Boston’s will knock your socks off

Although it’s only been open for two weeks, Mill Creek’s Boston’s — The Gourmet Pizza serves up a robust mix of sandwiches, salads and, of course, plenty of East Coast-style pies. The restaurant’s family-friendly environment balances well with its sports bar decor and excellent fare.

While Boston’s is part of a West Coast chain, the Washington locations are owned and operated by one family, the Haffners. Owner Ronald Haffner also oversees another restaurant in Bellingham and plans to open more in the near future.

The restaurant itself is clean and bright and is decorated in a sports motif. Baseball bats serve as the handles to the restrooms and sports memorabilia covers the walls.

Boston’s menu consists of over 100 different dishes, from tavern-style appetizers like nachos, mozzarella sticks and potato skins to traditional entrees like fettucini alfredo, lasagna and chicken marsala. The lunch menu is a couple of bucks cheaper and has specials like personal pizzas and Southwestern chicken quesadillas.

While Boston’s headliner is the pizza (a thin, crispy, almost-burnt crust) a couple of friends and I stopped by and weren’t quite in a pizza mood — it was about 90 degrees outside. So instead, we ordered drinks and perused the menu for other options.

I sampled Boston’s cheese steak sandwich and fries ($8.95). It was delicious — the bread was toasted to perfection and the au jus was salty and tangy. The onions and green peppers were lightly grilled and the accompanying french fries were a good balance of crunchy and chewy.

My companions had salad, one garnished with steak ($10.95), one Caesar. They reported the lettuce to be crisp and the steak tender, but said the dressing seemed a bit watered-down. One of my friends also ordered the chicken quesadillas ($6.95), which she said was pretty good. She also said the guacamole was excellent.

Boston’s — The Gourmet Pizza is a good addition to the Mill Creek Town Center, not only for its food, but also for ability to serve different kinds of people. While we ate out in the dining room, there is also a full bar. Both have easy line-of-sight to six 50-inch plasma televisions, which are constantly tuned to sporting events.

The bar is enclosed in glass on three sides, which makes it seem as if it’s a separate establishment. It doesn’t close until 1 a.m. on Monday through Thursday, and stays open until 2 a.m. on the weekends. One of my friends commented that this could really give a boost to the nightlife of Mill Creek, which he joked is nearly non-existent.