(And we’re stickin’ to it!) 

Didja Hear?  Someone once said, “All great pizza is local.”  Think about that for a minute.  For a local, family-owned pizzeria to stay in business over 35 years while competing against high-volume national chains, something has to be different … perhaps better, ya think?   True, many visitors will just want to try something that’s different from their local chain, but creativity, fresh ingredients, and “made in house daily” are claims that often only the local pizzeria can honestly claim.  Established in 1974, we have built our reputation around those elements.

Heritage isn’t everything, but it’s a lot!  Mackinaw’s Original Pizza Palace has been continuously serving Northern Michigan since 1974.  It was re-established in 2006, when local residents Dean and Mark bought “the place with the best food.”  By maintaining the tradition of “made in-house daily” using original proprietary recipes (dough, sauces, soups, and others), “great local pizza” is still the staple of our menu.  And this is just one of the reasons we’ve been voted, year-after-year, as the “Best in the North” by customers.  If you don’t believe it, you should Talk to the Pants! 

Who are, or what is, “The Pants?”  You’d think we were talking about the boss’ britches, and while those usually grab attention, we’re actually talking about a loyal group of long-time customers, who have also become our advocates.  These folks are fondly known as our “Pants!”   They just “pant for Palace pizza” refer to themselves as Proud Panters.  

Fresh Food Takes Time   Nothing here is pre-cooked, so it might take a little longer than you’d like, but we hope not.  If you get bored, we can try to entertain you if you’d just ask us to!   Dean is a master-gabber and loves to have his picture taken (keep your eye on your camera; he has quite a collection!)  Of course, once he gets started talking, you may wish you hadn’t asked!

Customer is King … Truly!  We gave the restaurant a complete, inside & out facelift in 2007, trying hard to provide you with a modern, clean, inviting family atmosphere.  We also focused on service improvements.  Our employees are our most valuable asset because they take care of you, our customers, and we select and treat them as full partners in our business. What, you don’t believe us?  Well then see our Employee Operating Philosophy, below.  That should prove it, right?

Have Fun (we are!)!  We hope you enjoy yourself as much as we and our employees do.  Yes, you and your family are allowed to have fun … it’s expected!   You’ve made our day (or night?) by joining us here to experience some of "the north's" best food.  Welcome!  Thank you for giving us the chance to serve you. 

Dean (with “the hat and pants”) and Mark (no hat, but he does have pants!)  

p.s.  Please let us know if there is anything we can do to make your visit more enjoyable. 

Questions, Comments, Bringing a group to Mackinaw?  Contact us at pizza@mackinawspizzapalace.com.

To Our Valued Employees: Our Operating Philosophy

• We select employees based on: 1) Smile 2) Attitude 3) Interpersonal skills & trainability.

• Our Singular Customer Tenet is: We want our customers to come back! We want them to become advocates for us. To that end, we NEVER try to up-sell them – we ask you to understand their needs and offer the best choices for them. And whether they are looking for “volume,” value, uniqueness, or all three, Dean and Mark expect that your goal will always be to give them your best advice. Our goal and yours is for them to want to come back!! The food is all really good, so you’re covered on that end ?

• We strive to make work fun – we promote fun and we allow fun, and we want our customers to have fun. This means you keep any personal “issues” away from our guests … period.

• We will always ask for customer comments, and we RESPOND to customer comments.

• ALWAYS thank your customers and ALWAYS invite them back to see YOU.