Mama Gustos Pizzeria

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  I went here with my girlfriend for an afternoon early dinner. We decided to order a 14in house crust with sausage, black olives, and mushrooms. We also had an order of the cheesy breadsticks. We received the (albeit badly burnt) breadsticks after about half an hour, which was curious as we were two out of 6 total people in the restaurant. Our pizza took another 45 minutes, which to her credit, the server did profusely apologize for, stating that the cook was having a bad day.
  
  These things are entirely understandable. But the worst part was how we watched in horror as the owner, Al, yelled at and chased out a customer from the bar section. The server confided in us that "Al likes to yell a lot." I doubt any regulars would contest that.
  
  Regardless, the pizza was excellent, and well made, the cheese and toppings were generous, and we took quite a bit of it home with us. My suggestion is to skip the terrifying ambience, and simply order out.

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  Posted on 10.05.13 Ted W.

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  Solid pizza, okay service. . I get there to pick up my order and they did greet me. However, as my order was getting picked up from the back room, you could clearly detect some friction amongst the wait staff (making comments about each other, etc). Not particularly professional.

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  Posted on 09.27.13 Jason J.

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  I have to write this update since I visited again and had a completely different experience from the first.  I visited Mama Gustos with my husband, children, and my parents, who were visiting from out of town.  We went on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, around 5 in the evening.  When we arrived, we sat down at a huge long table in the middle of the restaurant.  We were immediately asked to sit somewhere else because "the owner" didn't want our small group of 6 taking up a table for 12.  However, when looking around, there was no place for our party of 6 to sit.  They took us to a side room as an alternative, but it was dark, kinda dirty and not some place I'd like to sit with my family for a nice dinner.  We then squeezed into a booth, but ended up moving when the other party of 6 left shortly after.  Our server finally came by for our drink orders.  My mom asked for a half carafe of wine, then everyone else placed their orders.  The server seemed confused, then walked away.  A few minutes later, a woman (who seemed like the bartender), came to our table to ask us what kind of white wine we wanted.  We'd specifically asked for pinot grigio and told her that's what we wanted.  We then found out that it was the "half carafe" that had confused them.  No one there knew what a "half carafe" of wine was.  Um...ok.  That seems pretty standard?  Even so, if the server didn't know what we were talking about, why didn't she just ask?  Finally we all ordered our food and it arrived (after a LONG wait..the dining room was not at all crowded).  As it turns out, my dad's chicken parmesan was not fully cooked...the chicken was very dark brown on the outside and raw on the inside.  He was grossed out, but decided not to complain.  He simply didn't eat his meal.  Since he didn't want to say anything, I can't exactly complain about it, since we didn't give the staff an opportunity to fix the mistake.  My other complaint about the visit was that someone who clearly worked in the kitchen kept going in and out of the kitchen door.  This guy was filthy dirty from head to toe.  Dirty, greasy hair...a disgustingly dirty t-shirt and nasty, dirty pants.  Really???  
  
  Anyway, we may go back for pizza, but not for a while.  There are plenty of other great pizza places around town and I'd rather not be reminded of this experience.  I'm just disappointed since my first experience was so great.

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  Posted on 09.05.13 Jane G.

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  Great food poor service. Absolutely no organization, no front of the house manager, and little to no cleaning. It's clear the department of health doesn't visit here often.

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  Posted on 07.10.13 Rich Q.

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  We had the 14" Sampler Pizza with the House Crust.  It was excellent.  Home made dough was wonderful.  When they said "sampler" they weren't kidding.  This pizza had everything on it but the kitchen sink and it was piled high.  The two of  us could only finish half so it will be supper tonight.  Mama Gustos has taken over almost this entire block and has added an Italian Deli/Grocery.  Owner and his employees are all very nice.  Only complaint:  The iced tea was so weak it was helpless.  We'll definitely be back!

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  Posted on 06.21.13 Marc M.

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  We've only ever had the pizza here and it's delicious.  The cheese is really stringy, which I like.  Yeah, the actual restaurant is a little run-down and yes, the service is rather slow, so that's why we prefer to phone in an order and pick it up to take home.

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  Posted on 05.04.13 Kristen D.

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  This review is hard to write because I USED to be a big fan of Gustos' other restaurants.  We went to his place when it was in Belleville, then again when it was Paesano's at the Barn....or whatever it was and I've even been at this location before, but quite awhile ago.  I've taken friends and family there on may occasions for the famous deep dish pizza.  So, understand, this is coming from a former happy customer.
  
  So I hadn't been there in awhile and I was driving through Lebanon around lunch time.  I decided to stop in and have lunch.  It was a Wednesday at 1pm and the place was empty.  I mean literally empty.  Not a person there.  That would immediately throw up a red flag else where.  But I sat myself and a waitress took my order.  She was friendly, no complaints with her at all. I ordered the lunch special, which was the famous pizza that I came for....including a small side salad and what was labeled as a "sweet treat".  I had no idea what a sweet treat was but I assumed it was a cookie or something. Below is my take on my meal:
  
  Small Salad - When they say small...they mean small.  It was basically a chopped head or romain lettuce, nothing bad there, but it was COVERED in shaved mushrooms.  If you're like me and don't like mushrooms at all, you're out of luck.  It's overwhelming how many mushrooms there were.  I spent more time trying to pick them off than actually eating the salad.  I eventually gave up.  It would have been nice to have known about the mushrooms ahead of time so I could have ordered something else.
  
  Salad Dressing - One word....BRUTAL.  Forget that it was clearly a pre-made, low grade, Cost Club kinda dressing...but it was a bad one at that.  I imagine it came from a gigantic tub or bucket.  Really disappointing and tasted like a mouthful of chemicals.
  
  Salad Bowl - Not often will you see the actual bowl critiqued, but this one was unusually bad.  It was an old bowl, with so much of the enamel scratched off that it was actually two different colors.  I thought it may have been just the salad bowl, but my entree plate was the same way.  It's disappointing to have your food presented in such a way that it's unappetizing before you even taste the food.  I'm guessing those plates were 20+ years old. If not, they sure looked it.
  
  PIZZA - I was excited to get to the pizza.  I ordered a slice of sausage.  That's the Go-To slice in my opinion due to the crumbled sausage, just like a Chicago-style deep dish.  When my plate arrived, I starred at it for a moment.  The waitress must have picked up my vibe because she immediately asked if something was wrong.  Being positive and wanting to give it a fair chance, I said "no", and off she went.  BUT....there was something seriously wrong!  My slice was a flat, pile of melted cheese.  It no where resembled the pizzas I was used to at Gustos.  I took my knife and fork and cut into exactly what I thought....just a giant pile of melted cheese.   And not the hot-out-of-the-oven, melted cheese.  This was more of a hot-out-of-the-microwave kind of melted.  I dug around for the thick puffy dough I remembered and what I found was a soggy dough that was literally black on the bottom.  It was, unfortunately, just inedible.  To me, it was clear that this was a piece of pizza that sat around (possibly from the night before) and they simply reheated it.  maybe throwing more cheese on top of it to cover the flaws.  It was the worst pizza experience I had ever had at a Gustos restaurant.  There's no chance I'd go back for that!
  
  Sweet Treat - Ah..the best part.  You have to hear about the Sweet Treat.  Yeah, well that consists of a small bowl of canned, diced pears and peaches...served in....you guessed it...an old dirty bowl.   It was straight out of a cafeteria line.  Gross.
  
  The Bill - So the final bill came to $7.78 and that included my iced tea.  Normally that's not a bad lunch deal, even with the tip it was a $10.  But this was SO NOT worth it.
  
  Conclusion -  When you're the only one in a restaurant at 1pm on a sunny afternoon, you have to wonder.  When you're there for over an hour and STILL the only one in there, there's gotta be a reason.  It was SO incredibly disappointing at every level.  I haven't been there in awhile, I don't remember it being this bad, maybe it slid downhill recently, I don't know, but whatever the case....unless it changes in a BIG hurry, this was my Farewell to Gustos!

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  Posted on 04.26.13 Steve D.

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  I have been wanting to check this establishment out since last fall. I was not disappointed. the wife and I went a bit over board and ordered the Sicilian Deep dish with Meatballs, Italian Sausage, Pepperoni and Mushroom. We wanted to take prisoners, (take a lot home). We were not disappointed, The crust was the best in the area, original edges were crispy like a dinner roll. The sauce was a little sweet for my taste but not over whelming, surprisingly good for sweet. By no means were they selfish with the topping either nor the Cheese.
  
  My experience with the waitress was very polite and friendly. We had to wait approximately 45 minute for our pizza but for goodness sake, the pizza was HUGE and had to cook. Well worth the wait.
  
  My only disappointment was when I eat Pizza I drink a lot of soda. You have to buy it by the can. They did provide a nice tall cup of ice, but I like the free refills of soda.
  
  Located about a block to the right heading west from Highway 50's four way in old town Lebanon gave the location a pleasant ambiances nestled in old buildings and brick road in front. But honestly the restrooms need a little work, like having two of them.
  
  My experience with this establishment is I will be back many time to come now that I have tried them.  Ranks high in best pizza in the Metro St. Louis Area.

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  Posted on 04.12.13 Harry Z.

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  Great food, building needs work (see: ripped booths), but slow service. The servers were yelling at some guy who was standing behind the counter who was making comments at them. I'd come back for the food, but someone needs to Restaurant Impossible this place.

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  Posted on 02.09.13 B K.

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  The food is really good, but takes a really long time! And sometimes the service isn't too prompt either. I would say the quality of the food is what brings me back regardless!!!

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  Posted on 10.27.12 Kristle C.

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  We had out-of-town visitors, so we figured we'd try Mama Gustos, since we had a groupon.   It's a nicely decorated space, perfect for the family gathering, really.  The service was also very good.
  
  To start, we had the breadsticks appetizer.  It was very bready and cheesy, but lacked flavor.  Some garlic salt would have helped a lot.  It was served with a bowl of butter for people trying to put on weight.   We figure out mixing the butter sauce with parmesan chees and salt made the breadsticks taste great.  
  
  We also tried the pasta sampler, Spaghetti and Meatballs, Fettucini Alredo and Lasagna.  The Fettucini had a really bad taste I couldn't put my finger on.  The lasagna was saucy and okay.  We also had a pepperoni pizza, which would have been delicious if it wasn't black on the bottom.  It came out about 40 minutes after we ordered, and the pasta didn't come until we were done eating the pizza.  The waitress said they were short staffed.
  
  We might come back again to try the pizza.  I would definitely believe the people that said they had a great pizza here, but I'm afraid we came on a bad night.   Two and a half stars.

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  Posted on 08.20.12 Tom J.

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  If you love pizza this is a great place to come to, but expect very pricey good quality food.  Also enormous portions!  The meatball sub was very good but as big as a takeout box, literally you need to eat it with a fork and knife not a normal sandwich.  The house crust is delicious, each piece of pie is equivalent to 2-3 pieces of pizza with the amount of toppings, so think about this when you order...A medium is enough for 3-4 people.

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  Posted on 01.22.12 Desiree M.

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  Giant tasty pizza that tastes amazing but feels like a brick in your belly after you eat it..  Business must be pretty good b/c  Mama Gusto took over the entire block.  A bar in one shop, an italian grocer in the next, a full restaurant in another and they round it out with a lounge that is only sometimes open.  They have really staked their claim in the town.  And I think that's a good thing.  It's a classy antique looking corner to compliment Dr. Jazz and Uncle Huffy's BBQ. Makes me proud to have lived in this little town.

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  Posted on 10.10.11 Jeff G.

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  I'm going to break the trend here and go with 4 stars instead of 5. I'm tempted to go with 3 but the pizza is VERY good. Piled high, home-made crust, well done. No skimping on the cheese here!
  
  Down side- ambiance is seriously lacking...unless you like the old style cafe flavor. Lots of wood, crowded tables, this place looks like it came from the 1940s without any remodels along the way.
  
  Value - well, this is no Little Caesar's nor is it the Pizza Hut 10 buck deal. A 14" pizza loaded (such as the supreme or veggie lovers) will set you back about $22. That is some serious jack for a medium pizza! However, as mentioned before, the pizza is very good and due to the generous amount of toppings their medium feeds about as many as someone else's large. 6 of us couldn't finish two "14 inch pizzas (with a salad).
  
  Main street on Lebanon is a tourist trap. We knew this and didn't mind. The restaurants there are unique and not chain offerings. Prices are a little high but that is OK for an occassional outing.
  
  BTW, ask to meet "Mama Gusto." You will be ....surprised....

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  Posted on 09.08.11 Bill C.

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  We gladly drive 15 miles each way for this pizza when we want REALLY GOOD pizza. There is none better in the entire St. Louis Metropolitan area.  Staff is friendly, atmosphere is antique casual.  You wait a little longer for the pizza than many shops, but then the pizza is 2+ inches high so it takes a while.  All the toppings are first rate and fresh with loads of cheese.  The pizza has to weigh 2 pounds or more.

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  Posted on 08.01.11 Mel B.

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  Great vibe. Nice staff. Awesome food. Seriously some of the best pizza I've ever had!

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  Posted on 09.27.10 Gloria A.

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