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Pleasant Cafe
"Pizza. It's more than just a food. For people like myself, pizza can be an obsession. Dough, sauce, cheese, and toppings, unlimited combinations and unlimited possibilities. Thin crust, deep dish, Neapolitan, bar pizzas. People are very passionate about their favorite pizza. In Boston, there's been a decades long rivalry over who makes the best pie. Is it Regina in the North End or Santarpio's in East Boston. But if you ask me, a third restaurant should be added to the mix, a legendary pizzeria that's been serving this neighborhood in Roslindale for over 80 years. The one and only Pleasant Cafe. Pizza time!"
"The pizza is... the best around."
"Delicious."
"Oh my God, it melts in your mouth."
"It's in my blood, I've been eating here since I was three. The best thin crust pizza in the state of Massachusetts. Hands down."
"Pleasant Cafe is a family-friendly restaurant that has been around for generations. We're famous for our pizzas, our veal, chicken parmesan, we do a lot of seafood. But I'd have to say our number one is our pizza."
"It has been the same recipe for 80 years. That's what makes it so good."
"You know what you're going to get every time you come."
"I love the thin crust. The cheese just oozes out of your mouth as soon as you take a bite. The sauce is rich in flavor. It's delicious."
"When you get served a pizza at Pleasant Cafe, your immediate reaction is, this is a classic. This is the kind of pizza you remember you grew up eating when you were growing up. Nothing fancy, nothing crazy. Just an old school traditional pizza pie."
"It begins with the crust. So we make all our dough in house. We'll flatten out the dough ball, use the hand roll. So once that's rolled out and formed, they'll put it on the pizza peel, decorate it with a little bit of sauce. And then we have our signature cheese blend. From there, it goes into the oven, it usually takes about 12 minutes from the time it hits the stone deck until it's done."
"The pizza here at the Pleasant is fabulous. It is crispy, it's crunchy, it's cheesy, and the sauce is to die for."
"The number one pizza is definitely a cheese."
"Cheese is the defining characteristic of the Pleasant Cafe pizza. They get 40 pound blocks of cheese, so they can make their own grind. It's propiotary, they do it every single day. And there is two big handfuls of cheese on every single one of these pizzas. Let's go in for a slice of this baby. 12 bites, everybody knows the rules. That's a slice of magic right there."
"When I bite into that cheese pizza, it tastes like heaven."
"Soon as you take a bite of this baby, cheese, cheese, cheese. That's all you're thinking about. It's a sweet and tangy cheese, that perfect blend what you're looking for in a pizza. The crust isn't giving you a ton of flavor, but it is crunchy. Like you can hear it. You see these little air bubbles right in here? That's how you know that this is fresh dough, made daily, then proofed overnight, because this is so light and literally, it's like biting into crispy air. It's not greasy at all, it's not oily at all. This is just the kind of pizza you can eat and eat and you will not stop eating until the pie is gone."
"Pepperoni, you want the right mix of salt and spice. The perfect blend. Nailed it. That's my tender Roni right there. The truth about Roni, she's a special girl. This is what pizza tasted like 80 years ago, and you can still experience it today. It's what I love about this joint. And this is the hometown favorite pizza: sausage, peppers, and onions. You got your sliced Italian sausage, white onion, green bell peppers, like grabbing a sausage sub at Fenway, but in delicious pizza slice form."
"Now beyond pizza, there's actually a pretty big menu here at the Pleasant. You can get Italian food like their chicken and eggplant parmesan. Get some seafood like some crispy fried clams. There are daily specials, you can even get some American classics. I remember coming here as a little kid with my dad and I got a pizza of course. He got a hamburger steak. And they still have it on the menu, I can't believe it. Basically, it's a giant hamburger without the bun. But it's really good."
"I think the whole reason people love coming in here, I believe it's the atmosphere. It's like going in a time warp. But people love that feeling because you don't get that a lot nowadays."
"It's been here since 1939. It hasn't changed much as you can see from the interior."
"I mean, they haven't touched anything in this place in decades. You're talking the original booths, the original stools, the original aluminum coolers behind the bar, the glorious wood paneling. What is better than original wood paneling? Right down to the amazing neon sign glaring out front. This is quite 'pleasant' indeed."
"It is so old school, and I believe that's what brings people back."
"I like the pizza, I like the food, I like the people."
"It brings back so many great memories, being together, just having fun."
"If you don't come here, you're missing out."
"You never forget your first Pleasant Pizza."
"Pizza's great, people are wonderful, love this place. Love this place. If you haven't been here, come here, try the pizza."
"So the pizza is great, the prices are affordable, service is awesome, the atmosphere can't be beat. And overall, I'd say it's more than pleasant. I'd say it's nostalgically perfect at the Pleasant Cafe."
