Mother Bear's Pizza: A Bloomington, IN Favorite

Eating at Mother Bear's Pizza in Bloomington, IN is stepping into a bit of Indiana University's history.  The atmosphere is warm and cozy, even though it screams college restaurant.  Everyone I knew that knew anything about Bloomington and pizza insisted I go to Mother Bear's and review the pizza.

The Menu

The menu is colored by hand. This doesn't really impress me, but I guess it gives more to the home town feel of the place. 

Ian and Pepsi

One plus of Mother Bear's is they serve Pepsi products!  I was super excited to get to drink Mountain Dew: Milk of the Gods! 

Stuffed Mushrooms

We ordered stuffed mushrooms for one of our appetizers.  They are listed on the menu as: 

Champignon a la Bear- Large button mushrooms stuff with a mix of four different cheeses and special spices baked to a golden brown. 

These were really tasty.  The four cheeses blended together in the mushroom, with the nice broiled effect of the cheeses, gave the mushrooms a really nice flavor. 

French Fry Basket

We also ordered a basket of french fries for an appetizer.  These had a nice crispy, golden outside and warm white center.  The french fries were a good choice!

Our Pizza

Half of this pizza was "The Divine Swine."  It had on it pepperoni, sausage, ham, and bacon. My favorite part, as always, was the bacon!  The other half of the pizza was the "Treasure of Monte Cristo."  The Monte Cristo has white sauce, mozzarella, spinach, bacon, tomatoes, and fontina cheese. My favorite part of the Monte Cristo was also the bacon!  I'm not a huge white sauce fan, and this one was pretty much the same as others I've had.  The crust just held the toppings, it wasn't anything I would scream from the roof tops about.  It needed something more.  The toppings seem to be the more important part of the Mother Bear's Pizza.  I liked The Divine Swine.  It was the better half of this pizza.  

The Wall and Booth Graffiti 

All of the walls and booths were covered in people's names and graffiti.  This is supposed to add to the college feel of the restaurant.  I personally find it a little offensive and tacky, but all of the students love it. 

Fire Place

There's a room that has a fire place.  We didn't sit in that room.  I bet it's a nice place to sit after a cold IU football game.  The fire wasn't going when we were there, because it was probably about 60 degrees that day. 

I've only been to Mother Bear's Pizza twice.  It has not impressed me either time.  This time, it seemed like the server had too many tables, and couldn't keep our drinks filled.  There was a girl doing food prep at the counter with long blonde curly hair that was not tied back, and she kept touching that.  That's a health violation in Indiana.  

The atmosphere is geared more towards college students that want to hang out.  Maybe I'm just too old for that atmosphere.  

I give Mother Bear's Pizza 2 pizzas pies out of 4.  I would have scored it higher if the crust was better, the server was more attentive, and the girl working at the counter had tied her hair back appropriately.