Mama’s & Leonies — Restaurant in Sheffield

Disappointing Experience at Mama’s and Leonies, Sheffield

I had an extremely disappointing experience at Mama’s and Leonies in Sheffield, and I feel compelled to share it so others know what to expect. My visit recent around 4PM, with my mother (a tourist) and a friend. Unfortunately, everything from the food to the service left us devastated. And the owner’s attitude towards our concerns left us feeling insulted and discriminated. Service and Wait Time: Despite the restaurant being open and confirming a table for us, the staff were extremely rude. The wait time for our food was unreasonable—well over what anyone would expect for a relatively quiet time. Food Quality: The food was shockingly bad. The pizza bread was stale, the cheese tasted sour (almost as if it had gone bad), and the soup was overly tangy and unbalanced. The quality was far below the standard I would expect from any restaurant, let alone one with such good reviews online. Handling Complaints: When I raised my concerns, the waitress (who later claimed to be the owner) dismissed them completely, stating, “The food is good; there’s nothing to complain about.” She also added that the restaurant had been established in 1988, as though that justified the poor experience. Owner’s Attitude: The experience worsened when I asked to speak with the manager. The waitress smugly said, “Oh, I’m the owner.” When she finally came over after keeping us waiting for 5 minutes, we politely explained our concerns again. Instead of acknowledging our issues or apologizing, she laughed and said, “Oh sweetie, I’m so busy to be hearing your concerns tonight. If what you want is a refund, just get a refund and leave.” This response was not only rude but deeply dismissive, making us feel unwelcome and belittled.

Final Thoughts: Visiting Mama’s and Leonies in Sheffield was the worst part of our trip. As someone who trusted the glowing Google reviews, I expected a warm, welcoming atmosphere and decent food. Instead, I found rude service, subpar food, and a complete disregard for customer feedback.

I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant to anyone. There are far better places in Sheffield where you’ll find not only good food but also respectful staff who care about their customers’...

As highly rated as this seemed, I unfortunately would not recommend Mamas and Leonies and will not be returning.

There is an awful vegetarian selection - the vegetable lasagne was all leeks with a few sliced carrots, and one rogue piece of broccoli. The lasagne wasn’t event layered, just had one pasta sheet on the top. Not sure how “authentic” the food is, but I couldn’t stomach my main as it felt like the kitchen had clearly just thrown all their leftover vegetables into my dish. Also, there was only one other vegetarian option on the pasta menu which was plain spaghetti with tomato sauce, I feel they could definitely add to this and think that the selection is poor in this day and age. As far as the rest of the menu is concerned, there were only a couple of vegetarian pizzas and no vegetarian burgers or calzones. Very disappointing. Additionally, one of our party had the gluten free menu which had no description of the food items, which I would recommend the restaurant add in future. My friend ordered “penne with chilli” believing this would be a chilli/tomato sauce. It was in fact chilli con carne which she didn’t like too well and left half of the chilli. The menu oneself did not feel like an italian restaurant, more like a pub menu, as there was a rib selection and burger menu.

The service was ok, apart from the waitress asking if we would like the dessert menu after clearing our starter plates (when only four out of the six of our party had starters), not a flaw but probably just due to inexperience.

There is absolutely no atmosphere, there is no music playing and the tables and chairs are so old and wooden, we had to have two of our chairs swapped as they were about the give way. The table we were seated on four person table but they claimed it was a bigger table for six people - in the end we had to place our water jug, bottle of wine, drinks menu, and spare water glasses on the floor just to make room for the food. If they had less tables in, it might be an improvement as to not feel so crammed.

Would not recommend and I believe this place needs a lot of work in upkeep and modernising and authenticating their...

First time visit and upon entering we was greeted politely while been directed to a table. Staff were quite pleasant giving us time to select what we wanted. As italian resturantes go in South Yorkshire they are generic as in mainly carbohydrates offering pasta or pizza dishes with other basic dishes. This was not much different so decided to go all out on carbs as we don't eat meat. Choices are generally limited which is not a reflection on this place as the food was exceptional. We ordered Pizza, Vegetable Lasagne x2 and Quiche with Chips. Portions are very good no complaint there however I was enjoying the Pizza so much I just had to order another with some fries. The food was really nice could not fault anything. As my partner is spending quite a lot of money doing the house up to how I would like it this was my treat to him. As the people came and went they were greeted, staff going out of there way to say goodbye and a simple thank you. After I had ordered a second pizza it was noticeable the staff were concerned, (potentially thinking we would not pay.) Feeling rather thirsty wanting another orange juice I was trying to get the attention of any waitress with no success as none made any eye contact at all. Staff just glanced at the floor or tables towards the opposite side of the room and back to the kitchen which I found rude. After waiting around 10mins I decided to get up order a second orange juice including 2x deserts when they arrived I requested the bill imediately which was paid along with a tip hoping to put the staff at ease that we would not be running without paying. When we had finished eating we got up and left without so much as a thank you from any member of staff no eye contact nothing. Having worked in hospitality myself as a manager this is an important part of customer service and a very simple basic one too. Due to poor customer service and the feeling of been judged I will never...