I’ve been looking forward to coming back to Houghton for two years, and one of the things I was most excited about was having my favorite pizza in the world again. Unfortunately, it was a huge disappointment.
We ordered a large sausage, onion, and mushroom with double cheese—our go-to for years when we lived here. But this time, it was barely recognizable. There was hardly any sausage (and it didn’t even taste like the same kind), the onions were so overcooked they disappeared, and the mushrooms were few and far between. Worst of all, the pizza was extremely greasy, with puddles of oil on top of the cheese.
I had hoped it was just an off night, but after talking with several local friends, I heard the same thing again and again: the quality has gone downhill. Some even mentioned that the tostada pizza—once a local favorite—has also been ruined.
It’s really sad to see such a longtime Houghton institution, one I’ve been coming to since I was a teenager, decline like this. I turn 70 this month and had planned to celebrate with dinner here like I did on my last visit. But after this experience, I’ll be celebrating somewhere else.
Lastly, it was so noisy my Apple Watch reported 105 db.
Sheri B
Very pleasant lunch in delightful atmosphere. Good food, great service. Glad we found this place!
Nathan Norris
No empty seat in the house. A bit of a wait but well worth it the food was amazing. Our waitress was awesome.
Caitlin Wood
I got the lg ravioli portion and it was the perfect size! Delicious red sauce and tasty ravioli. We had very attentive service!
Kyle Green
The BLT pizza was excellent 👌
Sam Leete
Worth the 15 minute wait. Service is top notch, food is incredible and not super expensive.
Tim Smith
Ok, here we go. My wife and I came in for dinner on a Thursday evening. We waited to get drinks, finally getting them after 20 minutes. Then, we ordered salads and entrees, and we waited another 20 minutes without even getting the salads. So, after 40-45 minutes, we left. If I was allowed to give zero stars, I would. I would like to say that I think the other high reviews are fake. Sorry, the Ambassador sucks.
Arnie Kinnunen
This restaurant will make reservations for some, not all of us! My wife called a week in advance to make reservations for 10 adults and 1 toddler. She was told no, we don’t take reservations. We got there early today and all seat were taken, we would have to wait to get a boot big enough for us. I looked around and saw a table with a RESERVED sign on it with 10 empty seats. I asked about it, and was told. New person made a mistake, and they were honoring the mistake. The host was a bit rude about it. All of us were jammed in a large booth and hardly room to move. I watched the reserved table for 1.5hrs with no one at it, while we could t really talk to each other because of our limited space. The RESERVED table party finally showed up as we were paying our bills. I spoke to the cash register guy about it, and he said they honer the mistakes a new employee made. He made zero attempt to honor the mistake they made for one, to honor my miserable meal experience! Good food, unfortunately they don’t treat all of us customers as equals.
Recommended dishes: Tostada Pizza一, Salad, Fish Bowl, Taco Pizza
Hornet35
Please, don't go here...so I can get a seat.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Tostada Pizza一
Steve Wilde
The Good: The service was very good. Our server was kind, happy, and attentive.
The price was quite reasonable. I really like the fact that they serve a meal's worth of food for a meal's worth of price and not three meals worth of food with the associated price.
The inside of the building is fun and interesting with an excellent atmosphere. It was upbeat, busy but not too busy, and clean.
The Bad: I've gotten two take out pizzas, one tostada and one pepperoni. The pizzas were... average. I've also had the ravioli while dinning in-house. My son got the spaghetti. It came with garlic bread. We both agreed that the food was... average. Overall the pasta and bread was a bit bland and uninspired, kind of like the pizzas. It's not that it's bad, it's just not a place I'd go for a treat. It's a place I'd go if I didn't want to cook.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
Thomas Longshore
I came to this place by way of great reviews. I was energized to see an old fashioned place that made me feel new to the history around the area and including the building. With that said the atmosphere was slightly overshadowed with nachos stuffed in a machine and some other little things. 4 star for atmosphere. Service was excellent and the waitress was attentive yet not over barring. She didn't use that childish type voice that some use, took my order professionally and was absolutely brutally honest. Which leads to the food. I ordered spaghetti with meatballs. The bowl was full. Good quantity of noodles and a sauce that was decent. I had to put on a ton of parm cheese because way too many noodles with not enough sauce. Meatballs were okay not great. I really wanted to order some toasted raviolios and a desert, but I was alerted that none of it was fresh and they don't bread the raviolios. Big 0 stars for that. Desert is bought at a grocery store cut in slices then sold at about 6 bucks a little slice. I know because again the waitress was brutally honest. Said the brownies were good I asked if they were fresh again said it was bought at a grocery store. Very disappointed in this place it has so mich room for potential given its atmosphere, but the pre-made food brought in and dished out at shark rates is ridiculous. The owner should be ashamed, buying say a Dutch apple pie for 8 bucks at a grocery store then splitting it into 6 pieces around 5.99$ a piece is utterly disappointing and because of that and "no originality" I won't be back.
I’ve been looking forward to coming back to Houghton for two years, and one of the things I was most excited about was having my favorite pizza in the world again. Unfortunately, it was a huge disappointment. We ordered a large sausage, onion, and mushroom with double cheese—our go-to for years when we lived here. But this time, it was barely recognizable. There was hardly any sausage (and it didn’t even taste like the same kind), the onions were so overcooked they disappeared, and the mushrooms were few and far between. Worst of all, the pizza was extremely greasy, with puddles of oil on top of the cheese. I had hoped it was just an off night, but after talking with several local friends, I heard the same thing again and again: the quality has gone downhill. Some even mentioned that the tostada pizza—once a local favorite—has also been ruined. It’s really sad to see such a longtime Houghton institution, one I’ve been coming to since I was a teenager, decline like this. I turn 70 this month and had planned to celebrate with dinner here like I did on my last visit. But after this experience, I’ll be celebrating somewhere else. Lastly, it was so noisy my Apple Watch reported 105 db.
Very pleasant lunch in delightful atmosphere. Good food, great service. Glad we found this place!
No empty seat in the house. A bit of a wait but well worth it the food was amazing. Our waitress was awesome.
I got the lg ravioli portion and it was the perfect size! Delicious red sauce and tasty ravioli. We had very attentive service!
The BLT pizza was excellent 👌
Worth the 15 minute wait.
Service is top notch, food is incredible and not super expensive.
Ok, here we go. My wife and I came in for dinner on a Thursday evening. We waited to get drinks, finally getting them after 20 minutes. Then, we ordered salads and entrees, and we waited another 20 minutes without even getting the salads. So, after 40-45 minutes, we left. If I was allowed to give zero stars, I would. I would like to say that I think the other high reviews are fake. Sorry, the Ambassador sucks.
This restaurant will make reservations for some, not all of us! My wife called a week in advance to make reservations for 10 adults and 1 toddler. She was told no, we don’t take reservations. We got there early today and all seat were taken, we would have to wait to get a boot big enough for us. I looked around and saw a table with a RESERVED sign on it with 10 empty seats. I asked about it, and was told. New person made a mistake, and they were honoring the mistake. The host was a bit rude about it. All of us were jammed in a large booth and hardly room to move. I watched the reserved table for 1.5hrs with no one at it, while we could t really talk to each other because of our limited space. The RESERVED table party finally showed up as we were paying our bills. I spoke to the cash register guy about it, and he said they honer the mistakes a new employee made. He made zero attempt to honor the mistake they made for one, to honor my miserable meal experience! Good food, unfortunately they don’t treat all of us customers as equals.
Always good food here. Pizzas are very tasty.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chicken Pizza
Great food, great staff
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Tostada Pizza一, Veggie Pizza, Sandwich
Restaurantji Recommends
Pizzas great -love this place
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Tostada Pizza一, Salad, Fish Bowl, Taco Pizza
Please, don't go here...so I can get a seat.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Tostada Pizza一
The Good:
The service was very good. Our server was kind, happy, and attentive.
The price was quite reasonable. I really like the fact that they serve a meal's worth of food for a meal's worth of price and not three meals worth of food with the associated price.
The inside of the building is fun and interesting with an excellent atmosphere. It was upbeat, busy but not too busy, and clean.
The Bad:
I've gotten two take out pizzas, one tostada and one pepperoni. The pizzas were... average. I've also had the ravioli while dinning in-house. My son got the spaghetti. It came with garlic bread. We both agreed that the food was... average. Overall the pasta and bread was a bit bland and uninspired, kind of like the pizzas. It's not that it's bad, it's just not a place I'd go for a treat. It's a place I'd go if I didn't want to cook.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
I came to this place by way of great reviews. I was energized to see an old fashioned place that made me feel new to the history around the area and including the building.
With that said the atmosphere was slightly overshadowed with nachos stuffed in a machine and some other little things. 4 star for atmosphere.
Service was excellent and the waitress was attentive yet not over barring. She didn't use that childish type voice that some use, took my order professionally and was absolutely brutally honest. Which leads to the food.
I ordered spaghetti with meatballs. The bowl was full. Good quantity of noodles and a sauce that was decent. I had to put on a ton of parm cheese because way too many noodles with not enough sauce. Meatballs were okay not great. I really wanted to order some toasted raviolios and a desert, but I was alerted that none of it was fresh and they don't bread the raviolios. Big 0 stars for that. Desert is bought at a grocery store cut in slices then sold at about 6 bucks a little slice. I know because again the waitress was brutally honest. Said the brownies were good I asked if they were fresh again said it was bought at a grocery store. Very disappointed in this place it has so mich room for potential given its atmosphere, but the pre-made food brought in and dished out at shark rates is ridiculous. The owner should be ashamed, buying say a Dutch apple pie for 8 bucks at a grocery store then splitting it into 6 pieces around 5.99$ a piece is utterly disappointing and because of that and "no originality" I won't be back.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 5
Only had drinks.
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
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