It’s called the Garage Bar, but don’t go there looking for cocktails called the “Tune Up” or the “Spark Plug.”
The Garage Bar is a new option at Pizza House, the campus destination on Church St. off South University. Just south of the main restaurant, under the Sterling ArborBlu student high rise built over and around it, the Garage takes its name from massive overhead doors that open onto Church. And the back wall is made of cyclone fencing, allowing breezes to flow through the space.
Why the open-air feel? “It’s like a giant tailgate,” says Matt Tice, who owns Pizza House with his brother Dennis. Massive heaters in the ceiling will allow the Garage to stay open at least through the football season. They also had some very hot days during their soft opening during the art fair, but Tice says customers seemed very comfortable in the shady, breezy space.
Pizza House has long been known for its appeal to sports fans, and the Garage Bar is an extension of the brand. It will be open from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. most days, opening at noon on Fridays and Saturdays and at 9 a.m. on home football Saturdays.
The space will offer the same menu as Pizza House, but unlike the booths in the restaurant, the Garage Bar will allow customers more opportunities to mingle, with high-top tables and chairs. Thirty-two beers will be on tap.
While it’s in the heart of the neighborhood that features a lot of undergraduate student housing, the Tices emphasize that their business attracts a lot of families, as well as young professionals, thanks to the parking structure across the street.
The South University neighborhood has seen massive changes in the last decade, with several new high-rise apartment buildings changing the skyline and the streetscape. Dennis Tice, who until a few months ago served as chair of the South University Area Association, is all for the developments.
“We love South U,” he said. “It’s been great for us. More kids down here will bring more diversity to the business community, and that will bring more people down here. Better leads to more.”
Pizza House got its start in in Whitmore Lake and came to Church St. in 1986 when the Tices took over a onetime Pizza Bob’s in an old house (hence the name). But their roots in the neighborhood go much deeper than that. Their grandfather owned Tice’s Men’s Shop at 1111 South University, now part of Ulrich’s, and their father owned Tice’s party store on State St. for many years.
Matt remembers opening the party store on fall Saturday mornings, closing at noon to walk down to Michigan Stadium for the game, then returning to open the store afterward. “We learned how to run a good local business from our father and grandfather.”
And why did they call the new space the Garage Bar? It just happens to be adjacent to the area where Pizza House’s ubiquitous delivery vehicles are parked when they’re not out on the road.
The Garage Bar, 618 Church St. 995-5095. Sun.-Thurs. 5 p.m.-2 a.m., Fri. & Sat.noon-2 a.m. (open 9 a.m. football Saturdays). Closed winters.
