Does Arlington Have Too Many Pizza Restaurants?

Photo Credit: Joe Lipovich (Patch Staff)

ARLINGTON, MA—When Patch shared a story from Boston Restaurant Talk indicating yet another Pizza restaurant would be opening in town, many residents were visibly upset about another Pizza restaurant in town.

Here were some of the comments the story received from Patch readers:

• if you are planning to open a restaurant in Arlington, wouldn't you consider what would give you a competitive advantage? We already have like 20 terrible, boring pizza/sub shops all with the same menu. We don't need anymore. We need good quality, creative food. La Victoria does so well for a reason.
• And there is another pizza place slated to go into the place emptied by Comella's... Yep, we should change the name of the Town to Pizza-ville
• ANOTHER pizza place in Arlington? Please tell me this is a joke right? Who approves these businesses opening up here. We DO NOT need another bank, pizza joint or nail salon in this town. We need a Sofra, a High Rise Bakery, and a Fromaggio. How about a Highland Kitchen? Something fun and funky that brings other people to arlington besides Arlington residents. Please oh please. Someone anyone...please start courting serious businesses that will bring a hip factor to our town.

The comments got us thinking, are there too many pizza restaurants in Arlington?

According to data from Dun & Bradstreet compiled by FindTheHome.com, Arlington has 18 pizza restaurants in town. The data indicates that pizza restaurants represent 40 percent of the total number of restaurants in town.

According to the most recent population estimates from the U.S. Census, there is one pizza restaurant for every 2,470 residents in Arlington. However, Arlington actually has less restaurants overall per capita than Middlesex County, Massachusetts and the entire country on average.

These figures were collected in October of 2015, not accounting for the potential new restaurant at the Nicola's location.

While it is unclear whether or not there can ever be too much pizza for certain, reports of two new pizzerias have surfaced within the past month. With that in mind, it is unclear whether pizza's reign over Arlington will let up any time soon.