Mamma Luca — Restaurant in Portsmouth

Unfortunately, this restaurant didn’t meet my expectations. This is just my opinion and there’s some that may like it and that’s ok! Service - our waitress was nice, but overall slow service for how not busy the restaurant was. When we first got there for our reservation it was 5:30 and there was not a lot of people whatsoever, so I was surprised it took a little bit to get our drinks and order our food. My partner accidentally broke an empty wine glass, and when two people came over to clean it there was a sense of annoyance and no acknowledgment though we were sorry. When I’ve cleaned up a broken glass from a diner before I try to make them feel as least embarassed as possible by adding a polite “ it happens all the time, no worries”. Though it was our fault, accidents do happen. Also - I have never been to an Italian restaurant that doesn’t remove your wine glasses after you don’t order wine. Small thing I know, but perhaps a good idea to lessen the chance of very thin and light glasses being broken. My partner was asked if he wanted another beer, to which he said yes, and it never arrived which was fine. Food - we ordered the charred octopus ($24), I had the buccatini ($28) and my partner the margarita pizza ($22?), house lemonade ($4), peroni ($8). The charred octopus was ok, 6/10. It didn’t have enough flavor and could have done with a marinade or something. IMO the Calabrian chili aoli didn’t really go with it but it was fine. Texture was ok, but I expected it to be more soft and buttery like other grilled octopus I’ve had. It seems like it lost a lot of its moisture. The pizza was actually very good, yummy sauce and cheese and crust was good quality, 9.6/10. Only thing to note is many seemed to come out with a decent char so avoid that if you don’t like. My buccatini was good, but lacking in flavor! I was surprised since it looked great. The guanciale pieces were large and overcooked. To distribute the saltiness of the guanciale more evenly in the sauce it could have been diced and lightly crisped. The sauce needed more acidity and basil to it. good portion overall of the pasta. Complementary gelato with olive oil on the way out is a sweet little deal, but the gelato was kind of icy and reminded me of cheap soft serve. Can’t really complain if it’s free, but it’s not a good reflection if their other desserts are like that. Atmosphere - the atmosphere is nice and I loved the open windows. When I booked the reservation, there was an option for high top pizza bar I believe and dining room. I was thinking of those tables in front of the windows so I selected the dining room. When we got there though, we were sat all the way in the back and the waitress kindly moved us per our request, but informed us that the seats in front of the windows are reserved. It would be nice to have more clarity on the website what tables you can reserve. I really wanted to enjoy this food but it’s just too pricey for what we got. It’s what Portsmouth has become unfortunately, a lot of places that seem more focused on other things rather than really good food. And honestly I think a lot of true Italian food is cozy and comforting rather than put in such a fancy setting anyway. Which again, if it’s going to fancier that’s absolutely fine but the food needs to taste amazing. I probably won’t return, but a lot of people seem to really like it so it really just...

I gave this restaurant two tries, both were on special occasions that we had made reservations for well ahead of time, and put in the reservation notes. The first time we went was for our 1 Year Wedding anniversary. Despite this being detailed in the reservation notes, there was zero recognition of this. We got sat in the corner, and it took about 10 minutes for our waiter to come by to introduce himself and take our drink orders. We were asked still or sparkling water, he came back with the wrong type of water, and the wrong type of bottle of wine we ordered. The appetizers came out and were all delicious, we got the calamari, the mozzarella fritta, and the meatballs. After the appetizers came out, we didn't see our waiter again for the rest of the night until he came by to drop off the check. The pizza we got for dinner was brought to us by someone else, and no one came by to ask how it was (it was okay) or if we needed anything else. This was on a very busy Saturday night, so I figured maybe the lack of service was off because of that, and I did like the food, so I decided to give them another chance. We went back for my birthday on a Monday night. It started off better, with our waitress recognizing the birthday occasion that was mentioned in the reservation notes, however, it quickly fell off from there. It took nearly 15-20 minutes to get our drinks that we ordered. When our appetizers came out, the "hot" apps were room temperature. The first time we went came there was complimentary bread and olive oil brought to us, this time there was not. From there, it was about another 35 minutes until our pizza was ready, and we got 4 different kinds of wood-fired, but the consistency of the dough was wildly off from each other. We ordered dessert, and a different employee than our waitress came delivered it, and as approaching the table, said "Oh, it's your birthday I probably should've put a candle in this.." so no candles to blow out; however our waitress should've been the one to make sure that happened. Overall from these two experiences, the level of service is just odd, everyone seems very nonchalant. For the high price of the menu items, the quality of the food falls to mid-level at best, and the service does not match up to the price. With several neighboring restaurants in the area that also provide Italian, I would visit one of them instead for food that matches up to the price, and service that is worth...

Went there on their opening night fully expecting they wouldn't have every kink of a new operation worked out. They were extremely busy which lowered my expectations further. After all, there's a lot of moving parts and it often takes new restaurants a while to optimize their offerings and operation; some never do. Most impressively, Mamma Luca hit the ground running, and despite what could've been an overwhelmingly large crowd, the food and service were spectacular. We ordered some creative cocktails, the cascio and pepe arancini appetizer, and a ricotta hot honey, as well as a margherita pizza. All were of excellent quality and served attentively at an ideal pace. The pizzas were real deal Neapolitan style and perfectly cooked with the right amount of charring on the crust. The 11" size is great for one person. The dessert menu concludes with an offer of complimentary soft serve olive oil gelato. Given it was a very busy maiden voyage, I assumed that offer was something they'd implement when they were more established. To my pleasant surprise, after we'd paid the check, a well dressed gentleman (Dan) introduced himself and invited us for the soft serve on our way out through their takeout section. The gelato was delicious. Hitting a home run on your first at bat is truly commendable. Mamma Luca is a very welcome addition to the Portsmouth restaurant scene. It's a good thing they take reservations. If opening night is any indication, they will be...