Mama Yo — Restaurant in Dublin

Was looking forward to dining here as someone with a Gluten dietary restriction. We were passing by yesterday and got a table as a walk in as I'd looked forward to trying their Singapore noodles. Ordered the lettuce cups for starter (fine, average), and 'Singapore Noodles' Gluten free for main.

As someone on a GF diet I've eaten in the vast majority of Asian restaurants in the city (Saba, Siam Thai, Full Moon, Red Torch Ginger, EatToyko, Hang Dai etc..) and order a lot of GF Singapore noodles and without a doubt the food served to me yesterday was the poorest of them all by a long mile.

The 'singapore' noodles arrived, and had zero sauce or seasoning - it was just meat veg and noodles. I raised this with the waitress who explained this is what they serve Gluten Free, which is crazy because thats like serving me a 'curry' with just meat and rice. It was totally tasteless. I very rarely send food back but asked for an appropriate sauce/seasoning. A few minutes later, a sweet & sour sauce arrives. Needless to say if I wanted sweet & sour, I would have just ordered that dish. By the time the sauce arrived my dish was totally cold, and the person I was dining with had already finished both of their courses. It was upsetting and embarrassing.

We asked for the bill & was shocked that not even my drink (literally just a diet coke) wasn't comped for the sheer inconvenience as well as embarrassment, and also the fact I'm now leaving Mama Yo starving and having to try catch the nearby Tesco to get some sort of snack. The manager Veer basically said sorry but there's nothing else they can do unless I want to order something new (not going to do that to the other diner). Eventually after pushing how upset I was at how bad the food was served to me he comped my diet coke (not about the drink but the principle).

We dine regularly in other press up venues (particularly MacKenzies and Ryleighs) and they are excellent. This couldn't be further opposite, and was the first time in my life I've left a restaurant without eating a main course.

Do not...

We booked a table for 10 people to celebrate a friend visiting from Australia. The €55 set menu is mandatory for large groups which is fair. First warning though, the €55 set menu is more expensive than the individual items combined from the a la carte menu (approx. 10-15% more), and this was excluding the 10% service charge for the large group (no issue with service charge). This is outrageous as the selection is quite poor. The first red flag as we arrived was that we were originally seated at two separate tables and had to request to be moved. The second red flag was that one member of the party could only stay for one course but was forced to order a full 3 course set menu for €55 rather than just getting one starter. Absolutely no need to be this strict and it soured the mood from the start. Thirdly, we were double charged for our water (11 euro at €5.50 per bottle). And to add insult to injury, the server had asked all of us about steamed or boiled rice but never informed us that it is an extra 1.50 for fried rice which was another disappointing surprise when the bill arrived. I mean, talk about a clown fiesta. Altogether, the €55 set menu cost us €70 on average excluding drinks which left us feeling robbed and was terrible value for money. Overall disappointing experience where we were not made to feel like important customers despite the fact that we were bringing a large bill to the restaurant....

Food was 5/5 and would highly recommend but the service and value for money was dreadful. We were a group of 7 and at the time of booking, we were sent an extensive set menu for €55. Upon arrival, half of us were given the €55 set menu, and the other half were given a very small "Christmas" set menu with less items but for €65.

When we queried this with the staff, they removed the €55 set menu and were told they made a mistake and gave us the €65 menu and told us we could not order from the original set menu as the kitchen had prepared for the "christmas" set menu and could not accommodate the original agreed €55 menu. When taking our order, we ordered from the original menu anyway and they did not realise and took our order so the previous excuse was pure rubbish. We had a vegan in our party who was not accommodated for with the entry snacks and sides because they never came even though we paid for them. We ordered sides from a selection of three and were told they would all come out as part of the set menu which they did not. We were sent one side portion of potatoes as an "apology" from the kitchen even though we had ordered it anyway?

The food was delicious and cannot fault the chefs one bit, but the whole experience was really poor given that we felt we were being gouged on the price and that they did not give us a lot of the food we ordered as part of the "Christmas Set Menu". We will not...