DISCLAIMER

The statements made on this website are the personal opinions of Laura and Diane. If we feel that a restaurant visit is not up to par, please remember it is our opinion. If you disagree with us, feel free to write us at info@newenglandbites.com.

Saturday, November 3, 2007

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
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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.

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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.

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Tucker Street


Robeson Street