Mama Sila Restaurant & Event Centre Otahuhu — Restaurant in Māngere-Ōtāhuhu

My cousin had her reception for her wedding here and we were so excited because family members had heard positive things about their catering. My cousin had organised with the owner to move tables around in the restaurant the night before the wedding and when we turned up the workers just stared at us through the door and wouldn’t open it. Took them 10 mins with us standing outside at 9pm to open the door. They had no idea about the arrangement and unsure of the booking we had for the next day. We were then told that they would be open for an hour to the public before the booking we made for the wedding. They assured us the public would be out 15mins before our booking started. On the wedding day, this was not the case as public patrons were still inside when family were showing up. Annoying and no communication from the staff about this.

The food was delicious which was the only positive thing about this place. However, the food was slow to be restocked and at the beginning of our booking things were low from the previous hour being open to the public. Frustrating to say the least given the amount of money paid for 3 hours for 150 people.

Staff were rude and we felt uncomfortable as they were giving us evil stares. Horrible behaviour. This place didn’t feel welcoming at all and our family will not be booking any future events with them. The venue was really hot with no air con, again uncomfortable. They have big fans there but it was only moving hot air around. We ended up standing outside near the otahuhu bus stops to get fresh air.

This place is not kid friendly either, too small and tables were tight. Our kids ended up running around outside, especially because of the heat.

Really disappointed with this place, communication is not great, staff are rude and not good...

Went here for a family gathering after seeing them online for a while and had a good feed. The turkey tails were the best hot food. Enjoyed the menu as it included some naughty favourites like mushroom sauce and beef, seafood chowder and corned beef. The dessert section was nice too there was a lot of variety. Compared to all the buffets in south Auckland I’d say this one is the hands down cleanest. They were always wiping down near the buffets and cleaning the dessert area. Also a plus was that this is one of the only island food buffets in Auckland that are opened to eat in. The only negative to mention is that the front of house lady was very unfriendly. She didn’t smile or make our family feel welcomed. My elderly family tried to make light with her and say some jokes but she would look at them with a side eye them or look down on her phone to avoid speaking. I understand work gets tiring but that’s a real negative for the business having someone who looks angry as your front of house - just a polite recommendation as we liked the food but would’ve enjoyed it more if the front representative for your company was more inviting,...

Was highly recommended but unfortunately fell well short of expectations, must have been an off night for them. Staff were very polite as you would expect but upon entering the dinning area I found it to be lacking any character whatsoever, there was absolutely no attempt to decorate the place to look inviting or welcoming etc not a single thing. Nothing to say that it was proudly owned and operated by a Polynesian "Mama". The food and presentation looked nothing like the beautiful feast represented in the photos in some of the previous reviews, it may have been because it was the last session but most of the food was cold as the food warmers had run out of fuel and unfortunately the best dish of the night were the hot dinner rolls with butter. Very disappointed as I was really looking forward to experiencing what the hype was all about but it definitely fell well below expectations and not worth the $700 our group paid.

Hopefully it gets better as we do need a good representation of our pacific culture and...