Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano, an adorable table servie tucked away behind the Muppets, is hardly noticeable if you weren’t looking for it. We ended up there on the kids’ first pilgrimage to WDW back in 2008. When I was making dining reservations, it was the only restaurant with availability for the Fantastmic! Dining Package. Not knowing that we weren’t, in fact, doomed to SRO if we didn’t have reserved seating at Fantastmic!, I snatched it up.
Reviews tend to give this place a bad name almost across the board. That noted, we actually enjoyed our dinner here. Let me interject that I really don’t take much stock in online reviews. We always much prefer to try things for ourselves. We’d miss out on a whole lot if we relied on everyone else’s opinions. Ok, coming back down from the soapbox.
The restaurant itself is really cute! Lots of fun little touches like hanging pasta and proteins, as well as the faux grapes that adorned the ceilings of my favorite childhood spaghetti joint. 🙂
Even if the fare isn’t spectacular (and we will say we really, really enjoyed the flatbread) in the eyes of the Disney masses, it’s a fun place to play with your food!
Crispy Calamari & Bread Service
Calamari is served with spicy pickles (yum!), spicy aioli and fresh lemon
Garden Salad with Grilled Chicken
This was off menu, but I was a little overheated and needed something cool to eat, so they obliged.
Adult Spaghetti & Meatballs
Kids’ Spaghetti & Meatballs
Kids Grilled Chicken Breast
This is literally how it came. Her side was a Dasani and ice cream sundae, so this was the presentation.
And this may be why I try to stick up for this place…HBelle got to be Chef of the Day (even if they did butcher her name), and she couldn’t have been more excited.
Excuse the flash. This was in my pre-blogger days, and I was more concerned with capturing the moments in the dark restaurant than the harsh light it cast on the scene.
Would I recommend Mama Melrose? Eh, you could probably take it or leave it. We tend to gravitate towards 50s Prime Time when in Hollywood Studios. If you’re on the dining plan and need to burn a table service credit, you could do it here. Or if you’re looking for a little Zio’s-ish meal on your Hollywood Studios day, chances are you can get a walk-up here. It’s not a bad place, but there are more “Disney” restaurants we’d choose to dine in when on vacation. What can I say? We like over the top theming.
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