Ma-Fias Ristorante & Pizzeria

My husband and I went to Ma-​Fias for my birthday. Both of us have been there a few times. Other times were better visits. We walked in waited for the hostess at the hostess stand. We were greeted by a young lady who was wearing extremely short shorts almost looked like hot pants. Different. We were sat at a nice booth near the bar. The table was clean. Our server was prompt on greeting us. She took our drink order at the same time we put an order for an antipasto plate. Our drinks arrived the same time when the antipasto plate came to the table. The drinks did come from the bar so we figured it was a bartender issue. On to the Antipasto plate. There saw 3 small shavings of cheese, 4 olives, 4 slices of pepperoni, and 4 slices of spoil sour meat that was a grayish brown (which we did not touch) (also this plate was $ 18, not impressed). Now on to the main meals. I had ordered the mussels, they were fresh and not bad. Also I ordered the rice balls which were okay for the most part. My husband has the pizza he enjoyed his pizza. Opelika /​Auburn really needs a good Italian restaurant or an Italian restaurant that is consistent.

This is the best place I’ve been to so far in the auburn/​Opelika area and we have run in to a couple of gems. The atmosphere was great, a little dark, well decorated, with great music (not loud)! It was a small place– so you have to take that in to consideration if you get seated in the hall/​walkway. I had the salmon, which was wonderful! The bread was so good! It has rosemary and herbs and was fresh and delicious. Just a super nice place for a date, with a great ambiance and great food. We will definitely come here again.

The best Italian restaurant in the Auburn-​Opelika area! You really can’t go wrong with anything you order here. My favorite entrees are the Fettuccine Alfredo, Pear and Gorgonzola Ravioli, and Gnocchi Pesto. These are all made by the serving so they’re always fresh! Any of the desserts are good so if you can’t decide, it’s okay because no matter what you pick — you’ll enjoy it. Any of the appetizers are good but very filling, so beware! They always play good music, the service is excellent, and the ambiance is relaxed. One of my favorite restaurants, hands down!

Most definitely the best date spot in Auburn/​Opelika! They have real Italian cuisine, a lot of the pastas are homemade and the sauces are all on point! They also have a great bar menu, including craft beers and unique cocktails. One of my favorite cocktails is the Cosmo with white cranberry juice, yum! I always leave stuffed and satisfied in my belly and wallet! They have a great range of prices, so we can go enjoy a nice date even on a budget. The half portions of pasta are just right! I will be a loyal customer as long as they are around!

Love love love this place. My kids love there spaghetti!!! One night I ordered one of there amazing pizzas to go. And I ask the woman if she could bring it out to me because I had my two kids in the car and they where sleeping. She agreed to do so, come to find out she was the owner. She was very vibrant and joyful and made me feel welcomed, even though I was in the parking lot :) to me this is the best place to eat in the downtown area.

After a terrible experience at a restaurant down the road Ma Fia’s came through. A great meal under the stars with Rabbit Ragu, lasagne, rosemary chicken, and such.

We found this charming Italian restaurant in downtown Opelika quite by accident, but were thrilled with the pizza. A light and fresh crust with just the right amount of cheese and sauce. The server was prompt, smiling, quirky and full of lots of great fun facts about the history of the city. While we ate outside with the fans blowing and music playing, the interior design inside was retro cool. We will be back! It is well worth the drive from downtown Auburn when the college pizza places are packed.

Tonight the male manager was a total jerk to my family after losing our name on seating list. Just admit you forgot us after almost an hour. Don’t be a jerk. And for 5 people you can put two smaller tables together. I hope the owners get rid of this bad egg with no people skills. People, beware.

This place definitely deserves better reviews! One of our favorites for a nice dinner date. The pizza is good, but so are the pasta entrees. We are looking forward to trying the s’mores pizza next time! It has excellent servers and a good ambiance with reasonable prices.

Only three stars, really? This place has the best pizza in town… forget Mellow Mushroom.

Have not been here since ¹²⁄₂₀₁₁. Husband got a Ricks Old Fashion cocktail — watered down. For dinner he had a ceasar salad with chicken and it was good and he would reorder. I had the wild mushroom ravioli — it was creamy and good. Service was nice and attentive. They were out of scallops so that was disappointing.

Had a slice of pizza for lunch at ~$ 4. Not bad but not fantastic. Definitely more artisanal than great pizza. Decently crisp crust along with so-​so amounts of sauce and cheese. It comes together pretty well though. Friendly service but prices for the pizza (even at lunch) were slightly high.

Nice pasta dinner at Mafias for around $ 10. Service and food were good. I did the build your own pasta with vodka sauce and meatballs. Sauce was nice and the meatballs were light and flavorful. The pasta is not made in-​house as some have said, but I still liked it. My first experience was not so great at this restaurant due to bad service and mediocre food, but I’m more likely to return after this recent experience.

I eat here quite often and have never been disappointed. The service is always good, the food delicious, and the atmosphere quaint and cozy. The chocolate gelato is rich and creamy. The calamari is my son’s favorite dish. This restaurant feels very much like a restaurant one would find in a big, eclectic, more metropolitan city like Atlanta. I am so glad to see this restaurant in Opelika. They have outdoor seating and a family friendly environment where I can bring my small kids and not feel like we are intruding on the other guests enjoyment, even though Mafias is finer type dining.

This was our first visit to Ma-​Fias. The atmosphere was comfortably cozy. We had approx. a 45 wait which passed quickly as we sipped cocktails. Unfortunately, the martinis were not acceptable (very weak), but the bar servers did accommodate us in making them right. Our appetizers, Calamari and the Venezia pizza were excellent. The salads, Caesar and Ma Fia’s — very good. Lobster Ravioli and Chicken Piccata, very good. A very disappointing entrée was the Veal Scaloppini Marsala — veal not very tender, and the marsala wine sauce over linguini was a heavy goo. Overall — ugh! It appeared our entrees were to be served with house bake foccia/​herbed butter and veg., but none of this was served with the entrees. David, our server was very good. We’ll give it a second try, possibly.

Had an early lunch here on a Saturday. I had the Venezia individual pizza which was good but the zuchinni was a little too crunchy for my taste. My fellow diners had the Roma pizza and the meat lasagna. We were all very satisfied with the entrees — no leftovers! We also had the house and Caesar salads which were great! Bread was a little wimpy as other reviewers have noted. No complaints at all about service. Will definitely return.

I’m a huge fan of brick oven pizza, so I decided to give this place a shot on a good Friday night. I’ve worked food service a couple times before and usually a Friday night will showcase their best servers annnnnd wine selection! The wine list was decent, but the servers were DISMAL. My servers name was Matt, and (just barely to his credit) the place was very busy, but our water glasses were empty for some time before he made his way back to our outdoor table to check on us. He also didn’t know how many slices were on a medium pizza. Odd.
I got the Firenze pizza. Tomatoes, mozzarella, avocado, leeks, red onion and bacon. I nixed the leeks, light on the tomato. I was missing bacon but had waited 25 minutes for a brick oven pizza so I passed on mentioning it. The ambiance of the restaurant is fairly nice, but it’s sooo busy that poor service overshadows what could be delicious Italian food. I’ll try it again when it isn’t so busy.

You cannot go wrong with having a nice half-​order of spaghetti and delicious wine. The spaghetti and meatballs were delicious and everything was customizable. The complimentary bread was embarrassing. Two slices the size of your pinky are placed in a giant basket. I thought they were kidding.
The cozy interior makes any date a home run. The service could use some work. The employees were nice and attentive but they seemed confused about how they ended up there. Like, they literally had no sense of direction. Some walked left. Some walked right. No one seemed to know who was in charge. They wouldn’t stop walking. That was confusing to watch.

YEOW! Now, there are a few things you Alabamians should know before reading this review.
1. I was starving. ORD and ATL did not feed me well today, as I’m on a new no dairy diet, and I had only eaten a handful of vegetables and chick peas all day.
2. I am from Chicago, land of the mafia and home of the delicious Italian food that can only be rivaled by perhaps New York (where the owner is from), or maybe even Boston.
Having stated those facts, Ma Fias was great. Surprisingly great for the middle of college town nowheresville. I’m sorry ‘Bamians, but this really is small town. Well, suburb small. I had a salad with champagne vinaigrette and some bread. Delicious. The bread is a family recipe that includes rosemary, but was some of the best bread I’ve had in a long time. The dressing on my salad was so good that it made me ask for the bread, as I hadn’t planned on having any.
They make a few pastas themselves, which is always commendable for Italian places. I had fettuccine (homemade) with pesto, mushrooms and chicken with a house red wine. Everything was scrumdiddlyumptious, as Flanders would say. Now, the pesto was not out of this world but it was damned good. I had the server bring me a taste of their marinara and that was above average too.
Oh, and you broke (or not so broke) college kids? A half order of pasta is only $ 6, a glass of wine $ 5. I had a salad, pesto fettuccine with chicken and mushrooms and a glass of wine for $ 25 including tip. Go here, your parents will thank me for it. So will you, come to that.

Heard good things about this place but our experience was terrible. The food was disgusting, the sauce tasted like it was from Pizza Hut. Everything was cooked poorly. We were seated in the hall that leads to the kitchen which meant wait staff were constantly squishing by the table with trays full of food. I wouldnt recommend this place to anyone.