First Time At Mimmo's Pizza

Mimmo's Pizza is located in my hometown of Norris City, Illinois, right on Division Street. They've been open for about a year now, but I hadn't heard about them until recently. And, loving pizza like I do, it was naturally only a matter of time until I paid them a visit.

It was just before the evening dinner rush as we made our way into the cozy little restaurant. I was treating my dad out that night, so we got their early to get a good seat and enjoy the air conditioning. I'd seen their front window before, but had never been inside. And yes, I do have their delivery number memorized!

Once we were seated inside, I began to look around at the place. They had a small salad bar that I'm sure would be well-stocked during lunchtime.

The decor was nice and what you'd usually expect to find in an Italian restaurant here in the midwest of the United States. Nice, solid chairs and tables, (although our table wobbled just a little bit), and prints emblazoned with scenes of Italy, clowns and pizza chefs.

Of course the only fixture in the place I was really interested in, was the pizza oven; which I could see through the window behind the front counter. The guy rolling the dough and making the pizzas was smooth in his work and knew exactly what he was doing. I've made lots of pizzas in my days and even worked at a couple pizza parlors, so I can recognize experience when I see it.

Soon the waitress brought our orders. My father had ordered the spaghetti and meatballs, but I wanted pizza. (What else!?) So, she placed the hot pan on the table first and then brought out his spaghetti. I noticed it had some large meatballs and looked very tasty. I ordered a thin crust sausage and mushroom pizza, so I only had eyes for the pie.

Here are a couple of luscious-looking slices on my plate. They're not the first slices I took, I forgot to get a picture of those, but these are some right after I'd had a few pieces and burned the roof of my mouth. That always happens because I can't wait for it to cool properly. When the waitress had first taken our order I found out that Mimmo's only served Pepsi products. What's up with that? It seems like every pizza parlor always has Pepsi instead of Coca Cola, which is my favorite cola. It must be a conspiracy. I don't know, maybe I'll have to contact the F.B.I. to look into it. I'm certain they'll get right on it.
Now, I don't go out to eat that often, (you'd hardly know that if you're a regular reader of Photo Journey and have seen all the other restaurant critiques I've posted), so I had the brilliant idea to order a bigger pizza so that there would be some left to take home and snack on later or tomorrow. The large pizza was $10 something, but they had three larger sizes as well. The largest one, a 20" pie was only $3 more, so I figured it was a good deal. 20" was written in the same font as all the other sizes, so it didn't mean that much to me. All I was thinking was that I was about to have pizza.
Well, when the waitress laid it down on our table, I looked at it and it was huge! It took up nearly half of the tabletop! I don't think I've seen a pizza this big in 30 years:

I started eating and it was aromatic and very tasty. I can highly recommend Mimmo's if you're in the mood for pizza, pasta or subs. They offer all three. But, you know what I'll be having next time. Count on it. We finished eating about the time the place started filling up with the evening dinner crowd. We saw several people we knew, so it must be quite the popular place already. I hope everybody keeps going there and that they do a lot of local business. That will insure that Mimmo's will stay open for a long time to come. Seeing as how I live only four blocks from them, I'm sure I'll be calling their delivery service soon. We boxed up our leftovers and walked outside. Of course, I had to take one last look before saying goodbye. Be sure to look for this sign if you're ever through these parts:

One great thing about going out for pizza is that there is usually some left to box up and take home for later. Seeing as how I had ordered Pizza-zilla, there was plenty left. So, I'll be eating on this baby for awhile. One of the greatest sights mankind can ever know: