Proto's Pizza | Boulder — Restaurant in Boulder

I used to be opposed to eating at Proto's, the price just felt too high for a pizza to me. But this place has really won me over.

I eat pizza all around the world. Any town or city I visit, I get at least a slice of pizza. It's just my thing. There was a place in France once (yea, Paris) that had a more memorable pizza, but that's it. But this place also had a line that wrapped around the block and a two-hour wait to get in. Everywhere else I go, I miss Proto's.

I went to San Francisco and ate the pizza that was awarded the best in the USA that year by a major publication. You had to call it in at least two days before because the waiting list was so long. Nope, Proto's is better.

I walk in and they know my name, they're super friendly, and even remember how many parms and hot pepper oils I want. I keep swearing I need to make some time to come grab drinks at the bar and get to know these lovely people better, but alas just haven't had time yet. Soon!

The crust is always perfect. I wish I could get my homemade pizza crust this good, but I can't. The sauce has just the right amount of tang and sweetness counteracting one another, without being overly salty. Cheese is just right, the only complaint I can find is that sometimes the pepperoncini peppers have stems and caps in them (which are inedible), but that's a minor gripe.

I like the Atomica (I prefer to sub out the black olives for pepperoncini peppers) but also I really like the Pontiff. Both pizzas are delicious as-is or with some spicy giardineira sprinkled overtop. Have some jalapeno chips, sharp cheddar chips, or malt vinegar chips on the side and...

Very nice atmosphere. Feels extremely intimate. The staff is very attentive and pleasant. Fresh ingredients and handmade dough. Extremely expensive pizza and due to the thin crust you still feel hungry. Drinks are good but once again overpriced. If you wish to read more in detail continue to read the rest of my review. Just to be straightforward I used work here. We parted amicably. So this will not effect my review. First off the price of these pizzas are insane. To order a large pizza with a variety of toppings and after tip you just spent over $50. Not including drinks or a salad. The ingredients are fresh on the pizzas and tasty. However when I used to work in the bar and many of the drinks such as a “unique” flavor drink, such as a mango mojito, it is literally just the cheapest frozen fruit concentrate. That drink is then sold for $12-16. I’m not being biased I’m just telling you how some drinks are made and what you pay. Protos does have a nice atmosphere. It’s is calming and feels intimate. So back to the pizza. The ingredients are indeed fresh and the dough is made fresh and you can watch your pizza go right into the oven. They make very good thin crust pizzas. In my personal opinion the atmosphere and service is great. However, it is far too expensive for a good slice of pizza. I would also take date night to another restaurant, unless you want to impress someone. But the intimacy of the space is a positive. Boulder definitely has many expensive restaurants. I just have a hard time throwing over $50 just for a pizza just to take home. I live close to this restaurant but I have avoided it simply...

My family has been going here for years. Normally the service is fast, and good as is the food. This visit was horrible. We left before the pizza got in the oven. The ceaser salad was lackluster in flavor and the lettuce was old looking. After waiting for almost a half an hour, my family was in a time cruch and decided to leave. We were told that the pizzas only took a few minutes to cook once they were in the oven, however since the man making pizzas started to roll out new dough when this was mentioned it seemed that they hadn't even been started. It was clear that the to go orders were being prioritized over those in the restaurant. When we arrived there was only one other other party seated, the amount of time that we wasted there was inexcusable, I understand that there was only one waitress and one chef, but still it should not have taken that long for us just to leave. We had already paid our bill and almost walked out without getting our money back.

We were never told why it took so long, we were just asked to wait longer. There was no apology. After we got our salads we were left by ourselves as the waitress never came back to check on us.

Normally we go to proto's because it is fast and good and in under an hour, even when it is busy, we get out of there with bellies full of good food. Now we really are going to have to think about going there. We really will have to consider if we have over an hour to spend waiting for food.

Update: a week after emailing the manager, still no response. Also it is unknown if they actually refunded...