Looking at Mama Melrose's

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Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Matt Hochberg

When I talk with other people who run Walt Disney World based websites, we all joke that trips to Walt Disney World are “research trips” and we have no choice but to go down for the sake of research.  This is usually a funny running joke however, when I’m at the Studios I do like to re-examine things I’ve experienced in the past and on a recent trip I decided to stop by Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano and see how it is these days.

I ate at Mama Melrose’s about 3 or 4 years ago and it’s still the best place at the Studios to eat if you have to make a last minute reservation.  For some reason, Mama Melrose’s is the last to book up. This would infer that no one wants to eat here, right? I don’t think that is the case at all.  First, each of the sit down restaurants at the Studios has a distinctive appeal to them.  The 50’s Primetime Café has the funny cast members, the Sci-Fi has it’s drive-in theater quality (and bad food...sorry, I couldn’t resist slamming it), Hollywood & Vine has characters in the morning and the Hollywood Brown Derby has that faux-ritzy feel to it but Mama Melrose really doesn’t have a quality like that.  It’s theme is an Italian restaurant to the stars. 

When you walk in you see photographs of some famous Hollywood celebrities (a sign says “Legends of the Disney-MGM Studios”).  There are no funny cast members or characters here and it’s in exile in the far off corner of the Studios near Al’s Toy Barn so many guests don’t ever see it.  It’s location, from a theme standpoint, probably was to represent Little Italy when the Streets of America were known as New York Street when the park first opened, however, between the Muppets and Toy Story stuff, it’s been cut off from the area and is really an enclave of no characters.

Mama Melrose has that theme of a cross between a traditional Italian restaurant (think Lady & the Tramp) and TGI Fridays with lots of memorabilia hanging from the walls.  Also, this place is huge.  Without doing any real scientific analysis, the floor space seems to be larger than the Sci-Fi or Primetime. 

The food is the best part of the restaurant.  Their selection of appetizers is good and they all were appealing to me.  I ended up getting the oven-baked Caprino Cheese which is served in a tomato-basil sauce with rosemary-garlic crostini.  To an un-Italian guy, it looked and tasted like bread with a really good red sauce and I enjoyed it.  Everyone does get warm bread and crushed red tomatoes which I found to be a decent free offering (certainly beats rolls and butter).

For an entrée, I went with what the restaurant is best known for: it’s flatbreads.  For those who don’t know (like myself), flatbreads are just really thin-crust pizzas.  When I went, there were four different kinds and I ended up going with the grilled chicken flatbread while my fiancée got the four cheese flatbread.  Each is enough for one person but likely not enough to share.  I found the flatbreads to be good, not great (there’s something about Disney’s inability to make good pizza or coffee but I digress).  In the past I’ve had the penne alla vodka which was pretty good.  A great option would be to order an extra entrée and share everything amongst the people in your group.

Mama Melrose’s doesn’t have any real entertainment like some of the other restaurants at the Studios and that’s not a bad thing.  I don’t need to be entertained all the time and it was a nice way of relaxing before venturing back out into the park.  Eating here is about as close as you’ll get to disconnecting from the whole “Disney magic” thing as aside from a hidden Mickey or two that we spotted, there’s no pixie dust to be found here.  Eating here would be a great option on longer trips after you’ve been in the parks a few days and need a break from the monotony of Disney magic.

Overall I left Mama Melrose’s satisfied and gave it a “B” rating.  It was good, but not great.  It lacked that extra something to make it a great restaurant but I was content with eating there and felt like it was worth my time and money.  I can see why it’s not the most popular restaurant in the Studios but don’t feel that just because when you call up for reservations and the agent tells you there’s plenty of room at Mama Melrose’s that it’s cause for concern.  Rather, if you’re looking for a good value, give Mama Melrose’s a try.

Agree with what I said? Disagree? Have a story to share sparked by this column? Share your own idea by posting a comment below.