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Mother's Pizza
#1
Mother's Pizza
4391 King Street East, Kitchener

[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Mother's_Pizza_Logo.jpg[/img]
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#2
Mother’s Pizza comes back to Kitchener
February 21, 2014 | Rose Simone | The Record | Link
Quote:KITCHENER — Back in the 1970s, if a family wanted to eat out, the "go-to" place that came to mind was Mother's Pizza.

Done in 1930s boarding-house style, with Tiffany lamps, gingham table cloths, pizzas like the Hula Hula and a variety of other foods, it was a treat for the kids.

But by the end of 1989, the restaurants, including five in Waterloo Region, were closing. The chain of 120 restaurants was saddled with huge debt and went bankrupt. Soon after, all that was left of Mother's Pizza were memories.

Brian Alger and Geeve Sandhu, both from the Hamilton area, are among those who have fond memories of the restaurants. In fact, Alger has an old photograph of himself as a child celebrating a birthday with his parents at Mother's Pizza.

Now Alger and Sandhu have something better — they are reviving Mother's Pizza.

Last year, they opened a Mother's Pizza in Hamilton, the birthplace of the original chain. This spring, they plan to open a second restaurant at 4391 King St. E. in Kitchener, in the former Kelsey's restaurant near Sportsworld Drive. It will employ 60 to 70 people when it opens, probably at the end of April.

"Of all the markets, we were getting the most number of requests from the Kitchener-Waterloo area," Alger said.

Alger is known for reviving The Pop Shoppe brand in North America. He bought the trademarks for Mother's Pizza in 2008. When he decided to revive the brand, he teamed up with Sandhu, a food business veteran whose resume includes ownership of his own pubs and managing Jack Astor's Bar & Grill restaurants in southern Ontario.

Alger said the new Mother's Pizza will retain many of the original touches, including the signage, Tiffany lamps, checkered tablecloths and large glass mugs. The two men are collecting nostalgic items from the old Mother's Pizza to display. But they plan to do it with a contemporary twist.

Most of all, the intent is to bring back "great food, great service and great value," Alger said. "With a brand resurrection, you get that initial bump, but if you aren't doing things correctly, you are not going to get them coming back," he said. "I really take this seriously. I feel that I am the custodian of a really great brand, and I want to put it back to where it is deserves to be."

Sandhu said the original chain failed partly because new owners started shipping in food instead of making it fresh. The new Mother's Pizza will go back to making everything in-house, he said.

There is more competition in the restaurant business now than there was in the 1970s. But Alger said that if the new Mother's Pizza is done properly, it can be successful. There were lineups out the door when Mother's reopened in Hamilton last year.

Sandhu said Mother's Pizza fills a gap. "Over the last 10 to 15 years, a lot of restaurants have moved out of the family segment and into the upper casual dining segment," he said. "We think there is a massive gap that needs to be filled for quality food and great value and where a family of four can dine for a reasonable amount of money."
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#3
Anyone been here yet? I've heard it's really good, but also a bit pricey and sometimes a long wait. Worth it?
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#4
I was there a couple of weekends ago for lunch. It was good. The service was quick. I had the cream of mushroom soup which was spectacular and a veggie pizza which was alright. The thing was it wasn't greasy at all. You go to Pizza Hut and your shoes are greasy when you leave, perhaps that says something about the quality of the food, but pizza isn't a health food so who knows what I am blabbering on about...

I have never been to Mother's before so I have no nostalgic love comparison.

They played a Laurel and Hardy movie over and over and over when I was in there. They were both dressed like sailors, the movie wasn't that exciting.
_____________________________________
I used to be the mayor of sim city. I know what I am talking about.
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#5
Spokes! You beat me to the punch! I drove past Mothers this morning on my way to work and I thought to myself, I gotta post about that place.

I remember when Mothers was located at the current Chainsaw bar in Waterloo! (please correct me if I'm wrong but that's what I always think when I see Chainsaw).
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#6
Been there twice already and both times we got Mrs. Maloney’s pizza, and both times were excellent. The first time we were there it was about a 40 minute wait to sit.
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#7
We get takeout religiously. Expensive, but definitely worth it.
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#8
What criteria are we going to use for opening new threads in the "Food, Dining and Nightlife" section of the forum. My preference would be to place all posts concerning individual restaurants in a single thread, rather than opening a new thread for individual restaurants. I question whether Mother's merits a thread of its own.

Or do people actually prefer that each restaurant have a thread of its own?
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#9
I think all restaurants, etc should have their own thread.
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#10
panamaniac Wrote:What criteria are we going to use for opening new threads in the "Food, Dining and Nightlife" section of the forum. My preference would be to place all posts concerning individual restaurants in a single thread, rather than opening a new thread for individual restaurants. I question whether Mother's merits a thread of its own.

Or do people actually prefer that each restaurant have a thread of its own?

I would tend to agree with jgsz. I think from an organizational standpoint, restaurants having their own thread can help. That being said, the general food and dining thread is great too and discussion can start there and if need be if it grows big enough it can be shifted to it's own thread.
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#11
Is it true that Mother's only has a handful of pizza options aside from just making your own?
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#12
Spokes Wrote:I would tend to agree with jgsz. I think from an organizational standpoint, restaurants having their own thread can help. That being said, the general food and dining thread is great too and discussion can start there and if need be if it grows big enough it can be shifted to it's own thread.

I would agree - it would be easier to have a thread for each Restaurant - would also make it easier to look up "reviews" or specials for a particular restaurant instead of scrolling through a potentially huge generic restaurant thread.
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#13
Spokes Wrote:Is it true that Mother's only has a handful of pizza options aside from just making your own?

As I recall, they have four signature pizzas and four signature panzerottis as well as the build your own. For about a month after they opened they had the Carl Zehr pizza as well. I don't remember what was on it, but it was good.
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#14
Went to Mother's yesterday.    Great food once it arrived.   That was the only issue that from the time we ordered to the delivery of the food was a little long.    I went in around 4:30 pm and got out at 6pm.    Probably about a half hour wait for the food.    Also took the waitress a little while to come to our table.  She apologized and mentioned that she was at a  kitchen meeting.   

The waitress asked if we had been there before and we said yes.   Then she asked this century or the last.   I said both.    Yep I was born in that last century just call me Yoda.  
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