Papa Gino’s Pizzeria

I’m from Mass and I’ve never had better pizza than papa Gino’s honestly. There’s a certain taste to it you just can’t find anywhere else and you definitely can’t beat It! I wish they would bring the chain further south now that I don’t live in New England anymore but It’s still one of my first stops every time I go home. Every location is the same and you’ll find them all over massachusetts. You haven’t had good pizza if you haven’t had papa Gino’s.

5+ stars for the pizza, service and personality in 1989.
1 star for the pizza, –5 for the personality and the service in 2013.
Anyone who grew up in this area knows that Papa Gino’s was the place to go for the jukebox, the checkered tables and the salad bar. And those awesome murals on the walls. And pizza!
I even had a birthday party here once (in Woburn, but still.) where I got to be behind the counter making my pizza while my friends stood in the dining room and watched (before the board of health was a thing)
But now, workers rarely speak English, they don’t have jukeboxes or salad bars and the service is atrocious.

We’ve ordered from them for the last time. We’ve had pizzas that too over an hour to be delivered. We’ve had them deliver our pizza t some other address. We’ve had bad pizzas. The pizza from our most recent order had all of it’s toppings slid off and floating around in the box like it had been dropped on it’s side. It was inedible. We called to complain and the manager were promised a free pizza for our next order. Well we just tried to place our next order and were told no, they hadn’t promised us a replacement pizza, just $ 2.00 off the next one. And there’s no manager on duty. If I hadn’t liked Papa Ginos so much as a kid, I wouldn’t have stuck with them so long.
To sum up, they have the most expensive pizza delivery in town, the slowest delivery in town, the constant screw up and follow it up with the worst customer service.
Stay away.

I just had worst pizza and treatment ever… pizza had leather crust and was dried out. When we went to pick it up they couldn’t find order. I think they keep an old one to send out when that happens. When I called to complain I was told it was my fault for not picking it up on time! We were early! The very rude owner said there was nothing he could do!

Good pizza, this Papa Gino’s has recent improvements (nice carpeting, some new seating w/​o slashes). The food is also getting more consistent, in matching the great quality of other Papa Gino’s restaurants. Don’t get too pessimistic based on the other ratings, it has improved. Some of the staff look very professional, others look like management being forced to work the counter. The customers are there to enjoy, and should be treated as well as the food is cooked. Generally: 4-​stars for the cooking, and 3-​stars for the friendliness, but let’s round up to a 4-​star, for the heck of it. It sure would be nice if tips were allowed, no doubt. :D

What a dump. Half the seats are broken/​ripped. I’m serious — HALF of them. Rest of restaurant seemed dirty too. Pizza was fine, but seriously, what kind of restaurant owner or manager allows their restaurant to look a hoarder’s basement?

This place used to be The Pizza when I was a kid, but man I don’t know what’s happened to this place. Some times deliveries take over an hour to arrive, and I’m not talking about on a busy saturday night! And last few times we ordered we asked for our pizza well done and we got a soft soggy mess. I keep wishing for the pizza of my childhood to return, but who knows if that just a pipe dream.

Papa Gino’s should be avoided not because it’s a corporate chain, but because this specific Papa Gino’s is run by Satan. I’m not much of a pizza/​sub consumer but my roommate is, and as such this particular review is a transcription of his personal experience as he does not have a Unilocal account…
(ahem)
«The delivery man had the phone etiquette of a serial killer and in person resembled a chronically suicidal Luigi. One hour after we ordered, he turned up on our doorstep with the wrong soda, a pizza, and a sandwich which he then proceeded to drop, causing it to spill it’s sandwich innards all over the front step. He then left the sandwich lying there on the ground– but begrudgingly agreed to come back with a new sandwich and the right soda.
I deliberately didn’t tip him as a result of these shenanigans, and as he walked away he very pointedly shook his head in disappointment. This wasn’t the first time I’d ordered from them and it wasn’t the first time they’d messed up my order. The pizza, though room temperature, was still very good, but that was a small consolation. In future, I’m going to stick with the Arlington Café, as they deliver even in blizzards and aren’t run by ex-​cons and meth-​heads»
There you have it.

I was going to give this place four stars, but went with five since I couldn’t bear to see it with an overall rating of one star. Papa Ginos is amazing and I have no idea how it hasn’t spread to the west coast yet. Sure, the service sucks and the people who work there are either high school potheads with bad skin or 40 something year olds that just got out of jail, but Papa G’s has got some bangin’ pizza. If you can withstand the mediocre service, prepare to have some of the best cheese pizza in your life. On the bright side, the early 90s décor can probably keep you entertained for the majority of your wait!

Is it possible to give less than one star? The cardboard is soggy when they put the «sauce» on it. When you ask the management, they look at you like, what you want it to taste good, this is Papa Gino’s we make nasty food for dumb people.

It’s bad enough that Arlington (and most other places nearby) have about 2.3 sub shops per resident, but at least most of them are locally run. Here we have everything that is bad about cheap pizza/​sub shops (very bland mediocre food) combined with everything that is bad about being a part of a huge chain (staff that obviously could not give a shit if they tried, despite wearing corporate uniforms).
There is just no reason to go here.