MAMA FLA - THE AUTHENTIC ITALIAN CUISINE — Restaurant in Idaho Falls

This was a fun restaurant to try. There isn’t many Italian restaurant options in Idaho Falls (not a fan of Olive Garden, sorry). I have heard of this place and have been wanted to try it for a while. There are a couple of things you should know about this restaurant. The food is either made in house or imported from Italy. You will not find low quality food here. Also, you can’t make reservations for parties of two, even though I observed almost every occupied table was a party of two. This also tells me that this place is an ultimate date night restaurant. Another thing worth mentioning is that the portion sizes are small. But you have to keep in mind the food is high quality. Since we could get a reservation and I didn’t want to wait, we arrived right after opening on a Friday night. We were the second table to be seated and by 4:45PM almost every table was full except one or two. There is approximately 10-12 tables. Each table can seat a maximum of four people. There is seats at the bar, and it can seat at least 8-10 more people if I remember correctly. The restaurant is small, but have a friendly quaint atmosphere. A homely feeling. The walls are wallpapered in images of Italy. I found it to be very pleasant. You will probably spend at least an hour dining in. Now on for the food. We first started with the mixed Bruschetta platter. This has four pieces of Bruschetta and four pieces of Pomodoro. The Bruschetta was my favorite by far, but the Pomodoro was very fun to try. The bread is home made and they sell some in a freezer near the front of the restaurant. Eat the Bruschetta fast or the bread gets soggy. I ordered the Fettuccine Alfredo and my wife ordered the Gnocchi basil pesto. Both dishes were amazing. The fettuccine Alfredo was so creamy and rich. Hands down the best I’ve ever had. This is a must try dish. The only gripe I have is that the dish was “kind of” warm when it was served. I’m a fan of my food being hot, so I wish it was hot or at least warmer. This might have been because my meal was completed first and it sat until my wife’s meal was completed. The gnocchi basil pesto was made with pine nuts and was so strong. It was super good. We finished the meal with the cannoli’s. They were the best cannoli’s I’ve ever had. Very large and the filling was very good. Be sure to remember Mama Fla for whenever you have your next date night or when you want authentic Italian food. I definitely...

I'd heard great things about Mama Fla's. Unfortunately my experience there was lacking.

First impressions are important. This started with lack of parking, which isn't uncommon in this part of Idaho Falls. There were tables outside, some on the lawn, others taking up so much room on the sidewalk, I felt awkward going past those dining there. Inside was just as crowded and even more chaotic. We were seated at an unset table, and the server that sat us there proceeded to forget we were there.

A sweet young lady finally asked if we'd been helped and took our orders. She had a hard time focusing on any of her tables as they were both indoors and outdoors. She was probably the best part of the restaurant though.

Food was over cooked and over priced. Well...the chicken was over cooked. The bruschetta was good. For a restaurant that is expensive, one wouldn't expect sodas served in bottles (and $3/bottle is not cheap). Other restaurants may charge that amount for drink, but they are in glasses with refills. Numbers get placed on the tables as if it were a fast food restaurant when a cashier is looking randomly around to see where you seated yourself. Then, the lowest tip you can include if using a credit card is 20%...although no tip was an option.

So, the experience was blah. Food mediocre. I couldn't choose a lower tip amount, although I'm not too disappointed since the young lady that helped us was very nice.

That said, I think this place could definitely improve just by changing a few things. Number the tables so that servers aren't looking for ever changing numbers. Don't bring drinks in cans or bottles if you're charging $18+ per meal. Have a consistent method for seating and serving customers. Above all, don't overcook the meat and think you're hiding it by drowning it in sauce. It doesn't work.

No, I likely won't return. I'll probably go somewhere where parking and food are good and prices more reasonable for...

Met some friends here from out of town. Planned out our weekend before we got here because we only had a few days and highlighted Mama Fla as a great place for a nice dinner. The reviews seemed great but upon arrival, I was disappointed. It felt like everyone was sitting on top of each other with how close the tables were and the lines were standing directly behind you. Our service with the owner was good but upon our server arriving, she was rude and provided incorrect information about the menu multiple times. After forgetting my friends beer, and coming back to the table only fifteen minutes since we had ordered to ask if we wanted dessert, she asked “are you serious?” When we told her we hadn’t yet received our meals yet. After waiting nearly an hour after that and seeing others who arrived after us and order after us eating their food, they asked me what I ordered. Then my table slowly received their food one by one, with all 5 of us waiting anywhere from 5-15 minutes between each plate being delivered. When my food was delivered, it was missing the bacon it said was in the pasta and the noodles were still hard. Not like they hadn’t been cooked, but like they had been cooked for two minutes and pulled out and plated. I took 3 bites before I felt sick. We all left unsatisfied and unsure why a restaurant with French fries, mashed potatoes, and poor pasta was calling itself “authentic.” As someone who previously worked at a restaurant that actually did import their ingredients from Italy, these were not that. The chicken looked and tasted frozen among all of the other issues. Look elsewhere for quality Italian. I wish I hadn’t paid for the food I barely touched and especially now that 3/5 of us now feel physically sick at home. Avoid...