opened up in Boca Raton, my son and I immediately headed over there.  Mario opened his latest pizza place in the former spot that Cousin Wowie's used to be in, and before that it was some other pizza place.  For some reason, restaurants do not seem to last very long in this spot, even with the K-Mart anchor.

Mario The Baker seems to be smarter then the previous tenants, and only chose to take half of the previous location.  The other half has some type of Ice Cream place moving in.  When my son and I arrived, during regular business hours, we were quite surprised with how few people were eating there.  Besides us, there were only 2 other tables full.  If you listened to the yenta sitting at the table in front of us and closed your eyes, you would have imagined the place was packed.

The place smelled delicious and had a nice clean feeling to it.  The staff was great & attentive, and it was nice to see that the family who owned this Mario The Baker location were all present, including their cute little baby.  We ordered a plain pie and some Garlic Knots or Garlic Rolls.  I forget what they call them down here, since they change from place to place.  When the pizza arrived we were pleased with the presentation.  My son took the first slice and bit into it and seemed happy enough, so I proceeded to bite into my own.  The taste was nice.  The cheese was of a definite quality, but the sauce lacked a bit of taste.  The crust was a bit soggy, and not as crisp as it should be, based upon the thinness of it.  Don't get me wrong, the crust had a decent taste to it, but I would rather them crisp it up a bit more, which could be accomplished by lowering the oven just a tad.

It is hard not to want to see a place like this suceed.  The owners family were so plesant and came over to talk with us to make sure everything was ok.  As we left a huge basketball party arrived and the place filled up quickly.  I will give Mario The Baker in Boca Raton 5 out of 8 slices, and will be trying it again soon to see if they correct the crust.