Papa Mazzotti's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Thornton

An honest and legit review of Papa Mazzotti's -- We chose Papa Mazzotti's, because of the positive reviews on Google. It has 4.4 stars (out of 5) from 186 people (as of Sept 2018). My wife, son, and I were wanting to try a new Italian place and we just happened to be in the area. Unfortunately, we found this place to be really only Average and that the other google reviews here are a bit exaggerated. Here is my reasoning as to why:

Pros: Staff was cheerful and friendly There was seating in the small waiting area Initial Drinks were brought quickly All food items were brought within a reasonable amount of time

Cons: Waited nearly 15 minutes to be seated in a half empty restaurant, no one ahead of us at 7:30 PM at night. 3 times, 2 different people said "it'll be just a minute"

The food was below average! People in the Google reviews were raving about it, but in our experience:

The Pepperoni Cheese Bread appetizer (mentioned in several Google reviews) was "ok" at best...it was something I feel like I could have made better at home though. It was four slices of Garlic Break with cheese and 3 pieces of pepperoni melted on top. And while the edges were crispy and tasty, the centers of the bread were way under cooked, and were like bread soaked in melted butter.

My 10 year-old son ate less than half of his personal pizza, said it was "ok," but wanted the Lay's chips that came with my meal over the pizza. Pizza is his favorite, so I was surprised when he didn't immediately devour it as per usual.

My wife said her pasta dish was average...nothing particularly bad, but a little salty and agreed it was something we could have made better at home.

The Mama's Meatball sandwich I ordered was not great either, and I love a good meatball sandwich. The marinara had been cooked with green peppers and it tasted more like a green pepper sandwich, even though there were meatballs on it. I did think the bread for the sandwich was good, just that the peppers were totally over powering, even though there were hardly any on peppers on it at all.

My side of spaghetti, while homemade (which I always prefer), the marinara on it was very biter and garlic salty...it tasted like tomato sauce with garlic salt sprinkled directly on top. I only took 3 small bites...just to make sure it wasn't something else conflicting with the taste of the marinara. Strangely, the marinara that came with the Pepperoni Cheese Bread was much better tasting, I actually thought that marinara was pretty good! So I'm not sure if that was different than what was put on my spaghetti, but it sure tasted way different and much worse!

Also, I had to ask for a drink refill when they brought the check, not huge deal, but it would have been nice to get a refill while I was still eating.

So unfortunately, we really didn't feel like any of the food was that great - if anything, it was BELOW AVERAGE for Italian places in the Denver Metro area, I guess we had higher expectations based on the other Google reviews. The service, cleanliness of the location, and the overall experience was AVERAGE, I wouldn't say any of those individual items were spectacular, but they weren't horrible. And I wanted to write up a few other "cons" in this review, but I ran out of space. Therefore: I think 3 out of 5 Stars is a FAIR and HONEST rating of this restaurant. It wasn't awesome, but it wasn't horrible either -- it...

This was the worst dining experience I have ever had. We came into this restaurant early on a Saturday night. There were only two other tables occupied. I came in with my two small children and waited 45 minutes to get bread and salad at our table. Two tables that came after us, were served and eating their dinner by this time. My family still did not have our meals. At one point the server came to our table and told us to be patient as they were short handed in the kitchen. I understood and was as patient as could be having two little children with me. Not too long after she said that, she gave yet another table their meals. Finally, she put one of my child's meals down for them to eat, before the rest of our meal was out. I thought that was kind. Two minutes later she came to ask if my child had eaten the meal yet, because she gave it to the wrong table and the kitchen will be mad at her. You read that right, she was about to take my child's pizza from him to give to another table. I was livid at this point and said, I know you are short staffed, however all the tables that are eating dinner, were here after us and we still do not have our food. She said, 'we're good." I will never go back to this restaurant! With all this being said, she did not do anything to rectify how horrible of an experience we had and charged us for everything! This was the worst experience yet not to mention, we were there...

I have eaten here frequently since 2002, and usually it's fantastic. I moved downtown about the same time they changed locations, so my visits have become less frequent. I ate there last night for the first time in a year, and it's the first time I've been hugely disappointed. The Alfredo sauce (which I have LOVED in the past--thick, creamy, and delicious) was very thin and tasted of flour, the noodles were undercooked and chewy, and my entree was barely warm. I don't know if someone was having an off day, or if they changed anything since the move from 104th, but I was expecting warm fuzzy Deliciousness and got worse than chef boyardee. The service was also lacking; I was reading an e-book when my entree arrived, and instead of waiting a few seconds for me to move my book, the woman (I believe it was the owner, Lisa) put my food on the far side of the table. Finally, they've cut their hours to 3-9 pm Wednesday-Sunday, when they used to be open 6 days a week for lunch and dinner. I don't know what's going on in the owner's life, but if she continues down this path, she's going to make a hole in the wall gem into a...