Jolly Pumpkin Pizzeria and Brewery

Sweet space, decent atmosphere, but the ordering system and food are just plain bad, bad, bad. Ordered a burger, was asked how I wanted it cooked, and got a thin, overcooked, way overpriced, tasteless piece of cardboard. Then had to stand and wait over 10 minutes for my beer and mixed drink. Way overhyped, overpriced, and completely disappointing.

The food was very good and the beer was excellent. My issue with this place was mostly with the layout. You order upfront and take number and the seating is communal. When we went through on a Wednesday night they were so busy that we weren’t able to get a seat before pizza arrived. It’s a good problem to have if you were the restaurant, but when you’ve come to enjoy some beer and pizza it’s frustrating not to even have a spot at the bar. Now with the negative out-​of-​the-​way let’s talk about the positive.
My friends and I got two pizzas to split which was more than enough food for three people. We got the pork pie which had just about every type of meat imaginable. We also got the Korean short rib pizza. Both pizzas were very good. The pork pie was the clear winner. It was rich and a little spicy. The Korean short rib pizza had some bitter greens on the top that were a little messy and hard to eat. The Korean short rib pizza also didn’t have toppings going to the edge. It left it with a lot of crust that was fairly dry. The flavor of the toppings was great though, spicy, rich and the bitter greens did a good job of mellowing it all out.
The beer at Jolly pumpkin is probably some of the best beer you can find. Their sours are some of the best in the Midwest. We had a few different beers and all of them were top notch. They do a great job of keeping some really cool stuff on draft as well as their normal options.

My husband and I checked out The Jolly Pumpkin on last Saturday evening! We picked a busy Detroit night with The Red Wings in action nearby. Still, the wait for a table wasn’t terribly long. But I will mention it here that the seating is self-​serve, as is the ordering, a la Chipotle, but the food is brought to your table. So if you are not comfortable with shared communal seating, being asked by other patrons if you’d mind ditching eats because they are trying to reserve room for a big group, or having people tell you that they were at that spot first (although clearly you are already seated and they are still standing) the this might not be the place for you, or at least not at a peak time. As for the food, it was very good. We shared the fire and smoke pizza (mwah) truffle fries (they come European style but I’ll take ketchup over mayo every day of the week) and the tussle sprouts! All quite tasty!
The only negative came at the end of the night when another patron (a toddler dressed up like a 20-​year old man I presume) became huffy because he needed four seats but had only scored 2. Rather than wait for a spot with four seats, he continued to mean-​mug my friends and I, asked the waitress and then the manager to ask us to leave, and began spouting off curses in our general direction. While I most certainly would have asked this idiot to leave, the manager took a different approach… lets just say, I get what he did but in the end, just enforce your policies, because we’re all paying customers. Shout out to Grant for immediately making it right and hopefully, never having to deal with anyone like this again. But if you do Grant, just follow the rules that are clearly outlined at the front door. The fourth star was for the staff really who I think are very nice to have dealt so calmly with that nonsense!

First time coming and it was a unique experience. You wait in line to get food but I recommend to find a seat first before ordering food. It’s open to sit next to anyone so you will get a chance to meet new people. It’s vegetarian friendly. I ordered the chicken wings with honey barbecue and you get 8 jumbo wings. They were delicious.

Great sandwich and pizza. Salad was nice too. Finding a table can be very hard though. Large parties can be hard to seat here. We tried the short rib sandwich it was incredible but we did not care for the curry flavored chips. Pepperoni pizza was good but quite cheesy. We had the cop salad, I added grilled chicken. The small and large basically looked the same size so I would not spend the extra cash on the large size. It was nice for what it was but it was nothing special, no fun twist.
Beautiful location very well built out. Great place on a cold day!

We went to Jolly Pumpkin because we were planning on going to Shinola just a few doors down.
The place was busy. Obama had just eaten there earlier in the week and so the place must have gotten extra attention because of that. We barely found seats for our party of 5. It’s mostly communal seating that’s first come first serve. You place your order up at the counter and they give you a number that you place on your table. Then, they deliver the food to you.
There was an Obama burger on the special menu that I promptly ordered. It was a burger with mayo and mustard with pickle, lettuce, and tomato. It came with a side of truffle fries. The burger was good though I thought the bun was a bit large for the patty size. The truffle fries were good. They were thinner and had a nice flavor to them with the truffle flavor.
I also had a small Caesar salad. It came with thick strings of cheese and was kale and lettuce. The salad was okay though I thought the cheese was a bit over bearing.
The rest of the group I was with ordered a pizza. They seemed happy with the pizza though they weren’t raving over it.
In all, it’s a solid place to have lunch and a beer.

This place is really cool inside, but the way it’s designed makes the ordering process a bit of a nightmare if you’ve not been there before. My eye sight is pretty good, but having to stare up at the boards right above the ordering area to find what you want isn’t optimal in my opinion. I’d love if they had menus on paper you could look at when you walk in and while you stand in line.
I don’t mind the lack of a waiter and the somewhat communal seating, but it can make it tough to find a spot to sit when it’s a busy place to begin with. It feels a bit like trying to find parking at the mall on Black Friday.
The food was good, but the black bean burger I had was definitely not worth the $ 11. The burger itself was good and had flavor, but the bun it came on was miserably dry and crumbly which made for extremely messy eating. Also, maybe it’s just me, but if my bean burger comes with tortilla chips instead of the normal chips am I completely off base to have assumed that a small cup of salsa would be included?
There’s nothing wrong with this place per say, but I feel like there are small things that could be done to improve the experience.

Last week an old coworker was in town and we decided to try Jolly Pumpkin… SUCH a great decision!
We ordered 2 pizzas to share: 1 beef short rib pizza and the other shaved Brussels sprouts. The beef short rib was delicious with some kind of tangy sauce on top. It kind of reminded me of Frank’s Red Hot, but it wasn’t spicy. The second pizza was my favorite. First, I LOVE shaved Brussel sprouts and second it had some tasty cheese.
We also ordered drinks. They were VERY good. We got some kind of signature cocktail with agave burbon. So good and you couldn’t taste the spirits, which is sneaky and bad… haha

I’m a huge fan of jolly pumpkin!
Easy concept. You go in, order your food, take a number, and they’ll bring your food out to you. If you want a drink, you have to pick it up at the bar. I’ve come here in groups ranging from 4−12+ people. Jolly pumpkin is definitely better for smaller groups (think 4ish). And sometimes when they’re super busy, they skimp on the food (once our fries came out raw and soggy — but just let them know, and they’ll fix it!).
I’ve tried:
–truffle fries with rosemary aioli: this is a must! I love love love fries, esp with a good aioli, and jolly pumpkin does both so well.
–the perfect fried chicken sandwich: I heard their sandwiches are better than their pizzas, so I tried this and was blown away. Only personal con is the sandwich is huge, and I wish they sold half sandwiches.
–pork pie pizza: I honestly thought jolly pumpkin pizzas are just okay. The dough is always kinda chewy/​weird to me. Out of the pizzas I’ve tried, this is my fave bc it comes with meat, bacon, and garlic
–South Pacific pizza: their version of Hawaiian style pizza
–fire and smoke pizza: a nice smokiness to the chicken, but I thought the heat was very doable, and I’m a wimp. People expecting a spicier pizza may be disappointed.
–farmers daughter: their strawberry cocktail. I thought it was just ok.
Overall, 4 stars. Definitely a good meal option if you’re in the area. Again, the truffle fries are a must!

Great new spot in Detroit. It was super busy when we came in. Seating situation is a little strange. You have to scout your own seating, waiting for people to leave. A little irritating.
Order food at one counter. Order drinks at the bar. I hate $ 6 – 9 draft beers. It drives me nuts to pay the extra dollar when it should be $ 5.
Sand which and pizza was great. Korean pork sandwich was amazing

Great place to grab a pizza and a beer! I have been a fan of Jolly Pumpkin beer for a few years now ever since I first discovered them. We stopped by on a Saturday night and the place was packed. Took a few minutes for us to find a table to sit and order food at. In the meantime, we ordered beers from the bar. My friend got the standard Bam Biere while asked the bartender for his recommendation for a sour beer. I forget the name since it was not a regular Jolly Pumpkin I am familiar with, but it was delicious!
Once we were able to find a table, we ordered a small pizza to split. If 2 people split a small pizza, each person will get 3 good sized slices. We ordered the Fire and Smoke pizza. This comes with smoked chicken, peppers, scallions, basil, smoked mozzarella, and a chipotle tomato sauce. The chipotle tomato sauce really added a nice flavor to the pie as a whole.
Next time I am visiting family and friends in the Detroit area I will be sure to stop by Jolly Pumpkin again for a few beers and pizza.

Met a friend on a Tuesday night over the holiday week, (12÷29÷15), at 6:00pm and it was really busy.
We grabbed two seats at the bar so service was fantastic. The usual method is to order and then sit and wait for delivery. If you can sit at the bar, you have eye contact with a server the entire time so you don’t feel like cattle trying to get their attention.
Highly recommend the Brussels salad, and gasp, the Rita Hayworth cocktail. (Yes, I know it’s a brewery)
It’s a tequila drink with a salted rim but that’s where the margarita similarities end. It’s very tasty, not too sweet and smooth. And the best part is watching the muscle-​y bartender shake it up… It’s like a little show.
Props to the bartenders. They’re good and so we sat for hours and ran up a 6 drink tab plus food to keep it going…

Second time I’ve been here. Farmers daughter drink is delicious. Pizzas are also very good. I went here in the summer when it first opened and it was absolutely crazy. Coming back in December on Tuesday was less nuts. You have to go to the different areas to order food and drinks. If you want to be waiting on this isn’t the place to go.

Super salty truffle fries but great flavor would prefer less salt
Pizza is alright could be better as far as effort and and dough as well but had a great time
Love the décor and a really hot bar tender was working

I seriously LOVED the mushroom/​arugula pizza that we ordered! Thin crust, with goat cheese, truffle oil, shitake mushrooms, and arugula. It was absolutely delicious.
Loved the ambiance in here, it was a great place to spend some time on a rainy afternoon. The bartender was very friendly, and gave us a few tastes before we decided on our brew choice.
Can’t wait to return!

Visited Jolly Pumpkin on a chilly Monday evening. Wasn’t too busy and we really lucked out on parking (Right in front of Third Man Records).
We quickly browsed the menu and then went to the counter to order. You place your order, they give you a number, and then the food it brought out to your table. The staff is super friendly and offered to answer any questions or make beer recommendations.
I ordered the Nomad Cider. It was okay. I’m no professional, but it just didn’t have enough sweetness. My other half ordered the Southern Duel cocktail made with Jolly Pumpkin liquor. IT WAS AMAZING! I definitely was jealous, so I ended up ordering us 2 more after I choked down the cider.
We had the smoke and fire pizza and didn’t regret it. The crust here is thin and crispy, so good. We ordered the larger size and ended up taking half of it home.
I kept seeing other tables order these beautiful stacks of truffle fries… I had truffle fry envy!!! So i ended up snagging an order of those too. Skinny little fries served with a side of garlic aoli. Quite delicious, definitely something to try.
I will definitely be back to Jolly Pumpkin, for the food and for that delicious Southern Duel!

Drinks only review
We’d already eaten at Green Dot Stables, or else we would have eaten stuff because their menu and the Unilocal pictures look amazing.
If you’re into sour beers, you need to drop everything and head to Jolly Pumpkin. Stat. All they do are sours. Some are light, crisp and fresh. Others are rough. Good rough! Check the lists above the bar because they run out of beers regularly on the paper lists.
If you’re not into sours, the other brewery they carry is North Peak. They’ll give sample pours (4oz?) of all beers for a portion of the full glass price (averages about $ 2-​$ 3 each for us).
For those of you who enjoy cocktails (me too!), they have some fun infusions that elevate the basic drink. I had a lemongrass green tea gin and tonic, which was perfection.
They will fill your growler or howler for a pretty good price — Ken got his growler filled for $ 15. They’ll sell you a growler, if you need one. They also have large and small bottles of their brew, plus cans and bottles of North Peak and Grizzly Peak.
We’ve only been there Saturday during the day, so it’s been busy but not packed. I can see it getting very busy and loud during peak hours.
Parking is paid street with a 2hr Max, but there’s a paid lot across the street ($ 5 when we’ve been there).
We’re looking forward to returning to try that short rib pizza!

Let me fess up first: We didn’t eat here, we just drank. But I’m giving the Jolly Pumpkin 4 stars anyway, because I love the space and I love their beer selection!
Boasting high ceilings, pallet-​wood walls, and long communal tables (as well as booths and smaller tables), just walking into the Jolly Pumpkin puts you into a «Let’s have a beer!) mood the way that only a German-​style beer hall can.
Walk through the door and up to the front, where you’ll order from a huge array of offerings from local and regional breweries. My two compadres had the same, light-​in-​color, light-​in-​taste beer. What can I say, they both usually drink Labatt, so they like a beer that’s very mild. I can’t even remember the name of the beer they ordered, but I tasted it, and it was good for what it was. I ordered Archangel, a cherry wheat beer that was outstanding. There are about a gazillion other choices, so I’m pretty darn sure they offer something you’ll like.
The pizza menu looked too adventurous for my associates, but it looked YUMptious to me and I will be back with some more adventurous friends to try the Korean Shortrib and the South Pacific pizzas.

If the mushroom pizza had about 5 more mushrooms on it, that’d be grrrreat. Nevertheless, it was still a tasty and delicious pizza! Also had the BBQ smoked chicken pizza. It was good, but it didn’t knock my socks off compared to other BBQ chicken pizzas. The fries… well, I’m a french fry aficionado, and I was really excited for these but it seems as though I was given the fries that were in the fryer for a little too long. I started to look around at other tables and their french fries were no where near the color of my fries. I could’ve easily said something and ask them to make me a new batch, but I didn’t. Why? Because they’re simply french fries, so their french fry game should be strong every single time.
One could say I’m being really knit picky, but hey – it’s the little things that count and make a difference ;)
I wanna try the other pizzas so I’ll give this place another go and update my review.
Cheers!

I felt quite welcomed as I stepped into the bright and open space at Jolly Pumpkin. A greeter showed us the line for food, or the shortcut to the bar. I wasn’t too hungry just yet, so I walked straight to the bar and perused the menu.
Surprisingly, there were more North Peak beers on tap than Jolly Pumpkin varieties. For those who don’t know, they’re sister breweries, so don’t be confused. I’m not much for sour beers, but was interested in a couple of their cocktails. I ordered a strawberry-​infused vodka, but the bartender said they were out. Tip? Put a sign up for items that are not available.
My husband enjoyed their beers and after a while, we wanted a pizza. I’m not much for artisan hippie-​dippy pizza, so I just ordered the kid’s pepperoni and a side of their truffle fries. We took our number back to our communal table. The food came quick. The pizza was excellent but the truffle fries were a disappointment. They tasted great but weren’t nearly cooked enough. Just floppy. I’d order them again but request they be cooked well done.
The food is flavorful, the space inviting and the beers are tasty. I almost forgot to mention their excellent patio; if you want to enjoy a beer in the sun, it’s a nice place to do so. There’s no reason not to give Jolly Pumpkin a visit.