Terramia Brick Oven Pizza & Trattoria — Restaurant in Lake Mary

Well.... after 13 years of loving Terra Mias.... I finally have to cross it off my favs list. 1 bad entree you can call an "oops"... but multiple bad items? The breakdown... bill was $180. Calamari was gummy bears consistency, every bite I had. I gave up trying to chew and swallow after the 4th piece. But it was an appetizer so we just pushed on and didnt complain. The lasagna. You know when mom pulls out that old lasagna from 4 nights ago and that top layer of cheese and pasta is so hard you cannnot cut through it with your fork? Well, the cook threw some fresh sauce on top (a dead give away that its not fresh) but even my knife couldnt pierce that leather top layer. And the kicker was the cook knew he shouldn't have served it bc he watched me try over and over and he saw that I could not cut into it. He just kept watching me - he knew I should send that shoe back.... I did scoop out 1 bite from the bottom layer... but the flavor of the meat was so off that I immediately pushed the plate away. I should say that I always ask for some fradivalo sauce with my lasagna... and this time I was charged $3.95 for it. Like what? But Im still hopeful at this point.... I went back to the cheese and olive plate, avoiding the brown mushy olives (ewww), the bread was amazing (we brought home 2 loaves but sadly they were still doughy in the centers so into the trash those went). The cheese and olives we ordered togo for our daughter were even worse than what we received at the restaurant. The cheese was old and chalky (?) her words, and a majority of her olives were too old to be eaten. Back to the meal tho, the Brazino. Tasted very, very fishy to me, usually I think its delish, but this one just wasn't up to par to me. My guy did eat the whole thing, and said it was fine so we will just conclude that it was good. We listened to a worker tell the cook to "do his job", that was an interesting convo to overhear. Im thinking the cook isnt very happy and certainly is either being told to push out out of date leftovers to save money or just doesnt want to cook fresh meals... either way I was stunned at the lack of quality and freshness. We never said one thing about the food to the staff. We never complained bc 1. We always loved this place 2. We were surprised - like totally shook this was even happening with our food & 3. I looked at my guy, he looked at me, and he knew we weren't going to be returning so why bother saying anything. We still tipped well bc the service was good. We brought a salamino pizza home, and I tried a bite, its good. Thank goodness. But I still spent the evening with a tummy ache from swallowing my gum- I mean the calamari. Not cool Mossimo, What happened to the quality I loved Terra Mias for?!? And the friendly, warm ambiance? I wasn't going to update my 5 star review.... but frankly, I feel like I was stabbed in the back. Terra Mias played a huge part of my dating relationship- it has great memories for me. A fav place to go. But now, the white cold cafeteria decor, the old food.... time to break up this relationship. What a pity. Wheres a horse head when...

Hello Everyone,

For the most part, we all how hard working in a kitchen is but do we know how hard it is without actually working there?

I've been coming here for a couple of years now as I love the food and have never had any issues outside of the plates being somewhat dirty. However, today I made an order via Uber before this restaurant opened to be picked up at 12:10 pm. This was a business order and it was very important to be precise on time so I arrived at 12:05 pm.

There is no place to sit while you wait so if they are behind on order be prepared to stand awkwardly in a corner. I quickly checked in with one of the servers who didn't even say hello to me nor none of the other customers who came after while I waited. She told me it would be 5 more minutes.

As I waited patiently and moved around my little tiny corner like 4 times and saw the Manager/Owner come in with his mail and he opened it up in front of me without even acknowledging me waiting there.

At 12:20, I asked for an update on my order as I was in a hurry from the manager. He showed no empathy and went to ask his employees for an update and I could hear what he was saying to them. He came back and stated that I should've of not used Uber and should've called them directly instead and that's why I had to wait so long. This was extremely bizarre to me as a proper leader would apologize from the start and even possibly offer extra food or dessert for my inconvenience. He didn't like my reaction to his statement and told me to wait and that this wasn't Burger King or McDonald's. He had an increased tone and the entire proximity heard his reaction. What's the point of using Uber if they aren't going to even use it correctly...

This is where it gets good....

The manager showed his frustration to his team screaming at them and telling them to hurry. The same server who helped me earlier was being yelled at by her manager stating she should've spoken up louder. It was just simply so sad to see this being a leader myself and it pushed my buttons.

I ended up leaving around 12:30 and the other food I brought was cold already, but before I left I mentioned to him "Thank you for the food but you didn't have to scream at your employees or myself."

He told me to "Shut the ** up and get out" as I was walking out instead of saying it directly in my face.

I went back to ask him his name but he told me to Google it, so here I am making sure you know how this restaurant treats their employees and make sure you don't do any pick-ups here. There is also a similar review on the treatment on this staff from 2022... This isn't the first time and certainly won't...

While looking for a place to have a quick, casual lunch, we stumbled across Terramia Brick Oven Pizza in Lake Mary. Nestled in a shopping complex with several other quality restaurants and a few chains, Terramia stands out because of its expansive outdoor seating area, complete with umbrellas for each table to shield you from the harsh Florida sun. Unfortunately, the décor inside is not quite as nice, as the interior is crowded with dated booths and a high top bar. If this were my business, I would either get rid of or update those booths to better match the more upscale feel that the restaurant portrays in all of its other elements, especially since the website boasts that “You will feel as though you have just sat down at a table along the bay of Naples,” which I did not.

Overall our dining experience was mixed, at best. We were seated promptly and given menus, and all of our food was brought out quickly and correctly, but there was very little interaction from our server outside of that. He was not very personable, nor did he really stop by to ask if we needed anything additional or to see how we were enjoying our food. We started with the Insalante Caprese, which was a plate of roma tomatoes with mozzarella, basil and roasted peppers. While this was a good appetizer, it wasn’t anything special that I hadn’t had at any other Italian restaurant.

From my one-time experience it’s pretty clear that the thing Terramia does best is its pizzas. I ordered the Montanara: a pie featuring baby organic spinach, whole milk ricotta, homemade mozzarella and shaved parmigiano. The highlight of this pizza was definitively the fresh, homemade taste all of the cheeses added to it, and it was a definite bonus that the crust was crispy and not at all greasy. The disappointing part of our meal was the Stromboli that my boyfriend ordered, which was nowhere near the quality of the pizza.

The Stromboli itself was their pizza dough stuffed with salame, sausage, peppers and homemade mozzarella, and it had a good crunch on the outside. The inside was a little disappointing, as the flavors of all of the meats just sort of melded together and were overpowered by the taste of the peppers. But the worst part of the Stromboli was the sauce that it came with, which just tasted like literal tomato sauce from a can, with no added seasonings.

While I would definitely order many more pizzas from Terramia, I am not as optimistic about returning for their other entrees, and their pizza alone is the main reason for...