Variety: Pizza
Address: 5710 Young Street
Date Visited: Sunday, April 26, 2015
Orders: Garlies, White Pizza, Salami/Feta/Onion (hold the onion) pizza
Taste: 7 + 7 = 14/20
Portion Size: 8 + 9 = 17/20
Presentation: 8 + 8 = 16/20
Value: 8 + 8 = 16/20
Service: 6 + 7 = 14/20
Bonus: -
Minus: 2
Final Grade: 74% (Good)
(Scoring: 100% to 140% = Exceptional, 85% to 99% = Excellent, 67% to 84% = Good, 60% to 66% = Satisfactory, 50% to 59% = Marginal, 0% to 49% = Poor, -40% to -1% = Abysmal)
Notes: This place opened after we moved away from the north end, but we'd been meaning to give it a whirl. Formerly the location of a locksmith (if memory serves me correctly), the building either burned down or sustained heavy damage a few years back and re-opened as Mother's. From the outside, the place looks quite sophisticated. Walk in the door and, well, let's just say the decor is a little confusing. On one wall there are some pizza-themed board games, toys and records from the 80s/90s plus retro candy on the main counter, but then there are also some random old antique pieces of furniture (like a random dewey decimal card library filing system case, and a 1920s-style tin Coke sign), some plants in mason jars on the tables, a wacky cafeteria-style floor, and a sleek black and white tiled cooking area with a modern oven…the whole place looked like it was picked up at a flea market. Oh, and on the way to the bathroom, the old Robie Food sign adorns the wall. Throw in the theme from Shaft blasting over the stereo and you've got yourself a rather random dining experience!
T ordered some wine and it was served in the same glasses as the water. We're not kidding, she had to send it back THREE times because there was dust in the glasses (not just a little - enough that you absolutely could not miss it floating around in there - yuck!). That was pretty representative of the calibre of the service - the server never checked in after the wine incident was "resolved" and we had to wait an exceptionally long time for the bill.
As for the food, the Garlies were described in the menu as "Our take on garlic fingers." To us, that implied they were going to be a little unique. They weren't. They were good, but they were nothing special. T's salami, feta and onion (hold the onion) pizza was good but nothing spectacular, either. The genoa salami was tasty but other than that it was just an average pizza, though the crust was unusually dry. J's White Pizza was "unique" to say the least - it featured chorizo sausage, arugula, walnut, mozzarella, provolone, honey and a balsamic reduction. Sounded good and, yeah, it was good. But, we kinda assumed the arugula and balsamic reduction would be more of a garnish, but it was quite literally a whole salad on top of a pizza (see below). A little bit of a warning would have been nice, because that sucker was pretty awkward to eat.
All in all, this was an unfortunate case of a restaurant not being able to live up to its expectations. We walked in expecting something akin to Il Mercato or even Piatto and we basically ended up with something like The Italian Market - it was good, we left reasonably full, but it certainly wasn't an amazing experience.
Final Verdict: Decent pizza, wacky atmosphere.
