Eat Out Review: Terra Mia

Over the weekend, we ventured over to Terra Mia Ristorante in Orem.  Since it was our first time eating there, we were glad someone greeted us at the door and walked us through the basics of the restaurant.  If you haven't been there, you may want to know 1)  that it's a casual place where you order at the counter and the food is delivered to your table and 2) that you place your order by checking boxes on a laminated menu and turning that in when you pay.  This sounds like a great option and I was impressed with the creativity until I tried to figure out my family of 5's orders while standing at the ordering tables.  Tip 1:  Don't stand there...go ahead and take the menu to your seat while you decide if you have a group of indecisive diners like my family was that night. 

The pizzas are their speciality.  They are hand-tossed (we watched them) and baked in a wood-fired oven.  Each pizza is about 10" in diameter and has a thin crust.  They don't have your typical pepperoni or ham & pineapple pizzas, but have interesting gourmet toppings like smoked salmon, eggplant, and pine nuts (in addition to the less adventurous salami, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, etc.).  I really wanted to try the Lasagna Vegetale, while Mr. Diner ordered the Americana pizza (sausage, peppers, onions, mushrooms).  Amazing Diner had a terrible time figuring out what to order...he loves his pepperoni pizza and was upset that they didn't have pepperoni.  Finally, I convinced him that the Diavola (with salami) was the most similar thing on the menu, so he and the other little diners shared that.  We also tried a couple of their Italian Sodas (mango & strawberry).  Pastas were $9-11; Pizzas were $9-12.50; Entree Salads were $7-11.

The food was brought out a different times, which is not a great thing in my book.  Since the lasagna came out first and is served with bread (like all their pastas), everyone chewed on my bread while we waited for the pizzas.  The bread was nice and chewy and there is olive oil and balsamic vinegar at the tables to dip it in.  Once the pizzas came, we dug in.

 The lasagna had a delicious white sauce (not alfredo) with layers of mushrooms and spinach.  It was delicious and I savored every bite!  The pizza had good quality toppings, however the center of the pizzas was soggy and the toppings were very erratically spread so that some slices had nothing but cheese and others had everything.

We couldn't leave without sampling some gelato, so we shared a cup (you choose 2 flavors) of pineapple and mango.  They were both good, but next time I'd like to try one of their other desserts...maybe a bigne or cannoli. 

Entree Price:   $
Average Fork Rating:  3
Mr. Diner: 3
Mrs. Diner: 3 (although the lasagna was a 4)
Amazing Diner:  3
Sweet Diner:  3
Little Diner: 3