Tutto Italiano - Hyde Park

Tweet

Those who obsessively peruse the interwebs for “the best italian sub in Boston” will consistently find people claiming Tutto Italiano in Hyde Park (not Wellesley, the black hole of teens driving $100k cars) has the best in town. The unassuming strip mall façade gives way to an interior reminiscent of the Vatican gift shop with Tom Menino as the pope. Claiming it his favorite Italian market, Pope Menino once visited the shop and cooked fish with the owner and PBS legend Mary Ann Esposito. The store is filled with Italian goods like bagno schiuma for cats like Rico Marinara who need their bath foam imported from the motherland and trinkets like bella vita key chains for girls who will never forget Firenze ’07*xo*Ciao Bellas. At the back of the store, you will find an impressive deli counter running the length of the back wall and multiple photos of our always enunciating former mayor.  With bountiful bread options (Panino sub roll/Sliced bread ($8); Treccia, a crusty braided and seeded roll($8.50 small, $10.50 large); French roll($17 ); Bastone, a large, Italian loaf ($22)) coupled with an array of imported meats and cheeses, our expectations were undeniably high.

The lovely staff layered the freshly sliced meat and cheese on my bread of choice, the treccia roll, I grabbed a limonata and we were off to the only seating options out at a couple of tree covered picnic tables.  

First of all, I wasn't surprised that there was lettuce on the sandwich as much as the amount and the way it was cut.  The lettuce and oil/vinegar/oregano combo can get a lackluster sandwich popping real quick, but in this case the amount of lettuce and onion overwhelmed not only the vinegar and spices, but also the minimal meat and cheese.  This place clearly cares a ton about their bread and it's delicious, but for the sake of your mouth get a panino and leave the extremely crusty treccia to the goats.  For your health.  Banana pepper rings are a cop out, plain and simple.  Give me a pickled cherry pepper mix, maybe a relish, or give me death, or kale, or suicide.  Overall a solid sub, but one that suffers from an odd ratio of ingredients.
-7.0/10