Wonder Bar

121 Shrewsbury Street
Worcester, Massachusetts
508-752-9909

Atmosphere:
Period 70s
9
Variety7
Quality8
Service7
Portions8
Overall8

TOTAL

48

Good

Review:
The Wonder Bar has been a Worcester landmark for several decades, and has lately gotten even better than I reported in my original review. Their pizza has definitely improved some, mainly a result of better technique and a little more careful cooking.

It's worth mentioning that the restaurant has live jazz music on Sundays over the Summer. This is a terrific scene: a period 70s hole-in-the-wall pizza joint with a quintet of musicians (drums, keyboard, standup bass, guitar, and sax), packed with people and the door open to the evening air of Shrewsbury Street.

I recommend getting there right at or around 6:00 p.m. in order to get a good seat and get your food and drink orders in (we were there on 4/18/2002, and there was only one server for the whole crowd). Sadly, they have a limited menu on Sundays - but you can get any pizza you want, which is the most important thing.

Now, as far as pizza goes, I consider myself something of a perfectionist. Also, of the many styles of pizza: greek, chicago, sicilian, thin crust, foccaccia... I prefer traditional Italian style "medium" crust the best. Most pizza eateries in Worcester fall into the greek category; a crunchy, round, oily crust.

Wonder Bar happens to have the best Italian style pizza you can find in Worcester - as the plaques on their walls demonstrate, they've won "best pizza" from the Worcester Magazine readers' poll for at least four years. For around 7 to 10 dollars, you can get an "individual" size pizza (a 12 inch round, they only come in one size) with a variety of toppings. I usually get the "combination" with sausage, mushrooms, and peppers, but other friends have had luck with meatballs, three cheese, and even anchovies or fresh garlic.

Take note, this isn't pizza for the fainthearted or health-conscious - Wonder Bar is greasy pizza heaven. A friend who I introduced to the restaurant on this latest visit said that though she normally used napkins to remove grease from pizza, she didn't feel it was necessary to do so here because the pizza was fantastic just the way it was!

Kudos to the staff at Wonder Bar for making their great dining spot even better!


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