Santarpio's Pizza — Restaurant in Peabody

Santarpio's Pizza - Had a reservation at Peabody location for today, 6/4 (re-confirmed yesterday) at 3PM for ~30 ppl and was told it would be “in the room on the right.” There was a family eating at 2:45 in the room we were told we’d be in, and was told we could wait (they were mid meal) or go in the sunroom. When we said there was a mistake, was told “it happens” - the (man) manager asked how the “sunroom” (glorified hallway) was, I said it is what it is. He told me not to be pushy. To say our party was extremely cramped and uncomfortable is an understatement.

The waitress told us they don’t do weekend reservations - manager told us later “she lied to you,” which makes sense as we reserved the room a while ago. We couldn’t order big family style salads bc “you need to do that ahead of time” we were never told that. Waitress had horrible attitude whole time, as we tried to be patient as she had other tables. We asked if we could have the pizzas on the table outside of the room to make more room, was told no, etc. the list goes on.

Received bill and my husband asked for items removed due to the circumstances, was told by her, “absolutely not.” She walked out of the room to serve her other tables in the dining room, and yelled across to him “you’re paying X bucks to feed 30 people” as in get over it. Management told us “a couple of sodas” were taken off the total, although they were still listed on the itemized bill. It totaled $20 off.

I approached waitress about rude service at the end. She told me she didn’t care, and to stop reprimanding her as if I were her mother. Start. To. Finish. Horrible experience, which is really a shame as it was my son’s birthday party. Non existent customer service, if anything it was extremely combative. Can get pizza, salad and much better customer service elsewhere. Will not...

To be fair, I can't really rate the atmosphere because I ordered and did take out.

And the four stars are because I got half meat lovers and half shrimp and garlic.

Ever since I saw the movie Spotlight, a great flipping movie, I have wanted to go to Santarpio 's. If you saw the movie you'll know why. If not watch it. So I decided to go on my way home from work. Long weekend - pizza on Friday night. Othello and I, my cat, will be sharing.

So, if you're looking for buffalo wings, mozzarella sticks and anything else you will be sorely disappointed. Pizza and salads. A little bit of barbecue. That's it. They focus on what they are good at. I like it. I have seen far too many shops with all of the things they have on inventory that they may sell occasionally close.

So, my pizzas. I really enjoyed the meat lovers half. It had lots of meat and the sauce was delish. I like that, unlike every other pizza shop, the toppings are under the cheese. I know I know. But truthfully, the toppings stay put. They don't fall off. And they were chunky and abundant. I fully enjoyed the meat Lovers half.

The other side with shrimp and garlic was slightly disappointing. To be fair, I don't use salt. I grew up in a house with my mother having HBP, so salt was a no-no. That means I am acutely aware of every grain. This half was quite salty - even by my standards. So though I gave the food four stars it may actually be better. But for me, I couldn't enjoy it because it was just too salty. The garlic was good and not over the top. The crust was good too.

Overall the experience was really good. I suppose it wasn't exactly smart to get the shrimp when there were so many other choices. But I didn't know that at the moment. Next time I will try the works minus the anchovies. I like them just not...

It's Santarpio's, you either like their pizza, or you don't, and the menu is very limited. But it's something you have to try at least once. In my opinion, the Rt.1 location is consistantly better than the original East Boston location, and the building/atmosphere is probably what most people are used to and prefer. The pizza is never a mushy mess in the middle, the lamb is juicier, and the bathrooms are normal and modern, instead of what are (in East Boston) essentially not very sanitary feeling small sheds with a toilet, no stalls, and no locks on the doors (at least there were no locks in East Boston last time I was there)

That said, service is hit or miss. Some servers are great, some are adequate, but a couple act like they don't actually work there, and they're doing you a favor by serving you. Half listening to orders, barely ever coming to the table without being waved down, asking if you need anything as they walk past the table without actually stopping, taking plates/food off the table without asking. Just imagine being waited on by a 16 year old McDonald's drive-through attendant who only works there because their parents make them, they haven't been on social media in over 7 hours, their shift ends in 15 minutes, and they can't wait to clock out so they can see how many like their post about hating their job got, on Facebook.....

Ok, (very) slight exaggeration, but it's very frustrating to have to deal with that. You can hear other tables and people at the bar complaining amongst themselves when these people are their servers, so I can't imagine management isn't aware. Hopefully the issue is addressed sooner rather than later, because it really sours what is otherwise a great place to...