New England Pizza

North End
345 Robeson Street
Fall River, MA 02720
(508) 675-7100

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South End
210 Tucker Street

Fall River, MA 02721

(508) 675-7459

www.nepizzaonline.com

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UPDATE: UGH! Where do I begin? Should I talk about how I waited almost two hours for a crappy pizza, or should I talk about the rude manager refusing to give me my money back? How about this - I'll start from the beginning.

At around 7:45 p.m. I decided to order myself a pizza. No one else in the house wanted anything, so I decided to place a delivery order from New England Pizza. Since I'd had their BLT pizza once before, and thought it was great, I decided on that. I called the South End number and placed my order. The guy on the phone sounded a bit out of it, but he was polite. He verified my number and then asked for my address. Once that was settled, I ordered a small 10" pizza ($8.99) and my total with tax came to $9.96. Although he kept telling me to hold on a lot, he eventually told me that my pizza would be delivered in 20-30 minutes. I was getting anxious, so at 8:30 p.m. when my pizza hadn't appeared, I called New England Pizza again. I spoke to a man with a heavy accent that apologized for my delay, but informed me that the driver had already left and I should have my food soon. Enough said.

Cut to 9 p.m., and I'm still waiting for the pizza. By now I have perched myself upon my window sill like a gargoyle. Since I live on the third floor, I wanted to make sure that I was able to meet the driver at the door the second he or she arrived. Still, no one came. I gave New England Pizza another call. I ended up speaking with the first gentleman with whom I placed the order. He told me that "someone" wrote the address down wrong and then went to the right street, but the house number didn't exist. Since he didn't want to go around banging on doors, he decided to just go back to the restaurant. He also told me that he didn't have a cell phone. I verified the address with him, and asked him if my pizza would still be hot. After telling me that he wasn't sure, he told me that if it was cold, he would stick it in the oven for me. Fantastic. I had a feeling that my pizza was either going to be ice cold or burnt. The man on the phone said that the pizza would be coming "soon."

At 9:10 p.m., my phone rang. I didn't recognize the number, so I figured it might be the delivery person outside with a cell phone and my pizza. When I answered the phone, it was the guy from New England Pizza. First, he told me that the number he tried to call was not the number I provided him with. Umm ... then how could he have called me? Second, he verified my address as 1266 South Main Street. WRONG! It's not only the wrong house number, but the wrong street! Again, he said the pizza was on its way.

At 9:20 p.m., I called New England Pizza. Guess who answered? That same guy. With Mom and my friend Scott yelling at me to give it up, I canceled my order. I told the dude I didn't want the pizza. The guy then told me that they had already gone ahead and made me a second pizza, and that the driver had already left. Feeling like perhaps this actually may work out, I decided on seeing it through. I told the guy on the phone that I would wait another 10 minutes before canceling. As I hung up the phone, I removed the tip from the $10 that I had sitting near the door. There was no way I was going to pay extra for this meal. You want a tip? Here's one - deliver on time.

At 9:30 p.m., while I was on the phone with Scott, a call came through from a number I didn't recognize. When I answered, the person hung up. In the meantime, I ran to the window to see if it was the driver. There was a car out there, so I decided to run downstairs to see if it was my pizza. While I was running, the call came through a second time. I answered - it was New England Pizza. I told them I was on my way downstairs. When I got there, I exchanged the $10 for my pizza. I shut the door on him before he had a chance to see that his tip was nonexistent. I ran upstairs, opened my pizza, and ... well ... it didn't look like it did before. It looked really, really messy. The lettuce and tomatoes were everywhere like it had just been thrown together about five minutes prior (which is probably true). Either way, I was hungry and decided to give it a shot.

Although I did eat most of it out of pure hunger, I did have to throw a few slices away. The pizza was not that good, and I was totally looking forward to it after a) waiting almost two hours, and b) having it before and really enjoying it. I was angry at myself for even having ordered it in the first place. I decided to do something I never usually do - call and complain.

When I called New England Pizza, I spoke to the man with the accent. I explained the whole story, and he apologized profusely. He then told me that he could give me something free, but it would have to be another time because they were very busy. I told him that, although I never do this, I would appreciate it if he returned my $10. He said no. I asked for the manager, and he told me that he was the manager. He explained that the reason he could not give me my money back was because he already used the ingredients to make me not one, but two pizzas. I told him that it wasn't my fault he had to make two, and I also informed him that the pizza was not good and I had to wait almost two hours for it. He basically told me that was too bad. He kept pushing the free food on me, but informing me that there was no way he was going to deliver anything to me tonight because they were too busy. I told him that all I wanted was my $10 back, and he said he couldn't do it. I corrected him by saying, "You can do it. You just don't want to." He, again, told me that he wasn't going to do it because I already had the pizza. Once again, I asked for my money back. He replied, "I want my pizza back!" After telling him to go in my trash and get it himself, I decided to end the call because it was going nowhere. I hung up the phone now totally furious and took a picture of one of the remaining slices. Compared to the photo below, it looks completely different. There was no delicious layer of cheese holding it all together. This pizza looked like it was put together on the car ride to my apartment. MESS! I will never, ever order from there again.

**************

Date: 7/5/2007

We first came across the menu for New England Pizza when it showed up mixed in with our regular mail. The menu looked pretty extensive for your average pizza place, and we had been looking forward to trying it one day. Well, that day was today!

Mom didn't feel like cooking, Mallory wasn't feeling well, I'm completely useless in the kitchen, and Dad had fallen asleep after a long day of working, so we decided to order in. Mom and I proceeded to reach into our "menu drawer," which contains various take-out/delivery menus from local area restaurants. After some price comparisons, we decided to try something new and go with New England Pizza. After all, their menu was so well done. Hopefully the food was just as good.

The three of us (Mal opted out) had chosen what we wanted. I went with the 7" personal B.L.T. pizza ($4.49); Dad chose the large (12") chourico and egg grinder ($5.99) with a side of wing zings, which are spicy chicken wings, ($5.49); and Mom selected a 10" extra cheese pizza ($6.99). The total (without tax) was $22.96. Mom called to place an order at 6:30 p.m. Although there are two New England Pizza locations in Fall River, one of the phone numbers (for Robeson Street) had been blacked out, so Mom called the one on Tucker Street. A gentleman quickly answered the phone, but apparently that lightening-speed ended there because Mom told me that he seemed to go into a coma while taking the order. After she mentioned each item, he would say, "Wait a minute." Perhaps he was talking to someone else in the kitchen (she did say he kept leaving the phone), or he was writing it down - word for word. Does it take that long to spell cheese pizza? Aside from that, he was very polite and quoted her a price of $24.46.

While we waited for our food to arrive, I reviewed the menu again. Delivery is free at New England Pizza (minimum $10 order) and, right now, they accept all major competitors coupons (limited time only). The accept all major credit cards and honor their business customers with 15% off on orders of $20 or more. Their appetizer list ranges from a $.99 bag of potato chips, to a plate of buffalo chicken fingers for $5.99. They have salads, grinders, wraps, calzones, pasta, seafood, gyros, dinner entrees, and, of course, pizza. There are 24 different toppings to choose from along with several types of specialty pies. Lunch combo specials are available (nothing over $5), and they also offer catering services as well. New England Pizza is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, and 11 a.m. to 12 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. The last order is taken a half hour prior to closing.

Our food finally arrived at around 7:10 p.m., which was perfect because we were all very anxious. Dad gave the delivery man $27 and brought the food upstairs for us all to dig into. My B.L.T. pizza was just the right size and was stuffed with bacon, mayo, tomatoes, lettuce - all baked inside the crispy cheese topping. The taste was very smokey and delicious, and the crust was just crispy and buttery enough to compliment the soft filling.

Mom's pizza, although looking a little burnt on top, was just browned enough to contain the extra cheese that she had ordered inside each slice. It worked out well in the neatness factor because she was able to separate her slices without ripping apart all of the other pieces. She also mentioned that there was more cheese than sauce, and that it was very tasty. The crust was crispy, but not hard. Just perfect with the extra cheese.

Dad said that his chourico and egg grinder was delicious. Although his wing zings weren't as spicy as he thought they'd be (which is good for him because he's not a fan of heavy spice), there was an equal balance between chourico pieces and fried egg in his sandwich. He said the bread was great, and we were all glad that everything arrived promptly, piping hot, and accurate.

All in all, we found that New England Pizza is, in our opinion, a lot better than the regular Domino's/Papa John's variety. You can tell that the pizza is homemade, and all the ingredients were extremely fresh. Although we wouldn't put it in our top favorite pizza places of all time, I'm sure this won't be the last time that New England Pizza will be paying a visit to our apartment.

*******

Tucker Street

Robeson Street

Wah Mee Chinese & American

52 E Main St.

Fall River, MA 02724

(508) 675-0563

When this place first opened, it seemed to be a lot better. We used to order from there fairly regularly, and somehow the quality of the food went downhill. Way down. The last few times we dared to order from there, the chow mein gravy tasted like it was made with dirty or bitter water. It had a funky aftertaste to it. The chicken fingers had crust, but no finger! Where was the chicken? There was barely a nugget in the middle of a lot of greasy crust. We had tried it again, and the last time the chow mein gravy was not only bitter, but the chow mein noodles were very, very stale. I'm very disappointed. We used to like to order from here. It's close to our house and delivery was very fast. Never again.

Victorian House of Chocolate

157 New Boston Road

Fall River, MA 02720

(508) 676-1010

I never thought I'd say this, but I hate this candy. I know you're not supposed to hate chocolate, but this was the most sickly-sweet chocolate I've ever had in my life. This candy shop is housed on the bottom floor of a very beautiful home in Fall River, MA. You have to go up the stairs and ring the doorbell to get in, and you are led into what probably used to be a parlor. The candies were all laid out and displayed, and were quite beautiful. They were packaged and beautifully wrapped all with big, beautiful bows. The whole display was lovely. One thing I liked was that you can pick whatever candies that you wanted in your particular pound. Laura and I had fun looking over the various kinds and filling up our one pound box. The lady who was showing us around, didn't help us at all. In fact, she answered the door in her nightgown. Perhaps we disturbed her breakfast, but the hours are posted outside and we were on time. She hardly spoke to us during our time in the store. When we got our chocolates home, we couldn't wait to taste them. We ripped off the packaging and dove in. WOW. Sweet. Sicky sweet. Laura picked one kind of chocolate and I picked another, but after the first bite we both kind of looked at each other. We both agreed they were very, very sweet. As a matter of fact, they were so sweet that neither of us could finish one chocolate. I've never not been able to finish one chocolate. You could almost taste the sugar crunch between your teeth instead of having the smooth chocolate just melt away. Needless to say, we were very disappointed, especially after paying about $25 a pound. We didn't like this chocolate so much that we, in an unusual case of generosity, put the candy out for everyone to have. Guess what? They didn't want it!! After one taste, they declared it too sweet and left it there. I hate to say this, but I had to throw away the chocolate. I've never done this in my life. What a waste of money. Never again.

The Cornerstone Bakery & Restaurant

1713 G A R Highway

Swansea, MA 02777

(508) 676-1220

Where do I begin about Cornerstone? This is a little restaurant in Swansea that we've passed by many times, but had never been in. The parking lot is rarely full (actually almost always empty) and I think I found out why. Laura, myself, and younger daughter, Mallory, went there one Saturday morning for a nice breakfast. We didn't get it. I ordered scrambled eggs, toast, and coffee. Mallory ordered the same, but with a side of bacon. Laura ordered strawberry topped pancakes. First of all, the waitress we had that morning really didn't want to be there. She shuffled over to us, dragging her feet, took our order and other than bringing our food and check - that was the last time we ever saw her. My so-called bottomless cup of coffee bottomed out. Not once did she come to refill it. It was a long wait to get our food, and when we finally did, it must have been sitting around for a while. Everything was kind of cold. Actually, Mallory's bacon seemed like it just came out of the refrigerator. It was cooked, but ice cold. Laura's pancakes with the "fresh strawberry topping" had no fresh strawberries. It was strawberry jam. Sticky and sweet, it was spread all over the top. Our toast was luke warm, the eggs were luke warm - it was a horrible breakfast. We would have complained, except our waitress never came back. Disgusted, we left most of it there and waited for our check. And waited .... and waited ... When we finally caught her eye, she slumped back over with our check. We were so disgusted, we just paid and left. Thinking back on it, we really should have complained, but we just wanted to get out of there. Never again!

PS - Their bakery sells really good Portuguese sweet bread.

Oriental Pearl

576 State Road

Westport, MA 02790

(508) 675-1501

I guess I don't have much to stay about Oriental Pearl as I've only been there once. Laura has been there twice. The thing is, we really didn't like the food. I'm not saying the food was bad, but everything we had was not up to par to when we've had it in other restaurants. I love chow mein (Fall River style). I guess that's unique, unto itself. When I ordered it here, it was very different. Not to say that it was bad, but it just wasn't what I expected. I guess I don't have a lot to say about the food, but I just know that I don't want to go back. Laura and her friend Tim went a few years ago and they felt the same way. Their General Gao's chicken was very chewy and overcooked, and they had to dine on ripped booths in a run-down part of the restaurant. All in all, we'll definitely be staying away.

Milano Restaurant

569 Winthrop St.

Rehoboth, MA 02769

(508) 336-7455

Whenever you're STARVED for some great Italian food, don't go to Milano. You'll leave just as starved. At our first, and only, time, we were quite taken with the beauty of the place. Very pretty dining room, cloth napkins, nicely decorated, warm setting, etc. We thought we were in for a great time ... until we opened the menus. Wow! A little expensive for pasta. Most of their pasta dishes (without meat) run around $20. Add some meat and you're between $20-30. Also, we discovered your entree comes with ... absolutely nothing! All your side dishes or soups or salads are all extra. One person could leave there spending about $100 just for themselves! We decided to just stick to an entree. Laura ordered the squash filled ravioli for $19 while I ordered the tortellini with meat sauce for $16. We were famished and were really looking forward to a nice meal. NOPE! A large white plate was placed in front of Laura that contained her four raviolis, yes FOUR, and a flower. My large white plate contained about half a cup of tortellini on one side of the plate and the mystery meat sauce covering the other. Oh yes, I had a flower, too. After we got done staring at them for a while, we just prayed that they were going to taste great. NOPE! Laura's ravioli had her looking for the squash filling. It was all pasta - no stuffing. My "mystery meat" sauce was really a puzzlement. I knew it wasn't beef, pork or poultry. What the F was it? I let Laura taste it. She found it kind of funky and she couldn't tell what it was either. I'm thinking either veal or lamb. Honestly, we've had much better Italian food at many other places for a much more reasonable price, and definitely a better portion. We left broke and hungry and looking for a Happy Meal. If you want to try this place, bring your wallet and pack a lunch.

Crowther's

80 Pottersville Road

Little Compton, RI 02837

(401) 635-8367

www.crowthersrestaurantlc.com

Maybe we hit it on a bad day. Crowthers came highly recommended by several family members, so we were very anxious to head up to Adamsville. The place was a little difficult to find. You had to look for the little signs in the trees, but after a nice country drive, we finally found it. The place was very cute inside and out. It looked like we were in for a fine dining experience. We studied the menu, which included several American favorites (steaks/seafood/pasta). Our waitress was very nice. She came over for our drink order and we just got Cokes. She also brought glasses of water along with our Cokes which is something I like. Laura (daughter) started with a salad and I ordered chicken rice soup. The waitress came back, gave Laura her salad and gave me vegetable beef soup because they were all out of chicken rice. I said it was OK, and I took the vegetable beef and I wasn't sorry. It was quite delicious. Next we both ordered the scrod. We didn't have a long wait before she returned from the kitchen with our dinner. You know how scrod is lovely white fish and it just flakes apart when you touch it with your fork????? Well, this one didn't. Not only couldn't you flake it with your fork, you couldn't cut it with your knife. It was VERY rubbery and was barely luke warm, and actually, in the center, it was cold. I took my fork and turned my fish over, only to discover it was all dark on the bottom which is not usually the case with a nice piece of scrod. Laura was also having trouble with her piece -- same problems. Try as I might, I just could not eat this piece of fish. When the waitress came over and asked if we wanted to wrap up what we hadn't eaten, I told her why I was unable to eat it and NO, I didn't want it wrapped to go. She listened to our complaints, sympathized, and brought both dishes back into the kitchen. Within a few minutes she returned, told us we wouldn't have to pay for any of our meal, and that the chef was not surprised that it had come back because their catch that day was not up to par. I say if he wasn't surprised it came back, why the Hell did they serve it to us? The waitress offered us anything else from the menu to either eat there or take home with us, but frankly we were both really turned off. Since our meal was free, we just picked up and left, and were really disappointed. This was the last thing we had expected from a restaurant that came so highly recommended. Believe it or not, on the way out of Adamsville, we had to stop at the little variety store to pick up a piece of gum to get the fishy taste out of our mouths. ***SIDE NOTE: As we were getting ready to leave the restaurant, we heard the conversation from the table in back of us. The people had wanted little necks for an appetizer; they were out. Then the man wanted pork chops; they were out. Their waitress yelled back to the kitchen, "What else are we out of today???"***

Copper's

55 South Main St.

Fall River, MA 02721

What a dive. I went here with a friend of mine and her boyfriend when they felt like playing pool one night. It was your average sleazy dive with a huge bar toward the back of the place and a few pool tables scattered throughout the middle. I HATE bars. I only went here because of my friend, and I will never go back.