Monday, January 08, 2007

It's no dive on the subway tracks, but...

The best part about working near the East Village is that it's incredibly easy to have a great variety of lunches, usually for only $6 or $7 a person, without ever having to get on a train. One of these is La Mia, a modest pizzeria on East 8th Street between Broadway and University.

The pizza's cheap but great for lunch. The plain cheese slices have great flavor, although my favorites are the eggplant and the square, spicy "grandma" slices.

That's not why I'm singling this place out, though. It's because the service can't be beat. The servers know our staff because we go there so often, so our loyalty might be a part of it, but compared to the Soup Nazi-esque stylings of another certain local deli, it makes all the difference. One of my first times there, I didn't realize that they didn't accept credit cards for certain size purchase, but seeing I didn't have enough cash, the guy running the register told me to just go ahead and take it and pay him the next time. I did, even though he had forgotten and had no idea why I was giving him extra money.

But they really won my heart today. Unbeknownst to me, they accidentally overcharged me, and the guy chased me down about two blocks to return the extra $1.50. Wow.

So La Mia has rightfully earned my highest recommendation. Go and tell them that Mike sent you, and they'll say, "Who in the hell is that" and charge you the regular price.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Don't places like that really just make your day? What a treat in the urban jungle to know people treat you nicely someplace.