Riverside Pizza — Restaurant in Hopkinton

So I originally made this 5 star review 3 years ago, so I guess 2019... a lot has changed since then and I would like to update.

I have lived in Hopkinton since 2008 when I started high school. I worked at Dimitri's (for those who are new, that was the name of it before the sale 2022) for a little while during that time. I am familiar with the Dimitri family as well as most folk from town. I have not had a bad experience this far. I don't eat a bunch of food there but it's so easy to grab some pizza or subs ! Since it's been about 14 years, I have ordered there a lot, and I have gotten to see the general experience and I have to say it's been good. Like really good. I am now so accustomed to their pizzas, I have developed an idea that other pizzas all over are bad. But that's just me anyway. I don't delve too far into the menu since I am set In my ways when it comes to trying different food items . I know for a fact that the pizza, Italian and steak bomb/ steak tip subs and amazing.

In early 2022 Dimitri and family sold the business to a set of local boys ( brothers ) Steve and Dan Lux. Both of these young men have very good Rapport with the community. Many were worried that filling the old shoes my be a tough feat! The two were very level headed and realistic about the route they planned to take the local pizza shop moving into the future. They have elected to not change much at all since after all, Dimitri's pizza was a fantastic success. They kept any staff who chose to stay, and also kept Dimitri, Yanni and Theo on for the past 6 months to help with the transition and to make sure the new guys knew exactly how things were done to the original and long since proven standard. They have added more beer to the menu which isn't a bad thing at all! They have done some updating inside in attempt to personalize it to the new ownership. They also changed the name to RIVERSIDE pizza. As I write this a new sign is being risen in the front by the road.

I personally believe that they are doing amazing and I have not had any experience that made me feel like the place changed hands in the sense of service or food quality. I think is is exactly as good at as the old owners worked to create with some new personal touches that can only add to the experience.

The reason I am writing this is because I saw some negative reviews and I totally understand that every one has their own opinions and that's important. Just to add one more opinion to the plethora , I haven't noticed any decline in service or quality since the changing of hands. CHANGE IS GOOD . Some hold onto the past as I have been guilty of...

My husband and I really wanted to love this place because it's so close to home and of course relish the opportunity to support local businesses, but the par-baked pre-formed pizza dough although fresh (not frozen) doesn't have good flavor, texture, or appearance. It's pre-fabed shape without natural form or bubbles is a dead giveaway, and first bite exposes its spongy texture. Lastly, the oil used on its bottom to cook it leaves the crust oily and closer to a fried dough type of outcome rather than the cornmeal bottom indicative of pizza as we think of freshly made pizza. They do the best they can with the tomato sauce but want to appeal to a wide audience certainly so it lacks distinctive seasoning. The cheese has reasonably good mozzarella flavor but cooks-up kind of dry and chewy.

The staff is very friendly and attentive, and the interior is generally clean which is extremely important, so thank you for that. Some furniture and parts of the building are pretty old and appear worn and shabby and avoid sitting in the back near the kitchen if you dine-in since you'll occasionally be confronted with the odor of bleach which'll reduce your level of enjoyment considerably.

The outside seating area is probably its best attribute and guests can sit there at night since there's some atmospheric lighting as well.

Best of luck to its new owners, but we certainly would love if they'd consider the possibility of using freshly made pizza dough. They could cut-costs as well if they used metal pizza pans instead of carboard take-out containers for dining-in. Making changes in a small operation is difficult so I don't expect miracles but we can...

While waiting for our order, we watched an employee shaping dough into a pizza pan with her bare hands. The phone rang and she stopped what she was doing to answer it and take an order. She hung the phone back up, turned around and continued shaping the dough into the pan- without gloves and without washing her hands. A moment later, she swiped her hand across her nose and continued with her task. Another employee who was making salads (who did have gloves on) was wiping crumbs and food off a tray onto the floor and used the same hand and dove into a bucket of croutons to grab for the top of a salad. Owner also touches all kinds of equipment with his bare hands and then starts shaping pizza dough. We heard him tell the staff to “hurry up, it’s going to get busy soon “. I think the best thing to do would be to slow down and start serving more safely guys. Also, we have noticed consistently the staff is not very friendly (one here and there is cheerful) but a lot of them tend to just keep flashing dirty looks. Very uncomfortable especially if you are waiting for an order. We’ve looked past the attitudes for a long time but after the sanitary concerns today (and to be honest the bulk of our food ended up in the trash because it was not good), this is sadly no longer our favorite...