Restaurant of the Month: Coolidge Corner Pizza Comparison

Emma Kahn, Staff Writer

Who doesn’t like pizza? It would be hard not to in Brookline. We visited three well-loved pizza places on Harvard Street in Coolidge Corner: Oath Craft Pizza, Otto and the Upper Crust Pizzeria to see which one was the best. Each restaurant provided a variety of services, ranging from food quality to aesthetic.

Our favorite turned out to be Oath. From the moment we walked in, we were struck by the incredible decor that ranged from an intricate light fixture to a seemingly random yet fitting wall spotted with polka-dots.

The service at Oath was amazing. When we were ordering and we could not decide, multiple Oath employees gave us their personal recommendations. We decided on a “Walley” pizza which included basil pesto, mozzarella, baby spinach, diced tomato and roasted garlic ($11.00). This was quite a steep price for the size, a pizza that one hungry person could eat by themselves. We also ordered a half cheese pizza ($6.00).

Photo by Emma Khan
The “Walley” pizza from Oath Craft Pizza.

Every bite of the Walley was filled with a delicious surprise, an adventure to experience each and every one amazingly seasoned ingredients. The cheese pizza, which had the potential to be boring, was quite the opposite. Oath turned an American classic into a delicious masterpiece.

We enjoyed these savory pizzas so much that we decided to order dessert, a half “Chocolate Chunk Cookie Pizza” ($6.00). This was a pizza dough with chocolate chip cookie dough, ricotta cheese and powdered sugar. The sweet ending to our visit to Oath was just as delightful as the first bite.

We had high hopes coming to Otto, but it did not perform as well as Oath, in our opinion. However, the employees were every bit as polite.

Otto’s logo leaves quite an impression, but the inside of the restaurant, though well designed, was not as chic.

We ordered two small pizzas, one with mashed potato, bacon and scallion ($13.50) and a cheese ($10.50). The pizza was good, but it was bland and not as exciting as expected. The mashed potato pizza was very innovative; we had never seen something like that before, but the flavors were disappointing. The cheese pizza was just an ordinary cheese pizza; it was not very exciting. Overall, though it was tasty, Otto performed sub-par.

Photo by Emma Khan
The bacon, scallion and mashed potato pizza from Otto’s.

By the time we walked into the unassuming doors of The Upper Crust Pizzeria, we were all full to the brim with pizza. The service at Upper Crust was not as good as at the other two places, as we had to wait a few minutes before getting service.

The decor was that of a typical old-fashioned pizza shop: various tables, a counter to order at and the menu posted on a blackboard on a wall.

Due to the state of our appetites, we decided on a light meal. We ordered two slices of pizza: the veggie special of the week with tomato sauce, cheese, spinach and broccoli ($4.00) and a cheese slice ($4.00). The prices seemed high for just a slice, but there were generous portions.

Photo by Emma Khan
The cheese pizza from Upper Crust Pizzeria.

In the veggie pizza, we could taste each of the individual vegetables. The cheese pizza surprised us with its amazing flavor profile and variety of cheeses.

Although each of the three pizza places we visited were outstanding in their own ways, we thought that Oath Craft Pizza was the winner of our pizza battle.