Mario's Pizza — Restaurant in Winston-Salem

This review is only for business conducted today 7/22/2019 at about 1:20pm.

To tell the truth, I have liked this place and I've done business here a number of times due to its convenience to my office. The food is good, service is prompt and (usually) friendly. I usually eat in.

Not today, though. I tried to dismiss this as my misreading the situation due to the stressful conditions under which I called to place my take out order, but here I am hours later, and I just feel like I need to say something.

My wife called me at the office today to tell me she was taking a friend to the ER and needed me home quickly so I'd be home to receive my boy from day camp and to deal with a scheduled contractor.

Since she had to leave right away, she also asked me to pick up something for my boy to eat when he got home. I called the familiar Mario's, and ordered his favorite on my way out: Spaghetti.

The lady who took my order on the phone asks (in what sounded like doubting tone) "is this for a child?"

Maybe she asked because she's told to ask, but I found the question unnecessary and possibly accusatory. At worst, it was an expression of suspicion. As a loyal customer of several Mario's locations, I could not help feeling accused. I don't cheat my business partners. I dont give them reasons to suspect me of dishonor.

Here's a tip for you, Mario's of Cloverdale, if you think your customers are scheming against you and using your kids menu to cheat you, eliminate the kids menu!

That would be the preferred option over interrogating your customers who bring you their business. They could go next door to Panera or any number of other food service places right there in your plaza.

I go to Mario's because the food is "good enough" considering the other variables of price, time, and quality. I could order a kids meal at Panera, get good quality food just as fast, pay with my app, and not have to put up with any attitude. Indeed, I wouldn't even have to talk to anyone.

Since I'm helping you, might as well suggest another alternative...don't allow take out on children's menu items. If you make this simple change, I and everyone else will know to take our business elsewhere when we need a quick meal option for our kids.

Maybe I'm just too uptight over this. I'm trying to be fair, but this really irritated me today. When the proverbial stuff is hitting the fan, I need business partners who are on my side...not ones who (intentionally or not) suggest that I might be trying to put something over on them.

Again...I like this place, but it'll be a while before...

Went with my wife this evening. We'd heard good things, so we decided to check it out. The food was okay. We're the farthest thing from pizza snobs you'll find (we like everything, including Papa Johns, Pizza Hut, frozen grocery store pizza, Burke Street, Mozzarella Fellas, Mellow Mushroom etc...), but we weren't really impressed compared to the other offering in town. It was fine, but I think we were just put off by the staff. Everyone working there seemed to act like we were inconveniencing them. I'm not looking for someone to jump with excitement when dealing with a customer, but these folks were acting like we strolled in at a minute til closing time. My every "thank you" was met with a blank stare, and I couldn't get past the feeling we were somehow a bother to them. The employees weren't really knowledgeable about the food, either. We don't eat pork, so we asked to make sure the meatballs didn't have any in them. The first two employees didn't know or seem to care. A third overheard us and had to go into the back of the kitchen to find out. Honestly, the food was decent (garlic knots lacked flavor. Plenty of oil, though...), but it was hard to get past the service. I regret putting in a tip on the receipt when I paid (why is this a thing. It makes me feel like a jerk if I don't tip, but it's the same service I get at McDonalds. Actually, they're nicer there.). We...

Very bad communication and service from the employees at Mario's Pizza, on behalf of coordinating my DoorDash order for a vegan cheese pizza. I called in to check and see if they had made the pizza with the plant-based cheese. What happened is that they basically said "yeah, we have your order listed right here", but the employee on the phone with me didn't even step up to make sure that they were making the pizza with the right cheese. If that employee couldn't leave their spot, then they should have called out to another employee to have them check on the pizza. When I got my pizza, I didn't even get a decent amount of ingredients, given that it costs an extra $2 per most ingredients on a 19" pizza. They didn't even write on the pizza box that it was a vegan pizza, or anything that would have been a sure-fire sign of getting the correct pizza. Why don't they have comparison photos on their website that shows the difference between a regular cheese pizza and a vegan cheese pizza? What if someone that wants a vegan cheese pizza is lactose intolerant and can’t afford to have someone mess up their order by giving them pizza with actual dairy on it? Good communication is essential to providing good customer service. This was a very disappointing experience for me and I don’t think that I want to order from this place again, given the risk of them putting...