Mamma Onesta's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Lockport

We took a little Sunday day trip with some friends to lockport, to play on their magnificent disc golf course, and afterwards we were hungry. We looked at a number of different restaurants and there was always something like there would be a 40 minute wait, or they had outdoor seating but they aren't doing it that day for some reason, etc and then we called mamma onesta's! They were super accommodating, and when we got there, we were immediately impressed by the beautiful restaurant itself the comfortable atmosphere, and the incredibly helpful and personable service. They immediately set up our table of 9 outdoors, and even though there was a tiny little threat of rain, they did not even bat an eyelash. It never rained, and we had an incredible time sitting outside watching cars and people, and enjoying the cool breeze. So it was already a nice experience even before the food came, but when the food came, holy mackerel. It was really great. Every single person at the table commented about how much they enjoyed the thing they ordered. The portions were huge, so everybody except the teenagers that were with us took home leftovers LOL. I would recommend this restaurant without hesitation to anybody who is going to be looking for a place to eat in lockport. By the way. What a great town to visit. In all my years living in Chicago I had never been there before. I visiting love small towns like this with cute downtown areas and fun businesses. Lockport has a lot of character, and in addition it's cool that they are part of the nostalgic historic...

If I could give Mamma Onesta one half star, it would be more than deserved. Our reservation for party of 6 was made for Saturday 6pm. We arrived at 6pm and were told a mistake was, that another party of 7 by the same name, was given our table, What? The party of 7 was asked to move, What? Once seated at "their" table, in a room in a different building (furnished with 3 large tables presumably for larger parties) the waiter came to remove the used water glasses and extra place setting. Here's why I'm offering one star: We sat for almost 2 hours before being served our entrée. Regretfully, we did we not leave, hopeful we'd soon be served. At one point, I told our server "I am starving!" We brought 3 bottles of our favorite wine (corking fee of $45, which was okay). We waited so long, our wine and the garlic rolls were consumed. Now on to the food: My gnocchi was smothered in a thick red sauce that was most likely the lasagna sauce; my husband's fish was over cooked; the other 4 entrées appeared to be smothered in the same thick red sauce. We were celebrating my daughter's birthday. We had previously enjoyed Mamma Onesta in May, 2021 to celebrate her college graduation, which is why we returned last night. After this dreadful service and I can not recommend Mamma Onesta. At no time did the restaurant staff apologize for the nearly 2 hour wait. We asked that the corking fee be removed in light of this long wait, but we were offered only $15 - one of 3...

Mediocre at best,

Weds evening visit. Ordered a Negroni for an aperitif, the bartender made it very well. Ordered dinner with chicken rice soup as a starter. The soup was decent and arrived hot, typical flavor and meet expectations The dinner arrived with some bisquick -like rolls that were sitting in a pool of a garlic oil/butter. The rolls tasted stale with a very hard exterior. Fresh Italian bread would have been a better accompaniment. Entrees were veal parmigiana and chicken parmigiana for my guest. When the dinner arrived, a very noticeable difference in portion size between two very similar entrees which seemed odd. The veal parmigiana was described as having mozzarella cheese on top which was almost non existent. Veal was dry and breading was soggy and falling off. Very, very small portion of both the veal and pasta, but abundant on the sauce. Looked like a coverup. My guests chicken parmigiana was a much better in quality and portion size and had a crisp exterior that held up to the sauce. Noticed that the menu had an extensive listing of substitution/add on charges that did not seem customary to a full service restaurant of this type. Additionally, there is a 3% charge to use a card, which I presume most people use nowadays. From my experience, this establishment seems to care more about profit margin that quality and value. The restaurant is very clean but the staff can use a bit...