{"id":327,"date":"2026-01-24T14:25:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T20:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmgastronome.com\/?p=327"},"modified":"2026-03-31T20:28:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T02:28:20","slug":"marios-pizza-ristorante-albuquerque-new-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nmgastronome.com\/?p=327","title":{"rendered":"Mario’s Pizza & Ristorante – Albuquerque, New Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mario’s Pizza & Pasta on 4th Street, One of Four Albuquerque Locations<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the 1978 movie Same Time Next Year<\/em>, Ellen Burstyn’s character lamented that her husband considered his years in the Army the best years of his life. When Alan Alda’s character, her partner in a 26-year adulterous affair, commiserated that many men felt that way about their time in the military, Burstyn retorted, “but he spent two years as a prisoner of war<\/em>.” Only a husband who wants to sleep on the couch would admit to any source of happiness outside of marriage… and only an honest answer to the loaded question “does this dress make me look fat<\/strong><\/span><\/a>“<\/strong> is more deleterious to any amorous prospects.<\/p>\n

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The interior of Mario’s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I speak fondly to my lovely bride about how much I cherished my years in Massachusetts, it’s always prefaced or followed by “I wish you had been with me<\/em>.” My two years in the Bay State were the best years of my life…outside of my married years, of course. Massachusetts converted this once gangly and naive lad of 19 who grew up in bucolic Pe\u00f1asco, New Mexico into a more worldly and sophisticated young man ready to conquer the world.<\/p>\n

Having been raised on a diet of northern New Mexican staples such as chile, beans and farm-raised vegetables, Massachusetts awakened my taste buds to an electrifying new world of cuisine. Like the proverbial kid in the candy store, I wanted to sample it all. Here’s how culinarily virginal I was–until my years in Massachusetts, the only pizza I had ever eaten outside of Pizza Hut was out of the box, a wafer thin Chef Boyardee product with a cardboard-like crust. Is it any wonder Pizza Hut was my baseline for good pizza.\u00a0 I’d never even had Chinese food not to mention Thai, Vietnamese, French, etc. My experiences with “seafood” were limited to the fish sticks we ate during Lent (unless you count the German Browns and Cutthroats we caught in Pe\u00f1asco’s high mountain streams).<\/p>\n

\"Calzone\"
Calzone<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the Boston area, particularly in the North End, Italian restaurants are not only authentic and refined, they’re extraordinary–among the best in the country. I couldn’t always afford many of the North End restaurants so it’s a good thing every Boston metropolitan area neighborhood seemed to have a few personality-packed Italian restaurants. Most of the neighborhood Italian restaurants were of the “red sauce” variety whose genesis stems from the cuisine of Southern Italy. The cream sauce and meat dish Northern Italian cuisine was in vogue at the more expensive restaurants, while the little neighborhood Italian restaurants could always be counted on to serve hearty portions of soul-warming pasta and pizza.<\/p>\n

One of the Albuquerque Italian restaurants which most reminds me of those wonderful neighborhood Italian “red sauce” restaurants of my days in Massachusetts is Mario’s Pizza & Pasta, a venerable Duke City institution. That’s likely because fragrance is one of the most potent mediums for conjuring up memories. Among the most enduring sensory memories of my days in Massachusetts are those associated with the amazing aromas that greeted me each time I visited my favorite neighborhood Italian restaurants.<\/p>\n

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Slice of Hawaiian Pizza<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mario’s conjures up those memories as well. The familiar aroma of garlic-laden tomato sauces over a stovetop and yeasty pizza dough in the oven envelop you like a warm hug from the minute you enter the restaurant. Mario’s culinary lineage goes back to the mother country. The Burgarello family immigrated to America in 1949, settling in the Knickerbocker area of Brooklyn, New York. Mario, the family patriarch, worked as a pizza maker before launching his own pizzeria in Queens back in 1965. As fate would have it, a 1972 family vacation in New Mexico reminded the Burgarellos of the climate in Sicily so much that they moved to the beautiful Southwest. The rest, as they say, is history.<\/p>\n

Enamored of its traditional Sicilian cooking, Albuquerque has accorded Mario’s so many People Choice awards that there’s hardly enough room on the walls to display them. That’s a lot of love–and it’s a love that’s reciprocated in the form of delicious food. If love can be served on a bowl, it might taste like Mario’s minestrone<\/em><\/strong>. This thick Italian vegetable soup might just be the essence of an Italian comfort soup. Mario’s version includes peas, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes and other hearty vegetables, the type of which you hated as a child but would love in such a soup.<\/p>\n

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The Goodfella: Combination Plate of Chicken Parmigiana, Stuffed Shells and Lasagna<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1995, Pizza Today<\/span><\/a><\/em>,<\/strong> the leading trade publication in the pizza industry listed Mario’s among its “Hot 100” as one of the top independent pizzerias (#87) in the United States. By 2007, Mario’s had climbed to #76 among America’s highest grossing independent pizzerias and in 2016, it was #39. \u00a0Even though the menu’s pizza section is entitled “Gourmet Pizza,” this is New York style pizza, not some colorful California concoction of disparate ingredients competing for the rapt attention of your taste buds.\u00a0 Mario’s will accommodate (within reason) any “weirdness” with which you may be inclined to imbue your pizza. The “create your own pizza” includes a treasure trove of ingredients (no sashimi grade sushi or in-season mangoes if you’re aching for a California pizza).<\/p>\n

This is pizza stretched to the edges where it puffs out like the sweet and savory yeasty oven-baked dough it is. Its cornicione, the puffy outside edges are replete with tasty char and airy pockets of deliciousness. Even kids who don’t like the crust will love Mario’s pizza edges. They’ll also love the tangy tomato sauce and piled-on ingredients. Garlic is minced and potent, sausage is fennel-kissed and spicy, white onions are sweet and flavorful and the green chile has the roasted flavor New Mexicans love (though it doesn’t have the piquant kick fire-eaters like me relish so much.<\/p>\n

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Italian Nachos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There’s a lot to love about Mario’s calzones<\/strong><\/em>. They’re \u00a0like a doughy half football stuffed with ham, salami, onions, green peppers, black olives, provolone and mozzarella cheeses. For a bit more zest, ask for it “Greek style” and the accommodating kitchen staff will add feta cheese and Kalamata olives. The calzone is enormous, easily big enough for two to share. It is served with a small bowl of marinara sauce for dipping. The sauce is tomato rich and tangy, the quintessential red sauce I remember so well from Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

18 March 2012<\/strong>: The menu also includes all the favorite red sauce pastas Americans love so much. Steaming bowls of spaghetti, ravioli and lasagna are among the best-selling items according to the wait staff.\u00a0 Mario’s offers several pasta combos which allow diners to try a triumvirate of pasta dishes on one plate.\u00a0 The Goodfella combination plate<\/strong><\/em>, for example, includes chicken parmigiana, stuffed shells and lasagna.\u00a0 Easily the best of the three is the chicken parmigiana which, unlike so many of its brethren isn’t beaten into an envelope thin, desiccated slab of chicken then sheathed in heavy breading.\u00a0 Instead, Mario’s chicken is thick and moist even though the breading is a bit thick.\u00a0 The lasagna and stuffed (with ricotta) shells are completely covered over in a nicely seasoned meat sauce which has both sweet and savory qualities, the former probably from a high grade of tomatoes.<\/p>\n

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Tortellini<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

3 September 2023<\/strong>: If you’ve always been under the impression that there isn’t much more that can be done with nachos than what is done at the concession stands of sports venues where salty chips are slathered over with melted, gloppy cheese and topped with jalape\u00f1os, you’re in for a surprise at Mario’s.\u00a0 Almost obfuscated in an appetizer menu replete with the de rigueur standards (fried mushrooms, fried zucchini, fried cheese, garlic bread, etc.) is something called Italian Nachos<\/strong><\/em>, chips layered with a green chile cream sauce, roasted red peppers, mixed cheeses, jalape\u00f1os and a lettuce and tomato garnish.\u00a0 These nachos have two qualities which define all great nachos–they’re messy (courtesy of the cheese and green chile cream sauce) and they’re served in a mountainous platter.\u00a0 The green chile cream sauce lacks piquancy, but it’s quite flavorful.\u00a0 For this fire-eater, even more jalape\u00f1os would have made these nachos even better. \u00a0My Kim moved them all to my plate.<\/p>\n

3 September 2023<\/strong>: \u00a0When it comes to creativity in naming food, you can’t beat Italians. \u00a0 Who but Italians would name a pasta “Priest Strangler<\/em>” (strozzapreti) and another one “whore’s pasta<\/em>” (puttanesca)? \u00a0Italians are adept at naming pasta for body parts, too. \u00a0There’s Orecchiette<\/em> (ear) and Tortellini<\/strong><\/em> (a woman’s navel) just to name two. \u00a0 Inventor Giuseppe Cerri’s wife or girlfriend must have had an “outie” because that’s what the pasta resembles. \u00a0Mario’s tortellini (small pasta dumplings filled with ricotta cheese and topped with meat sauce) is the best in town though instead of meat sauce, I recommend the tomato alfredo. \u00a0 This is a very rich dish served in a profligate portion. \u00a0You’ll certainly be taking some home with you which is just fine because the sauce improves with time. \u00a0The tortellini are the color of the Italian flag: red, white and green. \u00a0This tortellini is so good, you’ll want to fly the Italian flag and salute it.<\/p>\n

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Guido Deli Sub<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

3 September 2023<\/strong>: \u00a0If prodigious portions of pasta aren’t your thing, Mario’s has a number of tempting sandwiches and burgers. \u00a0My Kim’s favorite (actually the only one she’s tried) is the Guido Deli Sub<\/strong><\/em> (ham, salami and Provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato and Italian dressing). \u00a0As with any great sandwich it all starts with a great bread. \u00a0Mario’s uses a soft hoagie bread sliced down the middle horizontally. \u00a0It absorbs the Italian dressing and holds in ingredients without falling apart. \u00a0As you can see from the photo below, this is one gigantic sandwich with huge flavors, too. \u00a0Sandwiches are served with your choice of pasta salad, chips or fries though you can ask for a salad or soup at a slight uncharge.<\/p>\n

24 January 2026<\/strong>:\u00a0 \u00a0Fortune smiled on me one week before judging the Roadrunner Food Bank’s Souper Bowl for the thirteenth (my lucky number) time.\u00a0 During a visit to Mario’s with my brother Mario and his wonderful bride Diana, my entree came with my choice of soup or salad.\u00a0 Soup offerings included minestrone (always hard to pass on) and green chile chicken soup<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 \u00a0Call it a warm-up for the upcoming Souper Bowl if you will (or maybe it was preparation for Snowmaggeden 2026), but both my brother Mario and I had to try the soup.\u00a0 \u00a0His tolerance for piquancy isn’t as developed as mine, but even my Kim wouldn’t have found much heat in this chile and she’s really heat intolerant.\u00a0 If you’re thinking “what do you expect from an Italian restaurant,” consider the Calabrian pepper or a Fra Diavalo dish.\u00a0 \u00a0Both are proof that Italians can do heat well.<\/p>\n

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Green Chile Chicken Stew<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

24 January 2026<\/strong>:\u00a0 In the land of e pluribus unum, the opinion of celebrities are given a tremendous amount of credence.\u00a0 Our celebrity-worshipping culture often takes its political opinions from Hollywood glitterati, most of whom are just spouting party talking points.\u00a0 Even in the culinary culture, celebrity opinions seem to weigh heavily.\u00a0 Too much so.\u00a0 Gordon Ramsay, Stanley Tucci and Ina Garten all loathe pineapple on pizza.\u00a0 It’s not enough that they dislike the controversial ingredient.\u00a0 They’re very vocal about it…to the point of insulting those who like pineapple on their pizza.\u00a0 My Kim, who tends to disagree with every utterance Hollywood spouts, loves “Hawaiian pizza<\/strong><\/em>” (pineapple, Canadian bacon).\u00a0 She loves Mario’s version.\u00a0 What makes it one of her favorites is balance and contrast.\u00a0 A good Hawaiian pizza shouldn’t have so much pineapple that it renders the crust soggy.\u00a0 A good Hawaiian pizza should have just enough pineapple that it provides a discernible, but not overwhelming, contrast to the salty cheese and Canadian bacon.\u00a0 Mario’s version succeeds in both counts.<\/p>\n

24 January 2026<\/strong>:\u00a0 Red or green.\u00a0 Hot or cold.\u00a0 Buffet or menu.\u00a0 Every dining experience brings with it a myriad of options from diners have to weigh.\u00a0 At Italian restaurants, options often come down to red sauce (called “gravy” in parts of the country) or white sauce.\u00a0 Restaurants specializing in red sauce typically feature Italian-American comfort food such as spaghetti and meatballs, chicken Parmesan and baked ziti.\u00a0 White sauces, typically referring to Alfredo or Bechamel, are usually part of the menu, too.\u00a0 White sauces–used in baking rich, creamy, rich, cheese-laden pasta dishes–have their proponents.\u00a0 Me, I like them both, but tend to gravitate to red sauced meals like those I enjoyed so much in Boston.\u00a0 Mario’s fruiti de mare<\/strong><\/em> (crab, shrimp and clams saut\u00e9ed in a seafood cream sauce and tossed with fettuccine) reminded me why red is my usual choice.\u00a0 Perhaps advancing geriatric progression (I’m 39) has made my constitution more delicate.\u00a0 While very tasty, this dish was a bit too rich for my liking.\u00a0 The shrimp and clams were rather scarce (who wouldn’t prefer some in every bite), but were fresh and delicious.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Fruita Di Mare<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The dessert menu (only the giant chocolate chip cookies and the brownies are housemade) includes several favorites such as real New York style cheesecake (or as reasonable a facsimile of as you can get in New Mexico). The tiramisu is always a hit.\u00a0\u00a0 For me, Mario’s is the place in Albuquerque for spumoni<\/em><\/strong>, the molded and colorful Italian ice cream with layers of flavor. Spumoni at Mario’s means vanilla and chocolate ice cream with hidden surprises of pistachio and cherries. It’s like opening a box of assorted chocolates with flavor combinations that make your taste buds sing.<\/p>\n

A number of cake desserts are always tempting, including a lemon berry mascarpone cake<\/em><\/strong> (cream cake topped with blueberries, cranberries and vanilla crumb.\u00a0 The cake is filled with lemon cream and finished with vanilla cake crumb on the sides and a dusting of sugar.\u00a0 It’s a very refreshing cake in which the lip-pursing qualities of tangy lemon and berries are tempered with the richness of mascarpone and vanilla cake crumb. \u00a0As with all of Mario’s desserts, the chocolate cake<\/strong><\/em> below is huge. \u00a0It may be easier to scale the Sandias than to finish a slice of this gigantic slab. \u00a0 Along with the chocolate cake at the Western View Diner & Steakhouse<\/strong><\/a> it’s the very best in town.<\/p>\n

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Chocolate Cake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

24 January 2026<\/strong>:\u00a0 Scientists have discovered that the amount of saliva produced from placing a few drops of lemon juice on the tongue can reveal one’s level of introversion.\u00a0 The human body’s Reticular Activating System (RAS) is a brain system that responds to stimuli like food or social contact.\u00a0 Because introverts experience higher levels of RAS cortical arousal to begin with, even a little arousal may leave them feeling overstimulated.\u00a0 What place does this information have on a restaurant review blog?\u00a0 Are you reaching for lemon juice now?<\/p>\n

Though I’ve always considered myself an introvert (long before it was cool to admit to it), I’ve loved tart and tangy foods.\u00a0 That’s especially true of citrus fruits: oranges, pineapples, grapefruits, lemons.\u00a0 Neither the most tart grapefruit or sour lemon has ever made my lips purse.\u00a0 \u00a0 Instead, I crave the most tangy and tart fruits.\u00a0 That also goes for desserts purporting to be made from a citrus fruit.\u00a0 Sadly, almost every lemon cake we’ve ever had is about as tart as vanilla.\u00a0 Thank goodness some gelato flavors (particularly passionfruit and lemon) give me the tart kick I crave.\u00a0 Count Mario’s limoncello gelato<\/strong><\/em> among them.\u00a0 It’s delightfully refreshing and absolutely mouth-watering.\u00a0 This is gelato you wish was available by the barrel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Limoncello Gelato<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Albuquerque has been singing Mario’s praises for a long time and there appears to be no surcease to its success in Albuquerque.\u00a0 In fact, the Mario’s family has expanded in recent years with locations on Juan Tabo and Fourth Street. \u00a0 Mario’s is an august family-owned restaurant whose veneer may be showing a few signs of age, but it holds fast against a tide of trendy chains. The wait staff is genuine not saccharine. The food is authentic and delicious. It’s the way I remember Italian food in Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

Mario’s Pizza & Ristorante<\/strong>
\n5700 4th Street, \u00a0N.W.
\nAlbuquerque, New Mexico<\/strong>
\n505-344-4700
\nWeb Site<\/strong><\/a> | Facebook Page<\/strong><\/a>
\nLATEST VISIT<\/strong>: 24 January 2026
\n# OF VISITS<\/strong>: 8
\nRATING<\/strong>: Meets Expectations<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0\u2013 good food, decent service, and a clean environment; provides a satisfactory, dependable, and standard experience
\nCOST<\/strong>: $$
\nBEST BET<\/strong>: Stromboli, Pizza, Spumoni, Chicken Parmesan, Lemonberry Cake, Gouba Nachos, Guido Deli Sub, Tortellini, Chocolate Cake, Lemoncello, Green Chile Chicken Soup, Fruita Di Mare<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the 1978 movie Same Time Next Year, Ellen Burstyn’s character lamented that her husband considered his years in the Army the best years of his life. When Alan Alda’s character, her partner in a 26-year adulterous affair, commiserated that many men felt that way about their time in the military, Burstyn retorted, “but he spent two years as a prisoner of war.” Only a husband who wants to sleep on the couch would admit to any source of happiness outside of marriage… and only an honest answer to the loaded question “does this dress make me look fat“ is more deleterious to any amorous prospects. When I speak fondly to my lovely bride about how much I cherished my…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[440,71,5632],"tags":[3343,1877,852,3347,1691,3345,3348,3349,3342,805,789,3341,3344,3346],"class_list":["post-327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-albuquerque","category-italian","category-good","tag-hot-100-independent-pizzeria","tag-calzones","tag-chocolate-cake","tag-guido-deli-sub","tag-hawaiian-pizza","tag-italian-nachos","tag-lemon-berry-mascarpone-cake","tag-mario-burgarello","tag-minestrone","tag-pasta","tag-pizza","tag-red-sauce","tag-the-goodfella","tag-tortellini"],"yoast_head":"\nMario's Pizza & Ristorante - Albuquerque, New Mexico - Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nmgastronome.com\/?p=327\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mario's Pizza & Ristorante - Albuquerque, New Mexico - Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the 1978 movie Same Time Next Year, Ellen Burstyn’s character lamented that her husband considered his years in the Army the best years of his life. 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