Mama Ree's GJ — Restaurant in Grand Junction

Oof. Understanding it's a brand new and local place, this was a brutal experience. They were busy, but with the setup they have they should easily be able to do about 100 pizzas at a time in their 4 ovens. I'm guessing the pizzas should take around 7-8 minutes to cook. There really shouldn't be any issues cranking out a ton of orders with the setup and amount of staff running around. Was there even a dry run or training night(s)?

We ordered 3 salads (self serve) and 3 individual pizzas, and one lasagna. TWENTY SEVEN minutes before we were able to retrieve our salad bowls, from a hostess. And those took 9 minutes after we talked to her because they were out of forks?

I opted to get my own refills after 37 minutes (about 23 of those with empty cups) of our server failing to return to our table after taking our order. The hostess saw me get my own refill, but didn't say anything. I wish she would have so I could have informed her it had been nearly 40 minutes since we've seen our server.

Our server magically popped back in seconds after I returned with my drinks to say "oh somebody got you refills." Oh, we also had two servers. I assume the second one was a follow/training (though they are all training as it's brand new)

Our main server was very nice and friendly. Zero complaints in those two areas.

Our food arrived 63 minutes after we had ordered it. 63. Minutes. The kids liked their pizzas (easy to do) but our lasagna and pizza was just.. completely flavorless. We are fairly certain the red sauce is literally just crushed tomatoes with zero herbs or spices added. I did voice this specific concern with our server after we had paid, but didn't address any of the other issues. The lasagna serving was very large, so I will give them that. But it's also not good. The menu is very small (currently?) and that was pretty disappointing. 6 pizzas and a build your own.

I always have hopes that local places will succeed but this was a one and done for us. The prices charged don't reflect the prices listed on the menu, either. But at least that error is in favor of the customer so I won't point out the specifics on that oversight.

One of the worst eating out experiences I've ever had. Usually it's bad service OR bad food. Rarely is it both. Tonight, both were laughably horrible. Edit: This was a $67.xx...

Lunch today (9/19/2024) was underwhelming and disappointing, coupled with mostly dirty tables to choose from (it was a "seat yourself anywhere" place). But, the worst part of our experience was a group of a dozen or so teens who were all together consuming food and drinks from Dairy Queen (across the street, so outside food and drinks are apparently allowed), playing pool, messing around the tables, using loud, foul language, a couple of the teens on the couch intertwined, some just helping themselves to drinks and pizza slices without being charged from the restaurant personnel, and continuously vaping inside the restaurant within 12 feet of us. The teens who were vaping were definitely under the age of 18 - which is against Colorado state law and also not allowed inside a restaurant. We very politely notified our waiter; and, although cordial with us, was not very concerned; however, with a little research, we now assume that these were the owner's relatives and/or friends, so it is unlikely this was a rare occurrence at the restaurant. We left our waiter a 30% tip, as we realize the economy is an issue, and he was pleasant and attentive.Yes, we could have moved across the dining room once we realized what they were doing, but didn't notice initially nor did we expect that any of this was acceptable and condoned. So, needless to say, not at all an enjoyable lunch, nor would we return as there are many alternatives for pizza and sandwiches...

I've been looking forward to trying this place since it opened. My dad was in town so we thought we'd give it a shot. We arrived a little after 8pm on Friday. It was so dead we thought they were closed. Dead on a Friday night should have been our first red flag. We stood around for nearly 10min before someone came and seated us. 15min later someone took our drink order. We got most of our drinks, my wife finally got her water after asking 4 times. My father ordered the salad bar and 10min later they cleaned it up!! They still had more than an hour left open. After about 30min we got our appetizer and asked for the rest of the food to go. It was another 10min before we got our food. It was more than an hour before we had food. Short staffed, maybe. It seemed like people were more concerned about cleaning to leave than serve the guests. There were at least two other people on the floor, no idea about the kitchen. As for the food... The Mamas Totachos were OK, a bit expensive for what you get in my opinion. The grinders and pizza were quite good. The space itself is really nice with a warm atmosphere. Right now I can't recommend this place, maybe if it's still around in a few months we will try it again and see if the issues have...