Mountain Mike’s is a franchise – but most pizza places are nowadays, it seems. Though MM’s appears to have dozens of locations throughout the state and a few scattered stores reaching into neighboring states, I don’t really ever remember having Mountain Mike’s particular brand of pizza pie before.
Let’s face it, it’s not one of the massive chains with corner shops on every block. And I’m not sure if they’ve had a lot of growth recently, or if there just haven’t been any MM’s in my immediate vicinity until now, or if I’m just completely blind, but there seems to be a few around now. And now that I’ve had a Mountain Mike’s pizza, I may take notice when one of the stores is quietly tucked into the strip mall where I’m buying pot holders or popsicle sticks.
Empty Mountain Mike’s in Hayward.
The location we patronized today was probably not the best, I’ll admit. This is the store in the Fairway Park Shopping Center on Mission Boulevard in Hayward. We went at 1pm, and there was no one in the vast expanse that is their dining area. It was a bit creepy. In fact, there wasn’t even anyone behind the counter for about a minute. The three of us just stood alone at the counter and scrutinized the menu until a tiny woman sauntered out from the “back” and decided to take our order. I’ll admit it, she was a bit surly. But she did take our order and she did deliver us a delicious pizza pie, so I won’t condescend too terribly much.
Boyfriend and I don’t eat meat, so dad relinquished and we got a mushroom and cheese pizza. Judging from the rest of our dining experience so far, I was not expecting much from the pizza. But it was actually very good. It was cooked perfectly – crispy but not burned – and had an appropriate amount of sauce (red), cheese, and very thinly sliced mushrooms. Something in it had a tinge of garlic which made me happy (though probably smelly) and the sauce was just a tiny bit sweet, which was refreshing and uniquely tasty.
Mushroom and cheese pizza from Mountain Mike’s – delicious.
They do have a variety of specials which include daily all-you-can-eat lunch and dinner buffets for under $7, buy one specialty pizza get one 1-topping pizza free (M-Th), half price pizzas on Tuesday, and very generous fundraiser opportunities. And this particular location certainly has the space to house large parties, though I’m not sure if the staff would be game for it. All I know is that next time I head to Mountain Mike’s, I might just call in the order and get some free delivery or pick up to avoid the aloof staff.
Yeah!! What she said!
That picture makes me want another spooky mike’s pizza……yum!