Mr Pizza Man San Mateo — Restaurant in San Mateo

Was hoping to grab a quick-ish bite downtown. The place I wanted to go was closed, and there was no parking within blocks of my second choice. I was with my 7 year old son and he got excited by a place called "Mr. Pizza". I figured let him eat what he wanted, then go get Chinese or something.

They have beer and canzone, so I figured why not try something. They have an extensive menu, but so all over the place it makes me think of Gordon Ramsey talking about over extending your skills and creating choice paralysis. I saw fish and chips and was skeptical given it was a pizza and more place, but looked the best given the prices and my level of hunger.

It said 3 pieces, but it was 1 piece cut into 3. Disappointing, but there was still a modest quantity. Yet, somehow though they were a bit too hot to eat, the breading was already soggy. There was no crunch to any of it. The flavor was between ok and edible. The tarter sauce was Kraft packets.

The French fries had parsley on them, making them slightly better. They had a nice crunch and clearly better than regular russet spuds. Golden maybe? Not sure.

My son can be a picky eater, but always likes cheese pizza. He ate almost all of a slice of cheese. He usually loves crust, but he said it tasted "weird".

I tried it. Crust had an amazing delicate crunch, and the crumb was incredibly light and soft. Amazing texture. But soon after an aftertaste crept in that is hard to describe other than "weird".

Staff was kind, energetic, and very welcoming. But the table was super wobbly. Couldn't put my drink down and wasn't feeling inspired to fix it or complain.

I thought maybe this place was a little fancy hole in tje wall place and hidden gem of San Mateo. It is right next to Domino's and a Pizza My Heart, so figured it had to have it's own little niche.

If it does, I didn't figure it out.

Had it been free, I'd rather pay to go somewhere else. Oh well,...

Time of visit was Monday, 092815, @ approximately 1 PM. When I walked in, there was no one inside. Not a good omen. I ordered a large order of spaghetti & meatballs, one slice of pepperoni pizza & a large dinner salad with blue cheese dressing.

Salad was fresh, crispy and cold. Dressing, however, lacked any blue cheese flavor. Very bland, just a white glob. But it was cold.

Pizza slice also lacked flavor. Pepperoni had no zing to it. Dough, however, was good. Pizza sauce was a 0, denying the diner any zip to it. Little Caesar's $5.45 pie might be a better fit for the eater.

Finally, spaghetti & meatballs arrived with five medium sized meatballs, about golf ball sized. Again, not much flavor from the meatballs, spaghetti sauce or the hot bread that accompanied the dish.

Water comes in tiny cups. Dressing is not free poured. It comes in a fast food shot glass sized container. Two are needed to coat the salad greens. Since dressing packed flavor, I did not ask for a second little cup of dressing.

Total bill $29.75. Zorbas makes a much better pizza in my view. And their dinner salad has more veggies than Mr Pizza Man's. And the dressing is definitely blue cheese tasting. Spaghetti & meatballs is a tie with Zorbas. No decision.

Service satisfactory. Hostess did not know menu real well. She took a long time to take my solo order.

Mr Pizza Man, "When do we...

I ordered today, and received a text notification/update stating that my order would be delivered between 12:21 and 12:31. My order arrived 50+ minutes late at 1:20. I did not receive any texts/notifications updating me that my order would be delivered later or otherwise indicate that there was any issue. Unfortunately I was in a meeting after they were already 30+ mins late and didn't have the chance to call to check on the status of my order.

The food itself: I ordered toasted ravioli, a large pepperoni pizza, a large cheese pizza, a Tiramisu, and a tossed salad.

The toasted ravioli was HAMMERED. It was very hard on the edges and difficult to eat. The center was softer, but still overcooked - the filling was dry. No amount of the tiny cup of marinara that was provided could make up for how dry they were. The pizza were fine. I've had better, but I've also had worse. The crust is good and the cheese is flavored well enough, but it isn't mind-blowing. I'd rate is a 6/10. For the price, there could have been a bit more pepperoni added. The Tiramisu was okay... it tasted very industrial, as if bought wholesale and re-packaged for individual sale. No complaints about the salad.

I personally would not order from this restaurant again, but I would happily eat their pizza if it was ordered by...