Martio's Pizza — Restaurant in Town of Clarkstown

We were in town overnight. Please understand that this is the only time we have been to Martio’s Pizza.

When I go to a restaurant that I am not familiar with I usually order something that is easy to prepare and hard to “mess up”.

We did not go for pizza. My wife ordered the eggplant Parmesan and I ordered the small house salad and Lasagne. The salad was great - It was really delicious dressed with red wine vinegar/oil and fresh ingredients. I kept telling my wife how good it was. For the most part it was downhill from there.

My wife’s eggplant tasted like it was sautéed in a poor quality olive oil, vegetable oil or a combination thereof. It was barely edible but it was better than the lasagne. My lasagne was baked and served in a 1950’s style porcelain dish (very cool!). The food was literally bubbling around the edges but was lukewarm throughout. It was barely warm. This is a dish that is prepared ahead and must be kept refrigerated (38f) and reheated when ordered. When baked in a traditional oven the outer edges heat up first and then the center. This is a matter of common sense. This restaurant has been in business since the late 1950’s. In that time they have not learned how to reheat lasagne?

I am a retired chef - I include that information in this review to bring context to my perspective.

There was a scant amount of sauce on top of the lasagne with absolutely no sauce layered into the pasta layers and I think there were about three bits of ground beef. The lasagne had absolutely no flavor. I ate two bites. Whoever made these dishes appears to not know how to cook and it shows that they have little interest in cooking. The red sauce was a depressed, needy demonstration of what to never send out of a kitchen. It is hard to make food this badly. It is easy to make food delicious.

Does the management not taste their food? There is no way someone could taste this food and say that it is delicious.

To make matters worse our waitstaff was not physically present except to meet the minimal requirements to get the food to the table and was definitely not mentally present. It was clear that she had no knowledge or awareness of table service. The waitstaff appeared to be teenagers including the cashier that checked us out at the register when we paid and left.

When we checked out the cashier asked “was everything okay?” I told her that the food was terrible and that it is still on the table. She giggled and rang up the bill. I think that she thought that I was kidding with her(?). She was removed and inaccessible - not present.

Pricing is an issue. When we set down I commented to my wife that the prices looked like they were from the 1980’s. Her eggplant parm was $9.95, my lasagne was $10.50 and the house salad was $4.50. This may explain, in part, the poor quality of the food. I am referring to the items on the menu labeled “Main Dishes”. In most moderately priced restaurants the price would be at least $16.95 - $19.95 (and considerably higher in more upscale dining rooms).

I would rather pay more and get the necessary ingredients in the preparation to produce delicious food. I felt “ripped off” and felt that we wasted our evening in an atmosphere of ineptitude.

In hindsight it appears that this is a place that is frequented and perhaps propped up by people that have been customers for years who are probably long time friends with the “house”. The restaurant holds itself out to be “Home of Rockland County’s First Wood Burning Brick Oven Pizza Parlor”. I am hoping that the pizza is good. I have cooked a lot of pizza in a true wood burning oven. I did not see any evidence of a wood burning stove(?). I did not see the pizza.

Recommendation: For Italian food find a good Italian restaurant and go there.

Find out if Martio’s Pizza is good. Check it out.

If you are on a tight budget this is probably a good place to go.

It appears that the restaurant has become an afterthought, not living in the present, not focused on a future and their past has become...

Take this review with a grain of salt, as I did not get a slice of pizza. Rather, I got one of their cooked to order calzones. First off, I'll temper my disappointments with a compliment. Their sauce is very good. I judge pizza places mainly by their sauce and dough. Sauce & dough here get an A+. I was however disappointed to find out they would not add chicken to my calzone. Being that they serve chicken parm here, I don't think this would have really been an issue to incorporate unless that too is made to order, but still, most pizza places are able to add chicken to their pizza, I'm not sure why they wouldn't be able to do that here.. Additionally, my "sausage calzone" barely had any sausage at all. They incorporated the thin slices of sausage you will find on top of a pizza slice rather than ground Italian hot sausage. This was not a sausage calzone it was a cheese calzone with a few thinly sliced sausage pieces added in. I think they should make that abundantly clear to set expectations. I won't come back here for calzones. I may try their pizza in the future. Ambiance inside was rustic, just like an old pizza parlor from the 60's, so it has that going...

I grew up in New City not too far from Martio's. I've eaten at every pizza place in Rockland County, NY and none of them come close to Martio's. I'm specifically a huge fan of their Italian combo sandwich with the bread from Rockland Bakery and freshly toasted in their brick oven. I always have to have one Italian Combo and a plain cheese slice. They don't fill their Italian combo with too much meat which is why i like it. It's the right amount of meat with bread. We haven't lived in the area for a while now but whenever i am in the NYC area visiting. I will drive 1-2 hours just to visit Martio's to get my fix. The owners are really nice and have been in the community for years. This is a historic staple to Rockland County and is a must-try if you're passing...