Pizza Madre — Restaurant in Sydney

This feedback was emailed to the restaurant and they chose not to reply to me. The service left a horrible taste in my mouth. The pizzas and food were absolutely delicious and couldn’t fault anything. Our booking for 6 people at 7:45 was delayed as we waited outside we were told that the previous table weren’t leaving and we had to wait a few minutes until they did. We were told this 3 times and waited around 10 minutes before we could go in and be seated. We ordered one of every pizza. As a group, we felt bombarded when all 8 pizzas got delivered to our table within 10 minutes of ordering. It is great that we weren’t waiting long for our food but to be hit with all that pizza in one go on such small tables was very overwhelming and we weren’t even told which pizza was which. We were constantly offered to put our left over pizzas in take away boxes even though it was very obvious that members of the group were still picking here and there and the remaining pizzas. Making us feel like they wanted us out. About 30 minutes before our seating was due to end someone from our table asked if they made dessert pizzas and we were told no. Due to this, the waitress was very well aware we were interested in dessert. 20 minutes before our seating was due to end we asked for a dessert menu and was told no as our seating was coming to an end and there would be no time and the bill was placed on the table. This made me quite angry. Firstly if this was the case when we asked for a dessert pizza the waitress should have replied with no we don’t have those but I can bring you the dessert menu as you will need to order soon as we will need your table. Secondly, as we were seat 10 minutes late, technically we were only 60 minutes in to our 90 minute seating. Why was our booking getting cut short yet the booking before and after us were getting their bookings as promised. After debating with our waitress as to why we should be allowed to order dessert - even though neither dessert menus on the menu had to be cooked and could have just been brought out straight away instead of wasting time having that conversation - we got our desserts and were met with an updated bill. We felt we had to inhale our desserts and coffee and were rushed out the door. Just because we couldn’t believe what had just happened before our eyes were continued to talk outside the restaurant and to be honest we were in disbelief about the shocking service and hospitality we received. I’m not sure if one of the ladies who works there heard us but after about 10 minutes she came to us and gave us a bottle of wine ‘on the house’ as a sorry. I feel like it was too little too late. Not many people would have stayed outside to talk and therefore they wouldn’t have even normally had that opportunity to give that wine. As good as that pizza was, I’m sorry but I won’t be going back. I’m still in...

Oozing corner store charm, Pizza Madre adds a deep red glow to an otherwise industrial corner of Marrickville. Even on a night plagued by torrential downpours, it’s rammed, with a queue waiting for an inside table to escape the overflowing storm-water drains that threaten to spill over onto the pavement. Inside you’ll find two simply furnished rooms packed with people, with the front room dominated by a large round pizza oven. We pull up on a high marble table with stools on two sides, and a wooden window seat on the other.

Both the menu and the drinks list are single page affairs. Catching up with a mate, we’re in the mood to wine, so kick off with the Express Winemakers Chenin Blanc ($15/glass) a minimal intervention wine from the Great Southern in Western Australia. With lime, chalkiness and an interesting funky rumble, it’s easy to drink with or without waiting for your pizza. Looking more like borscht than pinot noir, the unfiltered Good Intentions Wine Co. Noir Dee Toot Dah ($16/glass) is actually more fun than it first seemed: think sour cherry soup with the tart fruit overlaying something dirty, earthy and rather delicious.

Owners Piero Pignatti Morano and Kim Douglas, who are also behind Two Chaps café that’s located a few blocks away, have kept a little continuity between their businesses by using their sourdough starter (rather than yeast) in the Pizza Madre dough. They’re living a buy-local ethos by using Australian flour (rather than imported Italian 00 flour) in their puffy and blistered Neapolitan-influenced sourdough bases. The bases are soft and chewy, with an earthy, faintly tart, smoky flavour.

The softness makes the sweet’n’smoky Butternut Squash Pizza ($27) with walnuts, purple trevisano radicchio leaves, fior di latte, smoked garlic oil and generous splats of buttermilk ricotta, a knife-and-fork job. I’m impressed with the topping – while not classic Italian, it’s certainly complex and delicious, and leaves me enough unadorned real estate to appreciate the base.

It edges out a Potato Pizza ($26) that teams the expected thinly sliced spuds with fior di latte, English spinach, smoked cheddar and fried capers, then drizzles the lot with vividly green watercress purée. While it’s tasty enough, it does have me reaching for the (slightly disappointing) house-made chilli oil to inject some heat. What impressed me most about Pizza Madre is the effort they’ve gone to in creating flavoursome bases with interesting, high quality toppings to ensure you won't miss...

A disappointing/slightly baffling service experience.

I was really looking forward to this meal. I am definitely trying to move to a more vegetarian diet and always keen to try out new places. I have been to the sister restaurant evening at Two Chaps a couple of times now and been blown away by the food and ambience. I have had the set menu before and felt we got a great amount of food with three delicious courses and catering easily for all dietary requirements.

So, I was surprised last night when we felt a little underwhelmed by the amount of food served. It is a mandatory set menu for groups over 6 (we were 7, and the contents of the set menu aren’t actually specified at time of booking). After only a couple of servings of nuts and olives, 5 pizzas and one salad (on the verge of being stretched between us) were steadily brought out. With the serving seemingly finished, we were all a little surprised that $40pp there was no dessert included, despite the price per head seeming reasonable prior to arrival. This prompted us to do a quick run of the maths and worked that ordering separate dishes would have come to less than $30pp. Seems like a bit of a steep mark-up.

I can count on one hand the number of times I have complained about a meal (or felt the need to leave a Google review). I can’t say the staff handled our concerns particularly well. We would have been happy with a couple of desserts but this was declined and told another pizza was in the oven and that was that. The demeanour of the staff and service changed once we made our feelings known and the mood felt a bit tense. We would have certainly stayed and ordered another bottle of wine or two were it not for this awkward encounter.

To Pizza Madre’s credit a while later some desserts were kindly given to us on the house which arrived somewhat randomly. It seemed like things were calm again and the desserts were delicious. We enjoyed the rest of our meal.

But then the odd part was when the bill came. We were given a bill without service charge which seemed appropriate given the above that we would decide how much we wanted to tip. But then a waitress came back over with another bill informing us the service charge had just been missed off and produced another bill. So more than undoing the desserts.

Sadly this means I won’t be heading back ever again nor will I support Two Chaps. Of course, I’m very much likely to suggest my friends...