http://www.townspapizza.com
Pizza Style: Bar
Venue Style: Sit Down/Family Restaurant
Food Orders: 1 Cheese, 1 Sausage & Onion, 1 .5 Meatball, .5 Sardine, 1 Banana Pepper & Salami.
Beverage Orders: Beer
Lg Cheese Pizza: (10”) $7.55
Attendees: Boboli, Ellio, Tombstone & Celeste

There has been so much hype surrounding the infamous pizzeria Town Spa that the Guys just had to make an official trip out to Stoughton Massachusetts to check out the digs. Apparently, there are three Pub Pizza Kingdoms in this area, Town Spa, The Lynwood Cafe and the Cape Cod Cafe.  All claim to have the best pub style around. We will be the first to admit, the Slice Guys are relative newbies to the Pub style pie. As such there will not be an official Slice Rating in this review until The Slice Guys are able try all of these offerings. A few things you can know for now is that Town Spa is damn good, bring cash and ALWAYS order burnt ends. With that said, let’s move onto the juicy tidbits that you all admire so fondly.

Town Spa is a Mecca that provides a sense of great pride for the quiet suburban town of Stoughton Massachusetts. Takeout lines extended out onto the parking lot while a loud speaker riffled off the names of lucky patrons that were finally able to be seated as the rest of us were corralled like cattle downstairs into what appeared to be grandpa’s man cave. What a place! The Guys were actually disappointed that we weren’t able to eat down there but all-in-all this bar serves as a great holding tank to wet your whistle while you wait to be called down like a contestant from The Price is Right. “Our next contestants are from Boston Massachusetts, so would The Slice Guys COME ON DOWN!!!” Admittedly, the Guys almost reconsidered meeting here due to that factor but after all is said and done the Guys are really glad that we stuck in there until the end because it was truly a great pizza experience.

So what’s so good about Town Spa aside from the exciting amusement park vibe and live entertainment that got Ellio hooting and hollerin’ like a college girl at a Zack Brown concert you ask? The pizza is great, absolutely great. So much so, that the Guys didn’t even mind that the waitress openly admitted that Town Spa uses Turdlings! Who’da-thunk it! The Guys enjoyed themselves so much that they aren’t even going to slam a joint for using Turdlings. Why? Town Spa knows pub pizza and they do it right.  Pub pizza is nothing fancy. It is comprised of relatively cheap ingredients and could almost be considered a glorified microwave pizza. But it scratches an itch and serves a purpose. The execution and harmony of flavors here sing together like the Beach Boys. Their pizza is similar to a five part harmony that is sung with seamless execution all maintaining perfect pitch, resonance and tone. Aside from the disgusting half sardine half meatball pizza that was ordered by the always adventurous Celeste which, to sadly note partially contaminated the magnificent meatball side, were spectacular! We would advise that if you like sardines then never let them share a pizza with any other topping due to their ability to simply overpower every other flavor involved.

The Slice Guys ordered up 4 pies in total.  A cheese, a sausage pepper, a banana pepper and salami and a 1/2 meatball & 1/2 sardine (along with well done french fry with honey mustard sauce). With pub pizza, there wasn’t a lot of nuance between the pies other than toppings sitting on top. The toppings, other than the anchovies – didn’t add a new depth of flavor or character to the pizza – just a slightly different taste.  This is neither good nor bad in our eyes, just different. Consistency and execution is an 8 out of 8.  Where the numbers drop off for is freshness of ingredients.

Rating – Pending until comparables are visited. (The Lynwood Cafe and Cape Cod Cafe)

Tagged: Pub, Stoughton