When I first moved to Bloomington years ago I was surprised that the town did not have a Little…read moreCaesar's Pizza. Locals told me that it was because the local pizza places, especially Mother Bear's, are so popular, that college students would go there instead of getting cheap, mid pizza. I have now been to Mother Bear's three or four times and really wish that there was a Little Caesar's Pizza in town.
This most recent trip was during lunchtime and I ordered a cheese slice, a small house salad, and a drink. I fortunately got there early enough to get a clean table, though I saw probably fifteen to twenty people come in after me who were not so lucky. Following the sign at the door, instructing them to "Please Seat Yourselves," I heard several people ask out loud how they were supposed to do that if there were no clean tables. Some employees frantically cleaned a few tables and had them sit down.
A few minutes after I ordered, the waitress brought the house salad. It looked fresh at first but the more I ate the more I realized that several of the romaine pieces were either clearly out of date or simply bad. In a moment when cyclospora is running rampant through the US, the lack of care in selecting the lettuce was worrying. Several moments later I began wondering if the cheese slice was going to be brought to my table soon. Instead, it was probably twenty minutes between getting the salad and the cheese slice and it was pretty obvious (see the photo) that the slice had been sitting under a heat lamp for around that same amount of time. The crust was dry, the cheese had become stale and too salty, and it was not a very enjoyable experience. Eating around the bad lettuce was, unfortunately, more enjoyable, and it was also better than the pizzas I've had here in the past, where the dough, toppings, and cheese aren't integrated in a way that blends their flavors together very well. The one thing I can say about this time is that the Dr. Pepper was fine, which is not something I can always say about restaurant sodas.
I think for me this will probably be my last time going to Mother Bear's. It seems like one of those places that probably was good at some point in the past but now they rely on the fact that undergrads and locals will go to the restaurant no matter what. I'll probably just keep dreaming of eating Little Caesar's instead or, more likely, I'll just go get better pizza at Osteria Rago.