December 31, 2017

Try Fried Clams in Watertown at Celebrity Pizza, Inc.

Local Stories

RestaurantInterviews

Today we’d like to introduce you to Watertown’s Celebrity Pizza, Inc..

So let’s start at the beginning – how’d you get into the restaurant business?
As brother-in-laws with large Italian families, we share the sentiment that food is the one thing that brings everyone together. It’s the center of Italian culture. Out of this sentiment, Celebrity Pizza was born.

Growing up in our families was a little different than most – our parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins, uncles etc. (dozens of people!) were always around – so our families were always cooking for an army. We were both taught that cooking for others was a common Italian way of showing someone that you cared – that they were part of the family. Not only this, but both of us have relatives that own restaurants, so we grew up around this type of business. We started Celebrity’s because we had the family support and knowledge for this type of business, and we had a couple of great ideas.

Since 1986 when Celebrity Pizza first opened, it’s been a family affair. Our wives and our children have worked in the restaurant (two of our children still do!) and there is never a dull moment. We love what we do and we do it for our family.

What have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced over the years?
In the simplest of terms, it was not easy. I wish we could calculate the amount of hours we’ve put into running this business over the last 31 years! You would be astounded 🙂

Owning and operating a restaurant comes with a list of challenges. The biggest challenge is the long hours, but aside from that there are a few general business challenges we’ve had to overcome.

1) The long hours is something we’ve been able to manage because there are two of us. We are family and we are there for each other when we need to be, hours-wise.

2) Over 31 years, a lot has changed. The challenge is keeping the business going while adapting to the changing times and continuing to remain affordable. We’ve made countless changes to the menu and to our processes so that our customers stay happy.

3) With the same amount of restaurant space as 31 years ago, we’ve had to keep up with the growing demand and population. With more customers coming in, we’ve had to invest in new technology (POS machines, additional ice cream machines and freezers) so that we can keep lines short and continue to grow with our customer base.

Overall, everything has been worth it. We’ve accepted every challenge head on and I think it helps that we are a family and we’re always there for each other.

What stands out about Celebrity Pizza, Inc.?
We’re the only restaurant in the area that sells the variety of food that we do. We’ve added items over the years because of requests from our customers, and a couple of our items have stuck with us for countless years because of their popularity.

We’re well-known for our fried seafood, long list of ice cream flavors, and our pizza (specifically our family-secret Zazza pizza recipe!). Our top-of-the-line seafood is fried in our own homemade, old-fashioned-style light batter – not heavy or greasy at all (and has won awards with the Boston-A-list for best fried seafood!). We carry roughly 60 flavors of ice cream (hard and soft-serve combined) so there truly is something for everyone (the most unique is our Javaberry soft-serve!). Not only that, but we have the hard-to-find hard-dip tops in 3 different flavors! Lastly, our Zazza pizza is a family recipe (Maurizio’s side of the family) and it’s a fan favorite.

Most Popular Items

Fried Clams

Fried in our own homemade, old-fashioned-style light batter, our Ipswich clams are award-winning favorites for our customers.
Javaberry Ice Cream

Customers travel from all over to get their seasonal taste of our Javaberry soft-serve. Coffee soft-serve mixed with raspberry sherbet is a popular combination and a summertime favorite!

Zazza Pizza

Our own family recipe, the Zazza is made with fresh basil, tomato, garlic and mozzarella.

Onion Rings

Our homemade, hand-sliced onion rings are lightly battered and fried for an old-fashioned take on today’s favorite side.Parking Advice:
We have a parking lot out front, with additional on-street parking available.