Marios Pizza

If you’re driving down Powai Hennur Main Road 6, you’ll see our small sign. It’s not very bright, so you might miss it if you’re going too fast. At Marios Pizza, we spend most of our time dealing with flour. It gets everywhere—on our aprons, in our hair, and all over the floor. The oven is the heart of the place. It’s old and has a specific spot on the left side where the crust gets a bit more charred than the rest. We don’t mind. It gives the pizza character. The phone rings constantly with people asking for directions because the building numbers on this road make no sense. We just tell them to look for the big banyan tree. It gets hot in the kitchen, especially in May. We keep the back door open for a breeze, but then the local cats try to wander in. The benches out front are for people waiting for their takeaway. They usually stand around scrolling on their phones or complaining about the traffic. We aren't trying to be an Italian restaurant from a magazine. We’re just making dough and chopping tomatoes. Sometimes we run out of basil because the market didn't have any fresh stuff. We just tell the customers and they usually understand. It’s a local shop, run by people who are usually tired but happy to be busy.