With the start of a new year, comes a start of a new back of happy hour reviews in Sonoma Valley!
I grabbed a group of girlfriends and checked out one of Sonoma Valley’s most popular, family friendly establishments: Mary’s Pizza Shack.
Sonoma is the birthplace of locals simply call “Mary’s.” The original location is in the Springs and the family is still highly active in our community, supporting non-profits, special events, and residing locally.
They have what not many other places in town don’t have: early happy hour Monday-Friday and a late night happy hour seven days a week.
Happy hour is also served throughout the entire restaurant – not just in the bar, making it family friendly.
We visited early on a Tuesday, grabbing a high top table near the bar.
We were immediately greeted, by both the hostess and bartender. The friendly, attentive service continued through our entire experience, making it really an enjoyable visit.
The drink list is big – you can get a cocktail created in house, including Moscow Mules and Margaritas, for a $6, and wells for $3. I went for a beer, and was delighted to see local beers available – at $4 each, I had two pints of Sonoma Springs Kolsch.
My friends had wine, a French rose which was $2 off the regular price.
We started with Mary’s “famous” Mozzarella Garlic Bread ($2.40), which is just what you would expect: loaf of garlic bread with mozzarella melted on top and seasoning.
I was happy to have two locals with me who have been dining at Mary’s for years. They taught me the trick to upping the bread game: Mary’s Blue Cheese Ranch dressing.
I hate blue cheese. Like, really hate blue cheese. However, this is not like any other blue cheese dressing. It’s ranch dressing base gives it a mellow flavor, minus the overpowering stinky cheese flavor I dislike.
Even better is that they make it in house. It’s good on everything. More, please.
They offer a basket of 8 chicken wings for $6.95, that you can have dressed one of Mary’s wing sauces. We opted for a side of the Sriracha Sweet Chili Sauce, Spicy Buffalo, and the Sweet-and-Spicy Barbecue Sauce, so we could explore all three.
The wings are fried, and while that can lead to a bit too much breading for my taste (I tossed a few wings to the side that were too batter heavy) the sauces make for a divine wing experience.
The hands-down favorite was the Sriracha Sweet Chili Sauce, which is sweet and sour sauce you’d get at a Chinese restaurant mixed with some spicy Sriacha. I could have enjoyed it by the spoonful. Not too spicy, not too sweet, just right.
To ensure we had a “healthy option,” we ordered the bruschetta ($3.60). The bruschetta was flavorful: tomatoes mixed with herbs, garlic and olive oil served on crostini.
We asked for it with a side of Mary’s Sonoma Italian Dressing, another in-house classic that made the already tasty bruschetta even tastier.
The calamari ($7.95) was uneventful and our table ate about half, deciding not to continue on, it was a tad undercooked.
Finally, we had the “He & She” ($6.50). I had seen this on the menu previously – two gigantic meatballs cooked in tomato sauce and topped with cheese. My friends enjoyed the texture of the meatball and the flavors of the herbs (oregano, garlic, the classics) and the sauce.
I have not been a fan of “meatballs the size of my head,” types gimmicks, as they are often a big overcooked for my taste. This dish was no different, however, the tomato sauce made for a good dipping sauce for the garlic bread.
Overall, we really enjoyed Mary’s – good drinks, a relaxing vibe – and we didn’t feel rushed. And those sauces – wow!
The Sonoma Plaza Mary’s Pizza Shack offers happy hour Monday-Friday, 3PM-6PM, Sunday-Wednesday, 8PM-close and Thursday-Saturday, 9PM-close. Each location has different happy hours, so check out maryspizzashack.com for more information.
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