March 2012 update
We haven’t gone to Mountain Mike’s in several years. While the pizza is probably the best in town, it’s more expensive and the buffet has gotten expensive for our family of four. But last night we were sans kids, but not for long, so we headed back there for their Wednesday night buffet (now about $8.50 per person, including soda). The place and the buffet is pretty much identical as when I wrote my original review in 2006, though they have more video game machines now. Still, other families have probably concluded the buffet is not that great of a deal, as there weren’t any kids there last night.
Once again, I liked all the pizzas. I finally got to taste a bar-b-q chicken pizza, which I never had before because the concept is not that appealing, but it was surprisingly good. So was the pizza (can’t remember what toppings it had) that came with a garlic sauce. It was definitely a winner. The cinnamon dessert pizza wasn’t as good as I remembered, but it was still quite yummy. Finally, they now have mixed greens in the salad bar.
2006 Review
A few weeks ago I got a flyer from Mountain Mike’s Pizza advertising their “all you can eat” buffet Wednesday nights ($6.50, 5-8 PM), and a couple of weeks later it came to mind when I was trying to figure out what to do for dinner. Eda, our friend Arthur’s mom, was in town so we quickly arranged to meet her and the kids there. It was a good plan.
Mountain Mike is a chain, but doesn’t really look like one. It could really be your neighborhood pizzeria, and I think that’s what it strives to be for the Marina district. It has recently undergone a renovation, so the place looks clean and now there is a separate dining area towards the back. There are still a couple of video game machines to keep the kids occupied.
But the pizza is what matters and the pizza was good. All of their specialty pizzas were available – albeit not at the same time -, cut into slivers so that you can taste many of them, and all the ones we tried were very good. The all-meat was too salty for me, but I equally enjoyed the vegetarian, the pineapple chicken luau and the other types. The crust was on the thin side, the cheese was cheesy and the toppings were generous without being overwhelming. Everything tasted like good qualities (relatively speaking, of course) ingredients.
Their “dessert pizza”, a cinnamon-toast tasting pizza, was out of this world, specially as it was served very hot.
The buffet also included a salad bar. There were no fancy lettuces here (too bad, ’cause that’s the only type of salad I eat) but they had pasta salad and potato salad, as well as the fixings for your run of the mill salads. Other people seemed to enjoy them.
At $6.50 for all of this it’s a great deal – and the pizza is good enough that we will order from Mike’s next time we want pizza. Note that they don’t have free delivery, however.
Mountain Mike’s
2150 Marina Blvd.
San Leandro, Ca.
510.352.5954
http://www.mountainmikes.com/
San Leandro Restaurant Reviews
Give me a break. Do you expect to have baby spring greens at a pizza restaurant? Mountain Mike’s has been around for a while and is one of the best chain pizza places
rasied their prices & changed their crust for the worst:(
to bad, used to like this place!
I started going there for lunch in 2005 and went on a regular basis as they are conveniently located a few blocks from my office. The pizza’s were exceptionally delicious, the management very friendly and the price was reasonable. THEN they sold out, were closed for several months, new owners came in, redecorated and FINALLY reopened. As soon as I knew they were opened some colleagues and I went in for lunch. We all opted to purchase the buffet. The employee’s were cold and distant, the pizza was as flavorful as cardboard so we got up and left without finishing our meal (yes we paid). I waited about 6 months and tried again. Same results. I never have and never will go back again. Terry Payne, Foster City, CA