In recent years, there has been a campaign to revitalize the Mason City downtown area. Southbridge Mall has been a staple of downtown Mason for years but as the digital area has taken over, many of the shops have moved out. With both of the mall’s anchor stores gone, something new was needed to pull people in. In 2019, a new skating area was built for the then, North Iowa Bulls. Alongside the arena, a new sports bar was added to the mall, The Sports Page.
I’ve known about The Sports Page for a while now and even walked by it a few times while at the mall but until recently, I never made it in to see what it was all about. The Sports Page is accessible from the South entrance to the mall and even has its own separate entrance. I found this to be nice since I didn’t first have to walk into the mall and then The Sports Page. Upon entering, I was greeted with the typical atmosphere of a sports bar. Along the walls were TVs, a very large bar, and plenty of table space. The restaurant is slightly broken in half with one area of just tables and the other containing two long bar-style seating areas, billiards, darts, and slot-style games. This is a great feature of the restaurant as one of the areas feels less public.
One recommendation I would have upon entering is the direction from either a sign or the staff on what the seating arrangement is. I wasn’t sure if I was suppose to wait for a server of if I was suppose to seat myself. There appeared to be two staff members working the front of the house and both seemed attentive and friendly. One comment I would make regarding the bar tender was that their language could have been a little cleaner. While I wasn’t bothered by it, it did slightly throw me off at first, and would not be accepted if there were families.
After a brief wait, I was greeted by my server. I was informed that from 3:30 PM to 7 PM on Sundays only, pizza and flatbreads were the only offerings being served. I was slightly disappointed as I had really intended to try a burger but I decided to order a medium, single-topping pepperoni pizza. Besides my pizza order, I elected to pair my meal with a Coke.
After placing my order, I finally got a chance to really take in the environment. My visit was in May on a Sunday evening so there wasn’t much in the way of sports. A few TVs had some volleyball on, whatever was showing the local CBS affiliate and what looked to be some final coverage of a basketball game. What captured my attention more than the screens was the music being played. I wouldn’t call the music quiet as I could see it being slightly hard to hold a conversation with someone but it wasn’t blaring either. I feel they did a good job of either selecting or curating a Spotify playlist that fits most people’s music tastes. Selections included One Direction, Harry Styles, Marvin Gaye, Fleetwood Mac, and others I didn’t recognize.
My order did take a bit of time to come out of the kitchen but I attribute this to the fact that they likely were making the pizza by hand. When the pizza finally arrived, it was much larger than I was expecting. Pizza for me is something that is hard to get right. I ordered a very basic pepperoni pizza and what I got was in my opinion, not bad but it also didn’t blow me away. I felt there were good ratios of bread, sauce, cheese, and toppings to make every bit flavorful. I would have liked to have seen some more flavors added to the sauce to bread to make it stand out from just a standard pizza. I ended up eating just a few slices before getting full and asking for a box to take the rest home. Some people are fans of cold pizza, I am not. Reheating the pizza in the microwave the next day resulted in the pizza tasting just as it did when coming out of the oven. Not something I can say about other pizzas I’ve reheated in the past before.
I got a chance to revisit The Sports Page with a friend a few weeks later and was able to explore more of the menu. I still had that craving to try a burger. Once again our server was friendly and did their best to take care of us. I think it’s worth noting that the server had only been there for a few weeks but in my opinion, they did great. One area that could have been slightly better was that it did take a little time to get our bill. I ordered a medium-rare burger and my friend ordered nachos. We also split an order of fried pickles. Our appetizer arrived at the table rather quickly and we were surprised and delighted to see that the fried pickles were spears rather than chips like you normally see. Combined with the ranch they provided, the pickles were some of the best I’ve had.
When our food arrived at the table, it was hot and my burger was juicy and topped with a good selection of toppings. I didn’t pay as much attention to how it was cooked as I should have but it was good. It was paired with fries and even with them sitting until after I finished the burger, they were great both paired with ketchup and without. I also got a chance to try the nachos my friend ordered and I was pleasantly surprised by the flavors. The nachos were cold but that was on me as they had been at the table for quite some time by this point. Even cold, they still tasted great.
All in all, both of my experiences were great and I would definitely recommend it to anyone that is looking for some good food. While at the end of the day, it is a sports bar, I would feel more than comfortable recommending it to families as well as a great place to get some great tasting food.