Mamma Mia Restaurant 1972 — Restaurant in Ōrākei

I've heard great things about Mamma Mia based on the fact that it's been around for so long and has served a generation of customers. Last night we decided to try it out.

Here's what we ordered:

GARLIC PIZZA BREAD - This was over cooked and borderline burnt. The dough was dense and not exactly what I was expecting from an authentic Italian restaurant. MEAT LOVERS - The dough was the same as the garlic pizza and also overcooked. The topping were generous with a decent quality cheese - I did however find that the the ham and pepperoni toppings to be supermarket grade. SPAGHETTI CARBONARA - Great presentation and aroma, lots of garlic and flavor - loved this! FETTUCINE AL POLLO E CREMA - Also a great presentation but was not as "saucy" and was somewhat dry. The chicken was well cooked but the overall dished needed lots or parmesan powder and some salt to lift the flavor. LASAGNA AL FORNO - The sauce was pretty good and there was decent amount of cheese in the sauce and again they seem to be using a good Mozzarella to bake on top. The only thing letting this dish down was the pasta sheets, they were overcooked and mushy - this could have been either from reheating or from precooking the sheets to layer when making fresh (considering a lasagna normally takes around 40min to cook) - I would assume the latter since the other ingredients tasted fresh. CHEESECAKE - This was an absolute treat! LOVED this dessert, it was creamy with some complex flavors! I couldn't get enough! ESSPRESSO + GRAPPA - Really good coffee, nice dark Italian roast and the Grappa was perfectly smooth and complimenting the roast.

Cost: $176.00 (including 2 house wines)

I will give credit where it's due and say that the service staff were friendly albeit a bit slow and inattentive at times considering we were one the three seated tables at the time.

I think we might go back for the pasta and cheesecake, but I will rather keep to some of the other Italian restaurants in Auckland who specialize in traditional Neapolitan styled pizza - that's just my personal choice since I'm sure the majority of customers aren't as fussy with their Italian food.

Here's my final score

Location: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Ambiance: ⭐⭐ Service: ⭐⭐⭐ Menu: ⭐⭐⭐ Food Quality: ⭐⭐⭐ Value: ⭐⭐

*This review represents my own views and experience - I would encourage readers to explore this venue for themselves and come to their own conclusions and continue to support...

My partner and I decided too try here in Saturday night, being our first outing since lockdown. I remembered it being delicious several years back. The young lady who met us at the door was accommodating and friendly. We ordered the jumbo meatlovers pizza. It was very disappointing. It was 90% ham, about 5% each of bacon and salami and the sauce had no taste at all. It was all very bland, needing salt and pepper to be added. For $44 we think this was way over priced and quite frankly have had better tasting, more meat on cheap Pizza Hutt or Dominos pizzas. We appreciate staff working under the new covid procedures (I too work in hospo) and the extra pressure it puts on staff, however we thought the service was a little slow, we had to flag down a waiter to take our order. We were also a bit concerned that one waiter was serving with no mask on, tables being preset, no covid signage around other than the QR code in the door and there was definitely no 1-metre rule being practised between tables. Working in hospo I am fully aware of the rules and requirements to not have tables preset with cutlery, glassware and salt and pepper, all staff are to be masked, tables are to be spaced out allowing for people seated to be 1m apart, signage around reminding customers of requirements and also a manual register for signing in for those who can't do electronic and access to sanitiser. We were not asked for our vax passport until I offered it. When asked how our meal was at the counter we informed the waiter it was bland and a tad disappointing. He told us we should have asked for bbq sauce to go on top like others do. This wasn't mentioned on the menu, so how would one know this? Disappointing for our first post...

Made a booking over the phone, didn’t answer on the first ring so I had to ring again. Booked a table, they said they booked us outside, so I told everything to rug up warm as we will be sitting outside. Got there they sat us in the middle of the restaurant. When ordering my friend asked what seafood goes in the seafood risotto, the man taking the order just said “seafood risotto yep” and didn’t answer her question. So when it came to me to order I reasoned her question, he looked baffled and muttered the words of something like he didn’t know. Then when I ordered I said “no mushrooms in my pasta, and asked if I could add chorizo”, a few minutes later he came back and said we have no chorizo, which is fine I have no issue with that. But when he said that I said as long as there are no mushrooms in the pasta. Food arrives and to my surprise there’s mushrooms all through it, I sent it back and waited for my food while the rest of the table eats. Now normally I am not one to make a fuss but when you are paying $30 for a bowl of pasta you expect it to be correct and what you asked for. The whole experience was not so great sadly, from my food being incorrect and being told we will sit outside in the cold. When we actually sat in the restaurant very hot, because we rugged up and along with the pizza oven going inside the restaurant made it all stuffy. Just unfortunate miss-communication in all areas of the night and it sadly has resulted in...