Area Four

It's the dough. And for those of us who just want dough, get the garlic knots. You can supreme-ize these (sitting in the sauce with cheese all over), but I love being able to just use my hands to rip through the crisp, thin outer crust, and get a hold of the soft and doughy, yet not undercooked nor greasy, warm, and soft, and airy, and delicious dough that's been perfected by yeast and rising time and the heat of a wood-fired oven.

Put some toppings on this dough and you have pizza. I think I prefer the knots, but their pizza concoctions aren't too shabby, either.

Great to-go place for pizza! We especially love the prosciutto americano. I always get the Hawaiian too, but the prosciutto americano still tops it. It's hands-down the best pizza dough I've ever had.

This is conveniently located near the MIT campus so it's a perfect place to stop in for lunch or after a long day of studying/working. The space is large and accommodating for groups of all sizes.

We just wish we lived closer, we would come all the time! For now, it's a definite must-stop whenever we happen to be nearby.

Four is the right number of stars for this place - but not just because it's called A4. Though that certainly helps.

It's an interesting thing ... a combined coffee and pizza shop. I don't usually think of the two things together. And sure enough ... I didn't actually HAVE both coffee and pizza. In fact, I had neither. But as a place to stop in for lunch, it's not half bad!

The shape of the restaurant is a bit unusual with the coffee shop occupying one space and the "restaurant" occupying the other. They didn't seem to have much of a handle on how to seat us in the restaurant area or any idea how long it might take - but did offer seating at the high tops across from the bar. There were only two ... we took one of them.

Now ... you have to understand ... I try to avoid pizza. Because when pizza shows up, it doesn't last long and it's hard to face what I've done. So I scoured the menu for something else and was pleased to find there were a bunch of other options. Wings, salads, soup, brunch "messes." Great choices. I ended up getting a "Warm Fall Grain Bowl."

According to the menu it involves organic toasted spelt. I don't know what that is, but kinda like farro maybe? Honestly I was taken in by the mushrooms and bok choy, though the red onion and butternut squash were a nice add too. The menu said "raddichio" but it definitely just had radish in there... cut in half. Turns out they were pretty good - and I don't even like radish. Likewise the menu claimed cilantro but the overwhelming herb was dill. Now ... does any of this matter? Not really. It was REALLY GOOD.

The place was clean, the staff was friendly, the food came quickly and was piping hot. If you're looking for a place to stop in for a good lunch, I don't think anyone will leave disappointed.

A friend and I dropped by for a late brunch on a Saturday. There wasn't a line to get a table, which is amazing, and we ordered a drink and brunch item each. I got the hot London Fog and their Breakfast Sandwich with the maple sausage. I really appreciated the cup sleeve they provided with my hot drink, it made it much easier to pick up the glass without burning my hands. The London fog tasted very classic.

I wasn't a fan of their breakfast sandwich. We joked that it looked like fake food from how clean it was and the flavor was almost as bland as it looked. I think the sandwich would benefit from having a more flavorful sauce or even a different type of cheese to add some more dimension. For something that costs $10, I would not recommend trying it. My friend ordered their matcha latte and veggie mess and rated those a 3/5.

The service at Area Four was great, no complaints there. Although we didn't have the best experience with the stuff we ordered, we did not have a chance to try their pizza which we saw many people ordering and looked really good. I would definitely like to come back to try their specialty someday.

Right in the heart of MIT, this pizza place was great! They have a coffee shop in the front and then a sit down restaurant in the main space. Great ambiance and energy. They asked if we had a reservation (which we did not) but they were able to seat us rather quickly. Food came out fast, hot and delicious. We really enjoyed this place and will return next time we're in town.

We ordered the Belgian waffles, the maple bacon pizza (large), and the butternut squash pizza (large) and still had a few slices of pizza left for our party of four.

The apples on the squash pizza created quite an autumnal flavor profile that wasn't overpowering. Overall would recommend this place and I definitely will be back!

I think now I understand why people stay away from anchovies. This was my first time eating anchovies on pizza through the white anchovy pizza. I was able to finish it all. It wasn't bad. I will say I like the crust, tomato sauce was a little lacking, but the chili flakes cheese and parsley did the trick. I'd love to come here again for the soppresata pizza. Kind service.

Went there for a quick dinner and the ambiance is simple and sweet. The food was great. We tried the winter squash pizza and the boo choy. The service was quick.

Was hoping for some good pizza because I hear people talk about it often. Walked in on a Friday evening with no reservations and they had a "bar" table available or a communal table. We chose the the bar table.

The bar tender came by quickly to give us menu and actually took our order quickly. After that, we didn't hear from her at all nor did any other waitress/waiter come by to check on us. We had to flag someone random working to give us a check. So no service at all.

Now onto the pizza... SUPER watery. Like extremely that it muted allll the flavors. Terrible if I had to describe it. No flavor, super watery, and dough tasted undercooked tbh. Not a fan

I used to love this pizza restaurant and would come here during frequent trips to Boston. However, the most recent visit left my group disappointed at the change in quality of the pizza. The dough was wet and soggy, making it difficult to pick up a slice without it falling apart.

As someone who used to seek out this place for the crisp yet light and chewy pizza crust, it was quite a letdown to see this has changed. It seemed undercooked in the middle and wet at the bottom. When the concerns were brought up to staff, they said this is how the pizza is supposed to be now.

Overall, the decline in quality is disappointing and I would no longer recommend it to others based on the recent experience. Reading my past review made me nostalgic for the perfect bite this place used to provide. I definitely hope this place can revert back to the previous recipes.

Review for area four cafe: Perfectly flaky and delicious croissants and pastries!

- highly recommend any of the savory ones including ham and cheese, spinach and cheese, and banana peppers and cheese

- chocolate or almond croissants are also executed well

The English muffin sandwiches include house made bread (?) and fluffy egg with additional add ons. The sticky buns with pecans are also wonderful and not too sweet. Everything is affordable and fresh, perfect for a snack or meal.