Mama's Pizzeria — Restaurant in McAllen

I have been to this restaurant before, but I had never reviewed it. The food was tasty, service was slow, but good food takes time right? This is just after restaurants started to reopen in Texas at the end of May 2020. My understanding was that businesses and wait staff were hurting from the economic effects of the pandemic. There's an assumption that most eateries would welcome or even appreciate the public's return. Apparently not this day.

On a lovely, rainy afternoon our party of two approached the patio entrance and noticed an older, kitchen worker feverishly brushing away a pool of water from the cement walkway. He was sincere in his advice for us to tread lightly on the grassy ground to avoid getting our shoes soaked. As we entered the open patio area adjacent to the indoor dining hall, I noticed a small family eating outside and I decided we should enjoy the fresh air environment as well. Taking care to avoid closed spaces and in keeping with a generous social distance of others, we sat down to wait for an attendant.

After chatting and reviewing my phone for at least 10 minutes, I kept an eye on the other guests to see if anyone had attended them. After a few more minutes, I decided to enter the indoor dining space and approached the register to see if I could get some service. A tall, stocky boy asked if he could help me and I told him I had been waiting outside for a good while and wondered why anyone hadn't come to take an order. To paraphrase, he gave a short, curt response explaining that it was the customers responsibility to come in to the restaurant and let someone know they needed service. In the back of my mind I wondered if the family outside had a similar experience or if they had called ahead to announce their arrival. I asked for a server and left it at that.

The young waitress was polite and friendly when she came to take our drink order. She offered to submit an appetizer request while we decided on a main course and I decided on stuffed mushrooms. The young miss returned a couple of minutes later with our teas and took our final order. We had requested a pepperoni pasta dish to share, and within 10 minutes the mushrooms had arrived. They were arranged geometrically on a decorative plate lightly drizzled with a rich sauce I found comparative to a thick Worcestershire. Although it was a grand start to the meal, it was the last time we saw our server outside.

We took our time with the mushrooms. The hope was that it would connect effortlessly to the pasta dish, but it was just over a half hour and still no pasta. I decided to go back inside and as I looked around the dining area, I was surprised that there weren't that many people. With their tables significantly distanced from each other, the place looked almost empty. I started to wonder how the wait staff could be too busy and forget about us.

As I approached the register, a woman, who might have been a manager, asked if she could assist me. I explained that we had been waiting over 30 minutes and asked if our single pasta dish was done. I also asked if it couldn't be served within the next five minutes to just let me know. She left to ask about my dish and approached our server. After a bit of discussion and some quick shouts to the cooks, she came back to the counter. I asked her if staffing issues during the pandemic were a problem. She said it wasn't the problem. To paraphrase, she said mistakes happen and people made mistakes. Unfortunately it happens, a lot. It struck me how she said this like it was a master of fact. No empathy, no remorse. It almost seemed like they really didn't need my business. Then another woman with large eyes said in a hushed voice that the ticket for my order was created and handed to the cooking staff, but for some reason it was disregarded. She said if I wanted, I could wait so she could resubmit the order and have it prepared.

It may have been a split judgement, but I decided after being there for more than an hour and still having to wait, I paid my...

Let me start by saying that I have placed to-go orders from Mama’s US-83 location twice in the past. I also have dined at both of their McAllen locations. I never had an issue with the food or the service. While it’s not traditional Italian, it is decent food.

This time I decided to order a calzone.But, I added ricotta cheese and a few other toppings. Even though the restaurant was busy, the order was baked and ready to go in the time promised. Unfortunately, that’s where the good stops.

Upon cutting into the calzone, I could see there was no ricotta cheese to be found. Also disappointing was that the toppings were concentrated right in the middle of the calzone, leaving a good 3 inch all around of nothing but dough. It also seemed that the dough had not been allowed to rest for a proper rise. This rendered parts of the calzone inedible with no taste.

I called and asked for the manager. I explained my disappointed with the food to David; the manager on duty. He was apologetic and offered to make me another calzone or to have a discount to a future order. Had I been at the location dining in, I would have accepted. But I wasn’t about to drive 10 minutes there and 10 minutes back. And add that to the 20 minutes I had already spent.

When the customer is no longer at your location, how do you offer a discount for a future purchase? If the customer has provided pictures of food that has not been prepared right....How do you expect a customer to want to come back to your establishment?

A refund or partial refund should had been issued. If the restaurant feels that they don’t issue refunds due to scams, then you are probably having entirely too many complaints that go unaddressed or poorly addressed. Sometimes having a miniscule loss of revenue is the cost of having a repeat customer or the chance to have a customer leave with a better impression.

Do yourself a favor and if you decide to try Mama’s Pizza, try their 10th...

The atmosphere was a bit solemn upon walking in, but the patio was absolutely beautiful! It is a seat yourself restaurant and we found a table and it was a little quiet with no music playing, only the voices of other customers talking amongst themselves.

Our server was absolutely pleasant and polite and gave us plenty of time and help with the menu when we needed it. We started with the fried olives appetizers which were stuffed with cheese and fried and battered in a crispy coat with a side of ranch. They were delicious; perfect little bites and I wish I had more! They were delightfully warm and the ranch was the perfect compliment to them.

My son got the kids spaghetti and it came with two slices of garlic bread, which I had a bite of, and it was absolutely buttery, garlicky and delicious.

Unfortunately the deep dish pizza was a little underwhelming. We settled for the large and we were given the option for up to five toppings; but we decided on only three, the pepperoni, beef, and fresh basil. The toppings were completely covered in a tremendous amount of cheese, which was perfect because I love cheese. I felt that the toppings were minuscule due to the cheese though. It was a let down because we were told it would be a 40 minute wait, which was fine, but the pizza still somehow came out on the colder side? The crust area was warm, but the pizza itself was not hot enough to...