Mystic Pizza: Mystic, Connecticut

Mystic Pizza is actually a real restaurant. “A real restaurant?” you say. Why would you ever doubt that?

Because a late ’80s chic-flic movie featuring Julia Roberts was named after this restaurant – Mystic Pizza. (Inspired, I should say, because it wasn’t actually filmed at the Mystic Pizza restaurant). But as time marches further and further on, fewer people are even going to care about this movie. And that makes me sad!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m totally drawn to real-life filming locations from ’80s and ’90s movies and TV shows — even if I didn’t care for the movie or TV show. The Mystic Pizza movie? I love it. I saw it once as a pre-teen back in the day, and now it floats between Netflix and Amazon Prime, so you should be able to watch it on one of the streaming services (or buy it here). Due to a lack of space, the movie wasn’t actually filmed inside this restaurant, but when we were in the area, we wanted to check it out anyway.

Mystic Pizza – Details

Location

The real Mystic Pizza restaurant is located at:

55 West Main St
Mystic, Connecticut.

Parking is shit-tastic. You can park on the street, but good luck finding a spot. We visited midweek in early April and still had difficulties finding a spot.

Ambiance

You’ll get your fill of the Mystic Pizza movie here, because they truly lean into it. You can buy all kinds of souvenirs (including t-shirts that say, “A little slice of heaven” just like the characters wore in the movie and the Mystic Pizza movie plays on a loop in the dining area. The restaurant is decorated with tons of movie memorabilia and the walls are covered in Julia Roberts pics.

They have two sections – a grab-and-go/by the slice “bar” area and the traditional dining room. We ate at the bar area because we each just wanted a slice.

Food

We each ordered a slizzle of pepperoni pizzle. The slices were big and a bit greasy; I had to use a napkin to sop up all the grease.

The pizza wasn’t that great. It was edible, sure, but so is pickled cow tongue, and you sure as hell won’t catch me eating that.

Ok, it wasn’t that bad, but it wasn’t worth the price – this was equivalent to a slice of that Hot Stuff pizza that spins around inside of a glass cage at a gas station. I really expected more — if you’ve watched the movie, you’ll remember that the reason Mystic Pizza was so good is because of its Portuguese influence. However, in real life, there’s none of that. This is American gas station quality pizza.

Now, I get that being the filming location for a major motion picture is a big deal, especially in a small town, but I’m sitting here thinking, ‘How exactly is riding on the coattails of a mediocre ’80s film a viable business model, long term?’ Because eventually, people aren’t going to give a rat’s ass about the Mystic Pizza movie. Frankly, we’re into the ’20s decade, putting this a good 30+-some years past when Mystic Pizza first hit theaters — I’m honestly surprised anyone even cares anymore, outside of wacko nutjobs like myself who waste precious vacation time seeking out venues like this. Mystic Pizza wasn’t even that huge of a hit — it’s no Pretty Woman — it’s a 30+ year old, outdated niche chick flick. Hell, my sister didn’t even know about this movie.

In other words, I think they need to up their pizza game. Counting on tourists flocking to this place simply because it was in an old Julia Roberts movie probably won’t be good enough incentive for future generations, because, they’re not going to care. They’d be coming here to eat pizza, not wax nostalgia about watching this movie on VHS with their 5th grade BFF.

So should you come here? Well, despite my harsh review, I still think you should, if you’re a fan of the movie. It’s one of those things you can say you’ve been there (and ate the pizza to prove it) and I think that’s worth the price of a “slice of heaven”, as they call it. And, maybe ordering a full pizza pie, you might have a better experience – because I’ll admit that sometimes when you buy pizza ‘by-the-slice’ at pizza parlors, it doesn’t always taste the same. You’re at the mercy of heat lamps and that can affect taste — especially during the off-season when they don’t see as many customers.

If you’re really into the Mystic Pizza movie and want to see other real life filming locations in the area, check out this post here.

The Real Mystic Pizza Restaurant – Final Thoughts

Pros

They go all-in on the movie theme
Great gift shop

Cons

The by-the-slice pizza was very greasy
Expensive
Movie wasn’t really filmed here