A Tale of Two Rides with a Side of Food Criticism (Mora Italian)

By Robert McGarvey

At 5:30p on Valentine’s Day I summoned an Uber to transport me 3.7 miles to Mora Italian, Scott Conant’s restaurant in Phoenix.  It took maybe 10 minutes to arrive, the ride also took around 10 minutes, uneventful. The trip fare was $21.67, Uber added a $4.25 booking fee, and I tipped $5.18.

That totals $31.10.  I paid $16.10 because I get a monthly $15 credit on Uber via Amex Plat.

At approximately 8:00p I summoned a Waymo driverless car.  It took around 20 minutes to arrive – “busy night,” said Google – but much of that time was spent finishing a coffee at my table in Mora.

The ride itself also took around 10 minutes.  The robot took exactly the route I would have driven.  There was nothing unusual about the ride, except that the driver’s seat was empty.  Oh – and that gave us much to comment on because for both of us this was a first time in a driverless car.  The fare totaled $18.70. No tip and please don’t tell me that in our current era of tip mania that it’s become necessary to tip to keep the robots placated.  

Which is the better ride?

My conclusion: I only get one $15 Uber credit a month ($35 in December to round the credit up to $200 for the year) and whenever I have already used that credit Waymo will get the business. It’s cheaper and more fun and also a gateway into tomorrow where robots do a lot of stuff for us.

Waymo operates in San Francisco and Phoenix and says it’s “ramping up” in Austin TX and Los Angeles County. I’m glad I live in phoenix and get to use it.

If you’re in San Francisco or Phoenix, use Waymo. It’s a ride into the future.

Mora Is Lessa

I have eaten a half dozen times at Mora since it opened in 2017 and I have been something of a fan. Early on I even had a pleasant chat with Scott Conant who was often in the house in those years.

I did not see him in Mora last night. He was missed.

I’d settled into a menu of my making: Little Gems Lettuce Caesar salad; pasta pomodoro (a Conant specialty – note the generous heap of butter); and a half roast chicken.  That was an option on Valentine’s Day and with a dessert, the tab was $190 for two.

Add in a couple negronis (lovely) and a $95 Super Tuscan (a solid buy) and the tab, inclusive of tax and a service charge, hit $425.

The meal wasn’t worth that much. 

Maybe the kitchen was simply hammered by the torrent of diners on Valentine’s Day but even the pomodoro seemed, well, mediocre and that’s the dish that propelled Conant to culinary stardom. This wasn’t a bad meal, don’t misunderstand, but it did not rise above the ho-hum.

One Open Table reviewer wrote this about the Valentine’s 2024 service: “All in all it wasn’t a great experience, food was overpriced and the quality was subpar.”  I agree and that reviewer had a problem with cold meatballs.  In our case it was the chicken that was cold and, somehow, that seemed only appropriate given the mediocrity of the first two dishes. We didn’t send ours back because there was no reason to believe there’d be improvement.

I gave the meal just two stars on Open Table. That was mainly for the outstanding negroni and the Super Tuscan which was good and fairly priced.

Sure, I understand that Valentine’s Day is not a good day at most restaurants.  It rings the cash register but the food usually reflects the hurried, harried atmosphere in the kitchen. As Delicious Magazine noted, “Even decent restaurants underperform on Valentine’s Day.”

I know all that but it’s just that I have experienced better at Mora in the past, even on very busy nights. Something was very off at Mora on Valentine’s Day 2024.

My hope is that last night simply was a miscue. I’ll give it another chance.

But if you are an out of towner who happens to be in Phoenix with a craving for Italian, my advice now is to go to Chris Bianco’s Tratto. It’s never failed me, always surprises me.