Mamma Teresa Ristorante — Restaurant in Ottawa

Disappointing Service, Overpriced Food, and a Hair in Our Meal. With the response from the owner.

”Hi Majid.”

“We are so sorry to hear you did not like our restaurant. We get great reviews from the majority of our patrons with regards to our high level of customer service and terrific food. Maybe our restaurant and our fair market prices is just not for you. The hair in your food was verified with your server and is inaccurate information.”

Let me respond back to your amazing reply.

First, let’s set the record straight. No one ever claimed that the hair in the food was ‘verified’ by the server this is completely false. In fact, your server (the Canadian/Italian gentleman) never addressed the issue or followed up with the kitchen, which says a lot about your approach to customer service. He just came and told as to order something else from the menu.

Second, your passive-aggressive remark about ‘fair market prices’ and implying that affordability was ever an issue is both unprofessional and unnecessary. Trust me, affordability is not the problem here. I came to dine, and your staff served me let’s not twist the narrative.

Also, just because other reviewers had a different experience doesn’t mean mine is invalid. That’s not how reviews work. What’s interesting is how quickly you’ve defended your store bought pasta, yet avoided addressing the fact that it’s not made in-house. Maybe instead of dismissing honest feedback, you should be more transparent about the recipes you use and focus on improving your service.

OUR Review. Down below

We had a 7 PM reservation at this highly recommended restaurant, but unfortunately, the experience didn’t live up to the hype.

Upon arrival, the hostess an older Italian lady gave off a cold, uninterested vibe and didn’t even acknowledge my greeting. We were seated far from other guests, which I didn’t mind since I prefer a quieter atmosphere. The service, however, was bizarre. One of the waiters, a Canadian-Italian man with long hair, acted as if he didn’t care at all. He was cold, dismissive, and looked bothered to be taking our order—almost like he owned the place and didn’t need to make an effort. Another waiter, a Caucasian guy, was the only one actually working hard, running around to serve everyone.

Now, onto the food. We started with an aubergine dish and a mozzarella and tomato salad—both were quite good. For mains, I ordered chicken with vegetables, which was well-cooked, my brother had white pasta, and my mom ordered a meat dish. Unfortunately, her meal had a hair in it (zoom into the third picture to see for yourself). We informed the waiter, who took it away and apologized, but in a very insincere manner. No manager came over to check on us or acknowledge the issue. My mom reordered the same pasta as my brother, which was basic and something you could easily make at home for a fraction of the price.

Speaking of prices, ($37 or more can’t remember) for a simple pasta dish (with four prawns) is ridiculous especially when it’s clearly not homemade. If you’re charging that much, at least make fresh pasta! We also ordered a Caesar salad, which tasted off nothing special about it.

To top it all off, my mom had arranged a surprise birthday cake, and when it arrived, I was genuinely surprised because I wasn’t expecting it. I mentioned this to the waiter, and he just looked at me confused, despite the fact that my mom had called ahead to arrange it.

Would I return for the food? Maybe. But the service was the real issue here. I don’t mind paying high prices for great food, but when the staff acts indifferent and rude, it ruins the whole experience. If you want a tip, you need to earn it we still left $25, bringing our total to $260 for...

Recommended by a dear friend whose tastes I trust(ed) implicitly, it would seem that this Ottawa institution seems to have seen a marked dive in most every quantifiable way since his days stomping around the 613. The restaurant presents nicely both outside and in (for the most part), quite clearly tugging at our collective nostalgic heartstrings, throwing it back to simpler times (and that goes for the food as well). We were tended to by two servers whom could not've been more different in their warmth/personality, one being a younger gentleman with slicked back hair and a ponytail, who was not the most pleasant fellow I've encountered (shocking at such an establishment, tbh), the other being a young Ukrainian girl who was just a ray of sunshine; super warm, friendly, and attentive. I cannot really knock the service though, even with his unpleasant demeanour, they both performed sufficiently well. I really did enjoy the atmosphere inside, which is a real throwback, though one question which kept relentlessly running through my mind was "did all these famous politicians, celebrities, etc. really use THIS bathroom?"- it is in dire need of updating, friends. Onto the food... it is plainly evident that this place is mostly catering to a faithful old Anglo clientele whose palates simply don't expect all that much culinary excitement, whether it be from depth of flavour (or, rather, lack-thereof, as everything was criminally under-seasoned) , the cook (everything being an overcooked, mushy, mess), and so on. The Caesar salad was just a sad, bland, mess. The gnocchi are literally just tasteless calorie pillows in an equally tasteless tomato sauce- the saddest dish of the evening. Chicken cutlet with bolognese... cutlet, a soggy, flavourless, disaster, and on the bolognese: I appreciate kitchens are all about expediting things, but it simply lacks the depth of flavour of a bolo that's been cooked down for 5+ hours and left to sit overnight, and then reheated (my tip to the restaurant... a widely known "secret", that bolo is always (much) better the next day). Happy to offer a free further breakdown on bolognese-creation. The best dish, relatively speaking, was the lasagna (which, ironically, our unpleasant waiter advised against (while promoting the totally lacklustre gnocchi)), but yeah, that's just relatively speaking- no need to elaborate; totally forgettable. All in, about $190 for this sad, over-cooked, soggy, flavourless, pile of what is a poor excuse for Italian/Italian-American fare- I feel cheated and upset; total waste of money. Again, very obvious who their target demographic is, and with that, it makes sense this place is still around (and seemingly thriving)- riding on the coattails of yesterday's successes... a yesterday when there simply must not've been a better game in town...

It was my first and last visit here!! I am a foodie and I love fine dining, but this place is far from fine dining. From the atmosphere to the dated- French/Italian menu, to the awkwardly-cold staff, slow service, and the poor lighting/decorating in there...man I don't know which one was worse. Did I forget to mention that my hubby and I felt like there was a little prejudice going on and we were definitely treated differently from the other guests? We ordered mussels and "Bruschetta" as our appetizer...my hubby and I know that when mussels arrive at the table they should be covered with a bowl, 1. To keep them hot 2. To put empty shells in and we should have been given a seafood fork at least, well our mussels arrived...without a bowl covering them, without a seafood fork and a handful of mussels were completely SMASHED!! The couple beside us ordered mussels aswell, and there food was presented as it should be; covered, intact and with proper utensils. As a cook, I don't know how our mussels were unintentionally cooked and plated like that, especially if every dish is individually cooked with a great eye on the food, but if I cared about my guests and my reputation I would NEVER serve my guests anything but the best...and I would never treat anyone like they were not welcome!! Im thinking the fact that I was the only woman in the restaurant that was of color (I am Jamaican, hubby is Caucasian). Maybe that was a problem!? I'm never one to throw the racist card out there or to play victim, but Mamma Teresa earned this one!! My hubby and I are pretty laid back, well spoken, easy going and well mannered, but for the first time in our lives...from the beginning of our dining experience, to the very end...we both felt very uncomfortable, cheated, and looked down upon. Out of the kindness of our hearts, we still tipped our server 15%. There's a lot of other restaurants in this city that have better service, great quality food, reputation, and will definitely respect and appreciate ALL guests as they are!! This place needs a thorough makeover,...