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MAMA DiGrado's PASTA & PIZZA
About
- 4.3 (50 reviews)
- $$, $$$
Welcome Friends, Since November 7th, 1988, when DiGrado Food Products, Inc. was started by my wife Kim and I, people all over the world have been able to taste the special Sicilian style marinara sauce that my Great Grandmother Pauline Licatesi’s family have been enjoying for generations. My Great Grandmother brought the recipes with her in the early 1900’s when she came to America from Sicily, Italy. The Sicilian family marinara sauce has a uniquely different flavor than anything that is available in the area or perhaps anywhere (but Sicily of course). People of all ages enjoy the flavors of our authentic Sicilian family recipes. My mother said that my Grandmother, Anna Maria Licatesi DeGrado, added sugar to sweeten the sauce, but my mother liked my Great Grandmother Pauline Licatesi’s sauce better without sugar—so my mother learned to make my Great Grandmother’s sauce. My mother, Frances DeGrado Hilsabeck, (the “I” in DeGrado was changed to an “e” when our family moved to America) gave the recipes to me when I started showing an interest in cooking and the restaurant business as a teenager. Since 1974, Kim and I have over 50 years of restaurant experience at different capacities combined. We have owned and operated MAMA DiGrado’s PASTA & PIZZA™ for over 8 years with the help of our staff currently and others in the past. Our staff shows a sense of pride and great work ethic here, and are involved in school activities, sports, dance, music, continued education, and giving back to the community. Many of our staff stay with us from 14 until they move on to college or other venues. We donate to many events, fundraisers, organizations, schools, sports, and church groups in Marshalltown and the surrounding communities. Kim and I started our restaurant venture together on July 12th, 2006 in a strip Mall that seated 45 people, then on February 1st, 2008 we moved to a location that had seating for 99 people and had an opportunity to move to our current location May 1st, 2011 with seating available for at least 145 people and we may open a private party room in the future. The photos on the walls are those of family members and friends, some dating back to the early 1900’s—the photos were taken in the USA and Sicily, Italy. My mother, Frances DeGrado Hilsabeck had most of the photos stored in her cedar hope chest, and I always thought that the photos would be nice to have as decor for an authentic Italian restaurant. John Stalzer and the staff at Stalzer’s Photography have done a superior job enlarging the photos and making them as clear as possible. We feature build your own pastas since everyone enjoys different flavor combinations. We use the best spices, cheeses, sliced meats, ground beef, pasta and pizza toppings that money can buy. We make our own meatballs, dough, breadsticks, sauce and seasoning blends. We chop all of our lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers and onions fresh. We strive to offer the best service, food, prices, cleanliness, quality and value to our customers. When you order, we make everything fresh, we don’t hold food over in warmers so that you can be served quicker, because we think that can compromise flavor, texture and overall quality. We believe that we apply more ingredients to your food than anywhere else. You get your moneys worth. Please allow some time for this preparation and baking time. We do our best, as you can witness by the open kitchen concept, that your food is made as quick and accurate as possible. All of the staff works very hard to make sure that your experience is a good one. Please, by all means let us know if there is ever an issue you would like to be addressed. We appreciate the many patrons that have visited from near and far. Our family welcomes you and hopes your visit is a pleasant one. Thank You and Enjoy! Dave Hilsabeck-Great Grandson of Pauline Licatesi
| Day of the Week | Opening Hours |
|---|---|
| Monday | 11:00 - 14:00 |
| Tuesday | 11:00 - 14:00 |
| Wednesday | 11:00 - 14:00 |
| Thursday | 11:00 - 14:00 |
| Friday | 11:00 - 14:00 |
| Saturday | 11:00 - 21:00 |
| Sunday | Closed |
Cuisines
- 🍝 Italian
- 🍕 Pizza
Dining Options
- 💺 Seating
- ♿ Wheelchair Accessible
- 🥡 Takeout
- 🍽️ Table service
- 📅 Reservations
- 🍷 Serves Alcohol
- 🅿️ Parking Available
- 💳 Accepts Credit Cards
- 💳 Accepts Visa
- 💳 Accepts Mastercard
- 🍷🍺 Wine and Beer
- 💳 Accepts American Express
- 💳 Accepts Discover
- 🍱 Lunch
- 🍽️ Dinner
Accepts Credit Cards
Recommended Reviews
4.3
James Bonser
Great Italian food for a very reasonable price. Service was great, although we had to wait a little for the food but it was worth it because it was prepared fresh and serverd hot. I highly recommend it.
Patrick Cornwell
Awesome food and service.
Sara Hadley
Amazing food with amazing service! Hands down best Taco pizza on the planet!
Laurie Street
Delicious food!! The pizza is the best!! Love the sandwiches. Service is always good.
Jon Studer
Great pasta and thin pizza. The sauce is delicious. I liked how you can add up to 6 ingredients on the pasta. All this for a very reasonable price.
Sharon Stevens
Love their half chef salad. It's huge. Crispy bacon is the secret. Seems like they have plenty of wait staff. Not thrilled with the rest of the menu.
ARCHIT TRIVEDI
Food was great, had pasta and veg. Pizza, both were delicious. Gave 4 stars since I didn't like service there, it was slow and servers were not very attentive.
JASON COLBY
Reminded me of an old school Italian restaurant. We went at a non-busy hour so we could relax. Menu is pretty basic Italian food. Service was great. On a side note, I've never broken a tooth eating bread.
Justin Hartwig
Great food and great prices. I recommend the taco calzone
Shannon & Jason Wegner
Great food and friendly service!
Jenner Bate
I was a little leary about a restaurant in a mall but boy was I surprised! We were warmly greeted and seated promptly. Our server offered some great tips and did really well at explaining the different dishes.We tried the build your own pasta and loved all the variety offered. The dish was delicious and I would highly recommend! The service, and food was exceptional. We will definitely be coming back.
Barbara Vovos
Pizza came out fast and was very good!! Would go again!!
Dago Camarena-Rodriguez
I love this place because it has excellent customer service, great ambient, and very tasty food. Prices are very accesible.
Jill Lamb
The pizza, thin crust Italian sausage was delicious. It is small but spacious and has a big room in back for special occasions.
Joseph Hoagbin
I love this place! This was the first restaurant that I tried when I moved to Marshalltown. Fortunately, it was a great choice! I've been there multiple times and have never been disappointed. Also have taken visitors and they have been impressed with the service and quality of the food. If pasta is your passion, you pick your own ingredients and the sauce is made fresh while you are waiting. (Not laddled out of some big vat in the kitchen!) Better have a salad and an appetizer while you are waiting. The house salad is so crispy and fresh with multiple ingredients, not the typical Italian restaurant iceberg lettuce only salad. The pasta is excellent. And the pizza is wonderful, my favorite pizza in Marshalltown as a matter of fact. Service, as mentioned earlier, is great and very friendly. Highly recommended.
Kenneth Thomsen
Service was good and so was the food.
iampapa318
To be honest, the flavor just wasn't quite there this time. Something seemed to be missing, but I don't know what !!
Cheryl Burrows
Love the chefs salad! The best Italian food too, famous thin crust pizza
Paul Conrad
This place has great food and never disappoints !! One of if not the best places to eat in town !
N
Excellent calzones!
bobby weishaubt
Great pizza! 1st one I've ordered in years! Just got back to town.
Catherine Faber
Best Italian Food and laid back atmosphere. Simple decor, polite service and great food. Family recipes to tantalize your tastebuds.
Jo Heindselman
Best and freshest pasta bakes and sandwiches around.
Rose Lee
Great staff, great Italian food. Chicken alfredo, pizza, cheese bread.
PurryWrinkle Cattery
There pizza was pretty good. They have many options to choose from. The waitress we had seemed like she was impatient but maybe she was just having a bad day.
Deborah Harbison
Always delicious!! Everything is good here!
Michael Anderson
We are never disappointed when visiting. The food is always good, and the service is top notch. Our favorite part is the jake salad, and build your own pizza or pasta dish. Recommend it to anyone wanting a quaint place to eat, and never be disappointed.
Miles Davidson
Good food and friendly service
Jason Wegner
Good Authentic Italian Food. Great owners and staff.
Brian Hula
This is an amazing place to eat. Awesome food, friendly staff, cheap. A must stop for italian.
Matthew Dirks
WORST FOOD I EVER EATEN IN MY LIFE. STAFF IS EXTREMELY RUDE! FOOD WAS DISGUSTING. THEY CANT EVEN MAKE A CALZONE RIGHT. NOT A PLACE TO GO EVER
Kamal Machareka
Our thin crust pizza was solid like a toast! Maybe we were just unlucky?
Karen Noe
Their veggie pizza is the best!
B. S.
Wait staff less than friendly. Made us feel like we were in their way. NO DESSERTS??? Really?? 13 of us. We won't be back.
Kyle Christensen
I haven't had taco pizza in 15 years. Grabbed a large here and loved every minute of it :)
Michael Butler
Service is reasonably fast, but ordering ahead is good for a quick lunch. I like the Italian beef sandwich, can't go wrong. Paste is also good. The calzones are more like pizza tacoes as they simply fold a pizza in half once it's cooked.
harlely tucker
Don't think this place is actually Italian. A Casey's pizza and a six pack to go will be more satisfying.
Jean Jean
Did not like the sauce at all
Brian Dirks
My family and I really enjoyed the restaurant. Not authentic but still great. Pizza and breadsticks/cheese sticks were great. My kids got Chicken Alfredo, it was pretty good too. We ate there while in route to Des Moines. We will be going back.
edward moore
Excellent mushroom and pepperoni pizza!
Heath Meyer
Pizza was very good. Waitress seemed to be in a hurry for us to leave even though they weren't busy. But i would go back.
Karl Vogler
Just passing through Marshalltown on our way home and this was a great find for dinner tonight.
Sergio Flores
3 1/2 🌟 good food late on the evening and people was just coming in.
Vicky Grossman
The Food is very good.
Pam DeBruyn
I love MAMA DiGrado's! The food is always good and the staff is always nice!!
Jim Hickie
Great pizza, as always. One of the best in Iowa!
Paige Legg
Super yummy & great, fast service!
Brandon Gobble
Very rude staff saw servers roll their eyes on customers and extremely over priced for very mediocre food quality will definitely be driving past from now on when searching for pizza place
Ed Cox
Great food. Great staff. Home town favorite
Dwight Mcdonald
They need to have sweeter for your tea good food good price