“Pizza first, degree later.” That is what staff members at Coratti’s Pizzeria wear on the back of their staff t-shirts, summing up the fun and relaxed energy at the establishment.
A family-run business, Coratti’s Pizzeria is run by Peter Coratti and nephews Peter Pfeffer and Anthony Coratti. Other locations are in Howell and East Lansing (which is currently under renovation).
As you are sitting underneath the decorations in the main hall of the new establishment and tucking into their delicious Italian food, it is perfectly possible you might hear a dull “thud, thud, thud” coming from above you. But don’t be alarmed. It is going to because there’s a game of bocce happening above you.
If you walk up the staircase, past the bicycles suspended from the ceiling above the ground, you will find a mezzanine with rentable rooms. But in the largest room, which runs from William Street all the way to the windows facing the alley, you’ll find a rectangular piece of turf. Onto which, you can play a game of bocce ball.
The game is a fun diversion that sets the place apart from other restaurants. It is also fitting that pizza and Italian-American food is the focus of this two story building, which was an Ann Arbor institution for many years, as the original site of Cottage Inn Pizza.
But that original location is long gone. What replaces it is an upscale but low-key feeling affair with comfortable seats and a low playing soundtrack that most Millennials will recognize as what was on the top ten radio station when you were in elementary school.
There are four types of pizza on offer. You can find some pretty familiar American and Detroit style pizzas. Or you can choose between Rosso or Bianca Napoletana options.
Rosso pizzas use leaves of fresh basil along with San Marzano tomatoes and extra virgin olive oil, while Bianca is an olive oil based pizza that doesn’t use tomatoes.
The big, white washed, onion-looking drums visible through the counter from the front door are the wood fired ovens making the pizza. The Napoletana options fare really well from that authentic wood fired treatment—just the right amount of blackening on the chewy, almost naan-like dough—and their pizza sauce is solid, as are the fresh tasting cheese.
Coratti’s does an excellent job in balancing flavors, no matter what you seem to order. The best example of this might well be the Classic Italian—a “salami, capocollo, mortadella, provolone, lettuce, tomato, spicy giardiniera, Italian vinaigrette” sandwich that packs so much flavor so effortlessly in that you could quite happily become addicted to just this one sandwich – irrespective of the fact that it is big enough to be two meals.
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The sharables are worth exploring, but come in portions so big that they nearly rival the entrees. The suppli—Italian rice balls—make good bar food and have a nice crumbly exterior reminiscent of cornbread, but it is white rice inside.
The limoncello spritz is also fantastic. It is a lemoncello, mionetto prosecco and soda classic that makes an excellent summer drink when it is way too hot out and you need something refreshing.
But it is the $5 waffle fries that really deserves commending. It is just a side dish option for sandwiches—but it comes to your table with a crispy exterior and fluffy interior at a level of quality that these waffle fries rival what you can get at other Ann Arbor establishments.
This is one of three locations—the others being in East Lansing and Howell.
You can pick up an appetizer from or side dish from $4.50 to $6.50 and sharables can be anywhere from $5 to $25, and the soups are $9. Wine goes from $10 to $21 per glass, or from $33 to $115 a bottle. Entrees run from $10 to $36.
But Coratti isn’t just a restaurant. You can walk through a glass door in the restaurant, or through another door facing William Street and find yourself in the shop.
This takes up about a quarter of the ground floor. And inside you can find house made Coratti pasta and a bunch of authentic Italian foodstuffs, and wine. You can even walk away from Coratti’s with some gelato. They have 14 flavors to choose from.
Coratti’s Pizzeria.512 E William St., Ann Arbor. 734-275-2050. corattispizzeria.com/ann-arbor.
Drew Saunders is a freelance business and environmental journalist who grew up just outside of Ann Arbor. He covers local business developments, embraces his foodie side with reviews restaurants, obsesses over Michigan's environmental state, loves movies, and feels spoiled by the music he gets to review for Ann Arbor!
