La mia Mamma Hollywood Road — Restaurant in London

DONT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY. Probably one of the worst experience I've had in a restaurant to date. We arrived on time for our booking in the evening, and it took 10minutes to seat us, they sat us at a table with wet seats and no heating even though we had phoned prior at 1pm to check that we would be sat near a heater and be covered which they assured us we would. We had the set menu which was lacklustre at best. We waited 45 minutes to receive our aperol spritz which was included which was tiny and mostly soda water. Then our Anti-pasti came which was pretty average, just some warm focaccia and a few not very tasty, tiny veg dishes . We had a nice waiter and were having a leisurely evening so didn't complain, but he kept forgetting everything we asked for and we had to ask a couple of times. Then we received our mains at 9.45, which was an hour and 15 after we were seated, took a couple of bites then 8 MINUTES to 10pm they told us we had to leave because they have to have all the tables clear for 10pm due to licensing issues. Completely fine, but we hadn't even barely started our mains, still had a bottle of prossecco to drink and a desert and coffee to have. We were so shocked and said you should have told us or brought our mains out on time. So he called the manager ALBERTO over who was one of the rudest, people I have ever come across. He accused of us of being late and being fussy with our table and that it was our fault that our mains came out so late in such a rude, defensive and aggressive manner. we were so shocked and I said you have to take some stuff off the bill as it was like £45 each and all we had was the starters and a mouthful of seafood pasta which really wasn't that tasty. He then proceeded to get up into my face and intimidated us into paying buy threating to call the police. Any normal manager would just have apologised for they're mistake and taken something small off the bill. He then proceeded to give us the bill and had the CHEEK to put £30 service charge on it!!!!!! I can only say that he did it to intimidate three young girls into paying for a meal that they didnt even have. The real kick in the teeth was that when we left we walked to the bus and round the back in the garden people were still eating and there were tables!!!!! DONT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY. The food was average, service is slow and then the manager was so horrible and really ruined our Saturday night. I could think of a 100 better Italians in London, like glorias, sorella in clapham or some good one on Northcote road. Honestly disgusted by how...

This year we’ve reviewed many things, and sometimes we’ve recommended those things to you. One thing we haven’t done is recommend a television show to you, until now.

We have loved “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy” since its first episode on CNN. Now in its second season, a recent episode focused on searching for good Italian food while in London. (Foreshadowing Alert: Can we all see where this is about to go?”)

Amongst other places, @stanleytucci recommended “La mia Mamma” so we had to search them out.

Their mission is both simple and complex simultaneously. “Importing Italian mammas to cook their regional homemade recipes in London!”

For reals. What a brill concept! 🤯

Each of their locations focuses on a specific region for 3 month periods and ours had its sights set on Sardegna during our visit.

Imagine our excitement when we arrived (WAY too early for our reservation) and peered through the window and discovered that one of the “Mammas” from the episode was holding court in the kitchen that evening!

While it took us a bit to work up the courage, we eventually (and sheepishly) requested permission to take a pic with her. With absolutely zero hesitation she graciously agreed and we found this “Mamma” and the entire staff to be incredibly and genuinely warm and welcoming. ❤️

While an a la carte menu is available, we’d highly recommend ordering off Mamma’s home cooked menu instead.

The number of courses (and differentiation of ingredients and flavors) are remarkable. The disclosure on the menu that, “We’ll bring you several mixed antipasti to share depending on mamma’s mood” should be accepted as what it is…a warning. Mamma isn’t letting anyone leave one of her tables still hungry. Seriously, take a look at the pic we’ve included. That alone would typically be enough food for 2 people (never mind that it was preceded by the Bruschetta and followed by our pasta, a tray of deserts, espresso, and Limoncello!)

Tonight’s dinner and experience have been the highlight of this trip thus far!

A big thank you to Stanley and “Mamma” for bringing us joy and laughter tonight! ❤️

And that’s…Henry’s Take.

#lamiamamma #stanleytucci #cnn...

Last night was a special occasion. We were going the Royal Albert Hall to listen to Stanley Tucci talk about his book and TV series Searching for Italy. We thought it would be a great idea to have dinner at La mia Mamma before the show given that he visited the restaurant which was featured in his series. We chose the regional menu which included antipasti, glass of prosecco, main, dessert and coffee.Our experience started well with a gorgeous bruschetta. Following this, we waited for a substantial amount of time during which we noticed that four other tables which were seated after us had received their antipasti. Finally we called over the waiter and asked about our antipasti. He went away, returning to say there had been a mix up in the kitchen and that it would be with us within a minute. About 5 mins later, it arrived. Our antipasti was for us the highlight of the meal with all of the individual dishes being superb. Once we had finished, the plates and plater were cleared and the waiter returned almost immediately to tell us that our pasta course was about to be served. At this point, we noticed that the other tables who had their antipasti served before us were still waiting for their mains. As the astipasti was a substantial amount of food, we asked the waiter for a break - they suggested 10-15 minutes which we agreed to. About 5 mins later, our mains arrived. Both dishes had clearly been sitting on the pass. Pasta had become stuck together, some of the seafood was tough to eat, neither dish was hot. After the mains were cleared a dessert platter was served. This was the most disappointing course. These three dishes were quite poor. We were given complimentary glasses of prosecco and limoncello as a bit of a charm offensive - it didn't work. Stanley clearly rates your restaurant and had a great experience - we most definitely did not. Such a shame as the antipasti was stunning and the concept of the restaurant - mammas cooking...