Mama's Bar Grill Pizzeria — Restaurant in Sunderland

My partner and I went looking for a traditional italian restaurant, which is what this place advertises itself as. We were fooled by the pictures of antipasto and stone baked pizzas. We ordered the antipasto as per the picture which is actually two separate items costing a total of roughly £8. Not much for this type of starter if its done well - this was dismal at best. The blue cheese resembled the white dog s**t from the film 'stepbrothers', the camembert was cold (not what im used to) the deli meats were poor quality. There was some sort of pickle paste which tasted alright. The tapenade was poorly executed and swimming in oil. The oil and balsamic glaze was a ratio of 99:1 which made it inedible. The saving grace was the artisan bread - really lovely. The main, for me is why this is getting a 3/5 and not a 1/5. The carbonara is one of the best ive had in this country. My partners americano pizza, although cooked to perfection, was very spicy and loaded with salt. We got two pints of lemonade which were quickly returned as they tasted like dish soap and we weren't charged for them. We instead got 2 glasses of house white and tap water. The wine was incredible! The staff are also very lovely, helpful and attentive. However, one of the kitchen staff was staring at me for ages. I would recommend this place to families with children. Not a place to try and have a cheap romantic evening. Also, for somewhere that advertises themself as traditionally italian, I would recommend italian music and not 90s american / Queen (even though I...

Food, Service and Atmospher were okay, however, after paying by credit card just 2 days previously, they did not tell us on our arrival that it was cash only that night. When the bill came they pointed us to the cash machine connected to their restaurant outside which charged us to withdraw cash, it wasn't even free cash withdraws! - poor form from the restaurant staff not to inform us of this before seating us - they said there was a small sign saying cash only which they showed us at the end of the meal which to me looked like it was there for takeaway meals only - bad practice on behalf of the restaurant in my opinion - did they think we would go elsewhere if they told us up front from the start that it was cash only? - they just rushed us to our table on arrival probably to avoid us seeing the very small...

Food is really good.

We took 3 kids with allergy requirements. When we turned up we were told we should have informed them before hand, but when I booked it nobody told me I needed to. When we asked for an allergen list, they couldn’t provide one, even though it’s law. The waitress (I think head of house) then argued with us to say this isn’t a requirement… “I’ve worked 15 years and I’ve never been required to show it”…and she didn’t have to provide it but could check. Next time we saw her suddenly she could cater for us and she also suddenly had loads of allergies herself! After I saw her talking to the chef who looked genuinely annoyed with the conversation.

So yes, food is good, most wait staff were good, but it was a farce that could have been easily avoided without an argumentative...