Mad Pizza e Bar

Came here for happy hour last week.
Newtown as a neighborhood is super chill. It’s a little grungy with cool shops and small bites. Happy hour was 5 AUD for wine, beer, and aperol spritz. For 10 AUD, I got two aperol spritzes, which is still cheaper than any drink I had gotten in Sydney. The vibe in the restaurant was super lax, and the drinks were pretty strong. Definitely check it out for happy hour.

It’s pizza, but not as we know it. That is it’s much thinner than even a classic neapolitan pizza. But I still think it works thanks to some imaginative toppings and other options like having a wholemeal base. Besides, would you really want to eat a conventional pizza in Sydney’s temperatures and humidity? I love pizza and I sure as hell wouldn’t. I chose the Tibia with lamb on a wholemeal base and found myself quietly saluting Aussie ingenuity with every bite.
I was less keen on the raised platform the pizza is served on at one’s table which made me fear I’d send everything flying such was the awkward subsequent angle of my cutting. Still, on the other hand I loved the music (jazz, Tribe Called Quest, Kings of Leon) which was played at a good volume throughout. And finally, I like the location of this place — my perch at the front of the restaurant was a perfect spot to watch Newtown go by in the sticky air of the late November evening.

Not what I expected at all.
It was rather shitty.
We had a half n half of the Fungi and the Pork Sausage.
The pizza was basically a cracker with tomato paste and some other ingredients thrown on.
The sausage side tasted a bit fishy. It’s Fungi side was a little more bearable.
I am not sure why the base was a cracker though. It was like eating a stale piece of Lebanese bread.
After checking in on Unilocal,we received a free surprise at the end.
Unfortunately it was a shitty dessert.
This was 4 cheap digestive biscuits with a two scoops of what tasted like cheap vanilla ice cream. I suspect they went to the IGA and picked up the ingredients.
The music was a very loud, the tables were certainly too small especially the tables in the corridor.
Not quite the place to seat people.
Honestly, go to one of the other Italian restaurants in Newtown.

Pretty nice Pizza. This is one of those places on King street, that I haven’t been to for some reason until now.
There are a number of such places, which even after 10 years I havent yet put a shadow in the doorway of.
Service is good. The lamb pizza was truly smashing.
Beers were about 7 or 8 bucks each, so youre not going to sit here and get rollicking. Though I believe they have a good selection of wines.
Get the garlic bread. It was awesome.

Service and food outstanding. Came on a Saturday night with no reservation. Got a table within minutes and food came out pretty quick. Staff friendly and happy

Great thin crisp base that doesn’t flop under they weight of the toppings. Their Quattro isn’t as cheesy as what you normality get elsewhere but it is pretty good, with the truffle oil giving it a nice touch. The staff is friendly and at $ 43 for a regular, a gluten free and a kid’s pizza + one glass of wine, it is pretty good value.

Went here with friends, and we went for a mixture of pizzas and pastas.
The spaghetti nero mentioned by another reviewer was delicious, and I paid the $ 22.90 dinner price, and still thought that was reasonable for the quality I was eating.
The supreme type pizza was also good, and two of our group ordered the gluten free base pizzas (they are smaller, cheese free, and only $ 12 at dinner) and they both enjoyed those. So there are options even for the healthier types of people :)
My only complaint is the insane level of noise in the restaurant. We sat in the back room, and it was a Friday night. They have a DJ pumping out music, which at first seems great, but I could not actually carry on a conversation with the person right next to me due to the noise. Slightly lower volume from the DJ would have improved my experience significantly. Maybe go for a courtyard table and the noise might be less.
At the end of the meal, the $ 5 limoncello was great value and great tasting!

If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t take things too seriously in life, you’ll have a good time at Mad Pizza. Yes, that’s true of most places in general, but Mad especially. I’m pretty sure the Lady (and the Tramp), featured on the front of their menu wearing nothing but a fig leaf apron, would agree with me if her mouth wasn’t too busy sucking (on a pasta noodle).
Open since November 2012 (which I’m still remembering as «last year» as I write this, 7 days into 2013), this branch of the Mad chain caters mostly to the hordes of starving uni students from the University of Sydney, serving up a variety of pizzas, pastas, salads and, at lunch time only, paninis. Sam, the bartender on the Sunday afternoon I visited (and only staff member I saw the entire time I was there), tells me they are busiest Friday and Saturday nights, with a good crowd packing it in for weekday lunches. Apparently uni students have more refined tastes these days — at least when they are sober — and are steering clear of Domino’s and Eagle Boys.
Come here for lunch: it offers significantly better value. Pizzas are $ 10 instead of ~$ 20 (but note that they are a smaller 6″ as opposed to 12″ at dinner), while salads and pastas are $ 12 (instead of ~$ 16 and ~$ 20) and seem to be full or nearly full size. My companion and I ordered the amalfi ($ 10) pizza, with sweet tiger prawns, ricotta, garlic, chili flakes and roma tomatoes with fresh mint leaves. The amalfi was decent, with a healthy number of prawns that weren’t overcooked and a cracker-​thin crust that stayed remarkably crisp. Tip: use the chili flake shaker they provide on the tables to amp up the spice factor, and eat it fast, as the melted cheese quickly congeals and turns unappetizing when cool. At lunch, pizza orders are accompanied by a small rocket salad with red onion, balsamic and parmesan, a nice touch that green-​ifies the red and white pizza and turns the entire board into the flag of Italy. We also ordered the nero spaghetti ($ 12), which is described as «Silvio Berlusconi’s all time sexy dish» (you’re forgiven for thinking that this is a veiled reference to the naked Lady on the menu), and comes with squid ink spaghettini, blue swimmer crab, basil, shallots, tomatoes, garlic, and two pieces of bruschetta. Now, this dish is pretty amazing. A generous portion of lump crab meat and delicious black pasta (that, to me at least, appeared to be fettuccine, not spaghetti, but I’m not complaining as it seemed to be freshly made in-​house) in a white wine sauce that wasn’t overly rich, perfect for summer. A bit messy to eat, but so worth it.
Sam (the aforementioned bartender) disclosed that they actually take a loss on the spaghetti dish at lunch, which doesn’t surprise me given the quality ingredients and the apparent cost of the dish at dinner time ($ 22.9, the most expensive of the pasta dishes). You won’t regret ordering this one. At Mad, 2 pizzas, pastas or salads (or any mix thereof) is plenty for 2 people.
A few more reasons not to take this place too seriously: they advertise their lunch prices on their sidewalk board as «opening specials» — but the going rates are printed on their permanent menus, so methinks they mean «specials as long as we are open.» Also, their marketing materials say that their pizzas are «healthy,» presumably because their crust is superthin, but the reduced carbs are probably (definitely) offset by the cheese … No matter, as I don’t think anyone is really fooling themselves that pizza is a health food. Ever. Isn’t that why people go «mad» for it?

Ate here in the week they opened and really enjoyed the light and tasty Pizza’s and the friendly helpful service. They’ve make good use of a slightly awkward space and the menu options offer plenty of variety for all comers, including families. Enjoy.