Fall of The House of Pizza

Ever since Mian Iftakar and his new team of chefs took over at the late night hot spot, Tommy’s House of Pizza has been leaving its veteran customers with bitter tongues. Many are disappointed by the cuisine’s recent loss of Italian flavor and authenticity. With so much instability in this world, can’t college students, at the very least, depend on their greasy munchies?

“Since the new management took over the style of cooking is almost the same,” said Chef Tony Bocchetti, who began working at Tommy’s last spring. Bocchetti noted that the chefs even kept the sesame pizza crust because it was a distinctive Tommy’s tradition.

But revolution is on the way. “We’re changing the whole menu,” Bocchetti said, adding, “It’s gonna be more dinner plates. We’ll put more chairs in here.” Among other modifications and additions, Tommy’s will add rotisserie chicken and steamed vegetables to the menu.

Some students have not responded well to the adjustments since last spring and have already noticed a decline in the pizza quality. “The crust is drier,” said John A. Peterson ‘04, who has been to Tommy’s twice already this year.

“It’s the only late eating at Harvard. As long as they stay open late and have the same pizza I’m fine, but you won’t catch me at Tommy’s for the rotisserie chicken,” said Ben A. Cowan ‘02, who also noted that “there wasn’t as much cheese at the end of last year.” Jacob A. Rubin ‘03 reports that recently he ate “chicken wings at Tommy’s and they were bleeding. I returned the wings and got new ones but those were bleeding too.”

The biggest indicator of Tommy’s bust is the boom over at their fiercest competitor, Pinnochio’s. “As far as business goes, it’s quadrupled since the beginning of the year. Now business is just crazy,” said Ralphie Z., a manager at Pinocchio’s. Ralphie criticizes Tommy’s for never staying true to its Italian roots.

Major changes to Tommy’s are likely to be put on hold until after Iftakar launches a new convenience store just a few doors down from the pizza joint. Plans to replace all of the eatery’s old, outdated video games with newer ones are also underway. It remains doubtful whether Tommy’s will be able to reinvent itself. Maybe they should start with the pizza.