Mamajoe's Italian Grill — Restaurant in Payson

Let me preface this by saying we do not know the area. We rented the cabin next door. We thought a pet friendly cabin would be surrounded by pet friendly establishments, but that was not the case here. So we opted for takeout. I should have known better when I asked to have a glass of wine and order takeout and was looked at like I had 3 heads by the older woman frantically trying to run the front. This was not the place to order takeout. She asked what wine, I said anything red, followed by "malbec, cab, a blend" she cracked a can 🤦‍♀️. A can of wine. With several bottles laying around. Strike 1. After placing my order I checked in on my very hungry husband and toddler who had to stay in the cabin with the dog. After some playful banter with other tourists and the other staff who were clearly fed up with the woman I had ordered from, I proceeded to watch them trip over her during a rush while she sat on the floor to rearrange tipped over beers in the fridge. They asked her to get up several times. This lady gave incorrect quote times to everyone who walked in or called in. It was a holiday weekend and you could tell everyone was feeling the pressure. I'm understanding, I said "I know your menu says 30-40min for a pizza, I'm next door, I'll come back later or send my husband to pick up." I checked out and left 20%. That was a mistake....I ordered a pizza a couple salads and desserts at 5:45pm. My husband sat there waiting to pickup for what felt like forever. We didn't eat until almost 7:30. My toddler went to bed an hour late. My husband discouraged all the patrons pouring through the door from staying. We are not impressed by the local fare here. It is not on the level with the local rentals. Someone could make a killing here if they offered food that didn't come from a bar fryer served by people who wanted to be there. We will be renting the cabin from Strawberry Inn again. We won't ever be dining or taking food from here again. I'd be surprised to see this place still open by our next visit. To top it all off, our pizza was missing a topping 🤦‍♀️

Response to owner: My complaint had nothing to do with the no dogs. I was told by the older woman "it takes a long time" No time quote whatsoever. I went off what was posted on your menu. The fact of the matter is we were forgotten and then lied to about our pizza being in the oven 3 times over the course of 2 hours. If I had been given a quote time of anything over 45 minutes I would have gone elsewhere. No one with a brain (and a hungry toddler with a bedtime) agrees to wait 90 minutes for a pizza. Your math isn't mathing man. Just accept you guys dropped the ball. Your staff is not well trained and not happy to be there. I'm sure good help is hard to find. If you are the only one in the kitchen, then your staff needs to be better at giving patrons realistic time quotes. Needless to say, you'll never have to deal with us again. We'll take our $100 orders to another nearby establishment next time. It's appalling to me you'd lie about giving us a wait time. Have some integrity, please, and don't put another family through something...

This is the second time we visited the restaurant in a week. The first time, it was raining and we came in to order take out. The two ladies that greeted us, informed us, right off the bat, they were short staffed. In a VERY discouraging way almost as to say, you probably should not stay or order. We said it was fine and ordered our pizza. They said it would take an hour, you want to come back? we said no since it was raining. We watched people come in and wait to be seated with open tables. We finally got our pizza and it was delicious. We thought we would try again and dine in this time with our friends. We walked in and waited as no one was in the front, after being there for some time, I said hello, couple minutes later one of the ladies came out, I said we would like a table for four, there was one other party in the restaurant and the rest of the tables were clear, they said the same thing, we’re understaffed so please wait to be seated. We saw the tables were set, we waited there for 20 minutes and nothing. Once more almost discouraging us to stay. After waiting this time, with no one else in the restaurant except that party that was already seated, we just decided to leave. I told the girl, seems you’re too busy, she didn’t look surprised she just said OK and we walked out. I’m sure they had a lot of to go orders, l’m sure they were understaffed, but it was clear that they prefer not to serve us and that they didn’t want to hustle to serve us. We went to two other restaurants and the wait was an hour and they were packed, the service was great and they did everything to seat us as soon as possible. You’re losing business because your staff is not welcoming, they almost seem irritated to serve you, they are clearly annoyed that you even came in. Fix that, you have a great product but remember service is part of your product, it was horrible, not once but twice in a...

I used the menu from the website to call in an order. When I arrived to pick up, I was not even greeted. I simply asked why my order was a little more than expected. When I asked about the $3 difference, the hostess asked the owner and the answer was that the menu is "subject to change." That's ok but in my experience, restaurants who care about treating customers with respect would offer a polite explanation about why the prices don't match. I simply asked "how about just throwing in a fountain drink?" Let me be clear, it was not about the $3. A young person (maybe the lead server and I am horrified if she is the manager) came out to the lobby and asked me what the problem was and proceeded to give excuses about why the menu prices were not correct and was completely rude. When I told her I thought it looked dishonest and that I was going to write a review she raised her voice and said "because we won't give you a beverage?" and was completely snippy. She yelled to the kitchen "it's literally about $4" and told me she was just defending herself. I have owned a home in Strawberry for 20 years and have not eaten at this restaurant for over 5 years because of how bad the customer service was back then. There will be NO next time, there are plenty of other good restaurants in town. To avoid confusion in the future, try giving the customer the total over the phone. After reading the other recent review it's time for the owner to clean house or get some customer service training for the staff. Sorry but being busy is no excuse and I can't believe the staff argued with me in front of other customers. Kindness goes a loooong way. Try...