Restaurant Review: Mario's Pizza in Binghamton, NY

In the Southern Tier in New York, there are a multitude of pizza places, which students and townspeople visit. The city of Binghamton is known for their Nirchi's chain of restaurants which feature small square pizza with little dough, little cheese and lots of grease. So, when a pizza place comes along that makes New York City style pizza where I'm originally from, its something out of the ordinary that comes close to replicating my hometown. Because of the relatively large student body size of Binghamton University, most of the students are from Long Island or New York City. That's why Mario's pizza has become one of most popular pizza places for students in Binghamton.

Mario's pizza is located in the University Plaza shopping center off of Vestal Parkway. A few years ago that same shopping center was nothing more than a bunch of dead end stores and empty land. Now, thanks to the University Plaza housing complex, which opened containing housing for approximately 600-800 students, stores have opened up all around that housing complex to make it a thriving area in Binghamton, NY. One of those stores is Mario's Pizza.

Mario's pizza is located around the corner from the main University Plaza office and around the corner from Tully's restaurant. The pizza at Mario's is fresh and triangular in shape. They have great garlic knots and their pasta is pretty good as well. They have your typical pasta dishes sold at pizza places like spaghetti and meatballs or baked ziti. However, what Mario's is also really good at is making sub sandwiches. They pile on deli meat onto their sandwiches and put them on long hero rolls that are a foot long.

Since Mario's Pizza is located in the University Plaza complex, there is plenty of parking available. However, you might have to walk a little bit to get from your parking space to the restaurant since students use the parking space.

The restaurant has plenty of seating, including two televisions, which usually feature sporting events. Another nice feature about Mario's pizza is that you can sit and wait for your food to be brought to you. The only downside to Mario's pizza is that the prices for food can be rather expensive. While the food is good, a slice of pizza can cost $2.15, which is way above average, even in a bad economy. Most other pizza places will charge you $4 for 2 slices of pizza and a coke.

Still, if you are looking for New York City style pizza, Mario's is definitely one of the places to get good quality pizza in Binghamton, NY.