Papa Gino’s Pizzeria

walk into the store not greeted by any of the staff behind the counter, so I walked up to one of the employees saying that I had an order to pick up and he looked at me with a blank stare. a different employee then told me she could help me I turned around to address this other employee and the first one threw in a snarky comment «do you not see the registers over there» I turned around and caught his eye so he knew that I heard him and he proceeded to goof off with another girl and laugh, I think his name was Brett or Bryce he looks about 13 years old, dark hair. on top of that the same pizza I get at a different location (which is usually good) was horrible here (probably because of Brett/​Bryce) will not be returning unless this young boy is confronted by his boss and learns to be a little more discrete with his snarky rude comments, that is all

when I was a kid, I loved Papa Gino’s… not so much anymore.
A ten ounce bottle of Gatorade that costs $ 2.77? A cardboard tasting slice of warm pizza?
Besides the bored looking staff stuffing their faces, its really no wonder that I have NEVER seen anyone in there.
its sad

Gross!
This locations a disgrace to the papa himself.
Pizza lol… more like soup on soggy bread.
I pretty much isht myself like 30 minutes after eating this crap.
It was nasty going down but I’ll eat anything but this isht was just that sh! t.

Surprisingly good steak and cheese subs.
Steak and Cheese Judging Criteria
1.) Is it anything like the superior and nearly extinct steak and cheese subs from the 80’s?: YES
2.) Is the steak so greasy it erodes the bottom of the bread (a good thing)?: ALMOST
3.) Is the cheese melted, fused with the steak, and has that 80’s aroma (You know what I’m talking about)?: YES
4.) Is the cheese abundant?: ALMOST
5.) Is the bread traditional and the sandwich tight like a torpedo?: YES
6.) Does the sandwich have heft?: ABOVE AVERAGE
7.) Is the steak thinly shredded but not stringy/​grissily?: YES

terrible food taste bad … asked for well done and they delivered the pie half raw and the pepperoni was straight up gross and this is not the first time i had this experience at this place.
I will never patronize this location again and I have lived in Melrose for 11 years and dont plan on moving.

Really nice staff, and the extra large pizza is super thin and delicious– good wings too!

Yaaak!!! I normally do not prefer these pizza chains but most of the other popular ones are not that bad also, so thought of giving this one a shot. This is the first and surely last time in Papa Gino’s. I actually threw away most of it, couldn’t take it any more.

I think they’re a little pricey, especially since the food is nothing special. I tend to go there early, so it’s not busy and the service is generally OK.
However, a lot of people will bring their kids to this place to eat. So, you may have to tolerate a bunch of hyperactive little animals going berserk while you try to ingest your meal. This is probably the thing I like least about eating at this place, aside from – again – the jacked-​up prices.

got dinner couple notes ago place smelled like urine and seeing the ass crack of the woman behind the counter did all I could do to run out lost my appitite rather quickly

This Papa Ginos on Main St. in downtown Melrose is not worth it. This was my first time to Papa Ginos and probably my last. A large BBQ Chicken Pizza take out — thats the order. Should be quite simple, right?
Firstly, it took them a good 40 minutes to get this pizza to me. Now that is a very long wait — but I give them the benefit of doubt. Maybe, there is something to Papa Ginos which I am not aware of. Maybe they make the dough from scratch, maybe the chef goes to the market and hand picks fresh ingredients only after you place your order. How I wish… coz then the 40 minutes would be worth it.
But when you order a BBQ pizza, what do you get? You get a regular pizza (yeah, with the regular pizza sauce) and a few pieces of chicken which after trying really hard emit some BBQ flavoring. I could say the chef had me guessing for a while. I thought he screwed up for the Buffalo Chicken. But no, this was regular style pizza topped with fried chicken (perhaps dipped in some BBQ, perhaps not — its a mystery). Maybe someone ordered Buffalo Chicken pizza and received pizza with BBQ sauce and fried buffalo chicken on it…
I dont know. The above for $ 17… I should get paid for going through this. I am not sure how this chain even survives in the Boston area? Its not like they are low priced and its not like they have amazing pizza.
Maybe this is a one off thing… but I am too scared to try again. You should be scared too my brother… very scared.

Price wise there are definitely better places to eat in melrose. To me, cheese pizza is cheese pizza but when you can get a slice of pizza and a soda for 2.50 across the street (and support local business at the same time) I would choose the local joint instead

Papa Ginos is a well advertised place that lives more on past repuation than current performance. It does have slightly above average food in the category of cheese, crust, and sauce for an average price… but it just seems like something is lacking. They have gone the way of Dominos. They started strong, but now they are heading down the road of mediocrity when compared to the competition. Will they revamp their style like Dominos? Who knows? It is a good family restaurant though.

If I could sum up my review of Papa Gino’s in one word it would simply be «don’t».

Gross!!! There are much better pizza places in Melrose.
I got an extra pepperoni and garlic pizza. The «garlic» was this weird brown paste puddled all over the pizza. It was a haunting minefield of salty mush explosions. Unless you’re dying of starvation don’t do it!

Don’t you just love Papa Gino’s? That oddly familiar taste of the sauce? Sickenly sweet? The thin layer of crust, the thin layer of sauce, the thin layer of cheese. Wait, are they just being cheap?! Well, either way, if you grew up in New England, Papa Gino’s was your pizza.

Wow, how could I have forgotten to review this place from my recent trip to Boston? When I was growing up, there were just about 2 options for take-​out: Chinese or Pizza. When it was a Pizza night, my family always ordered from Papa Gino’s, since it was close and not too bad.
It brought back some memories when my sister, brother-​in-​law, S.O., and I ordered take-​out from the Papa Gino’s in Melrose (I think it was this location…).
We got a large mushroom, and it was pretty much how I’ve always remembered it: fairly thin crust, good cheese/​toppings-​to-​crust ratio, and a little on the greasy side.
Would I go out of my way to order Papa Gino’s on my next trip back East? Probably not. Did I enjoy the trip down memory lane? You bet.