Perri's, Norton St.

Clearing out some backlog:  in late winter I stopped at Perri's on Norton Street for a slice. I never got around to posting a review until now, but I took pretty good notes, so here it is, better late than never.
Perri's shares a building with Mama Rosa Italian Restaurant, which I haven't been to in ages, although as I recall, the food there was pretty decent. I'm not sure what the connection is between Mama Rosa and Perri's beyond the fact that they have the same address, but physically the two are completely separate and occupy different halves of the building.
I got a slice around lunchtime. Unlike the Lyell Ave. location, which has a number of different slices available, ready to go, here there was simply a sliced cheese pie, and toppings were added before the slice went into the oven for rewarming. I was the only customer there, which also differed from my stop at the Lyell Ave. Perri's, where they seem to get a steady lunchtime crowd.
This was a big slice, with a browned, screen baked, slightly oily underside. The thin-to-medium crust was none too bready, and didn't have much going on in terms of texture.
The sauce, which had dried out somewhat, had a slightly sweet flavor. The cheese was a bit browned and congealed, and the cup 'n' char pepperoni, which was not done enough to char or get crisp, really didn't stick to the cheese at all. The edge of the slice, which was formed into a fairly thin lip, had some sort of black powdery substance that I couldn't identify. Oven soot seems unlikely, since that would tend to appear on the bottom of the pizza, not the edge, so it may have been some sort of spice that blackened in the oven. It didn't seem to have any particular flavor, though.
Despite my less than rave review of the Lyell Ave. Perri's, I think they make OK pizza. I've had good pizza there before I started the blog, and I mean to go back sometime to see if I just caught them on an off day. And I'd certainly take their slices over the Norton St. Perri's. The basic formula is the same - big, thin slice - but if my visit here was any indication, this is not a place to go for a fresh slice. The overall atmosphere was more bare bones - depressing, even - than at Lyell. For a whole (i.e., freshly made) pizza, this might be a fine place to go, but not for slices. It wasn't awful, just stale, and I'll give it a C-.
Perri's Pizza, 1733 Norton St., 266-0030
Daily 10 a.m. - 10 p.m.