Mama's On The Hill — Restaurant in St. Louis

I usually never go on a website and review it, I guess mainly because I don’t really experience bad service when I go out, But this place to me was disappointing and I guess this message or review whatever you wanna call it would only resonate with POC. I felt that they were very prejudice in that Resturant and I really try to make excuses for everything by coming up with something else but then Another situation would happen and me and my friend would sit there and just look at each other. When we got there, they were not that busy my friend and I was seated and waiters would come by and walk away another one Would come by and walk away and then I saw the guy I felt was behind the bar peek around the corner finally after 15/20 minutes And then he finally came over and then he apologized for the weight saying that they had a little dispute over who would serve the table and he didn’t know that it was him. We shrug that off we say fine we order our appetizers brings back the appetizers. Everything’s fine then we look around and we noticed that all the other tables are getting the bread and oil. So while our appetizers came, we then proceeded to ask about that and they said oh sorry I’ll personally get that for you. They were supposed to put on the table when you first got here so we let that go then my friend who ordered the spaghetti and meatballs did not realize that the meatballs have pork in them until she ate them and then she asked about them and yes, they did take that back and then brought her out the vodka pasta but then after that all of a sudden another guy pops up at our table and was like hey sorry I’m gonna take over from here on out. I guess it must have made the waiter upset and he was like I’m not dealing with it And then so much more other prejudice stuff. In my head, I’m trying to still remain calm because you know if you are a person of color and you act out or speak up, They try to label you as angry and aggressive while forgetting that they have treated you like that and that I guess in their mind you’re supposed to take it. It got to a point where I was about to ask them if you don’t want us here eating please let me know so I can go somewhere where I won’t have to deal with this. For me, it was very upsetting because I went to TikTok and this place was open on the holiday and I thought yes good Italian food over in Little Italy! But coming from my perspective, it’s 2025 and there’s no reason why waiters or restaurants should be portraying any type of racist behavior. And me and my friend Really like to tip good although no, we did not leave a good tip this time because why would we after we were treated that way to where it became Uncomfortable and quite embarrassing because when they were sitting down other races, waiters was running over to the table being all super nice because the place is small inside, so everyone is kind of sitting on top of each other! But like I was mentioning Before it’s 2025 you don’t have any legitimate reason to not like Black people but yet you try to treat them a certain type of way when they come out to a restaurant and it’s not even the cooks. It’s not even the owners, At this point, it’s the waiters!! No one should have to feel like that because you decided that you don’t like a skin tone! I think it’s ridiculous and that was a horrible experience and it sucks because there are a couple other things I would have like to try on the menu later on down I was in the mood for Italian again, but I guess I would have to try another spot because this place is Prejudice.. They need to respect all their guest as equal!! And not decide I’m just not gonna serve that table. They literally had a table with a doctor and a nurse at it and decided because of their skin tone. They were going to treat them as less and not even want to serve us and then made it obvious by switching waiters for getting food no treatment like everyone else and I think that is fine. So I will say good food if you could take racism...

I made a large reservation for around 17 people about two weeks in advance. When on the phone with the restaurant, I made two things extremely clear:

It was a VERY special occasion We were looking for something at least semi-private

I was assured by the staff that my party would be seated in the downstairs banquet hall with a "sectioned-off" area, ensuring that we would be able to "walk around and chat". This sounded perfect, so I went ahead with the reservation.

On the day of, I called the restaurant a few hours before to confirm the reservation. I once again went over the points above, and was assured that the previously described scenario was still accurate.

I arrived at the restaurant at the time of my reservation only to find that we were seated upstairs, in the main dining area -- squeezed into a tight table with no room to get up and walk around. I raised my concerns with the staff and was told that they had to do some "last-minute changes". I was quite frustrated, as I never would have made the reservation had I known where we'd actually be seated. I asked to speak to a manager to discuss the issues.

The manager finally came over to chat and was extremely rude to me. She essentially blamed me for the misunderstanding, saying that a sectioned off area "just isn't a thing" and that "if it was such a special occasion, you should have asked to talk to management. It's not a regular reservation." Excuse me? How would I know that? As a customer, all I can go by is what the restaurant staff tells me. I was assured of a certain scenario multiple times, only to be surprised when we all got there! To be spoken to in such a disrespectful way and blamed for the restaurant's mistake was unacceptable. One of the worst experiences I've ever had with a restaurant manager. At the end of our conversation she exasperatedly asked if we wanted to stay, because the restaurant was busy. When I said yes, she rolled her eyes and FINALLY gave me a halfhearted apology and offered to send two appetizers to the table on the house. The gesture was appreciated, but it was too little too late.

For what it's worth, our server Daren W was AMAZING -- such a lovely man and was very kind and welcoming to us. The best part of the entire visit for sure.

The food was decent but nothing to write home about. We spent more than $750 total.

I don't plan on returning to this restaurant considering how disrespectfully management seems to treat its customers when the restaurant has made a mistake. You will find much better service and much better food elsewhere...

We're new to St. Louis area. We wanted to try Italian and the hill was recommended to us. We went on Sunday, but unfortunately Mama's is the only restaurant open on Sundays and it was recommended (I don't know why), but anyway we went in and we were seated in a very small table. It was just 4 of us, my brother, his wife, my wife and myself. My brother and I had to sit in the isle because there was no shoulder room and our spouses were against the wall. Food was mediocre at best. We had the appetizer combo, which was OK, nothing special. It was a very small portion so we devoured that in 5 minutes, very small for the price, but we figured it was ok since we ordered 4 large entres. I ordered the linguini with clams and mussels, wife had the chicken marsala, my brother and sister-in-law each ordered a seafood entree. After we finished the appetizer, we sat for 10 minutes and had to flag down a busboy because our waters and iced tea were never served. He left and came back another 10 minutes later with the drinks. When the entrees finally came, they were served on shallow bowls with HUGE rims, I guess to make them look like big servings, but they could've been served in 6" salad plates. We ALL joked about it, especially since we were seated in a TINY table and there was barely room for the 4 plates and our glasses. My entree had TINY clams that had normal size shells but pea sized clams inside, but about half of them were empty. The mussels were the same way. The sauce was almost non-existant. My wife said her chicken marsala was mediocre, the sauce had too much flour in it. She is a good cook and I've tried her marsala and it's much better. My brother and his wife had the same reaction to their dishes, mediocre at best. Anyway, our bill came out to about $50 per person, with NO alcoholic drinks, just water and tea. When the 4 of us go out, we always have food leftover to take home because we're not big eaters. This time, there was NO leftovers and we were ALL still hungry after the meal, so we went out for PIzza afterwards. I don't know why this place was recommended to us, and I now believe ALL the poor reviews that have been written...