Mabe’s Pizza

I came to visit Decorah and heard of Mabes as a must visit from everyone in town needless to say it was a bit of a let down.
I ordered a typical 12 inch pizza it was OK the pizza wasn’t horrible it was very ok. The service was pretty horrible servers seemed «slow» they seemed like they were a few cards short of a deck.
Ordered coffee and they forgot to get it to me then when I approached the service bar and requested it all I got was a cup of coffee no spoon, cream or sugar so I went back up and asked for cream and sugar and got one single sugar pack that’s all… It was a weird and uncomfortable experience.
Overall I think it’s a good example of a third generation ruined business. Wouldn’t recommend really at all.

Can’t even think about visiting Decorah without thinking about Mabe’s! Love the Regular Pizza with extra cheese. Our party also had burgers and a chicken, that they said were awesome, but I have to order the pizza!

Sorry Mabe’s but today’s experience baffled me. Called ahead for a small pizza and from the time I called to order dine in and by the time we got the small UNDERCOOKED pizza was 40 plus minutes, for a small pizza? Uffda.
We had been told they were busy but apparent it’s just that there’s not enough staff or ??? Had to eat and run, waited for our check and a box — took forever!

Mabe’s Pizza has been a staple of Decorah, Iowa for over 60 years. Mabel herself passed away in 2002 at the age of 97, but her pizza recipe and restaurant lives on. As best I can tell, Mabe’s in downtown Decorah continues to be very popular, and they now also have a second location in Cresco.
Mabe’s vast menu includes appetizers, salads, burgers, sandwiches, and pasta in addition to pizza. Fun fact; Mabe’s actually served sandwiches to the local Lurther College students first, and only later changed their name and signature dish after one student introduced Mabel to pizza. Despite this longer standing sandwich tradition, I was still obviously going to order a pizza. However, I did at least branch out to try some cheese bread as a starter. It was a thick, Texas Toast-​type bread, and it was pretty good.
The pizza at Mabe’s comes in five different sizes; mini (6″), special (9″), small (12″), medium (14″), and large (16″). I wanted to make the most of my opportunity at Mabe’s, so I couldn’t order anything less than a small. However, 12 inches is a pretty good-​sized small pizza, so I wouldn’t make a habit of that if unless you’re looking to expand your waistline by 12 inches as well.
The first specialty pizza listed on Mabe’s menu is simply called «Regular», and its non-​flashy combination of sausage, pepperoni, and cheese is perfect for me. I enjoyed the thin, square-​cut crust and found it to be soft and not overcooked. The sauce was also good, and so were the smaller pieces of sausage. The cheese and pepperoni didn’t stand out as much, but it was a very well-​blended pie.
Overall, the Mabe’s in Decorah is a neat place with good food. If that isn’t enough, they also have wine as well as a few beers on tap. This sometimes includes a brew from the well-​known Toppling Goliath Brewing in Decorah. It is worth a stop if your around Decorah, and shame on you if you live there and haven’t tried Mabe’s.

We waited over an hour for a small pizza and a burger. The burger was brought out 15 min before the pizza and my son was already done and place cleared before we saw the pizza. Brought without plates. No offer to make it right. Terribly disappointing!

This could possibly be my favorite pizza place! There are so many specialty pizzas here that it becomes hard to make a decision. We will sometimes get a large half of one, and the other half another. Then get a small and do the same. If you are in the area, you must try this place.

Mabe’s has been a Decorah staple for many folks — including for me since I came to Luther College many years ago. In that time (nearly 25 years), nothing much has changed; I suspect it’s been pretty much the same since the beginning — a testament to the tasty pies they have been making for decades. The décor of the place hasn’t changed much, either — they have booths and tables up front, and a bunch of tables in the back as well. The décor is nothing special, perhaps a bit dated with wood paneling, but it’s comfortable.
I can’t review anything but their pizza and cheesebread, as I’ve never had anything else! The pizza is thin-​crust, but not «cracker-​thin» or crispy. Instead, it is a soft thin crust. I usually get some variation of «The Regular» which is cheese, sausage and pepperoni.
Again on our most recent visit, we had the cheesebread with sauce, and a large Regular with mushrooms, and subbing hamburger for the pepperoni on one half.
All is reasonably priced, with 4 large slices of cheesbread and sauce coming in at just under $ 5. A large pizza was around $ 17.
The sausage is not the large globs of meat that you find at some other pizza joints, but is small and fine, which makes it go all over the pie nice and evenly. Nothing special about the pepperoni, just your average round slices. The sauce is quite good, with a bit of tang to it. The pizza is cut into squares, but I’m guessing they’d cut it in slices on request.
Service has always been good for us, but we generally we go at times that aren’t too busy (usually around 11am on a mid-​January Monday).
I’m not a pizza snob by any stretch of the imagination — I love most pizza! But a few pizza places hold a special place in my heart and palate… Mabe’s is the best of all.

I love their lasagna and the service is always great. My husband gets the regular is always perfect.

We decided to go to Mabe’s based on a suggestion that it was the best pizza place in Decorah. At first, the atmosphere made it seemed promising as it resembled a small town pizza place. It was busy, and had a wait for a table. The hostess took our name and order so it would be ready faster by the time we were seated. After a 15 minute wait, nothing unreasonable, we had to wait a good 10 minutes before our waitress took our drink order and returned with them. Our pizza did come by roughly the time the hostess had indicated, though one had slightly undercooked crust. Our waitress showed showed up only once after we received our pizza which resulted in a wait of at least 15 minutes after we had finished our pizza before we received our check. Overall, the pizza was okay, the wait was reasonable, the service could have been much better.

This is one of those places that you just have to love. A locally owned institution. The pizza is greasy, cheesy, and good. It’s not mind blowing pie by any means… but it’s better than anything else you will find in a 40 mile radius. Order a big one… the cold leftovers make a killer midnight snack.

Had the «regular» with pepperoni and sausage, it was really good. It was delivered to us at a local brewery without any problems.

After a long bike ride around the city of Decorah we stopped at the Toppling Goliath brewery tasting room for a few pints and some food. At least 3 different tables in there had Mabe’s pizza and we heard great things so we thought we would give it a try. Ordered a medium, half «The Regular» which is crumbled sausage and pepperoni, and built our own on the other half with Canadian bacon, pineapple, onion, and jalapeño. They don’t upcharge you at all to do two separate style pizzas for the half and half which is great. The pizza arrived about 45 min later (right on time) and it was just as good as expected. The crust is excellent, and the crumbled sausage was the best I think I’ve had on a pizza. Great toppings, sauce, and a good ratio of ingredients. Probably the best thin crust I have ever had, and the price was very very reasonable. Will definitely order again next time we are in town!

Solid pizza joint that has become a local legend. Large menu with plenty of burgers and sandwiches if you aren’t in the mood for pizza.
If you order delivery/​carry out, ask them to leave it half-​baked so that you can get it fresh out of your oven.

After reviewing this place on Unilocal,we tried the Around the Garden. We stopped in here Thanksgiving Day as we were on a road trip & this was the only place open, understandably.
I understand this may be the only decent pizza place in Decatur but there is way better pizza out there & the 4 – 5 star reviewers, I feel are a bit deprived. The pizza was way too greasy, too the point the cheese & ingredients completely slid off the dough from the grease slide. The flavor was just meh. Couldn’t tell the dough from a grease soaked napkin.
We did get the mozzarella sticks, & those things were actually super good. Perfectly fried, not greasy at all, perfect temp & loved the marina sauce provided, which I would’ve preferred on our pizza.
Unfortunately I became increasingly ill throughout the night after eating the pizza, which I can only contribute to the grease & or pizza sauce since that was the smell the rest of the evening. I don’t plan on going back to Iowa anytime soon, but I definitely will not eat pizza from Mabes again-​but thanks for being open on Thanksgiving!

This pizza is so good! We had The Regular, but that is a vast understatement. The sauce is so good, and even the burnt ends of the crust add to the overall experience. We subbed hamburger for sausage.
Cheese sticks weren’t anything special.
Free delivery, too!

So confident in their pizza offering that theydon’t provide pizza condiments.
They don’t use those nasty assed caned mushrooms, thank god.
Efficient staff, family style seating, complete with dust and crumbs.

If you ever find yourself in Decorah, Iowa, please do two things. One, go to the Whippy Dip. It’s a fabulous little place to get ice cream. Before you do that, you MUST make a stop at Mabe’s Pizza (110 E Water St) in charming Downtown Decorah.
I haven’t eaten at Mabe’s in over a year, but I used to come up here with Krystyn on weekends to visit my sister at Luther College. Since she graduated last year we haven’t been back. Decorah is such a nice town and I’m sure that when we get a free weekend this fall we’ll be down there.
Mabe’s is great pizza. I don’t know how else to describe it. It is the very thin variety that they cut into squares and it is really good! Some thin crust pizzas have soggy crust and that kind or ruins the taste. Then there’s others that are really crispy but are like a saltine and have no flavor. Mabe’s has the right balance. The crust is thin but has just enough texture that makes it perfect. The toppings are good. I recommend the supreme (and it has just about everything you can think of) or my personal favorite, the Canadian bacon and sauerkraut. Their prices are very affordable and you can easily feed a group of six with two large pizzas.
The only reason I hesitate to give Mabe’s a fifth star in the review is because of the atmosphere. The place looks rundown inside and it’s a little dank. Sure, the food is great and that’s job one, but it isn’t very bright inside and it looks like they haven’t changed much about the décor since they opened.
Don’t let that deter you from eating there, because Mabe’s does everything else right. Solid thin crust pizza, reasonable prices and just a must-​do in Decorah. Would I drive down from Minneapolis just to eat there? Well, maybe… or should I say «Mabe-​Be.» Waka waka!

My favorite pizza in the world. No, really. I’d drive four hours from Des Moines just for this pizza. A MUST HAVE!

Around the Garden is what we ordered and was very tasty. I would have rated 4 stars but my girlfriend rated it top 3 pizzas of all time so that bumped it to 5 stars. Love the sauce and personally left off the peppers and onion. After it cooled I learned that putting a whole or half square in your mouth was the best way to taste all the great toppings.
We were in town the same day as a running track meet and there was 200 – 300 people packed inside including a group of 20 that were sat with the pizza boxes room. Only disappointments was the sausage is minute in size and had too much Canadian bacon. Also our 12″ pizza took nearly an hour to get. A 9″ size would be perfect for 2. Will do it again next time I pass through

Why this town has two of the most unique pizza in the world I do not know. I just know when I come back I always need my Regular Mabes Pizza.