Mama Restaurant Marseille — Restaurant in Marseille

Ya know... I really wanted to like this place. (Especially because they're basically two blocks away and I'm going to have to walk past it all the time.) The atmosphere is great. The staff... while friendly enough in what they say... it wasn't really matching their eyes. The first time I went there I didn't even eat because the guy was attacking like a mall security guard. Eyeing me following me around... Maybe he was having a bad day. So I tried again yesterday. I just wanted to know what they had to eat. So I asked a waiter. He insisted I sit down and he'd bring me a menu.

He didn't.

Eventually some other waiter brought me some round thing with a QR code thing to scan. I just wanted to know if they even had anything I wanted to eat before committing to this whole thing.

I don't know what was up that night... But the entire staff, the floor manager, the waiters, everyone was running around looking worried as if something was going terribly, terribly wrong.

Things got worse when the food arrived. I ordered the Dorade... a fish thing. You get it all over town. What I got was... Well look at the photo. Some steamed kinda fish salad, kinda hard broccoli and bok choi thing with no flavor at all.

Again... Waiter was very nice. But the card machine wasn't working and there was a wild panic in his eyes. From what I overheard someone had checked out of the hotel without paying, maybe? What that could possibly have to do with him or me is beyond me. But everyone was like that last night.

It was weird.

So the fish disappointed. And they do have actual menus. I saw them on the way out. I wish they'd let me look at one for ten seconds instead of putting me through this QR code thing.

If you walk for literally two minutes to the Rue Lodi there's a whole GALAXY of bars and restaurants.

Do that instead.

I gave it an additional star because the interior design is...

Un peu de contexte concernant ces 2 étoiles. Réservation à 21h pour 5 personnes. On nous accueille, on nous installe et on nous propose de commander un apéritif tout d'abord. Ce que nous faisons. Les verres mettent du temps à arriver : 2 pinte, 2 bloody Mary et 1 old fashioned. Au-delà du retard, le old fashioned était une version revisitée, bizarre pour un classique. Mais bon passons. Puis ce qui met du temps, c'est la prise de la commande pour le repas. Au bout d'un moment, nous interpellons un serveur (pas la serveuse qui avait pris la commande de notre apéritif) pour lui faire savoir que nous aimerions commander notre dîner. Il est 22h passé. Le serveur un peu surpris nous informe qu'il doit demander à la cuisine si elle est toujours ouverte. Nous exprimons notre surprise puisque personne ne semblait se soucier ni de notre table, ni de l'heure. La cuisine est encore ouverte. Le même serveur nous informe ensuite que plusieurs plats ne sont plus disponibles (bon en plus pas de chance, cela concernait les plats que 4 d'entre nous avions choisis). Nous commandons finalement. Les plats mettent là aussi du temps à arriver à tel point que nous hésitons à partir. Les plats arrivent finalement. Déception quant au dressage et au manque de finesse de ceux-ci : une viande angus à 24€ servie simplement avec des pommes grenaille. Des saucisses accompagnées de riz et d'un mélange de légumes qui ne font pas rêver. Une salade de poulpe décevante également. Bref, pas de quoi égaler la décoration un minimum moderne, travaillée et raffinée de l'établissement. Un mauvais souvenir donc pour l'ensemble des convives. Nous l'avons fait comprendre à la serveuse qui est venue nous encaisser et avec laquelle nous avions été très agréables en début de service lors de la commande...

The food was delicious but the service so so. We went there for lunch and the servers were all top notch. However, at brunch time they are very overwhelmed and very sarcastic - aka you ask for a fork - they tell you to grab it yourself from an empty table haha. Or you ask them for a cappuccino and they tell you grab a coffee crème it’s the same thing haha. Other than that - the food, drinks, desserts and atmosphere...