Mama Stortini's Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Kent

Tldr Great food great staff.

So going into this it may sound like exaggeration, but understand that what i have to say is completely genuine. So Today was the second time i had visited, first time was a payment for helping my friend move, this time was in celebration of my brothers birthday. The reason i was returning, the restaurant being a 40 minute drive from home was because the first time i was there was because the gentlemen that was our wait staff was exceptional, the customer service was amazing there was NOTHING i could think of that could be improved, so i recommended this restaurant because it was a relevantly equal distance from the four of us to meet up and of how i was treated the first time, due to uncertainly of where we would meet up to celebrate i recommended here. Upon arriving the Lady who received me was extremely kind and professional, we did a reservation for 5, i asked if we could get a booth because it is more comfortable and has more room. she spent a few minutes checking to see if they could accommodate said request and giving a very rapid response saying "yes but we need you out at this time" . Mind you that is Completely understandable, Sunday evenings can get quickly crowded it is totally understandable that they would need the booth for a upcoming reservation. So i said it was totally fine for us to use a table. I was speaking with my mom and it turns out that we only had 4, She chirped in saying that if you only had 4 she could give us a booth. My only response was a large smile and and gratitude. Now when it comes to the food it was magnificent. The Nice lady who took our orders was VERY knowledgeable about the menu and immediately reached out to the kitchens for anything she was not certain of, Mind you my Mother is gluten intolerant so we had several questions about certain items. Overall my waiter was a Sweetheart, cant think of anything she could improve on.

Now the Food was in a word perfect. I know that i have only been there two times, However both times my orders where 100% accurate , the food was delicious and well presented. i had certain things that i wanted modification IE: i want this but can i change the spaghetti and marinara sauce side to Alfredo and fettuccine? No questions or problems it was a simple yes. Food was delicious it was fantastic i loved it..

Overall the experience was amazing, food was excellent, the wait staff wars able to resolve anything i wanted done without being asked, IE: refiles, plate removal, and tasking orders our orders when we where ready ECT. The only Negative thing i can think of was i didn't have the opportunity to express my satisfaction and gratitude for such a amazing experience. Now mind you it was because we had paid the tab and we where sitting at the booth and catching up. But we realized that the dinner rush was coming in and we all wanted to leave so we could free up the table for other guests.. We where at ,no point asked or pressured to leave. I did give the restaurant a call and asked a manager to express my gratitude, I really do hope this message reaches the back office so management can understand my satisfaction and can pass it along...

My wife and I arrived here for dinner prior to going to the Wolf's Hometown Holiday concert last night, so, around 4:30. One side of the restaurant was completely packed , but the other side, in front of the main entrance, was not. We stood in front of the hostess desk area for nearly 10 minutes while the three employees there finished their conversation without even acknowledging we were there. I was quite literally abut to tell my wife we would just go somewhere else when one of the young ladies glanced our way and smiled, telling us she would have a table for 4 right away (There was another couple in the waiting area with us, and she ASSUMED we were all together). After clearing that up, we were quickly seated at a table for two in an area between the bar and a servers station.

Menus were given to us, and in the space of about 5 minutes we had been asked twice for a drink order and 3 times (by two different servers) if we were ready to order yet. We told them this was our first visit and that we would like to take a few minutes to look over the menu.

The server proceeded to take the menu out of my wife's hands and display it for us as if she was Vanna White, all the while explaining it to us in a sing-song voice almost as if we were her kindergarten students. After this rather rude and offensive display of obnoxiousness, we were left alone with our menus for approximately the next 10-15 minutes. We decided on our order and then I began the task of flagging down a server to take our order. This took 4 tries before a server actually stopped and asked what I wanted. The one who did stop said this wasn't her table but that she would send our server right over. About 5 minutes later our server showed up to take our order.

My wife ordered the Chicken Adriatica (chicken breast, prawns and prosciutto, smoked provolone, garlic herb spaghetti - $19.50), and I ordered the Chicken Marsala (Chicken breast pan-seared with fresh mushrooms and Marsala, served over creamy risotto - $18.95). for drinks, she ordered a zombie (this was a late celebration of her birthday), and I ordered a Widmer Hefeweizen. So far so good.

The drinks came within minutes, and the food arrived less than 10 minutes after the drinks. After having waited this long, and then having the food arrive so quickly, I was afraid that the quality would suffer.

I was wrong.

The risotto was perfect. The Marsala was flavorful and delicious. The chicken was almost too tender. It didn't wait to be cut, but rather fell apart as soon as a fork touched it. As for my wife's meal, the only complaint was that the herb spaghetti tasted more like lemon pepper than garlic herb, but it was still good.

The portion sizes were filling, and the food was first rate, salvaging the evening from the staff's behavior. This restaurant is a little to pricey for us to make it a 'regular' dining experience (and besides, this location is in Kent while we live in S Tacoma), but it is a place we will put on our list of "special occasion" places to go, and we look forward to...

Heartbroken is an understatement for tonight. 4/4/24. We have frequented this location since it opened, and we have frequented the original location even longer.

Whenever we get tickets to any kind of event at the Kent Arena, we make sure that we plan dinner here, We could pick between several restaurants along our way including the fact that this restaurant is surrounded by many other options however, we have still always chosen this location.

I made reservations, we were barely 5 minutes early. The hostess was not friendly and told me that Since our reservation was still a ways off, they may have to sit other people first. Thankfully, she did get us seated as close to our reservation time, But honestly, the stress and how uncomfortable she made us feel from the get-go was really unnecessary.

We waited a considerable time for someone to come to our table to greet us, our sever let us know that because they were very busy with the concert coming up this evening that he would be a little while before he could come and take our order. I Said that’s completely fine we’re here to go to the concert tonight too, Which he replied, I know and we’re very busy because of the concert. That’s why it’s gonna take me a few minutes to get back here, I again said that’s not a problem we understand.

He eventually took our order, Someone else delivered it, I just found it odd that we had to request silverware and when it came out I had to cut my chicken Parmesan (That was a little overcooked) with a butter knife, Because it was overcooked, my wrist slipped and twisted several times while trying to cut it. My grandparents also taught me to eat my pasta with a spoon so that was a little uncomfortable not having the right utensils for the meal…. Why didn’t we ask for the proper utensils, well, Our server never came back at all to request the additional silverware, get a refill, nothing!

He literally made it very clear that everybody else in that restaurant was more important than we were.

I left feeling absolutely heartbroken that the dining experience went the way it did. Our server was very nice, But the experience could’ve, and should’ve been a lot better than it was. This Is our go to establishment for special family meals, It has been for years, it just...