Mama's TOO! Pizzeria West Village — Restaurant in New York

My friend and I had a very weird experience ordering/attempting to dine in-restaurant. My friend and I planned on eating some of our pizza there and the rest to-go since we were soon traveling out of the city and would’ve had no time/place to eat for hours otherwise. We managed to secure a seat in the crowded restaurant and were waiting for our pizza. When they called our order and my friend went to grab the pizza, the employee handing it to her rudely said that she could only box up the pizza for us if we weren’t going to eat there (even though we had ordered the pizza to-go). My friend felt a bit accosted but agreed and the employee boxed the pizza. When my friend brought it back to our table she told me what had happened, and I thought it was weird but we decided to at least to open up and verify we got the correct order before leaving. Immediately after we opened the box, the employee pushed her way through the crowd with a tray demanding that we put all six slices on the tray and discard the box if we even wanted to try one slice of pizza. My friend and I were kind of weirded out by this because there seemed to be no signage or any other indication this was a legitimate restaurant rule. We were more off-put by the fact that she chose to track my friend from the reception area, through the waiting crowd of like 20-30 people, and to our seats to enforce we were following this rule. She did not do the same for any of the other customers at the restaurant, and this was made more concerning by the fact that we were two of the only black customers at the restaurant. The surrounding customers were watching and expressed also feeling very weirded out by her rude persistence. Even though I enjoyed the pizza enough, I will not be back solely based on this negative customer service experience.

As for a review on the pizza, it was good but nothing to write home about and a bit pricey at $44 for six slices. My friend and I enjoyed the vodka sauce and angry nonna, but I’ve had better pizza at both dollar slice spots in the city and at higher end restaurants. Again, I would have considered returning if it wasn’t such a sour customer service experience. It probably also would’ve been better if we had been allowed to eat it while it was hot at the restaurant and not on our bus two hours...

There’s no denying that Mama’s Too is one of the great pizza joints in a city full of legendary pizzerias. It certainly has the creds as one of thee places to go, and everyone knows that. That’s part of the problem though, as the Bleecker Street shop gets insanely crowded and seating is very limited, and on a busy night, it’s nearly impossible to score a table. On this last visit to Bleecker Street (a Saturday night…what the heck was I thinking?), I ordered two pepperonis (one for myself and the other for my companion), and a funghi for us to share. After ordering you have to specifically stand to the right of the ordering line, making it hard to jockey for a table. If you try and stand on the other side (giving you a slight edge on getting to a table), you’re abruptly told to go back to the other side. Yes, seriously; they’ll tell you to move over. When your name is yelled out, you go get your slices. Fresh out of the oven, they looked oh so delicious! I’m a pepperoni lover and know how good it is based on past visits, and indeed it was as good as ever. But, to my surprise the funghi was ridiculously delicious with an unexpected combination of ingredients and flavors that blew my mind; actually surpassing my beloved pepperoni in terms of its flavor profile. How could I have missed this in the past?? Without exaggeration, it was one of the best I’ve ever had. Wow! But, what brings the experience down a bit is when you can’t get a seat, and have to eat outside in the cold holding a large pizza pan. It truly distracts from your ability to enjoy your pizza. If we had been able to get a table we would have ordered more, certainly soft drinks and perhaps have tried one more slice. My recommendation is to go during off-hours and get a seat first before ordering. If you can’t get a seat then don’t bother and come back another time. It’s the end of November as I write this, so it’s only going to get colder outside, and you really don’t want to be out there eating pizza. But, on the other hand, as I mentioned at the top of this review, Mama’s Too is one of the best in the City, and maybe if you’re just having one slice, as a quick snack, it doesn’t matter if you’re eating outside. You make the call. But, in any event, I have lots of love for this place, and you will...

TOURIST TRAP BEWARE I was born and raised in NYC. I know good pizza. This isn’t it. This place has done a great job at social media marketing to create buzz, but it’s nothing but chicken parm with vodka sauce and pesto on a hero. There are a million places to get the same thing for half the price. This was my second time giving this place a chance. There won’t be a third. Head my advice and don’t even try it once.

Let’s start with the staff. Rude, shorter Asian female handing out the orders. Mine was two slices of pizza and a chicken cutlet hero. The two slices of pizza come out first. I asked for a box since I had a bit of a travel. She says “I can’t give you a box for 2 slices of pizza”. Yes, ma’m, but it’s not just two slices of pizza, the rest of my order isn’t out yet. “I’m not giving you a box”.. puts my pizza in a bag and calls the next name. Then my sandwich comes out and she puts it in a bag. So here I am, walking away with two bags and two cokes (with no caps on them-they take the caps off without asking). Had to stack the bags because I couldn’t put the cokes in my pocket without caps and ended up with a saucy mess all over the bags. My “upside down” slice ended up with a side of brown bag. $39.50 for 2 slices, a sandwich, and 2 cokes. All ended up in the garbage, just like the pizza and the staff. Complete rip off with nasty people .

The food… it’s mediocre at best. That’s being generous. Go to John’s of Bleecker Street, go to L’Industrie, go to Grimaldi’s, Denino’s, Joe & Pats…. Anywhere but this social media trap. The bottom of my “house slice” was completely burnt. It tasted like the oven, not pizza. There is a such thing as a well-done slice. This wasn’t it. Burnt.

How about the ambiance? Non-existent. The bathroom has a curtain. Literally. If you manage to get one of the 9 tables, the line forming in the middle will be bumping into you and hitting you with their bags, all while your butt gets numb from the solid wood bench you’re sitting on.

Please take my advice as a lifelong New Yorker. This is not a classic New York pizza joint. It’s a money grab with effective social media management. There are plenty of legit old-world NYC places to get great food....