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Mamma Lucia, Strip-Mall Italian Food - Pizza and Pasta in Numerous Maryland locations


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Not much comment here on the Silver Spring store. I've been to Bethesda, Rockville, and Silver Spring, and while the Rockville store MAY be a little better, they all seem to me to be more or less about the same--and that's not a bad thing. The pizza is good (not great, but reliably good) at all locations. The pasta (and other basic red sauce stuff, like chicken parm) seems to me to be just OK. Salads and, especially, bread, are not up to that level. These are clearly the recipients of little, if any, attention. A shame, but overall this is a solid, if unspectacular, neighborhood type red sauce joint. The Silver Spring store is very convenient, with ample parking steps from the front door, and the pizza by the slice offers unmatched variety of choices--a great lunch option.

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Not much comment here on the Silver Spring store. I've been to Bethesda, Rockville, and Silver Spring, and while the Rockville store MAY be a little better, they all seem to me to be more or less about the same--and that's not a bad thing. The pizza is good (not great, but reliably good) at all locations. The pasta (and other basic red sauce stuff, like chicken parm) seems to me to be just OK. Salads and, especially, bread, are not up to that level. These are clearly the recipients of little, if any, attention. A shame, but overall this is a solid, if unspectacular, neighborhood type red sauce joint. The Silver Spring store is very convenient, with ample parking steps from the front door, and the pizza by the slice offers unmatched variety of choices--a great lunch option.

Salads and bread suck - no argument there. But I've had some very good red-sauce meals at the Rockville location. You can read back in the topic for my stupendously bad red-sauce experiences at the Bethesda and Gaithersburg locations.

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Lunch at the Federal Plaza location today again proved to me that there is no better place in the Metro DC area to get a real NY-style pie. Slices or takeout will diminish the experience greatly, but if you eat a ("well-done") pie hot out of the oven, you can close your eyes and imagine being in a local joint in Brooklyn.

We had a sausage pie and a white with ricotta, and it was hard to choose the better of the two.

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Lunch at the Federal Plaza location today again proved to me that there is no better place in the Metro DC area to get a real NY-style pie. Slices or takeout will diminish the experience greatly, but if you eat a ("well-done") pie hot out of the oven, you can close your eyes and imagine being in a local joint in Brooklyn.

We had a sausage pie and a white with ricotta, and it was hard to choose the better of the two.

One Tuesday's you can get one of each (Buy one get one for 2.99 night). This has been my standing Tuesday night dinner since I have to do hebrew school pickup around the corner
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One Tuesday's you can get one of each (Buy one get one for 2.99 night). This has been my standing Tuesday night dinner since I have to do hebrew school pickup around the corner

Yes, but that deal is only good for takeout. I maintain that takeout greatly diminishes the quality of these pies.

We partake of the Tuesday deal probably once a month, and if I manage to get there before my pies are out of the oven, when they hand me the boxes, I will immediately eat the first slice before they have time to sit in the box and steam.

I will also do my annual reminder to the board that this is the only location I will swear by - the others maintain only a tenuous connection to the original owners who still operate the Federal Plaza store.

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Do they cook the pizza on the oven? I have yet to try Federal Plaza but my go to Pizza is Giuseppe's in Rockville. And I grew up in Brooklyn!!

Giuseppi's is my second favorite. Crust is a touch too thick for my preference, and they make the mortal sin of trying to cut a large pie into 12, rather than 8, slices.

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Dinner for four tonight was a big success. Waited about 15 minutes for a table when we showed up at 7pm without a reservation, but it was a pleasant wait standing in front of the open kitchen watching the cooks share their time between the range and the Saints game on the flatscreen.

Very simple orders. 2 kids penne, and neither kid finished the plate (we had my daughter and a friend of hers, not the 12-year-old, so as not to confuse those of you who know that my son would hoover an adult portion, not leave leftovers from a kids portion.) My wife had her usual, the Salmon Rose, and I went with a simple Fettucini Bolognese. We both upgraded the green salads to "greek" salads, which basically added a mound of ok feta cheese. We finished the salads and only half our pastas before giving up.

So, dinner for 4 including soft drinks, tax, tip, and leftovers enough for lunch the next day was $65. This is not fancy in any way, just down-home NY-style red-sauce Italian, but I still haven't found a better meal in this style in the area.

P.S. The bread is still pretty weak, and soggy if you don't get it right when it comes out of the oven.

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OK, so Mama Lucia's is technically a local chain, but the original location (Federal Plaza, 2 blocks from Matchbox) is the only one controlled by the original owners, the only location worth going to, and serves up probably the best NY-style pie in the area.

Good to know!

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I haven't been since I moved a few years ago, but I always enjoyed takeout from Mamma Lucia in College Park - don't know how it compares to the owner controlled branch, but worth a try for those in the area.

Never been to that location, but consistently BAD experiences at Olney, Gaithersburg, and Bethesda have caused me to write off the whole bunch except for Rockville.

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Never been to that location, but consistently BAD experiences at Olney, Gaithersburg, and Bethesda have caused me to write off the whole bunch except for Rockville.

They had a location in Fairfax City which closed a few months ago, even though it seemed busy.

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The one in Fair City Mall is still open, right?

(Also, the website implies that the Virginia location(s?) is under different ownership, although Fair City is not much more than a kiosk. Genuinely bad, too.)

The Virginia Mamma Lucia's is different from the Maryland chain. Their Ffx city downtown location closed earlier this year, but the Fair city Mall location is still open. We like their pizza when we're going for "regular" (not Neopolitan) pizza.

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I'm not sure that any of the locations except Reston were actually related to the MD mini-chain. Specifically, I think the one inside Fair City is Mama Lucia (missing the extra m in Mamma) and is only coincidentally similarly named.

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I guess this website is about opinions, so I will state mine as well.  It has always been my opinion that Mamma Lucia is an upgraded/updated version of American Italian food.  It is exactly what it should be.  Consistent, good (not great), good friendly service, and well priced.  Sometimes you don't want or desire haute cuisine.  Sometimes you want comfort.  Mamma Lucia has always delivered for me--from the original location on Rockville Pike in the 90's, to Falls Grove, Olney, Silver Spring, Bethesda, and College Park (yes, I have dined at all).  I am not condoning the alleged behavior of the owner, but judging based upon my dinning experience.

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On 7/1/2015 at 1:39 PM, DanielK said:

Repeating my earlier posts in the thread, we still go to the Rockville Pike location regularly for pizza. Still one of the best NY-style pies in the DC area.

I agree!

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2 hours ago, DanielK said:

That is NOT the good Mamma Lucia location - the good one is in Federal Plaza on Rockville Pike.

Federal Plaza is the original which has been there for over 20 years now (I used to go there in high school, which was across the street  and I just had my 20 year high school reunion!)

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3 hours ago, pras said:

Federal Plaza is the original which has been there for over 20 years now (I used to go there in high school, which was across the street  and I just had my 20 year high school reunion!)

There's a long story that I don't know all of about how the original guy partnered with someone else to open the other locations. They apparently had some kind of falling out at one point, and for a while the menu at Federal Plaza was different than the other places. A few years ago, they seem to have reconciled, but I haven't tested the other locations recently to see if they are any good.

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14 hours ago, DanielK said:

There's a long story that I don't know all of about how the original guy partnered with someone else to open the other locations. They apparently had some kind of falling out at one point, and for a while the menu at Federal Plaza was different than the other places. A few years ago, they seem to have reconciled, but I haven't tested the other locations recently to see if they are any good.

Took the kids to Bethesda location a couple of months ago. The good: pizza still decent NY style. The bad: shabby (booth seats were torn and duct taped), floor was dirty, salads were just OK. 

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