La Mamma Pastas and Salsas — Restaurant in Puerto Iguazú

As a tourist in Argentina, I’ve been eating my way through low, mid, and high priced pastas. I must say that this place (being the lowest cost restaurant) is the best of them all. They concentrate on quality but also give quantity. The small restaurant is unassuming and not fancifully decorated but was busy the entire time we ate there. There were many orders of fresh pasta, sauce, and empanadas to bring out as well as to dine in.

We ordered a green and a yellow fettuccine (not sure what it is actually called). The green one with a putanezca sauce and the yellow one with a mushroom and cheese sauce. The putanezca sauce came with olives, capers, and garlic in a tomato base. This sauce wasn’t my favorite because it was slightly sweet in an unbalanced way but the other flavors were great. My favorite was the mushroom (at least 3 different mushrooms) and cheese sauce. The sauce was creamy, savory, cheesy, and full of umami. The pasta was bouncy, cooked al dente, and as fresh as you can imagine. I don’t think I can enjoy boxed pasta the same way anymore.

We also ordered a surubi (fish) empanada which came out piping hot, used finely chopped/ground fish and was juicy, dripping with flavor, had a hint of “fishiness” to it. With the hot sauce on the table, this was one of my favorite empanadas I’ve tried in Argentina.

We also had a flan with dulce de leche that was great. I personally thought it was a bit sweet (unfortunately I have a low sweetness tolerance) but my companion thought it was perfect. Nothing out of this world amazing but a very good flan any Argentinian would...

4 ladies spend all day making pastas for the evening. As soon as it hits 7pm, locals come flooding in. It's very popular. So i suggest popping in at 7pm sharp to skip any queues.

You pick a pasta first and a sauce second (1400p). The spinach gnocchi is a bit more expensive (1800p), but very popular and is the one that runs out first. I recommend the mushroom sauce and also the cameron sauce.

The youngest worker is front of house while the rest are cooks. They work hard, are efficient and seem jolly. They handle everything with grace, leaving us quite impressed. British waiting staff could learn a thing or two from argentine service culture. The lady can get along with English, and seems used to navigating the language barrier with people from all over.

We arrived in iguazu from BA not expecting anything special food wise... But we were surprised. This place is just as other reviews described, you'll want to return the next day and the fresh nature of everything hand made is something special. Btw. I suggest you eat in if you can. The food tastes better. If you take away, pasta continues to...

Great pasta, amazing prices and the quantity was astonishing. Now put this in context that the Great British Pound is 75 Paso's currently. That's a extremely good exchange rate for myself. So perhaps in two months the prices may not be as amazing. How we the quality will remain and it's still a good price for a meal. I got spaghetti Bolognese for 175 Paso's. A little over two pounds, it would have easily been worth 9 in a take away from the UK or at least 11 in a resteraunt. The pasta is clearly fresh and you can see them making your meal in the back. The kitchen is clearly spotless and we'll maintained. I couldn't find a fault...