Mama Rose's Restaurant — Restaurant in Estes Park

Update December 2024: Originally our rating was 5 stars for all 3 areas, but this time we have dropped the food and service to 3 stars, but atmosphere is still 5 stars, so overall 4 stars. This is an update for December 2024 (and an earlier visit in April 2024). This year we ate at the restaurant right after it opened, because when we went in April 2024, we went toward the end of the night, and while the fettucine with tomato cream sauce was good in April 2024, the noodles in the lasagna were way overcooked. So in December 2024, we went at the beginning of the night. The lasagna was much better this time, but the tomato cream sauce was really not good (cold and very runny) -- it was very disappointing. The cannoli was just mediocre this time -- the pastry was a bit stale and the cream had a very weird texture. Finally, our server was missing much of the night, and our dinner was much longer than it should have been just by waiting to order dessert and to get and pay the bill. If we go again in April 2025, we will have to try in the middle of the night to see if all of the food (and service) is properly prepared for the night.

December 2023: We have been to Mama Rose's a few times over the years. Our last visit was the week before Christmas 2023. We had been a bit disappointed with our meals in Estes Park on this trip (as restaurants can be a bit off their game this time of year). But we were very pleased with our meal at Mama Rose's.

We started off with a Caprese for an appetizer -- we are not normally not fans of black pepper, but the cracked black pepper was added at just the right amount to make this very tasty, and the basil leaves were very fresh -- we were almost fighting over the last couple of tomatoes and cheese. My wife and I often share our meals, and this was no different as we shared a lasagna and a fettucine with tomato cream sauce (with meatballs added) -- we absolutely loved both of them. Unfortunately, our son did not like the fettucine with pesto sauce (we should have remembered this from the past). But our server (I wish I could remember her name, but she said she had been there for 9 years we think) was so wonderful and brought him a dish of the fettucine with tomato cream sauce (with a sausage) -- as he tried ours and loved it. She took off the charge for the pesto dish (without us even asking her to do so).

My son and I shared an order of cannoli for dessert, as my wife was too full to have any. This was a wonderful meal, and a great final dinner of our trip. We will definitely be back next time we...

VERY DISAPPOINTING. Have been there many times in the past & always enjoyed it. My family & l were there for Mother's Day...there were 6 of us. We had to ask for water 4 times! Our cocktails arrived before the water. The garlic bread was cold. My son-in-law asked for plain bread & butter. They brought the bread with a little ramakin of MELTED BUTTER! My shrimp scampi was the worst l ever had. It was not warm. Barely room temperature. The scampi sauce was just oil & garlic so it was very greasy. Worst scampi sauce l've ever had. The spaghetti was very chewy. It tasted like it was left over & reheated! My son ordered eggplant parm. There was one small piece of eggplant all broken up & mixed in with the spaghetti! He had to ask for more eggplant. He always loved their eggplant parm & had it many times. My daughter's eggplant was just ok. But there was very little eggplant in the dish. She ordered a meatball & sausage link to go with it. The sausage was burnt on one side so she cut off the burnt side. She had half of her meatball in her dish with a small piece of sausage left that she was going to finish. But before she realized it, someone took her dish away. My son-in-law had the mushroom ravioli, & he said it was good, so that's a plus. My grandson had the fettucini in the creamy tomatoe sauce. It was ok, but for some reason there was spaghetti mixed in with the fettucini!! His girlfriend ordered the angry eggplant. I'm not sure how it was. She's a very sweet young woman & is too kind to complain about anything, but she didn't finish it. I don't know if the restaurant has new owners, or a new chef but it IS NOT the Mama Rose's that we used to know love & always knew we would get a wonderful ltalian meal there. I am 100% ltalian so l know what good ltalian food is. It used to be very good, but not this time! BIG...

Partner and I visited for dinner (~6 PM), and we ordered house wines, “Fried Parmesan” (six plain cheese sticks with marinara for $9 - quantity not disclosed on menu), a side Caesar, and Old World Spaghettis. Wine was ok, and the same could be said for their “Fried Parmesan,” which anyone would hardly rate above frozen, air-fried ones from a grocery store. The most underwhelming, though, was the Old World Spaghetti; the pasta was mediocre (indistinguishable from Barilla), and, akin to the “Fried Parmesan,” the beef sauce seemed store-bought too. It seemed as though it was poured directly from the jar, garnished with some chopped oregano, and sent to us; most egregiously, the sauce didn’t stick to our pasta whatsoever. Partner said the side Caesar was good though!

Service was poor, too. Waiter was relatively disinterested in tending to us in any sort of timely fashion, despite having only 4-5 other occupied tables in the entire restaurant (another waiter of which was tending to half of them), 2 of which were immediately next to and behind our table. Beyond bringing food and drink, we didn’t see our waiter once throughout our meal. Upon finishing, we asked for boxes for leftovers, and after that, our waiter didn’t stop at our table for over 17 minutes. Plates neatly stacked, table clean, and card on the table (for the first 10 min), and waiter couldn’t have been bothered to notice, as s/he was too busy lackadaisically trudging between to other tables and the kitchen. Lastly, the bathrooms are terribly dingy. Owner should consider renovating them, considering their prices and margins! Meal rang up to $72.82 - no tip (for the first time in my LIFE). I aim for my tips to be commensurate with the service provided, and since the service provided was nil, as...