Tim C.
Yelp
I didn't particularly want to like Mother.
As I said before we went after going to the elephant migration, "No one in the history of Newport or the history of pizza has ever said 'Let's go to Newport for pizza tonight."
Add to that, Mother's is kind of a fancy pants Newport yuppie enclave kind of place. The kind that charges you for every soda that comes out of a can rather than having it on tap. Nice, professional, but kind of pretentious. Usually that's not a great setup for great pizza. That being said I was more than a little surprised.
Mother only serves one style of pizza, margherita, and one size, 12 inches. So you're either going to order One for yourself or you're going to have to eat some appetizers. We went with the garlic knots and meatballs. I had reservations about both. I was correct about the garlic knots. Don't bother. Greasy, soggy, not very well cooked, not very good. The meatballs were actually tasty. There's only three in they are kind of small, but they are a decent size for one person to have as an appetizer or to share if you are having more than one. The meatballs were tasty. The sauce was great, fresh, Very tasty, and plenty of it. On the side was a piece of crust. Sourdough, seasoned, really the best thing I ate there over the whole visit. I could eat a whole crust of it with some of that yummy sauce.
Then the pizza arrived. They say it is a sourdough crust but I didn't pick up any notes of that in the flavor. Also the crumb structure did not indicate to me that it was sourdough. If you compare it with Blue Square pizza, who are the best in the area at sourdough, you would know the difference. Nevertheless it was a very tasty crust. This was only evident on the back side because it was so thin in the middle and floppy that it really wasn't able to feature anything. The sauce, again was super on point. Delicious. The pepperoni was cup and char and spicy and perfect match for the pie. Fresh mozzarella on top. Margarita is not the style that I enjoy the most, And you had to eat half of each slice with a fork and knife because it couldn't hold itself up at all. But it was super tasty. I especially enjoyed the back end of the crust. I wish instead of margarita they made exactly the same pizza only the same thickness as the crust all the way through. That would be a home run and a five-star pizza. In the end it was worth the trip. It was expensive, it's a nice clean, yuppie contemporary restaurant. The meat balls and the pizza were great. There's not nearly enough seating inside. When you enter they tell you you can get it to go and sit outside which is kind of weird. Overall if you're in the area I don't think there's any better pizza around. Give it a shot and see.