We were looking for a spot to eat on Newbury St. after a day of walking and shopping. We decided on Croma, which has gotten a few positive mentions on the Boston Chowhound board. Croma is a sort of fairly hipster Newbury-style place the puts out Neopolitan style pizzas. The menu boasts pizzas with a huge variety of different and interesting toppings, from standards like a margherita to odd things such as a peking duck pizza and a tandoori chicken pizza. The place appears small and bustling around the upstairs entrance, which houses a bar, some high top tables, and a slightly bigger dining area in the back. Going downstairs reveals a very large dining room that has a bit more space than the top level. The crowd appears young and hip - we saw a few other tables of college students, and a lot of 20-somethings.
Croma tomato and basil soup, served in a bread bowl - $4.95
They had the Croma emblem on the menu next to this soup, which I guess means it's a specialty. I thought the soup was alright, but the soup to bread ratio was off. They didn't hollow out the bread bowl enough, which meant there wasn't much soup to actually drink. I basically used all the soup to eat the bread, and afterwards there was still extra bread left over. I'm not sure how intentional this is - the soup is indeed extremely thick, so maybe that's what they're going for. This doesn't hold a candle to the Jeanty tomato soup, but I guess that's an unfair comparison at under $5.
parma - prosciutto di parma, marinated olives, shaved parmesan, mozzarella, tomato sauce, arugula - $12.25
The pizza was good. Not excellent, but still very satisfying and tasty. The crust is thin, but not super thin - it didn't crack the way some thin crust pizzas do, and it had a nice chewiness to it inside. The toppings were all nice, and I'm glad to say they added the prosciutto and arugula after baking, something that apparently not everyone does. My pizza was maybe just a tad heavy on the tomato sauce, but nothing to complain too much about (maybe it was because I just had tomato soup). It was also pretty decent-sized, and a good deal at $12.
I will likely go back to Croma - it's a nice comfortable spot to grab a bite, and is a great value considering its location. I am pretty interested in trying the tandoor chicken...