Mama Stortini's Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Federal Way

TLDR: Gabe is definitely the best asset to this establishment. He's a bartender and also a server. Should Gabe be a manager? No! ;-) because he definitely makes more than managers with his work ethic in tips, and happy patrons like me appreciates front of house. Gabe is a magician in service and the overall experience. What do I mean by a magician? People pay good money for great service, just like how people pay to be entertained by a magician. I came with a crew of 4 at 6:30 pm, Monday evening, the 24th. I reserved with Open Table, and my first name starts with C. I'm disclosing this info so you can reference the time. I told Gabe I was so excited to write a review and it's my pleasure to do so.

I'm going to get down to the food quality in a moment, but allow me to describe what amazing service is like.

This restaurant has 3 menus. It's kind of comical to be honest. I've only been here one other time and didn't see this many menus before. When you have a 'happy hour' menu, a larger restaurant style menu, and new 3 course menu, you'll obviously have a lot of questions. TBH, management needs to consolidate these menu's and describe quantity of items that conflict with other items on other menus. This 3 menu system wastes the servers/bartenders time explaining the difference between this or that.

Guess who could answer 20 questions from a table of 4 while genuinely looking like he appreciates his job? Gabe. He immediately welcomed us with a smile and you could tell immediately he was happy to deliver a top tier experience. Gabe answered all our questions, including my weird friend that asked what point of sale system they were using. I immediately scolded my friend for asking such a question, but still, Gabe with a smile delivered.

I haven't experienced this level of superior customer service in probably 10 years.

I ordered the Rigatoni Bolognese with the Mama chop salad on the happy hour menu. AMAZING! What a value for the money.

My friends loved the goat cheese bruschetta, cheesy garlic bread, ravioli, calamari, Moscow mule, etc.

Sorry my pics are blurry. Yes, I'm a "local guide", but to be honest I don't care about these review photos. I'm about describing the experience and food quality. Everyone loved the food overall, but the calamari was dry and unseasoned. That's my...

Update Sept 2024: Always loved the Tiramisu but I have been eyeing the Pineapple Cake for months and finally just had it. 🥹✨️ I'm not sure what I expected but it blew me away, I was stunned by how delicious this cake was. The carmelization, the texture, the density, the crumb, it was all beautifully paired with vanilla ice cream. I will definitely be ordering that again! Don't hesitate if you have been looking at it, you won't regret it!!

Update Nov 2023: Just had the best lasagna I've ever had in my life, the sauce, the herbs and spices(not spicy), the cheese...it was soooo good!! They changed the music and every song was one if my favorites but not like diner oldies, like perfect old classics for the vibe in there! Our waiter was awesome, friendly and knew we were going to be quick and he accomodated us with a smile. I'm sorry I don't remember your name but you were amazing and you have a great smile, Sir! The coffee here is wonderful too, a must-have with the Tiramisu! Can't wait to come back and try something else!! 🥰

Early 2023: My boyfriend and I went here for the first time a few days ago. We entered the business right after a family and we were given the choice to sit in the bar section or the dining room. We were allowed to seat ourselves and chose the dining room. Then they brought us menus. Our Waiter, Nicholas, was excellent and gave me a great suggestion for the meal I ordered which was the Mushroom Pizza, he said he likes to add Italian sausage and carmelized onions and it was sooo good! My boyfriend got the Seafood Alfredo and that was great too. The seafood was all done to perfection and not chewy or overcooked. Then we had Tiramisu for dessert and we both agreed it was the best Tiramisu we've ever had and I try it everywhere it is offered lol. It was a good portion too, we forgot to get a photo before we dug into it, sorry about that. I think they might put the Tiramisu together when you order it! It was incredible. The only note I have is that the music playing in there is trying too hard, it's like Bridgerton but not modernized, so it feels stale and sleepy to me. The other parts of the restaurant were lovely and the employees were kind, fast and attentive. They always looked busy and they didn't look like it sucked to work there. We will be...

Online website was down so I called the Fed Way location. The person who answered put me on hold for 10 minutes so we used another phone to call and the same person who put me on hold answered and took my order ( this is while my other phone is still on hold). She then told me that my order will be ready in 25 minutes. Got there in 23 minutes. There were 2 people at the counter. One of them was helping a guest and the other one was just going through receipts so after standing there for another minute or so and for not being ACKNOWLEDGED, I decided to ask for my order. She looked for it on the computer and it wasn’t there. She spent time looking for it and when she asked for my name again, she realized it was on a piece of paper on the counter and started putting my order in. After I paid, she told me that she will check my order so I waited and waited. She never came back. Three other people stood behind the counter and busy talking the entire time. No if these people asked if I have been helped. I sat there waiting for my order and this is about 40 minutes from the time a placed my order on the phone. I continued waiting. One guy from the kitchen came out of the kitchen with bag of food and he placed that bag behind the counter from where these ladies are standing. Since those ladies were busy talking about who is stayin until closing or not, I asked if they could check if the bag that was dropped off by the guy from the kitchen minutes ago is mine. That bag was my order. She gave it to me and I took off. So I drove home and when we opened the containers, we were shocked to see the amount of food in it. Each food was worth $20 but we received a small amount of pasta and shrimp. I was so mad that I closed the containers and drove back to the restaurant. I asked to talk to the manager. I told him what happened and he was apologetic, voided the charge on my credit card …… and tried to give a $25 gift certificate. After all the rudeness I received from the staff and the ridiculously small portion of food, he wanted to give $25 gift certificate that will never expire. So I gave it back to him and told him that I don’t need his $25 gift certificate. I have taken so many of my clients to this location and ordered online so many times but...