Mario's Pizza — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Coming from the depths of MdR, Mario's is really out of range, but using 90 and Culver when the traffic allowed, I've managed to try this pizza twice, and I liked it both times.

The first question is, what kind of pizza is it? The crust is New York thin, and while the outer ring is more chewy than crunchy, there's a bit of crisp to it. Like a NY, the sauce and cheese are rather restrained, but that's where the resemblance ends. Even if you perform the NY fold, there's no way the point holds up, especially on the 18", it's floppy. And although the undercarriage is well done, to use DP's term (the one bite guy), there's no crisp at all. The cheese is also mostly un-browned. So if you ranked this as a NY, the score would be low. DP would slaughter it.

On the other hand, this isn't substantial enough to be a standard conventional oven parlor pizza, the crust is too thin, and there's not the requisite lava lake of browned cheese. The outer crust ring is also not as well done. Perhaps that's due to the thin crust, it just can't stay in the oven that long. So, it doesn't compete with my favorites in that class, Johnnie's and Fat Tomato, on Washington That happens to be my style of pizza.

It's a passion these days to classify pizza, NY, New Haven, tavern, Neopolitan, etc. etc., but is it important this doesn't quite fit? As you can see below, it's a good looking pizza, and it eats very well. I liked the soft crust ring with a little crunch, and the sauce has a bright tomato taste, really nice. I refreshed the slices under the broiler, and that worked well to add some crust crunch and brown the top. My only complaint is a few of the mushrooms were sliced too thick, and they weren't as evenly distributed as I'd like on the larger pizza. No biggie. As you can see, the larger pizza was more well done, but pizza is variable, and both ate about the same.

So I'm giving the full five, an attractive pizza that eats well, about all I can ask for. There is a local shop that makes a very similar pizza, Angel City on Venice. They go out of their way to claim NY status, but no. It's also not as good as this pizza, oily on top, with too much cheese for the thin crust to support, it flopped all over the place to the point of falling apart. Mario's is the better eating pizza, and even though it's not my style, I enjoyed it very much.

Access is easy in, but can be very difficult out, you have to back up into Inglewood, not a good idea. Instead, drive up Culver to Stoner, and then west down the alley. You can park on either side of the dumpsters, and it's an easy right back to Culver, or wherever.

Note, I re-wrote my original review based on...

I went with their SPICY Chicken Wings + Ranch Sauce. Pretty Bomb but, a bit tangy so I would recommend some Garlic Knots to offset the tanginess. It didn't come with Celery or Carrots. Decent amount of meat on the bones and cooked just right. I grabbed myself a Jarritos from their drink cooler. I didn't feel like Pizza tonight.

It was about $16- and I gave the lady a $20 and told her to keep the change. I didn't have to but, she didn't look grateful for a 1/4 percentage of the meal. I thought it was fair for someone working in the Service Industry. I feel a SMILE and a nice THANK YOU could have gotten her a $10+ TIP.

Place was very Clean.

Restrooms Clean and Open for Customers upon asking.

There's like 5 spots and a Handicapped Spot out front for Parking. A new Mexican Restaurant is under construction next door otherwise, it's Street Parking.

Prices are Decent.

They could use some music and maybe another TV besides whatever movie is on the big screen.

I will be back later...

I went here with some friends that were fans, but honestly, it wasn't my favorite. We got a pepperoni and mushroom pie and I ordered the carbonara pasta dish because I was starving and I cannot fight my inner desire for great carbonara. The pie was fine, everything was fresh, but if I ordered pizza again, I'd have them keep in in the oven a few more minutes. The crust was a little doughy/chewy, the sauce was a little sweeter than I like, but honestly, I could get into it.

The carbonara was overcooked and I honestly couldn't get past that. The guy who served it and I assume cooked it, was really nice and proud and I was hungry and in a rush, so I just woofed it and was on my way.

That all said, I want to like this place and you should definitely go yourself and be the the judge! I will absolutely be checking back and will update this review...