Mama 'n Papa's Pizza Grotto: A Culinary Gem in Vista, CA

so grateful i stopped here after my trip to legoland!!! this is one of the best italian restaurants i have ever been too! the chicken parm is to die for!!! the portions are amazing. i ordered the dinner special which comes with a house salad and garlic bread. the dish was so big i shared it with my boyfriend and even had extra noodles to share with my son. the pizza is very delicious as well but i would try to ask for light cheese because sometimes they do have a heavy hand which makes the pizza very greasy underneath. they were very kind and made a fresh one all over with no complaints at all!! customer service is outstanding i would recommend Sherri as your server she is awesome.

First time at Mama n Papas and it was delicious! The service was excellent. We had Capellini Pomodoro with huge pieces of fresh garlic bread and the sausage & peppers sandwich for dinner. Then we ordered a pizza to go for lunch tomorrow. The restaurant had that neighborhood Italian restaurant with all the comfort foods!

Pizza was amazing! Tons of toppings, loved the crisp crust but still had some chew to it as well. Might have found our new favorite pizza place!

The food was very good and served hot. I enjoyed the friendly service. We had a great meal and great service. We love this place. Stop in for Mother’s Day dinner. The meal was awesome food, served hot, and looked amazing. The server was very professional with a great attitude, very attentive. My wife and I just love this place it's one of Vista's hidden gems. This is a must try place to go.

Decided to stop in and get a pie. The pizza was great so cheesy. The kids enjoyed the games

FOOD: As a whole, great portion size and incredibly yummy! My family and I are absolutely obsessed with their Italian dressing!!!! STAFF: Friendly, Attentive, Patient, Informative, Helpful... all the positive things! ATMOSPHERE: Casual, Clean, Genuinely feels like you're dining with family! They provided food for 20+ for my mother in law's last birthday and she wanted to go back for this birthday! (And she's not necessarily an easy woman to please! )

First time to this place and it was a pleasant experience. I was excited when I heard the original owner was from Philly because I knew it was going to be good. I got the eggplant Parmesan and it was good, the way I like it, the spaghetti had a horrible feel in my mouth, kinda grainy and it definitely wasn’t fresh, it was probably sitting in cold water and they tried to heat it up. The gravy/sauce is excellent which you don’t find out of. My friend had the trio plate which she hardly touched and threw it out when she got home, she said the ravioli was like plastic and overall just not good. The service was pretty good even though he messed up on the trio plate and only brought out lasagna, it was corrected but took a while to get. They have one of those serving robots which is pretty stupid for a small restaurant and it’s so loud. The place is pretty clean, they do charge a fee if you use credit cards and give a discount if you use cash. I also don’t understand the game machines but I’ll be sticking with Nucci’s.

Delicious. This food here is really great, and the portions are generous. The restaurant has a very old school vibe to it when you walk through the front door. The staff was very attentive and got everyone seated right away. The whole restaurant was clean and well maintained. The antipasto salad and the meatballs are some of the best items on the menu. The meatballs are huge, and you can order them covered with cheese, same with the sausage. The Fried Zucchini appetizer is also excellent, cooked just right. The large salad is truly large, more and enough for a few people all by itself. This place can accommodate a small party of 2, all the way up to a huge family. There is lots of seating inside and no apparent outside seating. Lots of parking in the lot out front as well. It's also located very close to the train/sprinter station . If you just want to stop off for a home style dinner while you travel around North County, this is an excellent choice.