Mamma Mia Pizzeria Jericho — Restaurant in Oxford

Horrible experience with staff. We had a long day walking around and sightseeing so we were ready to sit down and have a nice meal and relax. When we first came in we were welcomed by a lovely professional looking man so we thought we were in for a great experience. We'd read about this place online and wanted to visit it for quite a while. The man who welcomed us took our orders, great so far. We were brought a jug of tap water, typically free, but then also 1 bottle of still water that no one ordered.. I got a pasta, my partner had pizza. I finished my plate and my partner had still 1/3 of his pizza left. While I was calmly drinking my tea after my meal, while partner was still eating and having a chat with me, a young brunette girl approached the table and just started asking us if we were all finished... Clearly not. And she then continued asking if my partner wanted the pizza to go. She didn't ask if we wanted dessert or anything. We felt rushed out of the restaurant, as if we had done something wrong. The first time she came around the table to basically nudge us to leave, we said no, we're not finished. She then came back 15 minutes later to ask the same. At this point we were very annoyed and asked for the bill. She disappeared, came back 10 minutes with the bill and then we waited 20 minutes for her to come back with the card machine so we can pay by card. We also payed a service charge for this "amazing service". For information there were other tables free while we were there. Maybe she was new, maybe she wasn't , it was a very unpleasant experience, we're not coming back and we will caution our friends before visiting, for the sake of other customers I hope she can learn...

Absolutely atrocious service. The entire dinner was a comedy of errors.

A selection of things that went wrong:

1. There was a dead mosquito underneath one of our pizzas

2. They got one of our pizza orders wrong

3. There was a bit of limp clingfilm hanging on the edge of the tiramisu.

4. Two coffees were sent back because they were cold. They were simply microwaved rather than re-made!!

5. Affogato was more of a soup by the time it came to the table

6. One waiter poured the prosecco with such little care and attention that it went all over the table.

7. When we received our bill, our party of 7 were given only 4 complimentary mints. Not a huge deal but it's symbolic of the utter lack of care and attention from the staff.

8. As we were walking out the door, our waitress ran after us claiming we had underpaid. She charmlessly held up the card machine to us with the remaining balance. We knew we had paid in full and discovered that she had just failed to enter the receipts into her till correctly. It was extremely awkward having to check this for her and deal with the uncomfortable situation.

The food was pretty average to be honest. I'm astonished this place gets such good reviews. Tiramisu was dry and made a long time ago. Pizza toppings are very average quality (olives are of the pre-sliced tinned variety).

The staff desperately need more training as they don't seem to understand even the basics of customer service. Their general attitude was rude and utterly disinterested...

This place is not the Pizza Hut/Pizza Express/Domino's style, it is also not like the new age style of pizza from growing chains like Franca Manca. However it appears to be the neighborhood Italian with I assume a loyal and local clientele who want what they are used to. I've only been once but the service was friendly and efficient and the vibe was comfortable. Sadly I found the food disappointing. The 'Americana' pizza that I had as a takeaway was relatively cold (opened the box within 5 mins of buying), the pepperoni looked and tasted like something from a packet chucked on top in the last minute and the onions were crunchy, which felt weird eating. The quality of the pizza I felt was far from 'authentic' despite use of the Tipo 00 flour used as stated on the menu. I also ordered the carbonara which although tasted ok, was heavy, maybe it was the cream and the 'smoked' panchetta resembled tasteless cubes rather than the juicy salty meat that I would have wanted fried in the pan before the pasta is added. Like I've said I only had two items so perhaps the rest may be different, however I suspect the pizzas all follow the same formula. I suppose if it works for the masses then...