In-Focus Advertorial | Published April 2, 2026
ST. CLAIR SHORES — Remembering Sorrento’s ‘S.S. Pizza Boat’ on Lake St. Clair.
A family business built on quality over decades undoubtedly has some fantastic stories to share. The “S.S. Pizza Boat,” by Sam’s Sorrento Pizza, is truly one of those stories.
Sorrento’s was founded in 1968, but its roots stretch back to 1952, to the grandfather of Al Marino, now Sorrento’s CEO, who runs the company with his son, Sam Marino, a fourth-generation owner and its current vice president.
The company is known across Macomb County for its delicious pizza available in all varieties — thin and crispy, hand-tossed round and deep dish in traditional Sicilian or Detroit style. Mr. Tony’s Submarines, delicious cheese breads, wings and an array of pasta dishes — like their pizza, created with sauces made fresh in house — give the Sorrento menu something for every appetite.
“I think our longevity, we’ve been here a long time, is because we’ve always had an excellent product,” Al Marino said.
And for a while, those amazing flavors were available all summer long on the water, served up fresh at a beach, marina or mooring near you on Lake St. Clair, on the S.S. Pizza Boat.
It was the 1990s, and this was the stuff of legends. The idea that evolved out of a church pizza fundraiser propelled Sam’s Sorrento Pizza to international fame.
Picture three delivery dinghies on the water with red, white and yellow flags, each crewed by two young ladies. The food they delivered was prepared on a heavy-duty tritoon converted by Marino into a floating pizza kitchen.
“When it was time to get my license from the county, the state even came out because they couldn’t believe it,” Al Marino remembered. “It was fabulous. It really was.”
How could it not be? Offering Sorrento’s food to hungry boaters and beachgoers who never had to leave the water — talk about shooting fish in a barrel! “I could sell up to 500 pizzas, 80 hamburgers and hot dogs on any given day on the weekends,” Marino said. “And chicken wings. I couldn’t tell you how many chicken wings. I sold a lot of them.”
Word of Sorrento’s novel concept spread across the United States and around the world. “It was all over. It was on channels 2, 4, and 7, Frank Beckmann, Fox News Business, even Field and Stream magazine,” Marino said.
“I was getting calls from Florida to California, Minnesota, New Jersey, down in the Keys, Japan, Germany. It was crazy.”
The S.S. Pizza Boat had a good run in Michigan before it was sold and found a new life in Oklahoma.
Sam’s Sorrento Pizza has restaurants in Mount Clemens, Macomb Township, Washington Township, Utica and Clinton Township, and they operate a counter inside of Imperial Lanes.
You can order a taste of history from Sam’s Sorrento Pizza by going to sorrentopizza.com. Call your local Sorrento’s and say, “I love the S.S. Pizza Boat” and get 25% off any large pizza. Not valid with any other offer. Delivery extra. Offer expires April 15, 2026.