Mystic, CT is most widely known for their historic seaport, and the Mystic Aquarium. Both of those places are field trip staples for kids growing up in New England, but not as many people have been to Mystic Pizza.
Mystic Pizza has been around since 1983 and as fate would have it, the screenwriter Amy Holden Jones lived in Mystic for a summer and was inspired to write a coming-of-age female centered movie based around three girls who work at the pizza shop. Mystic Pizza is a classic movie, which everyone should go stream immediately on Amazon Prime.
I grew up in Connecticut eating plenty of Mystic Pizza Frozen Pizzas, which I’m honestly not a huge fan of, but up until now haven’t ever had the real thing.
When we arrived at 1:30pm on a Sunday to meet my dad and step-mom for a belated birthday meal, Mystic Pizza was pretty crowded but not to the extent that it was uncomfortable. The hostess quoted a 25-30 min for a table for 4, so we snagged some seats near the bar, and the wait ended up only being 20 minutes. Not bad at all.
The interior is very cozy and the walls are filled with memorabilia. We got a great little booth next to a window with a quaint view of Mystic, as well as the TV replaying Mystic Pizza (seemingly on an endless loop.)
Okay, now for the good stuff. Mystic Pizza isn’t anything without the pizza! We ordered Mystic’s large pepperoni pizza and a small Mediterranean pizza. I didn’t partake in the latter pizza, but everyone else liked it.
Mystic Pizza’s pepperoni pizza was great. The pepperoni were crisp, the cheese had the same caramelization that Greek places do best, and the crust was light and chewy.
Yum! The whole meal was so reasonably priced, it left money leftover to buy “A Slice of Heaven” t-shirts on our way out. If you love pizza and/or the movie that made Julia Roberts a star, Mystic Pizza is definitely worth a visit!
Our next stop was The Book Barn, which I absolutely LOVED going to growing up. I have always loved reading and this is a place is like the TJ Maxx of used book stores, except kind of kooky and quaint.
The Book Barn is like an actual small farm, with multiple buildings on the property holding an insane array of books. The books are grouped by category, like “fiction”, “horror”, “historical”, ect; and the cost depends mostly on the cover type. Paperbacks cost between $3-$4, hardcovers were between $6-$7, and there was an entire section full of $1 bargain books and movies.
All in all, my fiance & I spent $32. Here’s what we got, what we paid, and what we would have paid on Amazon today, August 24th.
Our total savings at The Book Barn vs. today’s Amazon prices was $84.44. What a steal, right?
While I love the Book Barn mostly because it’s such a great way to get a bargain on books, they also have rare books, like a first edition we saw of my favorite Stephen King novel, antique books, and lots of other quirky collectibles.
Oh, and I hope you’re an animal lover – the Book Barn is dog friendly, there are so many cats living there that they have a “who’s who” brochure with their names and pictures, and there are even a pair of friendly goats.
Eating lunch at Mystic Pizza followed by exploring the Book Barn was a great, relatively low-cost way to spend a day trip to Connecticut. It’s an easy 1.5-2 hour drive from the Boston area, and the route offers lots of fun opportunities for stops; from the CT casinos to all of the great beaches in Rhode Island, or grabbing cheap tickets to a Paw Sox game, you can really make a great day out of this little corner of New England.
Mystic Pizza’s Website: www.mysticpizza.com
The Book Barn’s Website: https://www.bookbarnniantic.com
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