Red Hot Mamma Solihull — Restaurant in Metropolitan Borough of Solihull

For what was a much anticipated visit to the Red Hot Mamma Solihull branch, sadly turned out to be somewhat of an underwhelming experience. 😐

We had booked a table for 2 adults and a child for dinner at 19:00 on a Saturday evening.

Now I do need to give credit where due first, to the staff member when I called up to ask if we could come earlier (approx 17:50) instead.

He was very helpful in changing the table time and said we could come no problem. He did say he would need the table back by 19:00 which we said was not an issue at all.

Anyhow the arrival was pleasant enough , greeted by the same staff member who I spoke to on the phone. The restaurant is much smaller than expected but nonetheless the decor is a wow factor.

From here on it did sadly just go downhill for us, especially the safety concern regarding the infant seat.

Our waitress was quickly over to take the order..aware that we had to vacate by 7pm but hadn't even hit 6pm when we sat down.

The food..pizza was ok, it's not the best I've had but not the worst. It came out pretty quick but sadly wasn't piping hot when it arrived.

The base was good, the sauce too. The dips at 3 for £5 were a little bland and didn't taste much of, could not really taste the truffle or the N'duja, pesto one was ok . The marinated chicken didn't really taste of much either. The fries were decent as was the coleslaw.

Our waitress just wasn't very friendly and we felt like we were being rushed to eat and also get out-we knew we had to vacate by 19:00 but it had only gone 18:30. There was no hello, nor a good bye when leaving. Maybe a bad day and we're all entitled to them.

We asked for some take out boxes and the bill. Now I have no issues in clearing the table of plates but at least let us put the left over pizza in the box first!

She was in such a rush she took the plate that had take out food on it. I could have halted her but by then she'd put the cutlery, cups and tissues on the plate so I decided to leave her to it.

Literally a second later-shes out with the card machine at the table and we're being asked to pay.

Now if this was a fast food spot you'd be 5 stars but this isn't. It's a sit down restaurant and for a bill of £60 it just seemed like we didn't get the experience we'd hoped for.

My main concern being and just a heads up to other parents-

The restaurant does not have the traditional high chair, which is fair enough (due to the lack of space I guess?) what they offer instead are these clamp on style infant chairs that clamp to the table and then your L/O will just sit inside.

The issues here being (a) the gap between they table edge and the back of the seat is quite wide, (b) the seat is made of material with no support underneath..all of which forces the child almost lean forward and results in sliding downwards- only the middle strap keeping them secured.

The harness straps go around the waist and then clip into the middle section between the child legs to secure them in.

The safety concern is that when trying to remove my child as it's already forced the child to slide downward it can cause the baby to slide under the table when unclipping if you don't have a proper hold. What makes it even more fiddly are the clips, plus the table itself trying to unclip can be a struggle.

You can't pull the child out due to the proximity to the table edge. I had to grab my 8m old from her arm and stop her from sliding under the table due to this poor design narrowly avoiding a potential injury.

This chain really needs to invest in some better quality seating for their younger diners.

Overall it wasn't great. The food was somewhat minor saviour to this branch but again not the best pizza and sadly what let this branch down was the service.

Would I come rushing back..not sure, there's definitely better spots in and around Solihull and Birmingham especially. The decor definitely stands out but apart from that not much else.

The main thing as mentioned however is the issue with the infant seats-...

We chose to visit in the afternoon on Wed because we were with our 8 months baby who didn't like a lot if noise. And it was perfect!

We were only customers in the restaurant. But the waiter needed to double check again and again with its reservation system, while we stood at the small reception area. 4 minutes later we were told the restaurant is quite empty so we could sit where we wanted 😂😅

The waiter was so kind to offer the baby chair. 👍👍👍

I wish we would be offered some recommendations regarding the starter and pizzas, as we looked at the menus for a while. However no one came to take the order (at least drink order first?) I had to waive my hand to ask for the attention, which I didn't like and always try to avoid. Well, I expected the service could be more attentive while we were the only customers in the restaurant 😉

Regarding food, I love the meat platter for 2, but my husband is just alright with it. We would prefer to have a few more slices of grilled flat bread. We had three slices of flat bread I found it strange for 2 people sharing, at least 2 slices each??

We ordered two pizzas both were nice. I ordered the one with white sauce which is popular in Nepal (I forgot the name). I like it as it is a bit different. It tastes just a bit of a strong cheese smell? so it was a no to my husband and he was sticking with his pepperoni. However his pepperoni was a bit wet and soaked in the middle after he ate his first slice of the pizza.

Thank you for the chef helping to heart our baby vegetable food sticks to our baby. 🙏🙏🙏

I over ordered on purpose so I didn't need to cook at night lol very nice take away boxes. 👍

I will definitely come back with my friends for another round...

This place has been open for a few months now and we as a family don’t really go to Pizza places as they’re usually disappointing. We’ve been to Naples and other parts of Italy a few times so know what great pizza really is. I’ve got to say this place is near enough the same as Naples.

First of all the service was 10/10. Piyush and Swati looked after us. They were super polite, efficient, attentive and always had a smile on get face.

The decor in this place is really nice. It creates a calm and relaxed atmosphere and you forget you’re in Solihull.

The starters were all great. We had the fried mac and cheese, garlic bread with cheese and hummus. We also had 3 pizzas. Margarita, one with N’duga sausage and a vege one with provolone cheese. For dessert we had 3 Cannololis and a Tiramisu.

We are foodies and we can tell the quality of the pizzas and ingredients are at a very high level. When we said we loved the food Swati told us that everything is fresh and nothing is prepackaged in any way that’s used. She was really enthusiastic about the food and could tell that all the staff take pride in what they serve and how they serve it and it clearly shows in the end product over all.

We didn’t have any of the mocktails or cocktails which looked really nice as it was just an impromptu dinner on a Sunday afternoon, but we will definitely be back and try those...