review

Umberto’s Pizza of Long Island Boca Raton- CLOSED

5/ 8
Slice Rating

Umberto’s Pizza of Long Island Boca Raton- CLOSED

Posted By: Pizza Expert
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umbertos_boca.jpgumbertos_of_long_island.jpgTHIS PLACE HAS CLOSED

In the space that formerly housed Carlucci's Pizza in West Boca Raton for numerous years, you can now find the newly opened Umberto's of Long Island.  Please do not confuse Umberto's of Long Island with Umberto's of New Hyde Park.  As we have pointed out in previous reviews here, there is no relation outside of some brothers who from our last accounts don't even really speak.

Umberto's in New Hyde Park is owned by Umberto, and this Umberto's is owned by one of the rivaling brothers who moved down South Florida.  My previous tastings of their pizza have not left a memorable taste in my mouth.  There is absolutely no comparison to the pizza you find at the original Umberto's back in Long Island.

After tasting their pizza today, at the West Boca Raton location in the Sandlefoot Plaza, I have no choice but to think they have a different recipe at this location compared to their others down here, located in Deerfield, Pompano, and Ft Lauderdale.  The regular slice was great!  We will come back to what made it taste so good later on, but first let's discuss other things.

The plaza where Umberto's is located, is not the highest caliber of shops in Boca Raton.  We seldom go out these ways due to surrounding areas.  It was kind of shocking to me that Carlucci's actually lasted as long as it did in that spot, cause outside of the publix in that shopping center, I am not sure you would ever find a reason to go.  Upon walking into Umberto's, I couldn't even tell they had switched ownership.  For some cheap-ass reason, they chose to keep the old Carlucci's tables, which have picture cut outs of different U.S. cities.  They are the same exact one's you will find at Sal's, some Rotelli's and even Boboli when they were open.  If you are going to buy a pizza place and try to rebrand it, why the heck would you leave the same tables that everyone associates with the cheaper styled pizza restaurants around the area?  It makes absolutely no sense.

The ovens appeared to be changed as well as the counter-tops, but I just cannot get past the tables.  Did they bother changing the silverware or did they cheap out there too?  Anyways, we were greeted by a friendly enough waiter, who told us to choose any table.  This was not hard, due to the fact that we were the only people eating in this establishment.  Yes, I am not exaggerating, we were the sole patrons.  We chose a booth within arms reach of the counter top, yet we were forced to order our slices from a waiter.  I cannot stand this.  Why the heck should we have to wait for the waiter to come over to us, take our order "two slices please" and have him turn around to say "two slices please'.  Then we have to wait for the waiter to go get the pizza on the counter, which we incidentally could have turned around without moving to grab ourselves, and take a stop to bring it to us.  The pizza sat out for 30 seconds longer then it needed to because he needed to hand it to me.  When will all these stupid places learn to get rid of a wait staff during lunch time hours?  It is ridiculous and is hurting your business.  It is a proven fact that when a customer orders pizza themselves from the counter, that they will statistically pay in cash.  When you force them to order from a server, they will statistically use a credit card, losing you 4-5% in fees.  You ever think about that guys?

When the server actually did grab our pizza from the counter, and turn around without having to take any steps to place it in front of us, I couldn't believe how nice the first bite tasted?  The regular slice had crust that was baked to perfection, sauce that was sweet and evenly applied, and cheese that was tasty, gooey, cooked properly.  The grandma slice, had a chunkier marinara style sauce that I didn't really care much for.  The garlic used on this slice was a bit overbearing, and if it came down to picking a grandma or regular slice here, I would choose the regular.  The good think about the grandma style slice here, compared with other places like Dean Anthony's in Boca Raton, was the price.  Their grandma style slices are the same price as their regular slices....$2.00.  Most other places, including Dean Anthony's, Pizza Time etc, charge well over $3.00 for the same quality of slice.

Although I will most likely not be back to Umberto's anytime soon, due to their location, I would suggest their regular slices to anyone who ventures out that way.  The slice is by no means the best I have had in all of Boca Raton, but for West Boca it could be one of the better ones I have tried to date.  Their only competition around the area is Thick and Thin, which is located in the plaza across the street.

Umberto's Pizza Boca Raton gets 5 out of 8 slices.

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    561-477-2500

  • 23001 US Highway 441 Boca Raton, FL 33428-5433

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