Trattoria La Mamma — Restaurant in Nice

I was expecting better. The veneziano chef/waiter is charming, bubbly and very informed as well as informative about the food he serves. But the caliber of his discourse wasn’t mirrored in the caliber of the food I felt. I want to root for this place but I was disappointed. The dishes came out suspiciously fast and the portions weren’t generous enough. The food looked and tasted really quite basic. To me this restaurant doesn’t live out its name « Trattoria La Mamma ». I was expecting warm, hearty, generously portioned, & understatedly refined kind of old school Italian trattoria type of place. You know like “grandma’s cooking” type of place. It wasn’t like that. This felt more like readymade frozen dishes that you heat.

I started with the Tourte de Blette since it’s a regional Ligurian specialty. It was basic. The tourte de blette at Maison Boerri in Menton Market is better and the one at L’Altro Gusto is better too.

My dad started with the polenta with cèpes. This was also not great. Basic average polenta. The cèpes tasted like they were frozen, these were not fresh cèpes.

Then I had the pintade with potato wedges. They looked and tasted like they came from frozen supermarket packets.

My dad had the entrecôte. Same as all the other dishes –basic and average and seemed like it came from a frozen packet.

Judging by the quality of previous dishes we decided not to get a dessert.

I hate to speak ill of a small local business…but I really thought it would...

I believe honest feedback is most useful. We had two nights in a row, the first was amazing, and the second was very disappointing. I feel the main difference was the service. Valerio is the spirit that drives the experience into something special. The other staff on the second night were more interested in smoking and spending time with passing friends. Beyond the service the food is just OK by our italian expectations after 3 months in Italy. The pasta was fresh but the flavor was so so. The Canaloni was however very nice. Other dishes like the bakala on polenta was interesting and unique. The house wine was decent and inexpensive by the mezzo litre. Mammas turamisu was also very good but other entres and desserts are not worth the while. I think real Parmigiano reggiano and olive oil on the table would help thier cause to be a decent Italian dinner experience. Overall we are disappointed with our hosts reccomendation of this place. Off to Italy for...

We had a fantastic experience at Trattoria La Mama in Menton! Valerio, the owner, was incredibly friendly and welcoming, which made us feel right at home. The service was excellent, and the prices were great value for money.

We tried the calamari, lasagna, spaghetti aux moules, and tiramisu — everything was absolutely delicious. Our favourite was definitely the spaghetti aux moules: slightly spicy with a rich, flavourful tomato sauce that was simply unforgettable. The tiramisu was also a standout — the cream tasted like it came from another planet!

Everything was a solid 10/10. Highly recommend this place if...