Mama San Nelson — Restaurant in Nelson

Lovely little restaurant. It feels spacious with their eclectic furnishings.

Staff were lovely and efficient. The appetizers arrived quite quickly! Our empty plates were removed as soon as they were finished. The mains arrived not long after we finished our mains.

Lots of asian clientele, which gave us confidence in the menu.

The pork fried rice was very tasty - and although, it could have done with a bit more pork ( because it was perfectly tender and we all loved it), the pork flavour did not overpower the rest of the rice which was great.

The lemongrass chicken was very fragrant. The rice on the plate was perfect. It was great to have the different textures on the dish. Very enjoyable.

Food was presented nicely and very tasty.

The combination appetizers were all delicious 😋.

We would all have ordered more of the Crispy Chicken and the Dumplings - that coriander sauce was amazing!!

They had our favourite Bundaberg Ginger beer, but that beautifully presented Coconut Mango Lassie was sooo delicious - we needed more of those!

Prices...

Disappointing Dining Experience at Mama San

During a brief overnight stay in Nelson, I decided to try Mama San for takeaway, given its positive reviews. Unfortunately, the meal fell far short of expectations.

The chicken satay was underwhelming and bore little resemblance to the appealing images on their website. Similarly, the pork belly was unremarkable and lacked flavor. The fried noodles were so bland that I needed to add salt to make them palatable. As for the Vietnamese pancake, it was mediocre at best—certainly not up to standard.

I had hoped for a flavorful and visually appealing meal, but none of the dishes delivered. Considering the prices, the overall experience was not worth the cost. I cannot recommend Mama San based...

My boyfriend heard Mama San is a very nice place for dining so we just came for a date in here. We ordered Summer rolls and Vietnamese pancake. The food were so disappointed honestly. I could say that because I am Vietnamese so I know how authentic Vietnamese cuisine like. The summer rolls were served with stirred mince pork - which is insane for me because we always have sliced boiled pork or sliced grill pork to roll. Also it was cooked a bit salty, the dipping sauce was so sweet. The second one is Vietnamese pancake was unacceptable, how could the chef stirred all the veggie and put them on crunchy pancake which came too watery and softy when its served! We both could't finish the dishes at all because they...