Reviews of Mama Melrose’s Lunch/Dinner
Reviewed by spikesmom Review Date: 08/26/2016
Rating: (9) Recommended
My daughter and I dined at Mama's on 8/21 for lunch and got the Fantasmic package. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the package included an appetizer as well as a dessert, even on the dining plan! I had the steak, and it was amazing! I will dream of it for a long time ... just delicious! The four cheese macaroni on the side was also very good. My daughter had the kids' pasta and meatballs ... she loved the pasta and sauce, but did not like the meatballs ... but kids can be fussy. The only thing I found odd was that the other folks sitting around us and using the dining plan were given their choice of dessert, while our server told us that the Fantasmic package included the dessert sampler for adults and an ice cream sundae for the kids ... my daughter would really have loved the spaghetti and meatball cupcake. Not sure if our server chose not to offer us a choice, or if it was a misunderstanding. I didn't bring it up, and we enjoyed what we had and left happy. Nice decor, good service and delicious food. One other note, the last time I did the Fantasmic package the reserved seating was way off to one side ... This time I was pleasantly surprised to find that we had the center section and had a perfect view of Fantasmic ... my little daughter loved every second!
Pros:
Delicious steak!, great seating for FantasmicCons:
no choice for dessert?Reviewed by vickie1016 Review Date: 08/09/2016
Rating: (9) Recommended
Family & I had lunch here in July. Food was great, server was very friendly. We did not reserve the Fantasmic lunch package, but the server offered it to us, which we accepted. The server was very accommodating, as DD 10 wanted a change to her app. and she didn't care for the plated dessert so he brought her the kids spaghetti & meatball cupcake (which she loved!)
Overall it was a great meal & we look forward to eating here again.
Pros:
Server was great, food was tastyCons:
Waiting area too smallReviewed by DePasquale Review Date: 07/10/2016
Rating: (9) Recommended
Mama Melrose is the Italian Restaurant that we all have in our neighborhood where you are very comfortable, familiar and can count on a good ol dish of macaroni.
Pros:
Feels like a familiar neighborhood Italian RestauranrtCons:
Hard to find anyReviewed by Snemma Review Date: 06/30/2016
Rating: (9) Recommended
Had the Fantasmic Package for lunch. All of us had the charred steak. I have had this meal the last three times, and it remains one of my favorite meals at WDW. Though my kids got this entree because I informed them that the price was the same regardless of what they ordered, we all agreed that the char on the beef with the sauce was wonderful. My only concern was eating this meal at noon seemed a bit heavy.
Pros:
Food qualityCons:
Miss Fantasmic DinnerReviewed by rsfan Review Date: 06/19/2016
Rating: (9) Recommended
We usually go to Mama Melrose's on the first night of our visit. After checking in a bit early, and surviving the typical chaos of the waiting area, we were lead to our table about on time. Our waitress was a bit older and less peppy, but she did a great job attending to our needs--a real veteran. We had 3 different flatbreads and the lasagna and all were excellent. My carne d'italia was a real star; enormous hunks of pancetta with the crust crisped just right. The mixed green salad was also good and big enough to share. My DDs had tiramisu and enjoyed it. Meal with tip came to about $25/pp (no alcohol) which I thought was reasonable. We will continue our tradition in the future.
Pros:
Food; fair valueCons:
Needs bigger waiting areaReviewed by shell65 Review Date: 05/03/2016
Rating: (5) Not Recommended
My husband and I both liked our meals. I had the calamari appetizer and the mushroom pizza. My husband had pasta and meatballs. The bread was good and the wine very nice. Our waiter was very distracted. We learned more about what the restaurant offered by the waiter next to us. Our waiter was hardly around. When I told him I had a chocolate allergy he gave me the dessert trio and walked away. I did not eat it and later he came back and said yes it had chocolate. When we left the greeters were throwing papers at each other. I felt bad for the cooks because the food is good but the staff not so much.
Pros:
yummy foodCons:
the service, not concerned about allergyReviewed by tdischer Review Date: 04/10/2016
Rating: (9) Recommended
We ate here on the Monday after Easter. The park was packed and we got in for our 11:30 reservation right away. We were on the dining plan and the food was really good. My 10 year old loved getting the steak. Service was a little slow and couldn't completely keep up with my hungry group with drinks and bread, but not too bad. I asked the waiter to substitute a salad for me instead of a dessert (as we had figured out to share salads and desserts between our party) and he tried to talk me out of it saying the salad was really small. Glad I stuck to it as it was a very normal sized dinner salad that was very good and my son and I shared it and then shared the dessert that he ordered. By the time we left at about 12:30-12:45 the restaurant was filled and the lobby was packed. Glad we chose to skimp on breakfast and do an early lunch. Good overall. My son loved looking up the Hidden Mickeys wherever we were and he found 3 of them in the lobby of the restaurant. He pointed them out to others who got a kick out of seeing them.
Pros:
food, atmosphere, time we chose to eatCons:
service a little slowReviewed by rjdrewett Review Date: 02/07/2016
Rating: (9) Recommended
Did the Fantasmic Lunch package on 2/2/16. Each person gets choice of appetizer, entree, and a non-alcoholic drink. Also get a dessert sampler for each person. Service was good. I felt food quality was better than expected. I was expecting "Olive Garden" esque, but this was much better. I had Caesar salad for appetizer and Chicken Parmigiana for entree. Wife had Fresh Mozzarella and Tomatoes for app, Saltimbocca for entree. Dessert was small (a couple bites) serving of Amarettini Cheesecake, Tiramisu, and Cannoli cake. Was very full afterwards and didn't need to eat the rest of the day...
Fantasmic portion worked well. There is a specific area in the front center of the arena for the lunch/dinner package folks. We arrived 10-15 minutes prior to show, found seats, but probably should have been there a bit earlier to avoid some of the rush. Still better than lining up an hour or more early. I would definitely recommend this restaurant and the Fantasmic package, especially if you have kids that can't handle waiting very long!
Pros:
Food Quality, Fantasmic PackageCons:
—Reviewed by scalemaster34 Review Date: 01/18/2016
Rating: (3) Not Recommended
Made a reservation for 10, at 184 days from our ADR. We arrive and check in, no issues, had to wait about 15 mins to be seated..... at two different tables. When we questioned the hostess, another woman, who we assumed was our server tried to tell us they don't seat parties that large. But there were four parties that size in view. She told us we could go wait about 40 min for another table if we wanted.
We took what there was. But then waited another 10 min for our server to come by for the drink order (must have been issues). She was very nice and did as good a job as she could. And I can't fault her service at all. She did hand me a Disney Pen to sign the check.... that had exploded. But that happens and she did get me a wipe and was able to clean it all off.
But the other server (who we encountered previously) was waiting other tables in our area, and after our server had left a coffer pot on our table so we could refill.... she came by and removed it telling us that wasn't how they did things.
The other server made it a very poor experience for us. Combined with the so - so steaks and poor attempt at real pasta, along with no manager to even show any interest. We won't be back.
Most of the Disney's restaurant have some "gimmick" to overcome the high prices and so - so food quality. Either characters or they put on some kinda "act" 50's Prime Time, or location like Coral Reef. But none of that applied to Mama's....
If you want Italian, go to Tutto Italia Ristorante.
Pros:
Was a place to eat in the PARKCons:
WaitstaffReviewed by GSHROUT Review Date: 01/08/2016
Rating: (10) Recommended
We were a party of 9 and were seated promptly as we had Advanced Resv. All of us were on the the Deluxe Plan and our server split the bills like a pro with no complaints. The food was amazing. Especially the appetizer Mussels. My wife and I are planning our next trip for 2017 and this place is on the top of our list. I can't stress enough the importance of making those Advanced Dinning Reservations 180 days out. It makes a huge difference as to how quickly your seated. Read some of the other reviews and waiting to be seated appeared to be the number 1 complaint. Seems like poor planning on their part. Ignore those negative reviews, make your resv. and be prepared for a terrific meal.
