Mama Sid’s Pizza

The best pizza in town better than Johnny’s New York pizza and little Italy and possibly better than peppino’s?

The last time I was here was in 1993, so I don’t recall much of that visit. Now I have a newfound appreciation for Mama Sid’s.
My initial reaction was less than stellar. There were no other customers, and about half of a pizza on the buffet. As soon as we arrived, however, the staff moved into position and immediately took our order. We had come for the buffet, and they made the pizza specially for us.
The pizza itself was exemplary. It was some of the best pizzeria pizza I’ve had in a very long time, especially with the wide variety of choices available.
All in all, fans of pizzeria style pizza, a classic atmosphere, or stellar service will enjoy this restaurant.

Very good pizza! They even have a lunch buffet for a reasonable price. I would definitely recommend this place if you like pizza topped with flavor. Just a heads up, the pizza joint is a whole in a wall, but the pizza there makes up for it!

Mama Sids is a no frills, no gimmicks, no fancy décor, straight up old school pizzeria. It is the oldest in town. It has survived for thirty years now on its pizza alone. If you want great pizza, for a great price. This place is for you. If you insist on paying alot for pizza, there are many hipster places in this town where you can overpay for less quality than Mama Sids. You can’t go wrong here, great pizza is what you want, then great pizza is what you get, period.

I read all of the reviews and was looking very forward to trying this place so we made the drive over to Athens. It was pretty cool seeing the side of town I lived on before I graduated UGA and how it had grown. We normally only get over to the Epps Bridge area so I had not seen the Barnett Shoals side of town in a long, long time.
After arriving at Mama Sid’s, the experience could not have been more disappointing. It is supposed to be a pizza buffet. When we arrived during prime lunch time on a SATURDAY afternoon (12:30 pm), there was only one other party. It was one large booth of college kids. I counted eight of them. There was no pizza on this buffet when I looked at it. Literally nothing but one dirty pan sitting on there. After about ten minutes of having NOTHING on the bar, they brought out one buffalo chicken pizza and one with that was some other style. The 8 college kids got up and took every single slice of both pizzas within 30 seconds. So we waited about 10 minutes. They bring out another one and basically the same thing happened. Instead of girls always feeling they have to go to the bathroom together, apparently these 8 kids (6 dudes and 2 chicks) all felt they could not do the buffet bar alone. Now, this is not their fault that the place was not keeping the buffet stocked. However, it was definitely inconsiderate that they did not even think about the fact that another family who had not had anything was there now and they still gobbled it ALL up.
So round 3 comes. Luckily the college table patrons were getting full. I have a feeling that what I considered round 3 since I was there, was probably round 4 or 5 for the kids. Anyhow, concerning round 3, the problem is another family had just sat down. Basically, they call this a buffet but they cannot keep up with more than 5 – 6 people at a time. I hate to sound ugly, but the 2 pizza slingers back in the kitchen were working at a sloth’s pace at best.
The little bit of pizza we did get to sample was actually pretty decent. I would have given the pizza alone 4 stars. But the fact they cannot even keep up with more than 8 people is pretty darn pathetic. There was never more than the equivalent of an entire pizza put on the bar. I have never seen anything quite like it.
Now, let’s talk about service. I believe I have only stiffed (not tipped) a waiter or waitress like 3 times in my entire life. You have to be extremely pathetic for me to do that. Well guess what… this guy made the «stiff cut». Did not leave the dude a dime and I usually tip 20% on mediocre service. He was a big dull dud. You could tell he was just miserable being there and had no desire to serve anyone. Also moving at a sloth’s pace I might add. I had to get up and go to the counter to track him down for refills. I do not think he said one single word the entire time other than if you asked him a direct question. Not sure why management would even employ him in this capacity. He would be much better not being on the front lines of service.
How this place has survived since 1983 is beyond me. I guess I could see it being an ok place for take out. Although I am sure from the time you phoned in your order till the time they made it and it came out of the oven would be like 45 minutes or more if they were not busy.
Other noteworthy things: the bathroom reminded me of an outhouse. It was clearly grandfathered in and does not have to be up to code, because a physically challenged and/​or elderly person would likely not be able to get into it. The step up to get to the bathroom was about a 15″ inches or more high. Pretty pathetic. You have been open, assuming the location has not changed since 1983, for 32 years and you could not have fixed it by now? I know Athens is a college town and all, and I graduated from UGA myself, but you must expect more than just college students are going to patronize your place.
At any rate, the experience was so bad that I probably would not go back even if the owner reached out to me and offered me to come back with everything being on the house. Absolutely terrible overall experience.
If you like pizza «buffets» with hardly any pizza on them, the slowest and worst service you have ever had in your life, and have PLENTY of time on your hands, then you should most definitely hit up this place ASAP. Otherwise, you will be much better off going to Cici’s. Their pizza will not taste quite as good, but it will be available in many options and replenished in a timely fashion with people who actually hustle to take care of the customer.

As you can see, I don’t review many restaurants. But I couldn’t go another minute w/​o reviewing this place. We arrived at 12:15 on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2015. This so called «Buffet» had 2, yes 2 pizza pans and they were empty. Nothing was on the buffet whatsoever. The waiter came and we asked if they were bringing some food out and he lazily said yeah as he was walking away. We sat for 15 minutes and the only pizza they brought out was a Buffalo style pizza which me nor my son would like. We asked the pizza cook when a regular pizza w/​cheese or pepperoni would be coming out. His answer was «soon» as he was walking away. This staff was terrible. Didn’t care that the customers were upset and hungry. Didn’t offer any apologies or even act like this was anything new for them.
The pizza, when it finally came out, was pretty good and if I were to just give a review on that, it would be about 4 stars. The bread knots that finally came out after we were there for over 30 minutes were just okay. Nothing that would have me craving to go back for.
I will NEVER return to this restaurant. The lack of care in the staff was so terrible and shocking that I will not support it at all. The owners were not there and I’m sure if they knew how this staff was representing their business they would be embarrassed.

Without a doubt the best pizza in town. There are a lot of places that say they are selling pizza but it’s in name only.
There are a lot of «chain» joints in town but they don’t make real pizza. Mama Sid’s takes all the prizes.

Don’t be fooled by other reviews! DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME AND MONEY HERE!!! The food is ok, and I admit it is better somewhat than Cici’s. HOWEVER, there is hardly any food available! I was there for over an hour. The only pizza on the buffet other than the one pizza I requested they make was four slices of various old pizzas. I am not exaggerating!!! The people were nice, but this was hardly a buffet. There is no dessert pizza. There are no salads. There is no pasta. There are no choices AT ALL. The atmosphere sucked. It was dirty. There were no locks on the bathroom doors or mirrors. The place was falling apart and desolate. I WOULD NEVER GO BACK AGAIN. Seriously. Heed my warning.

Great pizza! Friendly staff! Retro feel! They makes custom buffet pizza on request and only 5.00 for students. I am always full when i leave here.

I gotta say I’m glad this place is here. Every area needs some local pizza and this definitely fits the bill. Solid pizza. Solid staff. Solid experience :)

Unlimited pizza buffet for cheap is hard to beat, but when they take requests for custom pizzas it gets so much better! Of recommend this to anyone!

Good pizza, go for the buffet.

If you need pizza that satisfies and doesn’t break the bank, Mama Sid’s has got you covered.

Good pizza, kids loved it. They kept the all you can eat bar full. Loved the garlic rolls!

Awesome pizza, especially microwaved the day after. Recommend the Buffalo chicken especially.

There were roaches on the table!!! And bad pizza!

I’ve lived in Athens for most of my life but had never been to Mama Sids until last night. It was one of a few restaurants open on the Eastside in all the snow/​ice so we dropped in. The place was pretty packed with only one waitress on staff that I could see. We had to seat ourselves and stand there holding the baby while we waited for the waitress to come and offer us a high chair (which she didn’t — we had to ask her twice). Once we were finally seated she took another 20 minutes to inquire what we’d like to drink. We ordered off the menu and I ordered my son a slice of cheese pizza. The waitress told us we could get that ourselves from off the buffet. When we went to the buffet there was no cheese pizza there, only meat options. We waited and waited and waited a good half hour before our waitress reappeared and asked her again for the cheese pizza, and our appetizers. She never came back. Finally we went up to the buffet and got a piece of spinach pizza for my son even though that was not what we wanted. It was overcooked and not very good. Finally the waitress came back to ask us if we’d like refills and we asked again about our appetizers and salads. She walked off and didn’t come back. After about 15 minutes we were fed up. We’d been there nearly an hour and had no refills, no appetizers, and when my husband walked up to the front he saw that the cooks were only just now putting our appetizer in the oven. We paid for our drinks and left. When he explained the bad service to the waitress she just shrugged as if she wasn’t bothered. I think she was angry that we ordered off the menu and didn’t just go to the buffet (which had almost no vegetarian options at all). She didn’t even bother to apologize for the bad service.
I was speaking to another friend who’d recently eaten there and they said they had also left the restaurant after about half an hour with no drinks — she said they were completely ignored the entire time that they sat their waiting. Terrible, terrible way to run a business. If the waitress is overbooked, then hire two waitresses. There were enough customers to warrant it.
I’m very disappointed. Been meaning to try this restaurant for many years as it’s been here a long time and I like to support local non-​chain businesses. But I won’t be back. Awful service and the bite of food I got to try was not good.

The pizza is great but… the service seems totally lackluster. The bar is really small so their is only about 4 – 5 pizzas out at a time. Seems like you have to pull teeth to get more than 2 refills. No good desert pizzas and no BBQ pizza are 2 major downers.

Mama Sid’s is THE place to go for pizza in Athens! Do not delay, get there right away.
Mama Sid’s is the home of the $ 5 student pizza buffet (slightly more for non-​students), $ 1 soda and $ 1 side salad. Pitchers of beer are a bargain and the atmosphere is the friendliest in Athens. Let me emphasis that the pizza here is absolutely delicious. Many pizza buffets have cruddy crust or cheap toppings, but the quality here is worthy of buying to bring home for the family, which you can also do. They also offer calzones, large salads, and a menu of other options. If you order the buffet they will gladly put up a pizza on request; we always get a white pizza with feta, mushroom and onion. They’re fantastic about refilling sodas promptly, I might add.
We love this place the most because of the wonderful people who work there. They know us when we come in and start our pizza right away. Dwayne, Dana, and everyone else is great. Mama Sid is often there, and the place is extremely child-​friendly (her grandkids are regulars). We bring card games and enjoy the big booths. This is also a great place for groups, and when you need to eat and run. Long live Mama Sid’s!
Oh yes, the potties are clean and pleasant single seaters. I marked that the place is not handicapped friendly because there is a single low step to get in the door, and a single moderate step from the main floor to the hall where the restrooms are located, as the strip mall is built on a slight hill. If you can navigate these single steps then you’ll be fine getting around the dining area. Tables are available down the center and the aisles are easy to navigate.
So — quit reading this and get to Mama Sid’s, or call to order some carry out. If you see us there playing a game, feel free to scoot into our booth and join in!

Good local pizza restaurant with a good feel to it.
I have only tried the pizza buffet and prefer it over cici’s buffet. Sometimes you have to wait on pizza to be made, but its a small shop. Definitely try their grease balls, they are great.
Dont forget to order some dessert pizza also. Great food for the price.