Mama Marie's Italian Market — Restaurant in Pitman

I finally hit up Mama Marie's in Pitman today, and lets just say after seeing good reviews online and a vid by another food influencer, expectations were met and exceeded.

I wish they could take over the slogans "better ingredients, better food, Mama Marie's" and "when you're here you're family." The roast beef and roast pork are made by scratch in house and they treat you like family while you are dining in. Pictured you shall see:

Auletto- roast beef/pepper jack/diablo spread Roast Pork Rome- roast pork/sharp prov/broccoli rabe Little Nicky- prosciutto/prov/capocolla/genoa salami Angela- eggplant/sharp prov/broccoli rabe/roasted red peppers Also pictured is the triple chocolate cake

Roast beef perfectly sliced thinly and stacked high. The diablo spread gave a perfect sweet and heat compliment tingle to the tongue. Good luck finishing that 12 inch hoagie in 1 sitting! Roast pork was my favorite. Typically you find the pork sliced thinly but here it cubed. Wonderful change as I feel like it absorbed the juices better. The cubes were so tender that they shred upon bite or squeeze. The sharpness of the provolone and the garlicky broccoli rabe will really blow you away. The sesame roll held up perfectly unlike other high quality roast pork sandwiches I've had before. Little Nicky is an italian hoagie. Typically you get some cheap cuts but here you get some prosciutto and dude, I personally love prosciutto. Just a well crafted delicious sandwich My wife got the Angela and she said it was absolutely delicious. She stated the eggplant really stood out to her and had great flavor. It was so good that she had to take a nap after eating it.

Everything on the menu pretty much ranges from $7-$10. In my opinion, you won't find too many deli's and sandwich shops that are making their a lot by scratch or with as much love. Grab a sandwich and a root beer from Mama...

The pork with provolone and broccoli rabe was awful. The meatball parm was slightly better. Side of longhots we can not describe because it was missing from our order.

The young woman at the register was rude and thoughtless. Our order had 4 items, 3 of which were sandwiches. In a monotone voice with a frown, asked if I needed a bag. I had thought she was joking - she was not.

This same young woman did not even have the common courtesy to greet me when I entered the shop. Which btw, looks old and dirty. However, the outside patio area looks nice.

I am not one to leave negative reviews like this, but I basically threw away $30 on Mama Marie's inedible pork sandwiches and a non-existent side of longhots.

Not to mention that as quasi-members of the Pitman community for 4 decades (my grandparents lived in Pitman for 30 yrs, 2 of my siblings are current Pitman residents, 2 decades now) we were shocked by the lack of warmth, and unprofessional demeanor of the young woman working that day. I have personally never encountered this attitude in Pitman and hope to never again.

My recommendation to the owners is to hire friendly, thoughtful employees. First impressions are important. My other suggestion is to taste the food you prepare. The pork cubes were very big - too large. Plus they were flavorless, dry, and like rubber. Making them inedible. Better to season the pork before roasting. Then...

Outstanding food. I went here once a couple years ago (2022 or 2023) and had a Sinatra panini to go. Service was great, and the food was something I thought about for years to come. Roasted red peppers, fresh mozz, sun dried tomatoes, fried eggplant, garlic aioli, foccacia... It was hands down one of the best sandwiches I've ever had. Today, I came back with the same friend and I ordered the same thing. We ate in this time. The seating area was clean and no one else was there at 2pm on a Thursday. The sun was shining in onto the most heavenly sandwich I'd ever seen, made fresh right in front of me. The foccacia was crispy and the sun dried tomatoes tasted homemade. Everything was so flavorful. My friend ordered a Diablo hoagie and that thing was MASSIVE. Like, three servings massive, basically impossible to close. When you eat here, you get food on your face and you just keep going. It's that good. Service is friendly and gave me a suggestion for what to order next time. Also grabbed a black cherry soda from the fridge. Oh, and the sandwich was $10 and well worth it. I will try to make a point to stop by more frequently. Pitman has...