Mia's

Delicious pizza with authentic Italian ingredients. Perfect stopover after a hike in Stanislaus National Forest!

wed night our first night at Long barn , we go to mias at 600 .I had heard good things about their pizza. The first problem we encounter no one seems to be in charge of taking names and seating. so there is a line about 6 groups before us I had to hunt down someone to let know we were there . we were told 30 minutes wait , yet there were empty tables outside and 2 inside So we wait 40 minutes later we are finally seated.We get the kids cheese pizza and a large half garlic chicken and half ham pinapple. and we wait and wait and wait 40 minutes to get our pizza So ive been there 2 hours when they bring the pizza My 8 yr old says I waiterd all this time for this when she sees the cheese pizza.  we ate and got the hell out. Our waitress was very sweet and continuallly kept apologizing for the wait. They need a hostess and they cant seem to keep up with their orders. The pizza was good , but we will never go back.

Ah, Summer at Pinecrest Lake. A fun relaxing time with family and friends. A break from the cares of everyday life. Swimming in the lake and stories round the campfire. Almost idyllic, except for the lack of cuisine choices. Sure the Snack Shack works for lunch, if you don't mind waiting an hour for a darn tasty burger. But where to go for a nice sit down dinner?

We thought Mia's was the place, but no--no table for you! That was our experience last year. After waiting more than 20 minutes for someone to acknowledge our existence and our hunger. Sure, I hadn't showered in a few days, it was a camping trip, but is that reason enough to keep walking by with tasty looking pizzas and not offer us a table, or add us to a waiting list? Is it right to call service bad, when really there was no service at all? A trip further downhill for pizza filled our stomachs, though left some of our party stuck to the seats.

This summer we had it all figured out. A reservation. Yes, call Mia's in advance and make a reservation! By George, we've got it. As in the classic Seinfeld episode about airport rental cars, Mia's knows how to take the reservation, they just don't know how to hold the reservation.

We arrived promptly for our 6:00pm seating and were relieved to see a table for our large party already set in the middle of the room. An indoor table as we had requested. The restaurant wasn't even crowded. Yes, we would soon dine! Even the wait to talk to a server was shorter than last year. Alas, what Mia's made up in initial speed, they lost in a very rude waitress. She directed us to the outdoor patio, explaining the indoor table was for another party reservation. Someone had mistakenly written down our reservation as outdoors.

Sure, one goes to Pinecrest for the fresh air and mountain views, but after so much outdoor time we just wanted some time indoors. To much to ask after last year? Perhaps. The unseasonably cold evening air, lack of outdoor heaters, multiple yellow jackets per member of our party, and a lack of outerwear (we made an INDOOR reservation)--this wasn't getting off to a good start.

Mia's doesn't have a single large outdoor table big enough for our party. No problem, moving two tables together would resolve the issue. Silly us, Mia's doesn't allow there table to be moved. We asked to speak to the manager. We eventually spoke to a young woman who said she was the manager. She seemed annoyed we were taking her away from her duties of ignoring the tables in her section. She could not offer us an indoor option.

It took about 20 minutes for someone to come and take our drink orders. Not too worry, the young children in our party kept busy by outrunning the yellow jackets swarming around out tables. Not wanting to wait another 20 minutes to get our dinner orders in we quickly placed both drink and dinner orders and began eating bread.

To be fair, the food at Mia's is good. Good enough to wait 1 hour and 20 minutes for a pizza? I'll leave that up to the reader to ponder and decide. The poor woman who was our waitress and took the brunt of our frustration, she seemed to be making the best of it. She confided in us that this was the worst night all year. Nice try sweetheart, but let us regal you with the tale of our Mia's experience last year.

Our plans to stiff Mia's on the tip was also thwarted, due to automatically adding in  a generous 18% gratuity for our large party. Maybe they were counting the yellow jackets as additional dinner guests. At least they made an effort to comp us the drinks. Unfortunately we only ordered a couple of sodas and mostly drank water.