No, I am not Seinfeld....
As many of you know, I am a bit Disney fan. However, the one restaurant I can never stand is Mama Melrose. My family has been there multiple times and just plain hated it.
My question is, why? Why are people going to it and raving everywhere about how good it is. Am I missing something? Is East Coast Italian that different than Midwestern (and Western) counterparts?
I want to like this restaurant so bad, but we just can't stand it!
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What I don't get is why people keep going there. If you ever been to Italy, the food is a marvel. At the states, the best Italian is Olive Garden or Macaroni Grill because there are few authentic Italian restaurants left. It seems like the Italian community has left the country or at least left the restaurant business.
If you prefer good Italian, Disney does offer a good choice at the Italy pavilion by renown celebrity chefs. That's a good as it gets.
My feeling is good Italian and French food are waning in favor of better Asian cuisine.
I hope Anon is kidding with Romanos and Olive Garden.
Perhaps I am lucky. I live in Chicago which has a very thriving Italian scene. Heck, we took pizza and said "this thing needs more toppings and cheese!"
Then again, New York has a lot of Italians and that is supposed to be represented in Mama Melrose.
I live in Los Angeles. We don't have an Italian community here anymore. I can't identify any good Italian restaurants here. I suspect Disney World is no different in not knowing what is good Italian food.
FWIW, the two restaurants in Epcot's Italy pavilion are run by a company from Los Angeles.
That explains a lot.
The Pittsburgh area probably has as many family run Italian restaurants as all the other nationalities combined. And there's probably a non chain family pizza restaurant within a few blocks of most every town in this part of the country. Sometimes it's tough to find a non chain restaurant that isn't Italian in an area. So I think it's basically about what part of the country you live in. I always see lots of local Italian restaurants when traveling through the northeast...And if we're talking about Orlando, Portofino Bay Resort at Universal has four excellent Italian restaurants and Citi Walk has two new ones, one of which is Vivo that makes its own pasta, & has very good food at value prices.
I wonder if that is really the problem. Maybe I am "spoiled" with family run restaurants of every ethnic stripe in the Chicagoland area.
There is a local chain called Barnelli's Pasta Bowl which, I swear, makes better food than Mama Melrose. If a fast food joint can make better food, thats a problem!
I find it hard to believe that there is no good Italian in LA. It is the second biggest city in the United States. There has to be SOMETHING!
FWIW as well, I like via Napoli.
I feel like I am missing something or there is something I am not getting about Mama Melrose.
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I didn't like it the last time I ate there, so you're not alone in your opinion. It's not that it was bad, just... tasteless. A lot of Disney World food is bland, but this at least looked like it might have some flavor, which is what made it even more disappointing to me when it didn't.