At Exotic Flowers in Boston, we often work on our feet. Lunch is usually eaten at a work station and the end result is often fast food. Unfortunately, you might say we are fast food critics. On our Boston flower design benches, you might find a beef lo mein from Seven Star Street Bistro, or a Chipotle Burrito. Pizza has become a staple for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Some are good. Some are great. Here are our five favorites.
- In West Roxbury, Tony's Pizza is an institution. Elio has been hand making one of the best Chicken Parmigiana subs and some of the tastiest area pizza for more than twenty years.
- Also in West Roxbury is Comella's; Comella's is a family owned chain which is know for its Italian Mess (a delight of mixed pastas, sauce and cheese) but its pizza $5 large cheese pizzas keep me as regular. This is the best $5 you can spend in Boston.
- A traditional favorite remains local icon Papa Gino's. For chain pizza, Papa Gino's nails it with its rustic pizza. This thin stretched crust cut into mini squares and odd shapes is as close to authentic as a chain can get.
Batting it out for the top two spots are everyone's favorite pizzerias. Both institutions have even expanded with huge pizzerias during the recession.
Pizzeria Regina and Santarpio's are everyone's favorites. But keep in mind, Pizzeria Reginas is good in any of its location, but the north end location remains the best of the chain. From its large slices oozing with cheese on a fluffy crust, Pizzeria Regina never disappaoints but still our #1 pizzeria remains Santarpio's in East Boston.
Santarpio's Pizza remains the best there is. No one comes close and it never disappoints. I continue to ask why no one can replicate this pizza.
If you have been to Exotic Flowers in Boston on Mother's Day or Valentine's Day, you have seen the action, the crowds and only half the fun. Exotic Flowers occupies a corner lot at American Legion Highway and Canterbury Street in Roslindale. Our flower shop has been in this location for over seventy five years. 
As you travel deeper into our store, you will see a bank of cubicles where telephone sales are completed. We like action and enjoy the buzz and energy that ringing telephones create in a store. Sorry, there is no tranquility here. We are more akin to a busy restaurant. Behind our telecommunications sales outpost is our open floral design area. Clients are welcome to watch Boston's Premier Florists in action; kind of like an open kitchen. On the opposite side of floral design is a ten door floral display cooler loaded with more than forty floral arrangements, dozens of seasonal bouquets and more than 10,000 roses.
As you make a loop around the rear of the greenhouses, you will land in the middle of our garden center. In December, you will be surrounded by evergreen wreaths, kissing balls and Christmas trees. During the spring and summer, more than three hundred hanging baskets are overhead. You will also notice two houses in the property. People do live in both houses. What could be better than living in a gated garden paradise ?
Unfortunately, some other florists in Boston do not see the importance of flower care. These dead roses to my left are only 4 days old. The same roses at Exotic Flowers in Boston flourish for seven days.
As a graduate of Boston College(A&S '93) I would like to welcome the incoming class of 2015 to Boston College.
