Boston's The Gourmet Pizza

Update: This location of Boston's the Gourmet Pizza is closed.

In a word: Not much to do with Boston or gourmet - but they're trying so hard. (They're Canada's #1 casual dining brand to boot.)

The specs: #0112
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; reviews at Madison Packard, Yelp, Ruppert Food Blog; official web site;

JM ate the personal Hawaiian pizza with a lemonade.
Nichole ate the spinach salad with a Dr Pepper.
The bill was $21, or $10.50/person, plus tip.
JM gave Boston's The Gourmet Pizza a C+; Nichole gave Boston's The Gourmet Pizza a D+ (for personal reasons) (see our grading rubric).

Latest Boston's The Gourmet Pizza news and reviews

Boston's The Gourmet Pizza's website promises "two experiences under one roof," namely, both a sports bar and a family restaurant. In this it succeeds, strictly speaking. But the food on the family restaurant side is nothing, but nothing, to rave about.  Its value made us wish the bill had been prepared in Medicine Hat (where the currency is worth less).

Nichole's salad was demoralizing, with no discernible dressing, fakey bacon, and an eerily bright yellow hard-boiled egg yolk, though the fresh parmesan was a classy touch. JM's pizza was slightly less good than ones he'd prepared at home using Boboli crust and canned pineapples.  Boston's The seems to rely on these items as well.

By the time JM noticed that a magician performed tableside Sunday nights, we'd finally figured out that Boston's appeals more to families with kids too old for Chuck E. Cheese but not old enough to stay home alone while Mom and Dad go out. It's the place the well-heeled soccer mom takes the team, as a way to one-up another mom's choice of Pizza Hut last week.

It all unraveled, however, when we realized it was the place for noncustodial dads to take their kids. "Please like us," they seemed to say, "look, we're making what you would've made if you'd stayed in, so you don't have to."

This conjured up for us images of a dad in a chef's hat and an apron emblazoned with a slightly off-color slogan, trying to impress the kids with his "gourmet pizza" before he has to drive them back to their mom's for the month and hit the road back to Indiana.

Nichole, who could imagine this scenario rather too easily (despite the fact that it's illogical and has absolutely nothing to do with Canadian pizza chains), became too depressed to finish her salad. She hadn't been this despondent at a restaurant since Culvers' bachelor-Santa Claus placemats. At least at Culvers she can drown her sorrows in butter instead of canned pizza sauce.

Comments

[B]

Dang, who knew that a pizza joint could be so emotionally charged? In any case, if I ever get married, have kids, get divorced, and lose custody of the kids, and Boston's The Gourmet Pizza is still around, I'll be sure to go somewhere else on my visitation weekends!

[Kelly]

We just went to Boston's about a week ago during a Badger game to celebrate his bday and to watch the game. We had a group of about 8 and they were so overwhelmed by the number in our group and could not give us an accurate wait time. They let in a group of 30 (a 13 year old girls soccer team) and since they overran the restaurant they didnt seem to care about anyone else who was coming in. At first they told me it would be a 25 min wait, but then 10 mins later said it would be an hour wait. We finally decided to eat outside and didn't get to watch the game - the boys were upset! We had the pepperoni pizza (i think it was called the ultimate pepperoni or something). it was pretty good, but yes, boboli crust. We had to go to Coldstone afterward to make up for our bad experience. By the way, I saw your blog on mkeonline.com for blog of the week - I know the blogger who does Play In The City. Anyway, my boyfriend lives in Madison and we go out to eat ALL THE TIME and always looking for a new place to go...this is a great blog!

[kate]

Hey there! My name is Kate and I am with Boston's Gourmet Pizza's corporate office. I am so sorry to hear that you had such a terrible experience. We really try to ensure that everyone leaves happy and it saddens me to hear this. I'd love for you to e-mail me with any further comments you have for us. We really appreciate your business as a guest and would love for you to give us another chance and come dine with us again. Hope you have a great day and so sorry again!

[nichole]

Hi Kate - thank you for following up! Wow. I think part of it was that we're just not in the target demographic. That and we're really spoiled with other dining choices in Madison, so standards can be high. Anyway, it's nice to see Boston's paying attention!

PS we love Canada. :)

[Crystal]

Yeah, the pizza wasn't anything to write home about. And a little pricey, in my opinion.

[Caissa]

I saw a "for sale" sign on the property and inside the door of this place while going home. i'd never tried the place, but maybe that's a good thing...

[EiMAtZ]

Thanks, Caissa! JM's response to this was to shed a single tear (not really). Then I almost started crying thinking of the poor magician who's out of a gig.