MAAAAARIO'S!

Below is a post that was forgotten about and never published. Not sure why this happened, but it did. Oh well. I hope you just read and enjoy. It was written in July 2011.

Have you ever gotten a coupon in the mail for free food? Like, no strings attached, completely free, you don't have to spend a dime, free food. It doesn't happen very often. Well, Mario's Pizza in Matthews was nice enough to send us a FREE FOOD coupon. It read:

"To acquaint you with Mario's Pizza - one of this area's best restaurants - we give you this FREE GIFT CERTIFICATE. No cost! No tie-in purchase required! No strings! No kidding!

It's good for ONE ABSOLUTELY FREE MEDIUM PIZZA with 2 TOPPINGS (up to a $15.59 value) or ONE ABSOLUTELY FREE ENTREE (up to a $16.99 value). Choose dine-in, carry-out, or delivery (limited delivery area). Please mention your Gift Certificate when ordering. This offer is for new customers only."

It was quite the deal and I was all of a sudden so happy to be a new customer in the area! So obviously, we jumped on that and checked out Mario's. We decided to try some take-out pizza first. A FREE, Italian sausage and bacon medium pizza (and then I added a side of fried pickles -healthiest meal EVER!). Two words to describe it: Awe. Some.

It was some delicious, New York style pizza. It had a tasty not-too-thick, not-too-thin crust that was complimented by fresh, authentic ingredients and toppings. And just like that, we were hooked.

Now, the great thing about Mario's is that it's much more than pizza. They have take out and delivery, and also dine-in. THEN they're connected to John's Place bar which is open 2-3 hours past Mario's closing time. Talk about convenient. Anyway, a week or so later we went back for dinner. They've got a great menu with lots of options. Tons of appetizers and plenty of specialty pizzas to choose from. They've also got stuffed and deep dish pizza, about 8-10 salad choices and lots of pasta dishes! And theeeeen there are "Specialties of the House" which include chicken dishes, veal, seafood, eggplant parmesan and wings! PLUS calzones, stromboli and subs (hot and cold). Like I said, LOTS of options.

I ended up ordering a pepperoni calzone (which was ginormous by the way) and Asha got the chicken parmesan sub. DEEEELICIOUS. My calzone lasted a couple days and made for some good lunch. I remember in elementary school when it was calzone day at lunch, we basically got hot pockets. And I thought that was awesome. My friends, this was no hot pocket. It was loaded up with some cheese and pepperoni that probably backed me up for a day or two, but my taste buds and stomach all agreed it was worth it!

Delicious food at Mario's!

Since then we've gone back to Mario's a couple times and our palates have fallen in love with their fried pickles. This is definitely a place you should visit if you're ever in the Matthews area and in the mood for pizza. Great price and even better taste! If/when you go, let me know and tell me what you think!