Detroit-Style Pizza Arrives in South Tampa as SoDough Square Soft-Opens on Dale Mabry

Detroit-style pizza has a new home in South Tampa. SoDough Square, the Central Florida-based square-pie shop, has quietly opened its first Tampa location at 138 S. Dale Mabry Highway, giving families along one of the neighborhood's busiest corridors a fresh, casual dinner option to try this week.

The shop is currently in a soft-opening phase, operating Tuesday through Sunday from 4 to 9 p.m., according to local media reports. It's the company's fifth location overall and its second in the Tampa Bay area.

SoDough Square got its start in the Orlando area, where it built a loyal following and grew to three locations before expanding to the Gulf Coast. Its first Tampa Bay shop opened back in January at 6925 4th St. N in St. Petersburg. The South Tampa opening is the next step in that regional push.

What makes it Detroit-style

The draw here is the pizza itself. Detroit-style pies are baked in rectangular blue-steel pans — SoDough sources its pans directly from Michigan — which produce a thick, airy crust with crisp, caramelized cheese edges.

That edge is the whole point. It's called the frico crust: brick cheese pushed to the rim of the pan browns and crisps against the metal, creating the lacy, golden border that defines the style.

According to the company, the pies are built on a high-hydration dough fermented for 24 hours, layered with a house-made Stanislaus tomato sauce and a proprietary brick-cheese blend shredded specifically for the shop. Pizzas come in small and large sizes with more than a dozen toppings and specialty combinations.

Beyond the pies

The menu stretches past pizza for anyone in the group who wants something else:

• Detroit-style cheesy garlic bread
• Coney dogs — the Detroit-style chili dog
• Wings and salads
• "Detroit Dough Dots," essentially cinnamon bread bites for dessert

Why South Tampa should care

Dale Mabry Highway is one of the neighborhood's main arteries, threading past Palma Ceia, Beach Park and Parkland Estates, so a new affordable, family-friendly spot on that stretch is easy to fold into a weeknight routine.

A soft opening also means the shop is still finding its footing — shorter hours than usual and the kinks of a brand-new kitchen are all part of the phase. Full hours at SoDough's other locations run later into the evening and open earlier in the day, so Tampa's schedule is likely to expand once the shop settles in.

For now, the window is straightforward: Tuesday through Sunday, 4 to 9 p.m., at 138 S. Dale Mabry. Anyone curious about the frico crust the style is famous for has a new place to test it close to home.

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