MAFIAoZA's

The brick oven pizzas are quite good and tasty, but there are several issues that detract from this place. When there is live music it is unbearably loud in the main room. The service is reliably slow, and on one occasion when we asked to be moved due to the noise, the waiter ignored our request. On another occasion the waiter knew very little about the beer selection. There are always families here, which is fun, but which also means long waits between 6-8. May want to skip the restaurant and just take out.

So I have been to Mafioza's about 4 times since moving to Birmingham.  The food is always decent, the atmosphere is VERY family friendly, and the wait staff is just ok.   My issue with this place is that the total bill is always more than I think I should spend on pizza or a salad.  I love their Pucetti salad, but come on, 15.75 for a Spinach Salad with Chicken and Goat cheese?  Especially when you add a side of kids running around the restaurant playing tag.  Plus they nickle and dime you on everything.  Once I ordered an appetizer of wings and the waitress asked if we wanted ranch or blue cheese.  The whole table was anticipating sharing the appetizer so we asked for both.  When our bill came she had actually charged us for the ranch dressing.   Seems a little bit unnecessary to me but if they make ends meet by charging $1.50 for ranch then I guess that's what has to happen.  I just wish we had been informed that it would be an additional cost.   If the price point wasn't as high as it is for a neighborhood, family pizza restaurant then I probably would be giving it more stars.  I should also note that I'm not against eating at restaurants where kids are a part of the mix, just go here expecting to have it be extremely kid friendly environment and you will enjoy yourself.  

For just about the same price, you can head down to Bettola and get a MUCH better meal from an award winning chef.

Atmosphere: pleasant enough.  There are quite a few tables near the doors, which I don't like since I don't like being blown by cold air periodically.  I was here on a Saturday night and kids galore.  It seems the kind of place you take a date in the neighborhood in this awkward junior high years of 'hey, there are people of the opposite sex!'. Also, it's in Mtn brook, so anticipate a disproportionate number of sweatervests and Northface jackets.  We were seated near the bar and it was entirely too loud to have a reasonable conversation.  I left with a headache.

Hostess and seating:  there are two benches for folks waiting to be seated an some room to stand, though when it gets crowded, those waiting are creepy on a couple of tables.  

This place is trying too hard.  The food (we ordered pizza and pasta) was pretty good, but nowhere near good enough to justify the prices placed upon it.  I was pretty pleased with the wine selection, however, and the server's ability to steer me towards something that would go well with my food selection.

I heard a lot of hype about the place before going, but it failed to achieve what was promised.