Mamma Mia Ristorante Italiano — Restaurant in Bay of Plenty

We took our 1 year old to the beach today, had a dip in the hot pools and decided to treat ourselves to a good pizza. Looking at which restaurant was open around the corner we headed to mamma Mia restaurant. We ordered two pizzas and 1 kids cheesy pizza. There was just another couple at the time sitting and already eating. The waitress was very friendly and efficient, she made our drinks promptly and well. The pizzas arrived, undercooked, soggy and tasteless, an insult to Italian food culture really. Nothing was homemade, neither the sauce or the dough, just a load of bad quality frozen products. Our son, who genuinely loves pizza, hardly ate anything and somewhat nearly chocked on the solid mozzarella that had cooled down. We have had a busy day and ate anyways knowing we wouldn’t have time to wait for anything else. I did mention to the waitress that the pizzas were rather not good at all. That we were hungry and ate but that it was by far the worst we ever have had. We did not take dessert as we needed to head back home to get our son to bed. The waitress said she would tell the chef, not sure if that happened but all we heard from the kitchen after she dropped our plates was laughter. Anyways, we pay the bill ( 110 dollars) which made it even worst on our disappointment. We try to eat local, but at this stage, Pizza Hut does better pizzas and cheaper. We obviously do not recommend this restaurant , the treat is now ruined and at the same time emptied our pockets quite bit. Would recommend to the chef to stop cutting cost on products, maybe make the dough? I mean for 28 dollars a pizza you might want to try to make better not worst! Service was...

We don’t often eat Italian as the lo-carb options aren’t great, for obvious reasons! But we had a friend visiting and that’s what they fancied, so we opted for Mamma Mia on the basis that we’d never been before. And we should all try new things, am I right? We had the warm olives that came with some ciabatta and my Favourite Husband ordered the garlic bread. Clearly embracing a night off his diet. Both were very nice, I enjoyed the olives and was grateful to have something to pick at with my wine. I ordered the “pollo” chicken tenderloins, apricot, porto and Dijon sauce and roasted veggies. This was delicious. The sauce was flavoursome, the chicken well cooked and I really loved the vegetables. They were very al dente which I prefer and need to make the most of whilst I still have all my own teeth. The friend and the Favourite Husband let the team down a little by ordering the same dish. Give me strength. They had “surf and turf” which was a perfectly cooked eye fillet, prawns, portobello mushroom, polenta and “a sauce.” (Neither could recall what sauce, so I’m contemplating firing them as assistants.) They both loved their dish. “Flavour bomb” and “outstanding” were words thrown around. The friend commented that it was nice to have a medium steak that wasn’t under and wasn’t cremated. The service was super friendly and we thought it was good value. I found the room a bit on the cold side, but found a second wine bought in a nice glow. Maybe...

I often wonder when punters rate a joint -can they actually dicern good from mediocre? Hidious from plain bad? I see it all the time in these Google reviews.

Is it a reflection of their lack of travel? Rarely eating out? Failing to frequent the best joints so they remain clueless about good cuisine?

A most unfortunate cullinary experience in this dining room was had. The Bruschetta was quite frankly -Bad. The tomatoes weren't fresh. In fact they felt quite "mushy" in the mouth. No flavour to them at all, recalling how bad most tomatoes used to be a couple of decades ago. My sample had just a couple of pieces of fresh basil and only a fleeting suggestion of garlic. Olive oil on the toasted bread and that was it.

As to the pizza... our sample was pasted with hardened mozzarella which stuck to the pizza base which appeared rather board-like and without enough air in it. More like flat bread. You'd think these so called Italian inspired cooks would get the basics right at least? The rest of the toppings were just glued together by the cheese.

The roast vegetables that came with the steak could of been prepared by my 80 year old grandmother from Manchester.The blue cheese the fillet came with was just that - without inspiration. As to the meat, at least the actual steak was a good cut and cooked as I liked.

However, that was not enough to stop me from summilarilary concluding a menu failure really....