Alfonso’s Family Trattoria & Gourmet Pizzeria

Friday night classic car night and Alfonsos. Great mix. You can smell the pizza as you walk nearby… just draws you in. Yum

I’m somewhat confused on where I should rate Alfonsos. On one hand it’s a regular lunch option for our company yet on the other, Noone ever leaves saying ‘damn thst was delicious’. There’s a ton of pizza competition in the area (central pizza being better to the sommervillers) but Alfonsos offers more options. The food isn’t bad… But it’s not great either. The service is hit or miss. Last time I went the service was amazing, i had no complaints. Yet other times we were forgotten until paying the bill.
What frustrates me about the place isn’t the food or the service. But the ‘cheapness’ and frugalness of the owners decisions. It costs 50cents for every add on a sandwich… Seriously?! I have to pay 50 cents for lettuce on a sandwich! It gets to the point where it’s a laughing joke. Also the bill split only 3 ways is unrealistic. Businesses should prepare for local complexes on their lunch break. This often detours us from dining here.
It’s a shame, I really do like the place. But the frugalness makes me run far

Celiac Disease people see full review
Not sure where my full review went.
Still angry about the problem with alfonsos. I did call to speak to Anthony but he was not available. Took close to a monthe to begin to get my system back to normal. I had started a new job at the time, which due to the celiac symptoms i could not go into work… you could guess what hapoened with that.job. skin rashes which. continue, mouth sores on top of the. head fog. severe, stomach, dizziness nausea, i could go on.
CELIAC DISEASE SHOULD BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY.
Accidents do happen however with all the precautions I took with the staff, there was NO EXCUSE for this except blantant carelessness and disregard for my well being.

Great gluten free menu! Plenty of options. Just make sure that you actually get your gluten free dish! Recently, Two family members ordered the same entrée except one asked for gluten free. Well long story short, they gave the gluten free dish to the wrong person. Waitress was very apologetic and offered a gluten free dessert and that the manager would come to the table once we were ready to pay. Manager was very apologetic but seemed to not understand the severity of what happens to a person who has a gluten allergy. We had asked that atleast the meal if not more of the check been taken off other than just a dessert. Well he asked for the receipt so he could see how much the dish was so he could remove it from the bill. We had already payed. So he wanted to see how much the dish was so he can give us a gift card close to how much it cost. This shows how much they didn’t care meaning he should of just came back with a larger gift card than just what the dish cost and we made the very known to him. He apologized again and came back with a $ 50 gift card and apologized again. If it was someone with a peanut allergy it wouldn’t of been so pretty with the ambulance showing up at their restaurant and I’m sure he would have no problem paying the parties whole bill. Just goes to show some restaurant owners do not know the severity of this allergy. Manager did state that when they serve gluten free dishes the manager usually walks the entrees directly to the table so this exact issue does not happen. We were quite upset at this whole situation. I brought my family there specifically because of the vast amount of entrees, appetizers and desserts they have for gluten allergic people. Well that family member is still sick after just two bites of the non-​gluten free dish since Sunday and its now Friday. Nausea, dizziness, throwing up, heat flashes and headeaches are all the symptoms she still has. 1 star is for what happened. The food on the other hand was superb!

I LOOOOOOVE Alfonso’s. This is one of my favorite restaurants. They have amazing food and the staff is excellent. The ambiance is so nice… they have brick walls and hardwood floor all around which for some reason is very inviting. There’s white Christmas lights at the bar all year round which I love. I come here alone sometimes and sit at the bar for lunch or dinner. Joey is by far the best bartender! He’s so friendly and he always gets my food and drinks quickly. I’m obsessed with their pizza, its absolutely delicious and goes perfect with a cold beer. I was working in Somerville briefly and this was my go-​to for lunch. I would go at least twice a week. I’m so lucky to have this place 5 mins from my home. I would recommend it to anyone!

I’m sure anyone who’s walked around Somerville on a nice summer night can’t help but smell the delicious aroma of pizza and notice the happy looking diners sitting outside enjoying their food and beers at Alfonso’s.
Thanks to the on and off beautiful weather recently (thanks global warming) we decided to hang out in Somerville and try out Alfonso’s… Twice.
Just to get it out of the way of the review, the fried mozzarella sticks were terrible.
They arrived within 5 minutes of ordering them, which is always a terrible sign. I’m sure I could make better mozz sticks from my microwave.
I’m hoping this was an aberration though because everything else we ordered here was great, as was the service and the nice spacious environment.
We had the seafood pasta (with mussels, shrimp and clams), linguini with red clam sauce, linguini carbonara with pancetta (aka Italian bacon… yum) and a sausage and broccoli rabe pizza.
The pasta dishes here are really good. All tasted great especially the linguini with red clam sauce. They were all seasoned well but not overly salty or greasy and the pasta is cooked well — not soggy or too firm. Even the fresh bread they give is very good.
The pizza tasted very fresh and delicious except that it was a bit too salty. It was a generous (aka «diesel») pie. Each individual slice could (and did) serve as a meal for me to bring to work. Not surprisingly with such generous amounts of ingredients and toppings the crust was not as crispy as it is at a thin crust pizza joint. For me it was great except the saltiness. Obviously the value was better here vs a similarly priced thin crust pie.
Speaking of value, Mondays and Tuesdays here are great! Half price pasta dishes as long as you buy any beverage and pay cash.
On one of the nights we had dinner, I paid $ 30 including tax and tip for 2 delicious pasta entrees, a beer and a soda.

Well, here’s the scoop on last night’s visit to Alfonso’s. First, at 6pm the place was SRO with a 10 minute wait at the bar. Not so bad. A short time later I’m sure it was much longer. There’s no doubt people (with families especially) find value here. Our group of four enjoyed everything but we were careful not to order pizza margherita (see my previous review) as they still drown it in sauce as was evident by the pie sitting one or two tables away from us. It swims in sauce and it should not. I had an appetizer of zuppa di clams. There is good and bad to this dish. The good is the sauce. It’s a great seafood based tomato sauce with just a bit too much garlic but not enough to overpower it on this night. Any more and it would have been too garlicky. The bad was the clams they used which were of the vongole/​mahogany variety it seemed. They were definitely not the hard-​shelled little necks or top necks one might expect. These were a bit too tiny and when the dish arrived the clams really weren’t too visible as they had sunk below the sauce in the bowl. On top of that two of them were not opened after being cooked and they should have been discarded before they arrived at the table. There were 9 of them in there and the sum total of the meat in these guys, given that the meat in each was about the size of a dime, was maybe 1 ounce. At $ 10.95 that is just not good; not at all. Alfonso either needs to use a meatier clam like those mentioned above or add about a dozen more of what they served to make this dish make sense. There was a slice of italian bread/​croûton in the bowl too but it was more like a milk bone dog biscuit even after staying submerged in that tasty sauce for several minutes. So this dish was sort of a paradox: great sauce; not so great clams. These guys are fine for linguine alla vongole but are mis-​used in a zuppa di clams. Sorry Alfonso.
My entrée was linguine with calamari which was a great choice. Again, a very tasty sauce with calamari that was cooked just right so it wasn’t chewy at all. I think this might become my go to dish at Alfonso’s from here on in. Others had a special, rigatoni Nonna (not Norma which is on the regular menu) which had mozzarella, ricotta, chopped up meatballs and peas. Except there were just four or five peas in the dish. Still had a great taste. Others had fettuccini boscaiola and roasted salmon without complaint.
Portions are large when it comes to the pastas here and all that had them took about half of their dinners home.
So all in all it was pretty darn good, this the added star versus last visit. If you do order the pizza margherita tell them easy on the sauce and if you order the zuppa di clams find out what kind of clams they’re using. Better yet just ask for that sauce over linguine and you can’t go wrong.

Alfonso’s doesn’t disappoint. Friendly, attentive service and delicious food. From comforting, hot homemade soup to big bowls of pasta just the way Nona used to make. The antipasto salad is extraordinary… filled with fresh mozzarella, sundried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, olives, salami, and beautifully spicy cherry peppers. Get a full loaf of delicious garlic bread for the table and watch it disappear! Chicken saltimbocca, eggplant rollatoni, rigatoni Bolognese, chicken parm, pesto penne, rigatoni quattro formaggio … everyone at the table will love their meal and everyone else will love snagging a bite of their neighbors dish so that they know what to order next time… because there will definitely be a next time!

Great place to eat and drink good prices friendly service great pizza oh buy the way buy the momma Yolanda jar pasta sauce the best ever !!!

After leaving the Melting pot after getting horrible service, we went to Alfonso’s. They saved my birthday! The food was great but it was the service that knocked my socks off! We had Cindy L as our server. She was the best server EVER! We were all upset but she made us laugh, gave us great food suggestions and was real and genuine human being. The world needs more Cindy’s. Oh yeah and the food was super yummy!

Best pizza in central NJ.

I wish I could give 3.5 stars because Alfonsos is not a bad restaurant at all, it just never has sparked me with any type of «wow factor». I must say, their service is fine, and the food is pretty decent. My favorite dish is the seafood linguini, the pizza for me is just nothing to write home about. This is a good place to go with friends or family if youre local (as I am) for a casual dinner. Delivery always comes through hot and fresh as well.

Over all not satisfied with their food.
Food:
Margherita Gormet Pizza was nothing special. Lacked cheese. Cost more to add more cheese according to a manager.
Bbq hot wings were very good.
Mac & Cheese was made with penne… not good.
Service:
Server was polite.
Ambiance:
Ambiance is good. Clean restaurant.
I will not come back here.

Italian done right. Gourmet pizza made how you like it. I am a huge fan of the chicken sandwich and eggplant parm! You can have a drink. Great martini menu. Large venue inside for larger parties. Very attentive staff

I was in the neighborhood and had a craving for pizza. I stopped by Alfonso’s Family Trattoria and Gourmet pizza.
This is a large restaurant with seating outside.
I looked over the menu for pizza. There were many different toppings and meats to choose from.
I was in the mood for half sausage/​half plain pizza. There are 3 sizes to choose from. I ordered a large pizza. It came out in 15 – 20 mins. Everything is made fresh to order. The menu is large and there’s something for everyone. After the pizza arrived pipping hot and smelling so good our waitress came back again to make sure our food was to our liking. Our waitress was very attentive, and refilled our ice tea glasses without having to ask.
The décor is simple but neat. Alfonso’s has a liquor license so u can get beer, wine, or a mixed drink…
The inside dining room is very spacious. I saw many different dishes coming out, and everything looked delicious…
You can either park on the street, if u can find parking or park in the parking lot directly behind the restaurant where shop rite is. It a short block to walk…
Alfonso’s is wheelchair accessible. There is a ramp when u enter the front door right by the hostess station.
I would definitely come back again to try some other dishes …

Alfonso’s to the rescue! Good dining — especially after leaving the Café Picasso. The service was great and the food is really good! Huge portions! The chicken francese was enough for two! And my husband was loving his fettuccini con ganberi! This is definitely a place that’s on my list! We’ll be back with our kids. Oh, and the pizza looks phenomenal! A couple across from us each had pizzas, and I was salivating.

Overall, decent pizza. Had the plain cheese while my other family members has pepperoni pizza and the pasts bolognese.
The only challenge that we had was that the pasta dish took twice as long as the two pies.
As this was a take out order, I will certainly call ahead as we waited around for the pasts to cook. Would return to try other dishes.

This place is OK. It’s usually crowded so it seems to do well. The food is nothing special and neither are the drinks (the bar is small) but it IS nice they have a bar in general, and the food satisfies if you’re not looking for anything too elegant.

I WOULD GIVE THIS PLACE ZERO STARS IF I COULD.
My mother has had Celiac Disease for over 30 years. Tonight we went to Alfonso’s and she was so excited to have the gluten free mozzarella sticks and gluten free eggplant parmigiana sandwich. The meal also began with a family style house salad. She was so happy to try something new.
Unfortunately, an hour after we got home from Alfonso’s, my mother became violently ill. BEWARE if you are truly a Celiac of this place. Something that they are serving is not gluten free! We will never be returning to this establishment. They should revamp their gluten free menu or keep a closer eye on their staff. They could kill someone with their carelessness.

Tasty pizza option for the area, and they deliver — literally (just call in your order).
My recommendation? Try a few pies with jalapeños and olives.
Alfonso’s has a full Italian menu, but I haven’t had the chance to try anything other than pizza.