Mama’s Pizza & Pasta

Not just great pizza, but great italian dish options too. Try the Margarita Pizza and their Italian Dish Sampler. Their red sauces are the best around town. Heck… the best anywhere, and that’s coming from someone that’s lived in 10 places overseas and around the country in 45 years. Their friendly staff is just the icing on the cake.

Amazing service. Personal and professional. The spicy wings are crispy and very delicious but more heat would be better. The calamari is so good, as are the zucchini fires. Well, the zucchini is crazy good. Yummy mozzarella sticks. The white pizza is delicious and so are the garlic knots. My family very much enjoyed the buffalo Stromboli. I don’t like bacon so I did not have that.

I really like their pizza. I’ve only been there twice so far. But, plan on frequently visiting here for a meal. I usually get a pizza with lots of vegetables or a pizza with just pepperoni. I plan on trying some of their hoagies and salads. The place is very clean. There is a nice little dining area. The employees are great and friendly.

This place has solid food and a friendly staff. I’ve been eating here for years, and I notice that prices are going up while the amount/​size of food given is shrinking. This is a huge no-​no.

Our pepperoni pizza was just average. My opinion might be skewed by the display of large cans of pizza sauce on their counter. I was disappointed even before tasting it. What really good pizza uses canned pizza sauce? Why do they want to advertise that they are too whatever to make their own really good sauce, and by the way, check out our cans, which we piled up into a really nice pyramid display.

Horrible service! We were there on Sunday, August 30 for a Frank Sinatra cover singer and while he was quite good, the service was abysmal. The reservation was missed but they seated our party. It took 2 hours for our food to come despite several questions as to where it was. Some of the responses included «we ran out of plates», «we did not expect such a crowd and the kitchen is backed up», to an absolute ridiculous and astounding response from a hostess who we later found out was the owners daughter «well, we seated you didn’t we?»
Finally the food arrived and was mediocre, but we were so upset that it didn’t matter.
The owner did the right thing by not charging us but the experience was awful and we will never go back!

Food is very good overall. Occasionally there is a slight quality drop, which might have been at a time or two when owner/​head chef wasn’t onsite or cooking. Overall quality is good.
Significant price increase recently. Based on the fact that there is no other change to quantity of quality of food this is assumed to be related to cost increases or price adjustment in general. This is somewhat disappointing given the only slight quality shortcomings have been recent also.
Very friendly and prompt service.
Pizza, calzones, buffalo chicken salad are some highlights.
Wings are average.
Garlic knots are a little tough for my preference.

Two fantastic new dishes! My favorite has always been the chicken francaise but the new Chicken Piccata blows it away! Fresh capers, light on butter, great white wine and I get the same sauce over fettucine. Dunking the garlic knots in the extra sauce? Bonus :)

Recently visiting family in NC, they recommended I try a Mama’s pizza. Living in NY, I’ve had my fair share of great pizza. and this by far, is in my top 5 favorite pizza places of all time. Seriously, try a regular pizza and you’ll be wowed.

Great food at reasonable prices. I started going here for the pizza and later tried a couple of the dinners which were outstanding. The real secret is their sub sandwiches. I love my subs and this is the only place that uses the oven and not a microwave. Hope they expand the sub menu. Get it to go or eat in. They also have wines but I don’t drink wine.
Much, much better than the joint beside Food Lion even if I life beside it.

So while we were in NC we stopped by here to get some dinner. All the reviews sounded great and the photos looked good too. We brought a crew with us. 3 adults and 2 kids. There is not a lot of room to sit but it was good. I think they had maybe 10 – 15 tables. Not sure if they were having a great night or what but the initial greeting was not very happy.
The service was just OK. We had an issue with my friends sandwich and the waitress instead of trying to take care of the issue she just shrugged. My friend got the Italian sub. I think they make them ahead of time and then bring them out of the refrigerator. Either that or the bread was like 5 days old. It was really tough. They serve it with a small thing of Italian dressing. Lettuce and some tomatoes. Honestly it looked like something out of a convenience store. I am not trying to slam the place but I would expect a pizza joint to have a kick butt Italian sub.
I got the meat lovers calzone. It was just ok as well. There was not much flavor to the meats or the crust.
Two of our party got the pasta and again they all said it was just ok.
The food was nothing really to write too much about. It was a pizza place.

Foods always good and the staff is nice. I have used them for catering and the catering menu is also good. When I order catering for my work, it is ready on time and is reasonably priced.

I went to mamas I found out that there is new owners the new owners changed all the recipes and the food stinks original owners to own the place made me feel like I was home in New York the food was incredible and now it’s not so you guys need to go back to School learn how to cook

Love the food and pizza is BEST in the area. Girls behind counter need to tie their hair up. one was playing with her long hair at the counter near where pizza is made. That is my only complaint. Otherwise they would get 5 stars.

This place is amazing! The owner is so nice and accommodating and their food is authentic and always good. This might be the best place to find delicious gluten free pizza!

After living in NY Tri state area for over ten years with many wonderful national/​international cuisines, I had high expectations from a restaurant labeling itself with «NY style food». I was disappointed, but sympathetic to their effort.
This place is touch and go on the weekends. My family usually orders pizza (toppings are fresh and the crust is tasty) and my young daughter prefers a Stromboli. The service is usually satisfactory, but the wait time is long.

I am rounding up because I think this place may have potential. A couple things we tried were 2 star worthy while other things were 3 star worthy. It is definitely not one of those places where you can walk in, close your eyes, point to any item on the menu and expect satisfaction.
They were pretty packed on Friday night and for take out they were quoting a 35 minute wait so I actually thought that was a good sign. I was quickly reminded that I am off of Idlewild road in Matthews, heading towards Indian Trail so I may need to get my expectations in check. They were easily packed because there are only about 5 restaurants in the whole area but I was still excited to give it a try.
Anyway, here’s the deal: The girl at the counter deterred us from trying a pizza or a stromboli because she said that would nearly double our wait time and we were just looking to carry out so we went in a different direction. NOTE: The pizza’s looked awesome so that may be the route to go if we ever return.
We ordered the meatball sub, the buffalo chicken salad and a side of meatballs.
The Buffalo chicken salad was pretty much gross. The «buffalo» chicken that was smacked on top was breaded with some type of oil-​drenched breading, appeared to be plastic and the chicken itself didn’t even resemble real meat. It was disgusting in all honesty. It was slapped on top of a bed of iceberg lettuce and I don’t’ think there was anything else in the salad. I think I saw a strand or two of onions and it had some cheddar cheese along with about 4 fatty pieces of bacon. It was served with ranch dressing.
The meatballs were OK but the marinara sauce was tangy and didn’t taste homemade in my opinion. The meatballs had the right consistency but not a ton of flavor. They could have used more garlic or maybe some basil. They were definitely edible but just not amazing.
The meatball sub was everything I stated above except on a toasted hoagie. Nothing special, rather soggy (we did take it to go) and just a little above average.
Moral of the story? I would call ahead next time and I would stick to the pizza and/​or stromboli because they looked fresh and they seemed to be the most popular items on the menu. I wouldn’t stray too far from those items.

2 ½ stars. Not all bad but less than OK overall. Frankly I decided to try this place because of the talk about the new owner being a Johnson & Wales grad but …
I was in the mood to try a slice of their pizza but I got there late and the sliced pizza was old. Too bad since the crust still looked promising.
The garlic rolls looked NOTHING like the ones Rod photographed. These were undercooked, in need of butter, garlic, cheese and anything else.
1 star
The marinara wanna be that came with it had the color, consistency and taste of concentrated tomato paste nothing else– Catsup awful! Here is a hint, if nothing else marinara should be the color of tomatoes, not dark as beet juice.
0 stars
Ravioli alla Mama — cheese Ravioli with Prosciutto, mushrooms & sun dried tomatoes in pink sauce ($ 11) Ravioli soup is more like it, they were served in a bowl drowning in sauce. I couldn’t find trace of prosciutto or mushrooms either but way too generous with slices of sun dried tomatoes (it’s the only thing showing in the photo) Know what? no one wants mouthfuls of that stuff, it’s meant to be used sparingly. Aside from that I poured a little black pepper and parmesan on top and it wasn’t not all bad
2 stars
The Apple Gorgonzola salad looks nothing like in Chad’s picture either. The apple is shredded thin, loaded with iceberg lettuce, there’s hardly any gorgonzola and has way too much dry chicken on top. But it still tastes pretty good so OK
3 stars
The Bruschetta is really good, I wouldn’t expect any better from what is essentially a pizza joint.
4 stars (!)
Honestly when I left I was feeling pretty annoyed, there’s way too much b/​s in the latest 5 star reviews. Makes for highly counter-​productive way to build a business if you ask me.

Pizza — Nice Thin Crust, A-​OK Sauce — Perfect Cheese (no blend) all Mozzarella — - Onions sliced perfectly thin and the Salami had GREAT flavor and was very good reheated the next day and the next! Since this is a Pizza Place the Pizza is Carrying All four stars and the rest of the food is neither bringing my rating up nor down — It is just for my information and yours — the only reason I will not eat here again is location and options that I like better!
Spagetti with «Meat Sauce» (Meatballs chopped up with extra sauce on top). Huge portion and great value if flavor was not a factor (to me flavor is a huge factor)! This was a super thick sauce, very meaty though lacking flavor! 3 Unilocal stars.
The pasta tasted like it had just been cooked for me, perfectly firm and well drained though lacking any special flavor, so it is better than the typical noodles 3.5 stars
Garlic knots had real garlic though were a little over cooked for me, too dry and lacking flavor, they were included with the Pasta dish. 3.75 Unilocal stars
Cannoli with a shell Dipped in Chocolate the filling had GREAT Flavor Perfect the shell was not soggy though it was close, not crisp at all! may have been stuffed too early! 5 stars on the filling and 3 on the shell!

I cannot speak to whether this is an expansion of the Mamma’s in Mint Hill, or even if they are related or not. My guess is that if they are, they simply moved, since that location is no longer open, and they really are not that far apart when it comes to distance. Maybe they just like being near a Lowes Foods, and moved down the road.
Whatever the case, I can say that this particular location is pretty sweet. When you walk in, you get that smell of pizza. In no small part because as soon as you open the door, you are looking at their pies, just like if you are in New York. Marketing? Sure, but it works.
This is one of the few places that you can find slices at any time of day — not just at lunch. You can also order up plenty of pasta varieties, and even if you are not a kid, you can order from the kids menu, if you think they other selections are too large (as some have mentioned).
Though located in a strip mall, the atmosphere is just fine, the food does not suffer. The only downside is perhaps on the service when they are busy. But well worth a trip, and just off 485, it is very easy to get in and get out.
As a side note, they have a family special where you get two pies, a massive plate of pasta for a ridiculously low price. Feeding the family, or a birthday party of kids? Try it, it’s tough to beat. Also ask for some sriracha. It goes surprisingly well on pizza.