Mama Dough Pizza

Mama Dough is a wood-fired Napoli-style pizzeria at 2 Wakefield Gardens in the Ainslie shops, known for chewy sourdough crusts and one of the better gluten-free bases in Canberra. Dogs are welcome at the outdoor tables, and the staff are relaxed about it: water bowls come out on request and dog-walking groups regularly take over the outdoor area in numbers.

The dog setup

Dogs take the outdoor dining area, which has a mix of sunny and shaded tables depending on the weather. The indoor room is people-only and small anyway, since much of the trade is takeaway. Dogs stay on lead and settled around other diners, and while staff will usually fetch a water bowl, it is worth having your own as backup when the tables fill on weekend evenings. Sitting next to Edgar's Inn in the strip, the frontage is a busy but comfortable spot for a sociable dog.

Worth knowing

The menu runs Neapolitan-style wood-fired pizzas, from the hot salami to the four cheeses and a margherita done properly, plus garlic pizzas. Hours run midday to 9pm daily, to 9:30pm on Friday and Saturday. Weekend evenings fill the outdoor tables, so arrive early or expect a short wait.

Getting there and parking

The address is 2 Wakefield Gardens, in the heart of the Ainslie shops. Free parking is in the surrounding shopping centre car parks, and it is an easy flat walk from the surrounding Ainslie streets.

Close by with the dogs

Mount Ainslie Nature Reserve is minutes away but strictly on-lead on all tracks under ACT parks rules, which still makes for one of the better pre-pizza climbs in Canberra. Hackett Hounds Dog Owners Group covers the reserve walking scene nearby, and OOSHMAN Dickson is another dog-friendly pizza table a few minutes south.

More options are on the ACT dog friendly restaurants guide and the Ainslie destination page.

Max: climb Mount Ainslie on the lead, come down the hill, and the wood-fired margherita at an outdoor table tastes twice as good.