Four Janesville kitchens, from a bar-style pizza pub to a Detroit-style oven downtown, sorted by crust and by how you want to eat.
Wisconsin's taverns are where the square-cut pizza took hold, and pizza in Janesville still carries a little of that bar-room habit. Four kitchens anchor the list: a pizza pub on East Milwaukee Street, a stuffed-pie takeout shop on Creston Park Drive, a Toppers counter on Humes Road and a downtown nano-brewery with a 575-degree oven. Each does something different, and the sections below sort them by what you want on the table.
Which Janesville pizza for which night
Pick Milwaukee Street Pizza for a thin crust and a booth, Sam's Pizza for a stuffed pie to carry home, Toppers for a fast counter or delivery order, and Rock County Brewing Company for Detroit-style squares with a beer. Sam's Pizza and Milwaukee Street Pizza sit about 0.9 miles apart, so a two-stop comparison does not mean crossing town. Rock County Brewing is the outlier, about 1.9 miles from Milwaukee Street Pizza, in the downtown core rather than on the east side.
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Why Wisconsin pizza comes in squares
The cut traces back to Milwaukee, where the Caradaro Club opened in 1945 in the Historic Third Ward. Its owners are said to have crossed a thin Neapolitan crust with the rectangular cut of Sicilian pizza. Taverns then installed pizza ovens and served it with beer, and the name tavern-cut stuck. Not everyone is sold: a Milwaukee columnist grumbled in 2021 that the cut leaves crust-only corner pieces few people want.
Janesville's own pizza history is easier to find in newspaper clippings than in menus. The Gazette's Greg Peck wrote in 2015 about Pizza Villa, which opened at 119 W Court St in February 1970 with seats for 84. Its manager Gene Marshall is remembered in his 2001 obituary as the man who introduced pizza delivery to the city.
Milwaukee Street Pizza: thin crust, booths and a bar
Visit Janesville singles out The Marge, built on house-simmered red sauce, fresh mozzarella and basil, with a side of hot honey. One Google reviewer wrote that the hand-tossed crust was neither too soft nor too dry and the sauce slightly sweet, and another praised the breaded mushrooms. The menu includes vegetarian and vegan options per Visit Janesville's page, and a vegan reviewer praised a thin-crust sausage and onion pizza cut into squares. An undated Gazette review from when the restaurant was new described a corrugated steel bar, big-screen TVs and video poker machines. Reviews are not uniform, though: one visitor loved a small buffalo thin-crust pizza but found the Philly cheesesteak average and the wings underdone. Visit Janesville's page says it delivers within a five-mile radius, and one reviewer noted that the online ordering app failed for them while the order still came through.
Sam's Pizza: the stuffed pie
Google reviewers keep returning to the stuffed pie and the cheese bread, and one visitor who came all the way from Mississippi told others to order the Chicago stuffed pizza. Visit Janesville lists Sam's as pick-up or delivery only, while Google shows dine-in, so call before planning a sit-down meal. One reviewer wrote that Sam's does not take online orders and that they were on their 22nd call attempt, so expect to dial patiently.
Toppers Pizza: the counter and the delivery box
The Janesville store was bought by MC Pizza LLC.com report. The site advertises delivery in about 25 minutes, which is the company's own claim, and links a vegan options page. Google reviews split on this one: a reviewer wrote that the box of breadsticks empties before you know it, while others described order mix-ups and slow counter service. Think of it as a counter and not a restaurant, since one older reviewer said the single table and chairs did not feel comfortable and ate in the car.
Rock County Brewing Company: Detroit squares downtown
The Detroit squares come in a small 8x10 for one person or a snack for two, and a large 10x14 that the site says feeds two comfortably. The site also says pizza hours differ from taproom hours, so check the current schedule, and one reviewer was glad pizza was available the day they visited. To-go orders are placed in person at the taproom and take about 20 minutes, with online ordering listed as coming soon. The Gazette's opening report called it downtown Janesville's first true microbrewery and tied it to a 2015 zoning change that allowed microbreweries and brewpubs downtown. Reviewers mention the brick walls, regular food trucks and easy parking.
Ordering, parking and the pizza this guide leaves out
Toppers' location page advertises online ordering, Milwaukee Street Pizza's reviewers mention an app, Sam's takes phone orders and Rock County Brewing takes to-go orders in person. Google shows free parking and a wheelchair-accessible entrance at all four and marks Milwaukee Street Pizza, Sam's Pizza and Toppers as good for children. Visit Janesville's roundup also names Jim's Pizzeria (about 45 years), Tony & Maria's Italian Pizzeria (since 1976) and Lisa Pizzeria (about 30 years), none of which are covered here.
For pasta instead of pizza, Italian House on East Racine Street lists sandwiches, pastas and other mains with beer and wine, though one reviewer found no dine-in service on their visit. Hours, specials and menus change, so confirm with each shop before you go, and treat the review comments here as individual visitors' accounts.
If the group would rather have steak, Tex Mex or Chinese-American, head for the restaurants in Janesville instead.
Between slices, you can walk the 20 acres of the botanical garden grounds and then see more in things to do in Janesville.
Pick by crust and by how you plan to eat it, and if the pizza lands cut into squares, that is the bar-room habit Wisconsin has kept since 1945.
Frequently asked questions
Published October 5, 2026
