Franklin Pizza & Deli — Restaurant in Franklin

Let me tell you all a little story. Twenty or so years ago, there were three awesome pizza places in Franklin. While all remain, either in name or location, the great pizza is gone at all of them. Franklin Pizza and Deli was the best of three.

Not only was it the best of the three or the best in Massachusetts, it was the best I ever had--and believe me, I have eaten a lot of pizza before and since! I had been on a quest for the best pizza on Earth and found it at Franklin Pizza. That was when Yanni owned the shop. Yanni, unfortunately, had to go back to Greece for a while so he sold the place to one of his employees. I believe his name was Rick Meehan. I don't mind mentioning his name because under Rick, things only got more awesome! During Rick's tenure as owner, they started offering thin crust pizzas and sold homemade brownies. This was great for a few years, but, from my understanding, Rick had a special needs child which compelled him to sell the business.

The new owner, Bosh (sp?) chose not to continue making the best pizza on Earth and instead insisted on doing things his way. "His way" was the same way hundreds of other poor to mediocre pizza joints do things: thick, tasteless, soggy pies with inadequate cheese. I repeated to him over and over again, "Don't do this! You have the best pizza ever here, just keep doing things the way Yanni and Rick were doing things and you'll be legendary." He made half-hearted attempts to accommodate me, but the ingredients and preparation just continued rolling downhill to the point where it went from best ever to inedible over a few year span from around 1999 to maybe 2003. The service became equally poor--it seemed like he and his wife were more interested in glaring at me and complaining about my objections to the way things were heading than treating me right. I think his son's running things now--nice kid, but the food is still too poor for me to bother wasting my money there. It's a damn shame, and I really miss that great, cheesy, crispy and thin, yet chewy pizza I had in the mid-90s. Closest I can get to that now is at the legendary Modern Apizza in New Haven, CT...and even that's only on a good day. Ted's in Wisconsin is really good too, but how often am I going to get out there?

Rumor has it that Yanni came back to the states and opened another pizza joint in Massachusetts. If it's still running and cranking out the same style pizza I enjoyed 20 years ago, I'd love to know where it is. I'd plan a special trip just to taste that again. THAT'S how amazingly good it was and THAT'S also why I mourn so intensely over the current fare offered at Franklin Pizza and Deli. The owners took the best pizza on Earth, flushed it down the drain, and replaced it with something inedible. Really sad... Really sad that the locals seem to think that the current pizza offered here is actually good and really sad that I've never found another place that replicates its mid-90s...

Outstanding! We picked up food to go while we were back in Franklin attending to our property. The pizza is almost like a hybrid of NY & Chicago styles. A little deeper crust, but still light and crunchy. So no inedible hard, cardboard crust and no overly thick, mushy crust. We've never had anything like that & it was delightful! Smooth evenly melted cheese & fresh toppings both of which came right to the edge of the crust put this pizza in a league of it's own. Even reheated it tasted amazing. Now I love a good steak salad but am always apprehensive ordering it and they did it right! The lettuce was fresh and crispy and only the good parts of the perfectly green lettuce were used. The steak is where many mess up on & this place cooked the steak PERFECTLY. There were numerous tender, we'll seasoned pieces without any gross fatty surprises. Light feta, grape tomatoes, black olives, a couple cucumber slices, pepperoncinii & done. Freshness allows the ingredients to speak for themselves & singing loudly. Just superb! The only thing I could even think to add is a little crispy topper (I would suggest a crispy French fried onions). Also this said was shared by two adults before pizza & there was plenty. FANTASTIC all around & was made quickly. We'll absolutely be back when we return...

(TOO SMALL) -NOT A GOOD VALUE FOR PIZZA - for the amount of food you get ITS NOT WORTH IT. I bought a small pizza and was dissatisfied at how small the pizza was. A little bit bigger than my hand, basically the size of whats called a "Bar Pizza" I paid $13.50 for it. It should have been $5.00 dollars. Pizza is the most profitable for any business, with ingredients, it cost less than $2.00 to make which makes for a huge profit margin, this place is waaay too cheap and skimps on their food. The Quality of the the pizza i actually give them an 8 out of a 10. It was actually great tasting and satisfying. I bought a Hawaiin Pizza, but i would think twice about getting another one. I would go elsewhere probably next time. One more thing i've noticed in the past 5 years, businesses have been SHRINKING the amount of food they have been giving people in general. This is NOT GOOD. To keep a customer coming back they need to be satisfied and i wasn't. They Raise price, then CUT the amount of food they give you. People don't mind paying extra for food as long as the qaulity, and quantity is there. So it look like Time to cook at home, make my own pizza. I would not buy again from FRANKLIN DELI AND PIZZA in FRANKLIN MASSACHUSETTS on...