Mountain Mike's Pizza — Restaurant in Surprise

I herd about Mountain Mike's Pizza on Facebook and the pizza looked so good. When I found out we had one here in Surprise I decided to take my family on Friday (2-2-24). The place looked very nice on the inside but it was a long wait in line but that was ok because it gave us a chance to study the menu. When it was our turn to order we ordered a large pepperoni and added bacon to one side along with a order of wings and four drinks. My wife proceeded to find us a table as we paid the bill. The cashier informed us it would be a 45 minute wait and we were ok with that. We sat at a table near where the waiter and waitresses were coming and going. The pizzas looked so good and as they passed by us the smell was amazing. The place was packed full of people and here's where the problems starts. We arrived at 4:45 and it was already 5:50 and I started to notice that other customers that were in line behind us were getting there food so I asked a waitresses if she could see where our otder was at. While we waited for her return my son pointed to two other tables that had received their food and they were also behind us in line. The waitresses returned and told me our order was in the oven and would be out soon and she kept walking by. I spotted a manager asked him how people that ordered after we did could already have their food while we're still waiting and he got our table number and said he'd check it out. Now it 6:20 and I was very upset when my wife tells me that she sees the manager speaking with someone else and I just rolled my eyes. You see before I retired I was a area director for several different fast food restaurants so I knew what had happened, they lost our ticket. I watched as they went through their POS system trying to find our order and when the did the manager returned and apologized and said they had 10 people back there and they're getting slammed. He told me that it would be another 40 minutes before our order was ready. I told him I'd just like a refund and we'd be on our way and he said ok. He returned and offered us 25% off on our next order if we ever returned. Now again being in the restaurant industry for over 25 years I understand that you can have days like this, especially if your just opening a new location, but to offer a 25% discount after waiting almost two hours for food...

Don't get me wrong. I love Mt. Mike's pizza. Some of the best in the valley or anywhere if you get it well done.

But.

This location has been decidedly lacking in experience. The first time we went during the day, all was fairly good except the pie wasn't really well done like we had ordered.

The second time we stopped by, the soda fountain was out on 2 of the flavors. #1 Rootbeer. In my opinion, rootbeer is an essential drink for pizza. Maybe ita just me? Well, the secondary (pepsi) was out too. The manager on hand had to call the main store manager to get new syrup replaced. Unacceptable. The pizzas here are not cheap. If I'm going to spend on a pie here, I want my root beer.

The third time we stopped here, it was kinda late. 20 minutes before closing. When we stepped in, we asked... "is it too late to order a pizza and eat it here?"

The lady at the counter said "no, you're fine".

We say OK. And order our pie. We get our drinks and sit down. 5 minutes later, the lady comes out and says she made a mistake and the dining room is closed. So we waited for our pie and ate in our car. We would have gone to a different place to eat had she asked before saying it's OK. Again, these pies aren't cheap. They are on the high end. So it's a little crappy to have to eat in your car. Might have just ordered it to go, but sitting in there smelling the pizza made it dang near impossible to drive home with it after that. Not my best experience. Also noticing the place is always pretty empty. Even on weekends. If they don't step up their game, I don't think they will be around for long. And that's a dang shame because their quality and taste are genuinely superb. They need to lower their prices, or at least have some discount coupons available. With what we pay combined with the sub-par service, I don't see us coming back anytime soon. Before this branch opened, we used to REGULARLY drive over 45 minutes to the Tempe marketplace location for Mt Mike's. The service at that location has always been excellent. We will likely go there from this point forward. Do better Mt. Mike's...

With all of the hype around Mountain Mike’s, I was stoked to finally have a chance to try it out. Was out with my parents who’d come into town for a visit, and it left a lot to be desired.

Service: They young lady that took our order was not very engaged as we were ordering and we had to repeat ourselves several times. My mother commented on something, just being nice, and her response was simply “okay”. When we asked about certain menu items, she seemed annoyed and even told us “I mean it says it on the menu…” which it definitely did not. The cook that brought our food out to us was awesome, though! He was personable and you could tell that he genuinely cared to help us.

Food: The pizza surprisingly didn’t take too long. We’d ordered two medium pizzas. Personally, I wasn’t a fan of the small slices, but that’s wholly inconsequential. Despite the many toppings, the pizza was incredibly bland and the crust had that “frozen and reheated” taste and texture. We also each got an individual salad, as we often do. The lettuce bin was low and lettuce was wilted and soggy. My mother had asked the lady who took our order for some fresh lettuce, to which she replied “there’s still some in there, so I can’t change it now.” It was at this point that I stepped in and said something because she was being incredibly rude to my mother.

Price: Our check came out to $91 and I was FLOORED! For two bland medium pizzas, three very small, low-quality salads, and one medium fountain drink. I had just paid $91 to watch my parents get treated like dirt and eat what could be described as “a step above cardboard”. And then the actual audacity for the lady to directly ask if we would mind leaving a tip?! Like I get them saying that there’s an option for a tip. But to ask “would you mind leaving a tip?”

I’d heard so much rave about this place, and I was so excited to finally try it. After that experience, I’ll likely never go there again. I felt extremely uncomfortable when sitting there because of the way my parents had reacted to how they were spoken to....