Hot Tomatoes

I’m sad this place is closed. They had excellent calzones and they were a good go to place for a pull pork sandwich and sloppy joe on texas toast.
Not sure why they closed, but I liked this place a lot.

I used to live right above this place in the north end, so I ate here out of necessity on many occasions. I think the sandwiches are better than pizza, salad, or calzones, and here are some of my favorites:
1. Green Monster — If you are getting this to-​go, ask for the dressing on the side. Otherwise, it makes the sandwich oily
2. 42^nd street — hot pastrami and swiss with mustard. DELICIOUS
3. North Ender — Also ask for the dressing on the side, as it tends to sog-​up the baguette.
Things I don’t like about this place:
1. Calzones have too thick a dough/​crust
2. Pizzas (whole) are expensive
3. Pizza by the slice is not always made and ready to be sold, and i end up waiting for another slice pizza to come out
4. The salads used to be a decent value because they came in giant containers, but about 1.5 years ago, management downsized to containers ½ the size (but didn’t lower the price) so for $ 10, the salads are now a GIANT rip off. Skip them, regardless of how enticing they look.
5. Same with the sides — you used to get a nice portion of side salad or potato salad, now they come in a condiment cup.
6. Pasta special of the day (on days where the special had cream sauce), on more than one occasion, was soupy and oily.
I don’t live there anymore so I never eat there, and even though there is a HT near my office, I never go. It’s good fast-​food but doesn’t compel me to go out of my way for it, or even choose it over another pizza place or lunch counter in the area.

LIke a lot of the reviews mention, it is a hit or miss. But why do we all keep going back? For the most part the food is great. Sometimes they do forget things but I try to pardon them with forgive and forget because their sandwiches always leave me stuffed and satisfied.

(Updated review) This neighborhood gem has resurrected with fresh vitality right on the main North End strip, Hanover Street. The sandwiches are very close in taste and creativity of the North Street original. Great to have this treasure back!
Since this little neighborhood gem went through a management change, the quality of the food seems to have declined. Portions aren’t as generous and the touch of brilliance that the menu once had seems to have dimmed a bit. But the staff is energetic and welcoming, the seating area is cozy and the popularity seems as high as ever. Let’s hope the owners don’t skimp any further.

Well, I went back — and I (stupidly) ordered the same thing. Again, they were not doing the salad with fresh tuna, as the menu claimed. The substitution was shrimp, which I love, but I could tell they’d been sitting around for a while. I’m sure they’re the pre-​cooked shrimp for the shrimp scampi pizza. The salad had no potatoes, though the menu said it would, and the dressing was too light and too lemony. But, the greens were fresh which was a big improvment over last time.
I think I learned a valuable lesson here and that lesson is to not order a salad here. My husband loved his spaghetti and meatballs and I had one of his «garlic knots» and it was tasty.
In my previous post I mentioned certain things were overpriced but I will say, spag & meatball, side salad & garlic knots for $ 9.95 is a steal!
The people are super nice and the atmosphere is adorable and I know certain items are big hits. I just ordered wrong, again. But, I’m not giving up until I can give this place 5 stars I may have to try the pizza for that to happen. it looks amazing.

Yum! This place is adorable and tasty.
We ordered the garlic knots (deliciously cheesy and garlicky) and two pizzas – the Islander and the Kendall Square. Both were great. The crust is perfect and fresh, and the toppings were tasty. The location is also off the North End tourist path, so it was calm and quiet on a Saturday night when we were there. Go!

I love Hot Tomatoes! I’ve been working in Boston for almost a year now, and I get take out from here quite often. Although, they can be very forgetful (forget to include your bread, tomatoes, pickle etc.), I still love coming here. Their sandwiches are very unique and mighty tasty. I always go for the Jersey Exit 24 and I get it hot, you gotta try it!
Oh, and when I eat their «Garlic Knots,» I hear angels sing.

Meh. Its definitely hit or miss. I’ve gotten great sauce and then also been given what I swear should have been something for the tomato discard pile. When its right, its super yummy.
The customer service has been a consistent problem. I’ve been there and given it so many chances. Its mostly kids that work there I think but its not an ideal establishment for no experience with customer service and a complete disregard for common courtesy. I can save my money and go to plenty of other places in the North End. I don’t need the attitude.

I love this place. I’m absolutely obsessed with the Cowgirl. I’m a creature of habit and rarely stray from something when I love it. I also love the Hot Tomatoes Salad and think that their balsamic is divine. We ordered a pizza once from here and I wasn’t crazy about it but every sandwich I’ve tried has been absolutely delicious.
I like the vibe of the place as well but it’s FREEZING in the winter. They are super quick with takeout and as of now remain my dependable go to for lazy stay-​out-​of-​the-​kitchen sort of nights.

Having stayed in the N. End w/​the bf when I first moved to Boston, I passed this place a number of times but never went in. Last night we decided to get take-​out from there while watching the BCS game. This was mainly driven by our typical pizza-​take-​out (delivery) place — Upper Crust — becoming kind of shitty. (will describe in Upper Crust review).
We got a large and had caramelized onions (fancy!) on ½ of it. And also 2 salads. There were 3 of us, and this was plenty of food. The pizza was hot and the crust was very E-​Coast (doughy but not too thick) and the crust was crispy too… yumm. The salads were actually surprisingly good! One was their house salad which had cubes of fresh mozz in it, the other was their other vegetarian salad, which had goat cheese and come on… goat cheese makes everything better! :) Their garlic knots were awesome too. This will definitely be a take-​out staple going forward, since there aren’t too many good options when we hang out at the bf’s place in the N.End.

Hot Tomatoes and I have this love-​hate relationship. I absolutely love their un-​creamy tomato soup, the occasional sandwich, the potato salad, and a few of the salads… oh, and the garlic knots! Yum!
However what I hate about it is: the pasta dishes suck, their pizzas are inconsistent (order one one day, it’s fine; order the same a few days later, it’s a totally different pie), and everything except the soups is overpriced by at least $ 2 – 3.
The service is usually excellent, and the waitresses remember you when you return. To mitigate the high prices, bring a few friends along and then split the overall check; it works pretty well that way and is then actually cheap!
Nonetheless, HT is one of the few unstuffy, fairly reasonable places in the North End, and a happy hangout for regulars who live in the neighborhood. I’d say its only peer (in terms of atmosphere, price, and comfortability) is Boston Beanstock on Salem.

Ehhhhhhh… I almost don’t even want to blow up this spot, but what kind of trick would I be if I didn’t support their business? I have lived just over the bridge from the North End my entire life and was always completely uninterested in going there. I fancied it a zoo of loosed sweaty ravenous eaters who would shove me and salivate on me and try to make me eat sausage with peppers and onions. Yeah for sure there was some of that, but my other expectations of the impossibility of finding a place to eat that was reasonable and not overflowing were totally obliterated.
This place is out of the way of all the commotion, tiny but comfortable, and actually cheap (suck on that, Reasonable). Four entrees and an appetizer for under $ 40 — hooWHAT?!
They lose one star for having only 1 or 2 interesting vegetarian options. I wish I could give them back half of it for the home made pickles. Seriously, don’t even talk to me pickles until you’ve had these pickles.

I never though I would write such a negative review in my life, but here goes…
As a north end resident I am constantly on the lookout for a place to grab a quick bite, rather than a sit down meal. Which is why I was initially excited for Hot Tomatoes and its high marks, but it was a huge disappointment.
What we ordered:
Forget– Me– Knots — Garlic and herbs
The Yankee — roasted turkey breast, stuffing, & cranberry mayonnaise on sour dough bread — served with potato salad.
Monte Cristo — roasted turkey, swiss cheese & baked ham, egg dipped & sauteed in butter. finished with brown sugar & cinnamon — served with pasta salad.
Thoughts:
Knots — Stale and quite tasteless. With all the different flavors you can order (garlic & herbs, brown sugar, cinnamon & honey) it feels like the make up a large batch and then sprinkle on the ordered flavor.
The Yankee — My dish. The turkey was wet and soft, the stuffing way too sweet, the cranberry mayo watery, and the sourdough too soft (I lived in SF and have learned to know good sourdough.)
Monte Cristo — I have never had one before Hot Tomatoes, but it was highly reviewed, so my girlfriend went for it. Its presentation was unimpressive and its flavor was overwhelming and muddled. However, I have nothing to compare it to. Maybe that is how monte cristo sandwiches are supposed to be…
I am actually shocked by how much I disliked this restaurant. The only thing keeping me from giving it a «1 star» is that I have not tried the pizza, which people say is good. I’ll try it someday, but for now I’m going to stick with Ernesto’s.

Oh I had the tummy rumbles BAD! It would take a mean meal o’ carbs to fill my mighty void. And what better place to do it then the brick labyrinth of the North End? Yet I hesitated. Take me off of Salem or Hanover and my internal compass and/​or good eats radar inevitably fails.
Local buddy to the rescue! I was decisively led to the cutest, quaint holy grail of NE lunch spots. Told to ignore the pizza, we dove into a chick-​a-​dee salad (sub gorgonzola dressing) piled high with fresh veggie goodness, and a chicken cutlet sandwich accompanied by a firm and chewy penne salad and homemade pickles. Crisp bread with a texture that scrapes the top of your mouth, perfectly mushy avocado, yummy seasoned grilled chicken.
I left a happy girl.

Had a hankering for a pastrami sandwich today. Living in the north end… basically my only option on a Saturday afternoon was to go to White Hen Pantry and make it myself. Too much work when hungover and hungry. Had been hearing great things about Hot Tomatoes — so I called up and ordered a 42^nd St. to go. 10 minutes later I was indulging in one of the most decadant (read: greasy, but the good greasy) sandwiches of my long sandwich-​tasting history. Dare I say better than LaGrassa’s pastrami traveler?
Bread — awesome. Toasty, the edges perfectly crisp, but I love Iggy’s anyway. Just enough pastrami (not too little, not overstuffed) and perfect balance of meat/​fat (gross, I know but true). Pickle — great, only wish they had given me a bigger one but maybe I’ll order the side pickle next time. Tomato on the side — sweet deliciousness! The only minor complaint I had was the cole slaw tasted like it was going a little sour, but not enough to take off an entire star. Gorgeoussss, dahhhling, best decision of the weekend!

Sometimes when you’ve just spent 10 mins getting fake ‘n baked down the street, you emerge from the booth with an extreme craving for water. And pizza.
Came here after work on a Thursday to find no wait, and barely any customers. Good news for us! Our waitress was friendly and fairly prompt although expressed to us that they had no ice? When she delivered our drinks she didn’t bring us glasses with our bottled/​canned beverages and as someone who waitressed/​cocktailed for a number of years, it’s just common courtesy to deliver glasses in addition to the drink if it’s in a container. It’s good form.
Liz ordered her typical Monte Cristo, it’s like crack. and I ordered a calzone for $ 8.50 which includes sauce, 3 cheese blend, and ricotta. It’s an extya $ 1.75 per topping. I got my typical sausage and mushroom and we waited. And waited. And waited. Our waitress kindly brought us some garlic knots to munch on which were quite tasty and helped us blow some time and satisfy out hunger in the meantime. This is one of those places where they put the sauce on the side, which I’m not always particularly fond of. I like it embracing my cheeses encapsulated in a doughy pocket of love. The cheese tasted quality, as did the sausage and it easily made for two meals as I could only manage to eat half.

Had the Carmen Cubano… good stuff
and had a taste of the Lucky 33 another good one!
keep up the good work! :)

Awesome lunch place in the north end, actually north street. Old school, really bad music, though, but perhaps 70s radio station can grow on you.
I ordered Green monster, like Nancy C. describes it, ‘eggplant, zuchini, mozzarella, drizzled with olive oil.’! The portion is huge. I could only eat only half of the sandwich! Others in the group seem happy with their food, the farmers market salad, looked very yummy. We also tried forget me knots, small garlic rolls, greasy and yummy. The space is really small, very few tables. Great lunch place, would not recommend it for dinner though

Hey all, I have to say before I begin this review, that I’m kind of biased. I know Carmen and she gives me free cookies and pieces of pizza every time I walk in there. So take that for what it is, and then read on.
I highly recommend the pizza. I mean, I think it’s really good. I think it’s better than Ernesto’s on Salem too. Hard to beat Galleria Umberto though… but that place is only open for like an hour every day. So try out the pizza. I mean, just try it. You’ll like it. It’s greasy and has good meat, just like a good pizza should.
Ok, now let’s talk sandwiches. I’ve eaten the meatball sandwich twice and it’s tasty. It’s the same meatballs you get at Carmen and those are damn good meatballs. My friend (who is very picky and not partial to bribery) ordered the Cuban the other night and he loved it. I’m not sure how it stacks up against Voelle Noelle’s Cuban but it’s probably comparable.
Now friends, I can’t speak for the salads because I’ve never ordered one.
I hope you all have marvelous days and please take a moment to check out my wolf shirt.
Also, PS, as of my last visit, they only accepted cash.

I really wanted to love this place, I really did. It’s right around the corner from my work, the interior is small and cute and the staff is helpful, friendly and the concept is fantastic. However, my calzone was extremely pricey around $ 15 for a calzone with 4 extras inside Spinach, Mushrooms, Ricotta, Carmelized Onions. This wouldn’t be so bad, I don’t mind paying more for more. However, somehow this restaurant/​café didn’t rock my world like I wanted it to.
Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad at all – tasty, but not nearly as delicious as I expected it to be for the price. It was a large calzone though, I will say that, and I ended up saving most of it for later. For such a small establishment, I must applaud the manager (who also owns Carmen) for introducing another lunch spot to the North End, there aren’t very many Take Out style restaurants, so a new one is always appreciated.
The menu is very extensive with several sandwiches that, despite this one mediocre experience, I will be sure to explore. Since the restaurant is so new, I know sometimes it takes awhile for it really to start humming.
They serve wine, beer, pasta, pizza, sandwiches, and have about 6 tables inside. My calzone took about 15 minutes to prepare so if you do go there and have a short lunch break, might be a good idea to order ahead and get take out.
Regardless of my experience, I will go back and try something else to see if I just made a bad ordering decision – maybe this shop much better at sandwiches – and I just don’t know it yet.
EDIT: Sat in for lunch with a coworker and had the COWBOY aka «Chicken Sandwich»
Okay, this was a much much better choice – not only was the thing gigantic but it was super tasty, fresh and so gigantic I didn’t even finish the whole thing. Might be a good idea to come in during lunch and split half with a friend. The pasta salad that also came with it while dining in was super tasty and my meal came MUCH MUCH faster than when I had the Calzone! Bonus. I knocked this up to four stars for that reason not to mention the delicious cookie we received for free for eating in that day.
EDIT: Now, I love this place! I’ve tried the Big Cheese, Lucky 33 & the Cowboy and god – so delicious. I still think the Calzone sucks, but this is one of my favorite lunch time spots. I love the pasta salad that comes with the sandwiches, too.
EDIT: The best sandwich is the Nantucket. Go for it. It’s New England deliciousness.