Mama Lou's Italian Kitchen- SM City Bataan — Restaurant in Balanga

1. Customer service - POOR Not one staff member greeted us at the door and help seat us. They were congregated with who appears to be the manager lollygagging & shooting the breeze, gossiping instead of paying attention to customers A couple of staff were busy with their cellphones. SUPER POOR!🤬
2. Server did not even offer table water, we had to ask for ice with our soda. Does not seem to pay attention to our orders and forgot to bring additional bread we requested. Server was "lost in thought." (LUTANG)
3. Food was EXCELLENT! Does taste like the real Italian I know. I have travelled all throughout Italy and I'm very familiar with Italian food.
4. I suggest serving larger or more portion of bread similiar to OLIVE GARDEN, USA, esp. if your serve MUSSELS IN WHITE WINE SAUCE
5. Skimping on the famous white wine & garlic sauce defeats the quality to those familiar with this dish.
6. TRAIN YOUR STAFF OR REPLACE THEM ALL SINCE THEY ARE GIVING YOUR RESTAURANT A VERY BAD FIRST IMPRESSION. The servers & staff that night Dec. 20, 2023, we visited lack PROFESSIONALISM. Mama Lou seems to be a high end restaurant and not a CORNER CARENDERIA!🤬💔 I felt like cussing them out for misrepresenting a QUALITY LOOKING restaurant. FIRE AND REPLACE THEM ALL BEFORE THEY DESTROY YOUR REPUTATION.

UPDATE: Thank you for promptly responding to my concern. I often walk by your business to "secret shop/review" your staff; when I see & feel they are ready to be secretly evaluated. I gave your business a 4 STAR and not a (1) ONE, to show you, your food is delicious & near authentic. Just so you know, & if you're not aware, Italians don't skimp on their servings, bread, dip, sauce. We will definitely be coming back, when we see that your business has meaningfully made CUSTOMER SERVICE upgrade with a stern...

Our first time dining here was on April 24, 2024. We ordered a salad (forgot which one), an onion soup, chicken parmigiana, and tuna belly. The first three were alright, nothing stellar—but the tuna was makunat at maalat. We left a note, pero 'di ko alam if there are changes made since then.

July 17 did we give another chance. We ordered pumpkin soup, one pork chop, and one slow-cooked beef. The pork chop arrived first, and give 10 minutes before the soup came, and another 10 minutes later was the slow-cooked beef served.

• Only one of the two pork slices are okay, and was placed on top of the second, undercooked one. Mahirap nguyain. • We expected more from the pumpkin soup. Not hearty. And as appetizer, hindi siya nauna. • Oh, the slow-cooked beef. It arrived last yet was utterly of room temperature. Not babalik-balikan as well. The only ones warm were the rice and the 3 slices of fried zucchini. To be honest? I'd rather cook caldereta at home. Or even menudo would be better.

It's a slow burn disappointment, if you will. Pag-uwi mo, doon mo na-realize na dapat pala we spent that almost 2k somewhere else. Even more so when you see good reviews in other branches. Naka-two strikes na. Wouldn't risk...

We went there a few weeks after their opening and the majority of their specialties were already unavailable. And even though we have to settle for other things, we still had a nice dinner.

The several kinds of pasta that we ordered were flavorful and distinct from each other. Notable pasta was their mussels one and the least was their truffle carbonara. Their Mama's Pesto Al Pollo was great, there were surprise vegetables in it like green beans and potatoes, but still great nonetheless. And their Ribeye Steak Salpicao was very tender.

We ordered the Mama Lou's Special thin crust pizza and it was delicious. We were informed that the pizza comes with arugula but was currently unavailable yet still ordered it to try. The crust was fantastic and the combination of salty cheese, cured meats, and fresh mango was actually nice.

Service was fantastic and very patient since we had to go through such time ordering, checking if the food was available and if not, looking again for a new dish that's hopefully available that day. I look forward to trying more dishes from...