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Deep-dish pizza place didn't have deep enough pockets to pay Harvard Square rents anymore

By adamg on Tue, 09/06/2016 - 11:55pm

The Crimson reports Uno has shut its doors because the rent is too damn high.

Neighborhoods: 
Cambridge
Harvard Square
Topics: 
Business
Dining
Free tagging: 
Pizza


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Comments

By anon on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 6:09am.

Now this. I have no reason to go to Harvard Square anymore.

By CopleyScott17 on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 7:54am.

Sad to see it go. Funny, though, I was just thinking the other day that their Boylston Street location in Copley Square has been around for at least forty years, I'm guessing. That must be some sort of record in that neighborhood. Unos don't get a lot of attention, but they must get plenty of business!

By Scratchie on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 12:07pm.

Their corporation has been based in Massachusetts (not Chicago) since at least the 80s.

By anon on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 8:14am.

The waitresses had to walk orders down the stairs. No dumbwaiter? Also, always seemed 50/50 that the taps downstairs were on the fritz.

I will miss Uno's.

By anon on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 8:24am.

What's next on the chopping block?

Shay's? Grendel's Den? Hong Kong? Battle theater?

By Elmer Fudd on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 2:00pm.

So will all reasons to go there.

Speaking of which, I was walking past Bartley's one of those 90-plus degree days, and dropped in. Ordered a large lime rickey, and when the cashier said $5.26 I walked back out. If we're voting, that place jumped the shark 20 years ago.

By Scratchie on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 2:25pm.

Agree that Bartley's jumped the shark a long time ago. Place may have been all that in the 70s, but even by the 90s, it wasn't worth the long lines, tiny tables or high prices.

However, it may come as a source of astonishment to some of the old-timers around here that there are actually new restaurants in Harvard Square that are worth patronizing, or even going out of your way for. I'm quite fond of the Russell House Tavern, which has much better burgers than either Charlie's or Bartley's.

Charlie's had gotten kind of inconsistent by the time I moved away three years ago. I don't know if they were actually going downhill or if I was just noticing it more, but I definitely had more than one "What am I doing here" experience.

By Matt Frank on Thu, 09/08/2016 - 11:44am.

Charlies is owned by the same guy who owns red house next door and he owns the land he sits on. If Charlie's or the red house moves on it will be because they decided to sell it or close it. The benefit to owning is it is hard to get forced out.

By ladycommentariat on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 3:29pm.

Okay, so I was never a fan of Hong Kong, but if Grendel's or the Brattle closed, I would very, very sad.

By anon on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 8:50am.

If you're going to eat pizza in Harvard Square, it's gotta be Pinocchio's.

Accept no substitutions.

By SomerVillain on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 9:58am.

But what if I want a soggy bread bowl full of cheese and tomato slop? Then what?

By johnmcboston on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 10:51am.

until their landlord forces them out. Then will you care about harvard square rents?

By Boston_res on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 11:04am.

I also am surprised that not one comment has expressed concern for the recently unemployed.

By verbal on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 9:09am.

Please, bring on the nostalgia and cries that change is bad.

By adamg on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 9:16am.

Because it was one of the first chains to come into Harvard Square, and replaced the locally owned Sunflower Cafe (long before Uno headquarters moved from Chicago to West Roxbury).

Man, I'm old.

By Steeve on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 9:45am.

According to this, they once coexisted.

By chaosjake on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 3:11pm.

Isn't that storefront where the German restaurant used to be? Or was that someplace else? It's been a long time.

By Charles Bahne on Thu, 09/08/2016 - 6:18am.

The Wursthaus was where the Russell House is now, plus part of the CVS space. The Tasty and a liquor store took the rest of the CVS spot.

By anon on Thu, 09/08/2016 - 12:48pm.

Meat, meat, meat,and more meat, washed down with good beer. Yum!

By anon on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 9:41am.

Change for the worse is ALWAYS bad.

By DTP on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 9:17am.

That Uno's always had terrible service anyway. Most times we tried going there we bailed after 10-15 minutes just waiting in line at the host station. They always had only one poor girl there who was simultaneously answering the phone, running up and down stairs, and once in a while helping a customer. It always seemed surprisingly empty in there, probably because most people never bothered waiting long enough to actually get a table.

If they actually staffed it better, I'm sure they could have done a lot better business, and been able to afford the rent. But they probably couldn't justify it based on the abysmal level of business. A self-fulfilling prophecy.

By anon on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 2:16pm.

- my experience at the Harvard Square Uno's. Service was always fine.

By anon on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 9:32am.

Rich people suck.

By Scumquistador on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 4:59pm.

i suppose "the little man" UNO pizzeria is considered poor in this case?

By Steeve on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 3:52pm.

Back in 1998 I was with a group of kids and we decided to class things up a bit and get lunch at Pizzeria Uno instead of Lee's Beehive. One of the party was a 20ish traveler/future hobo type who was scheming to get himself a beer by charming the waitress into not checking his ID. So we get seated, and the waitress comes over and begins putting down the table settings, and plops down a bottle of Grolsch right in front of our friend. Absolutely stunned that the waitress not only hadn't ID'ed him, but also knew he wanted a beer without asking, he pops the top, tilts it back, and takes a celebratory swig.

It was salad dressing.

By Gary C on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 9:42am.

I recall a dinner around 1984 with my old pal from Thailand. We sat next to two attractive girls who really didn't want to talk with us. They claimed to be theology students, I think to appear more virginal so we'd stop trying to chat them up. Oh the good old days.

By Steeve on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 10:23am.

You should've hit one of them with "your name must be Grace, because I find you totally irresistible", or "I didn't believe in predestination until tonight".

By Briana Pearson on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 10:21am.

I'm sure part of it is "deep enough pockets" we all know the rents are too high in Harvard Sq but I think this also speaks to what people want....If you are a visitor to Cambridge and you go to Harvard Sq do you want to go to a new place or one you have at the mall at home? Cambridge folks know there is better pizza than Uno's they aren't gonna go there....Unos closed in Porter too so its not just deep pockets

By ladycommentariat on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 3:30pm.

Carb awareness and the prevalence of gluten intolerance (both real and imagined) all.

By anon on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 11:38am.

It's bad when chains replace independent businesses. But it's bad when reasonably-priced chains are forced out as well.

By SomeTimes on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 11:45am.

I'll always remember this place as my first mouse sighting upon moving to cambridge.

By steveluvskaren on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 11:58am.

my gf and i have gone there recently when i havent been there for years

knowing there was hardly any seating on the ground floor - a few tables -

10 yrs ago - im in a wheelchair - so i peeked in in may/june - wow!

big dining room - about time! great service - waiters staff running around

trying to please customers,, we loved it there - been there 36 years - now

this? fuck! nothing affordable in harvard anymore - question of when

charlies kitchen will go belly up -- hong kong billionare huh? may

he die of the asian flu! shit!

By boo_urns on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 12:54pm.

people had this much love and adoration of what I thought was a chain pizzeria of a product that many argue isn't even pizza to begin with. Aside from it being a MA corp., even.

By Kaz on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 1:03pm.

Who knew!

By Rob G on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 1:51pm.

The commenters above you. Hope that answers that.

By anon on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 2:31pm.

Some people actually get around the city and see things once in a while. There is a lot to see.

By boo_urns on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 3:34pm.

Symphony, Kenmore....or other exciting places like Burlington, Revere, Nashua, and plenty of other suburbs. Why is there so much romanticism about a ubiquitous chain in this area of New England? That people are putting it on par with Charlie's Kitchen, Grendel's Den, Shay's, and so on and so forth is pretty apples to oranges if you ask me.

And, if you explore the city looking for an Uno's, apologies, but you are the definition of "basic." But, different strokes, I guess.

By Steeve on Thu, 09/08/2016 - 9:51am.

I think the point is it's pretty damn tough to miss the Uno in Harvard Square because if you ever walk down JFK street from the T exit it's the first place you see on the left.

By Kaz on Thu, 09/08/2016 - 11:19am.

See, you forgot Poland.

By Steeve on Thu, 09/08/2016 - 2:23pm.

I'm saying that I don't see Russell House.

By Kaz on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 3:36pm.

If I was that close to Russell House Tavern and decided to go into an Uno's instead, I'd be so dead inside that no "deep dish" pizza could have filled me.

By DTP on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 4:24pm.

Erm, despite the fact that those two restaurants serve completely different fare at completely different price points?

Most of the times I went to that Uno's were because the boyfriend (a native Chicagoan) was craving deep dish, and it was usually spontaneous. We always walked by RHT, and it looked tasty, but also super fancy. Like there was no way we were getting in without a reservation, and there was no way we were dressed nice enough, or usually willing to spend that much money.

They're completely different markets, and so their presence next to each other is irrelevant.

By Kaz on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 4:34pm.

It's not that fancy and it's not even that expensive (stick to the Tavern Menu which has all the tastiest items anyways...their pizza is only about $2-3 more than Uno's individual deep dish and far better ingredients).

And there are at least a half-dozen other places in Harvard Square I could rattle off that I'd rather go than Uno's...and at the exact same price point and fanciness.

By DTP on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 4:51pm.

And there are at least a half-dozen other places in Harvard Square I could rattle off that I'd rather go than Uno's...and at the exact same price point and fanciness.

But do they serve deep dish?

Because honestly I'd love to have a new place to go!

By ChrisInEastie on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 2:54pm.

start closing because of rent, that's a really, really bad sign.

By adamg on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 3:14pm.

Harvard Square doesn't have a single McCormick and Schmick's and it only has one Legal Seafood. And, hey, Nick Varano could do something magical in the new Curious George building, I bet.

By ChrisInEastie on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 4:36pm.

try his Greenway deli again!

By Scratchie on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 4:41pm.

I'd love it if the Greenhouse came back.

By ChrisInEastie on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 4:43pm.

I was talking about "Nick Varano's Famous Deli"

By Scratchie on Thu, 09/08/2016 - 1:14pm.

Simpsons image here