Papa Razzi Wellesley — Restaurant in Wellesley

I visited the last remaining Papa Razzi a week ago on a Saturday evening and was extremely disappointed. The food at the Wellesley location wasn't even on par with a fast casual pizza joint , and it doesn't compare to Fiorellas or any of the moderately priced Italian restaurants in the area.

To start, their famous focaccia bread was replaced with frozen, pre-made, dense white bread that tasted stale. In addition, the former dipping oil with crushed red peppers was replaced with a cream sauce that tasted like it was out of a plastic container bought at Star Market. The calamari appetizer was just okay, half the size, and only room temperature. I ordered the Orecchiette con Fagioli without the beans for my entree, but what was delivered to my table looked like a dish that had the beans hastily picked out of it because someone wasn't paying attention. There was also absolutely no Italian sausage, and the sauce tasted like a canned cafeteria tomato sauce. It looked unappetizing and was not of restaurant quality, let alone the standard I have come to expect from Papa Razzi.

Our server, who I can only sympathize with because he was clearly overwhelmed, still had a bit of an attitude and deliberately avoided our table for almost a half an hour.

We spoke to the manager on duty, who insisted that hardly anything had changed but that they had stopped using the dipping oil with crushed red peppers because it took almost 2 days to prepare. ??? We asked if the head chef was off that night, giving him a chance for some type of excuse, but he said their head chef was there but that ownership had re-worked the menu to accommodate escalating operating costs. He also said that the food can vary depending on which chef is on duty, which seems absurd to me, but that was not the issue that night.

Newport Restaurant Group, which purchased the Papa Razzi brand 10 years ago, clearly suffered through Covid and now has made some significant cost-cutting changes. They abruptly closed the Concord location and previously closed all of their other locations, leaving only the Wellesley location, which is operating on a shoestring budget. The food is now on par with Bertucci's at best, but at least the remaining Bertucci's have better bread and meal consistency regardless of who is on duty! I'm sure this final Papa Razzi location is on the brink of closure but perhaps the lease still has years to run so the owners will keep it floundering along until the lease term runs out. How disappointing to see this local chain get run...

My, oh my. The experience was something of a fever dream. While I wish I could give it 6 stars instead of just 5, I am merely human and that is beyond my capabilities. We had a lovely young waiter named Ben. Before he started talking, he seemed shy and new to being a waitstaff, however when he arrived, he extruded confidence. Life simply turned into rainbows and lollipops. He was a listener. My therapist would have taken notes on how to ask someone about themselves. It truly felt like he wanted to know everything about us. He was the first waiter to ask me how my day was going. To which I giggled and looked around, as if I was talking to a serial killer. He killed us with his jokes, pretending to pass judgment on us. He came up to us every few bites, and asked us how the food was tasting. It was mediocre at best, but it was not his fault. He didn’t over salt all of the food, and chose an atom sized piece of chicken for the picatta. Best of all, he wasn’t the one to forget the meatballs in the italian wedding soup, known for its meatballs. He also nailed the tone of a disapproving parent after they see your report card. We could also tell that he had practiced, and finally mastered the art of peer pressure. My parents were so quick to teach me to say no to a friend with alcohol, but they never warned me about the waiters. Oh, and he knew how to get offended. Here is a list of things he got offended at. He was offended when we asked for a second bread basket. He was offended when I asked if he could turn the side risotto into some pasta, as I never liked asparagus risotto. He was offended by us not ordering a second glass of wine. And, he was offended when I didn't finish my meal fast enough. We had sat down, ordered, ate, and left in under 40 minutes. The most confounding thing for him about that meal was when we didn’t order dessert. He had walked up to us and told us: “obviously you’re intending to get dessert as well, correct? We were not, but this further exemplified how much he cared about us. I felt so bad I apologized and responded with: “No. I'm so sorry. Please don’t kill my family.” All of this is to say, the restaurant experience leaves a lot to be desired, and surprisingly the food does too.

A still slightly hungry...

Overall Papa Razzi is consistently ok Italian food however it is not the greatest and never will be for a few reasons. First off, this location sits in Wellesley Falls area of downtown Wellesley off Route 9 and is tucked away to the right near the river, hardly noticeable and is quite a large location. Place was very crowded since it was Saturday, parking lot is very large and interior here is decorated quite nice with cool light fixtures etc. The entrance and hostess station here is an odd setup which leaves very little room for waiting patrons and is adjacent to the seating so cold drafts enter the dining room and tables are set up in the walking path of patrons entering. Thought that was strange.

The service here started off slow but picked up quite a bit and the two managers visible in the dining room checked in on us on two occasions which was decent. Menu here is standard selection of Italian dishes, standard appetizers and entrees. Extensive wine and cocktail lists and even a small menu for the kids. We started out with fried mozzarella which was delicious and opted for the Veal Scallopini and Filet. Food was served timely, waitstaff here was ok, our server could of been a tad bit friendlier and was all business but it was fine. Entrees came out hot, servings were a bit skimpy and biting into the red potatoes which were overcooked and the very limp broccoli and then taking a bite of the small piece of veal scallopini I was not overly impressed, it was just ok, a bit overcooked and tough and I was a bit surprised that this was the same food as the delicious fried mozzarella we just finished. Filet was just average as well which I was surprised at and it had areas of tough pieces. Dessert was served as brownie sundae with gelato and it was equally not that great, very hard brownie and sauces that tasted like they were from a jar. In all the meal was just average and there is probably a reason you don't see too many of these chain locations open anymore. The food is just not up to par with other nearby Italian restaurants scattered all over Boston and Providence. Sadly, I suspect this location will end up closing, and is only overly crowded because it is not near many other restaurants...