Organ Stop Pizza - Mesa, AZ

I had read on a number of blogs about the Organ Stop Pizza restaurant in Mesa, AZ and it sounded so interesting I've been wanting to try it out.  Since it's about a 2 hour drive from our RV park in Tucson, AZ, it wasn't feasible to drive the 120 miles one way just for pizza.  When we were on the way back from Show Low I decided to take RT 60 west and head for Mesa.  I remembered it being about a 30 mile detour, but my memory failed me on this one.  It turned out to be a 70 mile drive just to get to the restaurant.  It was worth it to us.

First, a little history of the organ that was featured in the pizza shop.  The following URL explains much better than I can what the
"Mighty Wurlitzer Pipe Organ" is all about.

Organ Stop Pizza 

Turn your sound up to hear some great organ music.

Organ Music 

As you enter the restaurant there is a place where you order and pay for your choices.  They give you a number and inside the area where the organist is playing there are long tables for seating.  There is also a large balcony for seating with a nice view of the stage.   On either side of the area is a sign where numbers light up when orders are ready for pickup.  Further along is a salad bar and finally a drinks bar.  We ordered a pitcher of beer and enjoyed all of it.  The pizza was very good and well worth the price.  Then you were treated to the most fantastic organ music while you ate.  The organist took requests and seemed to know every song in the world.

Below are some of the thousands of organ pipes along the wall in front of the organist.

Separate symbols outside the organ pipes area.

Small drum section that was played by the organist.

Old player piano under the organist's control

Dancing cats to certain songs.

One happy patron with his beer and pizza.

We thought we'd finish our pizza and then start on the drive back to the RV park, but we enjoyed the organ music so much we sat through two sets of music.  The organist played for 45 minutes and took a 15 minute break.  As usual, we closed the place down.

If we are back in the Mesa, AZ area again in the future, the Organ Stop Pizza place will be on our must see list.

So that is how/why we drove 500 miles and wound up where we started.  To say we were worn out would be a huge understatement.  We didn't last long when we got back to the motorhome before we headed to bed.    zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz