Poopsie’s

The bar pizza. Crispy. Cheesy. Ultra addictive. What started out as a South Shore delicacy has turned into a nationwide phenomenon, but this is one of the places where it all started.

It's a fantastic restaurant with incredible prices, but it does have a rather unfortunate name. We are on Church Street in Pembroke, Massachusetts, at a legendary spot named Poopsie’s. Yes, that's right, Poopsie’s.

Back in 1973, Don Thompson opened up this place to serve families affordable and great pizza. And the restaurant is named after his wife. His nickname for her was Poopsie, and hence Poopsie’s was born.

These days, it's owned and operated by his son, Bob Thompson, and a lot of the staff has been working here for decades. Everything here is super old school, including the pans they cook the pizzas in.

I mean, just look at these pans. Some of them are original. We're talking 50-year-old pans. Now, that's a well-seasoned pizza pan.

But they do modernize a little bit. I mean, they got a jukebox on the wall and a sit-down Ms. Pac-Man game as well. I stink at Pac-Man, but I'm good at pizza.

You're not coming here for fine dining or a romantic date. Although I have been on a first date here, and I gotta say, it worked out really well. You're so beautiful. Look at you. I'm going to eat you up.

Now, like all bar pizzas, these are ten-inch pizzas that are cooked in the pan with the sauce and the cheese that stretches all the way to the end. But Poopsie’s pizzas are certainly unique.

The crust here is the real signature. It's much thinner than your typical bar pizza, and somehow it is both super thin and super sturdy, so you're getting basically no flop.

One of the most popular pies here is known as the House Special. We're talking thin-sliced pepperoni, mushrooms, peppers, and onions.

That's the House Special. And literally, they do not allow you to make substitutions. There's so much stuff on this, and yet it is still so thin. Look at that. Why would you make a substitution? This thing is pizza perfection.

Believe it or not, they do have some trendy kind of stuff on the menu as well, including the Buffalo chicken pizza. You just got big chunks of white meat chicken, Buffalo sauce, and some diced red onion.

And of course, you got to get it with a side of blue cheese for dipping. Usually, I don't go for stuff like a Buffalo chicken pizza, but here, why not? It's actually insanely good.

This pizza isn't on the menu, but it's a personal favorite of mine. You got ghost pepper cheese and linguica.

And if you're not familiar with ghost peppers, it's known as one of those spiciest peppers in the world. But this cheese is just tasty and a little spicy. Not too much.

You can see the way the cheese is just glistening. And then those slices of linguica, they look like pepperoni, but they're not. It's linguica, extra flavor, extra thick.

It's the perfect mix of spicy and savory, and the heat just kind of builds up on the back of your tongue. Spectacular.

My go-to order here for years has been the one called the Beauty Pizza. And just take a look at it. Isn't she beautiful? Indeed.

What makes this special is that it's not just sliced pepperoni, it's diced pepperoni. So you get these long, thin slivers, which really crisp up in the oven.

Then they just throw on some diced onions as well. So you get the smokiness and the spiciness from the pepperoni with that little sharp, sweet bite from the onion.

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I'm the beholder. It is straight-up fantastic. That is a bar pizza done right.

I have eaten here dozens of times over the past few decades, but until today, I never tried anything except the pizza. In fact, I just found out they have a menu, and there's actually other stuff on the menu.

To start your meal, get yourself a nice salad. They just started doing homemade soups as well.

Believe it or not, they have baked stuffed clams here at Poopsie’s. Who would have thought? Big, fat quahog stuffed with that seafood stuffing. Rich, savory, tasty.

I think the most popular non-pizza item here is actually an open-faced Reuben sandwich. It has lean corned beef, sauerkraut, Russian dressing, and melted Swiss cheese on marble rye.

The corned beef is seasoned so nicely, and that tangy Thousand Island dressing just kind of holds the whole thing together. Comes with some potato salad and pickles.

Who needs the top of the sandwich when everything else tastes so good?

I think the best deal on the whole menu are the chili dogs. You got two hot dogs and their homemade chili. You got some cheese, you got some onions. You put the chili dog together on a nice toasted bun.

Now that is a lot of food and flavor for less than $11.

It is cash only here. Please remember, no credit cards. And yes, they have an ATM on site.

Bring your cash, bring your appetite, and bring home a couple of extra pizzas for the family when you come to Poopsie’s in Pembroke.