A storefront on Boylston Street that has cycled through a beloved half-century-old pizzeria, an abandoned marijuana dispensary plan, and a short-lived pizzeria revival is getting a new tenant: Achilito's Taqueria, the fast-casual Mexican chain, is set to open its newest Boston-area location at 1114 Boylston Street, right next to Berklee College of Music.
Word of the move first surfaced in August after signage went up outside the building, according to Boston Restaurant Talk. The site sits at the edge of the Back Bay and Fenway neighborhoods, a stretch of Boylston Street with heavy foot traffic thanks to Berklee students and easy access via the MBTA Route 55 bus and the Copley Square Green Line stop, according to Dispensary Genie. Per a message from Adam Castiglioni cited by NBC Boston, Achilito's is planning to occupy the exact footprint once held by Little Steve's Pizzeria.
A Storefront With a Rough Recent History
The original Little Steve's Pizzeria had been a neighborhood fixture at that address since 1968, closing only a few years ago after more than five decades in business, per NBC Boston. The pizzeria shut down when property owners moved to lease the space to a recreational cannabis venture, according to Universal Hub's account of the site's history, cited in the same NBC Boston report.
That dispensary, proposed by Cypress Tree Management Inc. under the name Redi, secured host community agreements and municipal zoning approvals in 2020 and 2021, but the project was ultimately abandoned and the pot shop never opened, according to city records reviewed by the same outlet. The storefront sat in limbo for years before food service returned to the block.
Pizza's Brief, Ill-Fated Comeback
In January 2025, the Boston Licensing Board approved a Common Victualler License for Pizza Box LLC, managed by restaurateur Koushik Babu Koganti, to revive Little Steve's Pizzeria at the address with hours running until 2 a.m. on weekdays and 2:30 a.m. on weekends — a scaled-back version of the 3 a.m. closing time originally requested. Koganti is the founder and CEO of Flying Lion Hospitality Group, which also runs Boston Halal, Madras Dosa Company, and Don't Tell Aunty around Greater Boston, according to background reported by WhatNow.
The revived pizzeria occupied a 4,723-square-foot space with 43 indoor seats and a seasonal 16-seat patio, but it closed for good in early 2026 after operating for roughly nine months. Little Steve's second act had different ownership from the original, decades-old restaurant, according to NBC Boston, and its quick collapse suggests that proximity to Berklee's student body isn't a guaranteed recipe for staying power on this particular block.
From Jamaica Plain Taqueria to a Growing Regional Chain
Achilito's Taqueria got its start in October 2018 at 38 Hyde Park Avenue in Jamaica Plain's Forest Hills neighborhood, opening with a Frida Kahlo mural on the wall and a menu built around tacos, burritos, and lime chicken bowls — a launch Hoodline covered at the time. Since then the chain has expanded to Harvard Square in Cambridge and the Patriot Place complex in Foxborough, according to Boston Restaurant Talk's tracking of the brand's regional growth.
The Boylston Street location will likely offer the chain's typical menu of tacos, burritos, quesadillas, flautas, enchiladas, and tostadas, per NBC Boston's report, with more details expected on the company's website, achilitos.com. Boston Restaurant Talk's reporting on the lease notes that Achilito's has systematically targeted high-foot-traffic student, transit, and entertainment hubs as it grows, a pattern that fits a spot wedged between Berklee's campus and the live-music venue and restaurant Bebop next door.
No opening date, hours, or details on how Achilito's plans to fill the roughly 4,700-square-foot, multi-level space have been announced yet. Whether the chain will pursue late-night hours similar to its pizzeria predecessors also remains an open question for now.
