Mama Lou's Italian Kitchen - Vermosa — Restaurant in Imus

First off, I’ve been a fan of Mama Lou’s ever since I tried it! I’ve tried A TON of Caesar salad, pesto pasta, and pizza from many places. But I HAVE NOT found anything at par with what Mama Lou’s is feeding me (pinalaki ni Mama Lou’s at this point). Indulge me in breaking this down:

Focaccia with olive oil and balsamic glaze — I’ve literally requested two branches to just sell focaccia because I’ll order for sure. What they served me yesterday was uhmaaaazing! Warm, a bit crunchy on the outside, and soft (yeasty) inside. I like that they opt for a balsamic glaze in the olive oil. Another Italian resto offers stale-ish bread and regular, straight-from-the-bottle balsamic vinegar in their olive oil. But whoever came up with balsamic glaze instead of regular balsamic vinegar really deserves much claps!

Pesto penne — what a lot of restos or cafes do wrong with their pestos is they use dried basil leaves and put them on their pasta—you know, those dried basil leaves we can source from supermarkets - the ones in bottles or plastic jars (like McCormick, etc.). I can hear an Italian raging over that! Lol The best pestos are the ones made of fresh basil leaves, olive oil, nuts, and garlic. Mama Lou’s understood the assignment very much, and they added some cream to it, which makes the pasta fatty and satisfying. Not so healthy, but who came to an Italian restaurant to eat healthy? Lol. Plus, the fried chicken fillet on top of the pesto penne is mostly golden brown, deep fried to perfection. There are occasional burnt edges, but that rarely happened to me. I’m sticking to pesto penne at Mama Lou’s until I find something that can top it—but for now, none.

Caesar salad — I can eat this entire thing alone. It’s not too salty, unlike the ones we tried in Alabang (🤫), but it’s perfectly seasoned—Parmesan cheese considered. Oh, and it’s not overly drowned by the dressing either! Although one time, we got served a bit of a questionable portion vis-a-vis its price point, so we made sure to request from the server to add more lettuce, and our request was granted. Yay!

Mama Lou’s Special Pizza — whoever thought of mango and arugula together plus balsamic glaze and hot honey seriously deserves an award! Also, sabi ng asawa ko — ang galing daw kasi consistent yung mango na parepareho yung level ng kahinogan, to which I agree. I’ve tried a pizza in a Makati restaurant dubbed one of the “Top 50 pizzas” in the world, and for me, I’d choose Mama Lou’s Special any day—a no-brainer decision for me.

Also, I’ve never done this long of a review for any restaurant. I must say that this is probably my fave for now. I don’t like going back to the same restaurants over and over again because what is fun for me is trying out new things every chance we get, EXCEPT when there’s Mama Lou’s.

In terms of service: there are points for improvement (we’ve been here several times). But our server yesterday was pretty awesome and was easy to talk to, so it was a pleasant experience.

Finally the atmosphere - it’s good inside except when crowded. But for us, we usually need to dine al fresco because mostly we’re with our dog. Vermosa is a dog-friendly place so… but there are flies around. It would be better if they have industrial fans outside to solve this plus the heat.

Other than that, we’ll be back for more...

It's been awhile since we last tried Mama Lou's so we decided to try this branch for our lunch. They have the best truffle pasta. We opted to sit alfresco this time as the day was so beautiful outside.

For our appetizer we went with the smallest size bacon truffle pizza. For our mains we both went with the grilled porkchop where you can choose which side you want. Regular rice, garlic or mashed potatoes. We both got their garlic rice. For drinks i simply went with water but my wife got some coffee.

We got our bacon truffle pizza first. It had a thin crust and it came with some herb condiments on the side. I wasn't sure what it was but it looked like baby bean sprouts. You can definitely taste the bacon in the pizza. The truffle taste was there but not as strong as their truffle pasta that I love.

Next came the grilled porkchop. We didn't know it came with two pieces of porkchop. This was quite plentiful. The garlic rice was quite flavorful. It also came with crunchy veggies on the side with a touch of tomato sauce. The porkchop itself had a good charred flavor. It was tender and quite easy to cut with the provided steak knife. One thing though, i noticed the tenderness and juices of the two chops weren't the same. My first chop was more dry while the second was juicier. I know that this difference can be mere seconds when cooking or leaving it on the side while you cook the other chops. This dryness was easily remedied with the side sauce. It wasn't sour to my surprise, but more on the umami side and oily. Honestly, not the best grilled porkchop I've had but the fact they gave us two chops made it worthwhile. I just wish i had more of that tasty garlic rice.

Service was OK. Not extraordinary but still complete. Despite us seating outside, the servers weren't that hard to call. Atmosphere wise, the vibe was really nice. Sitting alfresco let me enjoy my meal without the AC making it cold too quickly. But i gotta knock a point off. Some of the seats were already deteriorating. I'm not sure if it was due to the wear and tear of nature or maybe unruly customers. But it does make it feel like im eating in an old restaurant when i know this place is relatively new.

Good to know that this place has really good mains when i recognize them more for...

I have been a loyal patron of Mama Lou’s for quite some time and have always enjoyed your delicious food. However, I wanted to share my recent experience at your Vermosa branch, which, unfortunately, was disappointing.

We visited for a Sunday family lunch and placed our orders, with the staff informing us that the food would be served within 30 minutes. Initially, the pizzas and golden mac and cheese arrived promptly, followed shortly by the frito. Sadly, this marked the beginning of a frustrating dining experience.

The rest of our orders trickled in one by one, and it wasn’t until I asked to speak with the manager that the remaining dishes started to arrive. It took nearly an hour and a half to receive most of our food. Additionally, we were informed that the Caesar salad we ordered was unavailable, and the suggested replacement salad was also out of stock. The shrimp in the frito had an unpleasant aftertaste, and after the long wait, we were further informed that the linguine we had ordered was also unavailable.

At that point, we decided it would be best to settle for what had been served and conclude our meal. While the manager generously offered to cover our entire bill, I expressed my willingness to pay for the dishes we had consumed. Ultimately, we accepted the offer, considering the time and frustration we had experienced.

While I sincerely appreciate the gesture from your manager, I hope this feedback is taken constructively. I believe in Mama Lou’s and hope the management can address these operational challenges to ensure future diners enjoy a smoother and more enjoyable experience. Your food has always been excellent, and it’s unfortunate when service issues overshadow that.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I remain hopeful that my next visit will reflect the wonderful experiences I’ve had...