story short after doing a quick Google search, I found Vango's and I thought it might be a suitable replacement.

IMG_20190625_133442.jpg

It is a small family restaurant in the downtown area of Marquette, near the campus of Northern Michigan University.

IMG_20190625_134914.jpg

In my opinion the seating and decor were pretty dated. Those aren't the things I was there for, so I can pretty easily overlook all of that.

There was another section I didn't get a picture of and an outdoor seating area that was off limits to us (maybe because we weren't locals or regulars, I don't know).

One of the older waitresses was pretty adamant about keeping people out of the other seating section too, I am not sure what was going on there.

We started off with some deep fried mozarella sticks.

IMG_20190625_134016.jpg

They were tasty, but you could tell they were just fried from frozen. Something that they buy in bulk and heat up when someone orders it. It is always a rare treat when you find a place that actually hand makes their deep fried mozarella. Trust me, the difference is noticeable, it simply melts in your mouth.

The mozarella sticks lead me to another interesting thing we noticed on the menu. The chicken tenders are listed as "Tyson chicken" tenders. This pretty much means they are like the "mozz" sticks, frozen and deep fried to order.

I just find it a little refreshing that they are telling it to you how it is. They aren't trying to pretend these are lovingly hand breaded by someones grandma in the back room. They are frozen, we fry them, you eat them...

This isn't a Tasteem contest about chicken tenders though, it is about pizza and that brings me to the entree that @mrsbozz and I shared.

IMG_20190625_135300.jpg

We decided to go with the "house special" and we were not disappointed. This pizza comes with pepperoni, mushrooms, green pepper, onions and a special sausage called cudighi. It is actually very popular in the UP specifically to the Marquette area. If you ever get a chance to try some, I highly recommend it.

In the end, Vango's was good, I wouldn't call it great. The pizza was the main thing it had going for it. The service was just kind of meh...

Actually, our service started great, we had a younger woman helping us that was very nice and attentive. At some point either her shift ended, she went on break, or we were stolen by the older waitress. She was rather gruff and seemed to care more about socializing with the locals than helping us.

In fact I asked, and she promised to bring me another water three times before I finally just gave up and finished my food. We got a to-go box for the rest of the pizza and I immediately took a big gulp in the parking lot from the cup in my truck.

It's little things like that which kind of make people not want to go back to places. It's too bad really, the pizza was pretty great even though it wasn't exactly what I was hoping for...

IMG_20190625_140625.jpg

The cost was very managable for two people. It gave us plenty to fill our bellies for lunch and a nice snack to munch on the next night around the camp fire.

Perhaps one day I will be able to do a proper review on Congress Pizza, if I never get back, Vango's does make a decent pie, though I'd probably get it as take out next time!


Restaurant Information

Vango's Pizza & Cocktail Lounge
score
927 N 3rd St, Marquette, MI 49855, USA


Bozz Eats: Vango's Pizza in Marquette, MI
This post participated in the Tasteem contest Pasta vs Pizza

What is Tasteem?

tasteem_banner.png

Sort:  

Pizza looked fresh and interesting, deep fried mozzarella not something to rave about.

Outdoor seating would have been preferable as you mentioned, restaurants with carpeted floor are a big no, no for me personally I think of all the food ground into them, well written review @bazz.

Thanks! I had never really thought about the carpet on the floor before!

Posted using Partiko Android

That's very cool. Thanks for sharing your experience and the food looks amazing. That's a very reasonable price considering what all you got. Happy Friday Bozz.

I thought so too. Thanks for the great comment!

Posted using Partiko Android

What a great review! Thank you. Oh, yes! Agreed! The Upper Peninsula is its own little world and you got the special sausage, yay!

I have never had great service, wherever I go up there. Adequate. Yes. Great?Debateable.

I was totally blown away by the sheer honesty of them. And yes! It did make me feel better, but a little less hungry. LOL

Thanks for your always awesome reviews and I hope you have a most wonderful day!

!tip

It was definitely an interesting place. Thanks for your kind words!

Posted using Partiko Android

The food looks so good but the not bringing water would have turned me off the place for sure I doubt I would go back there I am stubborn like that LOL

Thanks for being an active Member of SteemUSA !tip

Yeah, it almost wouldn't have been as bad if she had just ignored us. She kept promising it though and never delivered!

Posted using Partiko Android

yes i can relate that is worse lOL

The pizza in the picture looks very good. You made me hungry

It was very tasty!

Posted using Partiko Android

Hello!

This post has been manually curated, resteemed
and gifted with some virtually delicious cake
from the @helpiecake curation team!

Much love to you from all of us at @helpie!
Keep up the great work!


helpiecake


@helpie is a Community Witness.
For more information about our project,
please visit this month’s UPDATE post.

Thank you so much for participating in the Partiko Delegation Plan Round 1! We really appreciate your support! As part of the delegation benefits, we just gave you a 3.00% upvote! Together, let’s change the world!

banner-steemit-comment-light-v3.png

Thank you for entering our <Pasta vs Pizza> Contest . Thanks to @bozz, Tasteem has become a more attractive guide. We upvote your post, wish you the best of luck in winning our Contest!

Hi @bozz! Steemleo is a platform for investment-related content, if you use the #steemleo tag in a post that has nothing to do with Investment, it can lead to being marked by @noleo4u and eliminate any LEO rewards you have pending.

Good to know thanks, I will refrain from using it in the future. I will edit this post too.

Posted using Partiko Android

🎁 Hi @bozz! You have received 0.1 SBD tip from @tattoodjay!

@tattoodjay wrote lately about: Market Friday A Taste Of India Feel free to follow @tattoodjay if you like it :)

Sending tips with @tipU - how to guide :)

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.17
TRX 0.15
JST 0.028
BTC 62025.78
ETH 2417.09
USDT 1.00
SBD 2.49