Thursday, February 19, 2009

Review: Upper Crust, Watertown

Earlier this week, a large group of us went over to the Watertown location of the Upper Crust, a rapidly-expanding pizza place mostly in the Boston area. I used to go to the Lexington location often to do takeout, and while never totally in love with the pizza there (many people are), I thought it was decent enough. But after going to the Upper Crust in Watertown the other night, I'm not sure I'll be heading back anytime soon.

When we walked in, the place was nearly empty. We grabbed a long table in the back and went to the counter to order four large pizzas--one plain, one veggie, one with half pepperoni and half hamburg, and one with half roasted red peppers and half spinach. The pizzas soon came out and with the first bite of a plain slice, I knew that this pizza wasn't up to the standards of the pies I've enjoyed from the Lexington location. Most of the flavor came from the salt, with the tomato sauce and cheese having little taste, and the crust being bland as well (perhaps because it was a tad undercooked). The pizzas with toppings were of varying quality, with my favorite probably being the slices with the roasted red peppers. But none of them impressed me all that much, and comments from most folks at the table ranged from not-so-good to just ok.

Hopefully this was just an aberration, but this was simply not great pizza. As I said, I have liked the pies at the Upper Crust in the past, so I may be willing to try again one of these days. But with places such as Regina's in the North End, Santarpio's in East Boston, the Lynwood Cafe in Randolph, and Monte's in Lynn, I'll probably be in no rush to return.


Upper Crust on Urbanspoon