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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