Umberto Galleria, Boston, Massachusetts, Pizza Restaurant Details

Food:

Really authentic, affordable Sicilian food. Line was out the door. You'll probably get faster service if you call in your order as a pick up, but then you can't eat in the restaurant.

Food:

Delicious - worth the wait! Go early!

Food:

I've been eating Arancini @ Umberto's for almost 20 years and they're the best on earth and I've been to Italy. The pizza is top notch!!!

Food:

I've eaten at the best pizzerias in New York and Chicago and I can say without a doubt that Galleria Umberto is top-5 nationwide. Simple, absolutely perfect Sicilian slices.

Food:

Galleria Umberto is one of the more enigmatic pizzerias I've read about in that it is more of a Sicilian foccaceria than a strict pizzeria. The prices are very low as others have noted, their menu consists solely of Sicilian snack food, and they tend to run out of things later in the day. When we got there, they had only 1 sandwich and 2 pizzas left to sell; after that, it was Merry Christmas time for them! I was sad to miss out on the arancini and panzerotti I'd heard so much about, but thankful I got here before the pizza was gone. The line was pretty short, and I grabbed 3 slices to share before sitting down in front of the awesome gladiator mural. This was one of the best Sicilian slices I've had. The salty, creamy cheese was the defining element, and helped everything meld together beautifully. Along the edges, it fried along with the crust yielding an addictive, carmelized crispness (the more edges you can get the better, go for corner slices). In the center, it mixed with the sauce creating a molten, cheesy-tomatoey soup. This definitely wasn't mozzarella by itself (I suspect aged mozzarella and caciocavallo), but I can't argue with the results. My only big complaint with the slice was that the undercrust was more spongey than crisp, which is something I've seen before with other authentic Sicilian pizzerias; a little oil (perhaps more cheese) underneath may have done the trick. My best possible comparison point is that this pizza was like Elio's on steroids--I mean this in the best possible way.