Mamma's American Pizza Company

Oh dear what's happened to Mama's... :(

After waiting 20 minutes to place our order we waited another 50 to get our main course, our stater of nachos never arrived, how embarrassing. Then when we did get our pizzas the base was so hard we could not cut through it with our knives! My niece and I ordered garlic tomato and chicken and the chicken was non existent. What a poor show guys and we didn't even get an apology from the staff. I felt really sorry for the Japanese tourists who sat across from us, the restaurant was in chaos and they sat in bewilderment waiting ages for their meal also, I felt ashamed that visitors to the capital could be treated in this manner.

Best advice I could give you - stay clear of Mama's during the festival....

Was over in Edinburgh for New Year's Eve and stumbled in here. We hadn't booked anywhere on what was one of the busiest nights of the year but the staff were really helpful in squeezing tables together for eight of us. We had several bottles of wine and didn't even notice as the clock slipped past 11pm but have to say the staff put no pressure on us to get even though we were the last people left in the place heading towards New Year. I don't even eat pizza but found that there was enough on the menu to still have a choice. The prices were very reasonable too... especially for Grassmarket on such a busy night. Can't compliment the staff enough because I sure they can't have been delighted to see a big group coming in so late on December 31. needless to say we left a decent tip! Will definitely go back for a quieter meal next time I'm over in Edinburgh.

Mamma's pizza is one of the few places in Edinburgh I always go back to. It is probably the atmosphere of the place, the staff being always nice and good music playing in the background. It gives a warm feel, an ideal place to go out to eat and chat with your friends.

The stone-baked pizzas freshly made within the restaurant are quite an opponent for 4 minutes made domino's pizzas. Not only that they taste good, but are a good value for anyone's pocket. You can choose from standard toppings to more extravagance (banana, avocado), mammas provide quite a large selection where everyone can find something for themselves.

But don't get mistaken by the name of the restaurant- it is not all only about the pizzas. Last time I thought of choosing something different than usual and my choice was a steak.It comes with wedges, dips and it's served on a hot stone, that would be my second favourite main dish after the pizzas, defenitely highly reccomended.

And don't forget to order the frutoffi pie- the best of the best of the desserts.

On a cold January day it was great to tuck into a hearty bowl of Cullen Skink with a plate of crusty bread. The soup was thick with smoked haddock and was delicious. Friends chose the soup of the day which was Thai red curry and it also got the thumbs up.
As we wanted to leave room for our puddings we selected a large proscuitto, blue cheese and olive pizza to share. Service was quick and pleasant and there was plenty of pizza to go round. With two courses behind us no-one felt able to tackle our usual Choco Woco Wacko but the chocolate brownie was a great end to the meal.

I've been coming here regularly with friends since the nineties, and I don't recognise the place from the comments above.

I was here on my own on monday for a quick late lunch and found the pizzas to be up to the usual high standard. The base was crisp without being burnt, and the Mamma's pizza sauce has a spicy tang that really hits the spot. Proscuitto, artichoke and green olives are a great together, but you can choose whatever combination you like from a ridiculously long list of toppings. I didn't have time for dessert this visit, but the apple crumble is superb and usually comes in generous portions, maybe next time. My waitress looked new to the job, and a little awkward, but she was friendly, and checked to make sure I was happy with my meal.

I'll certainly be back, probably during the fringe with friends. Though you can't book in August they will make a special effort to speed you through if you tell them you've got a show to catch.

One of my favourites.

Mammas American Pizza Co has to be one of the most disappointing lunches I've had in a long time.

Firstly, and most disappointingly, was the food we were served. Of the two starters, the "famous buffalo wings coated in Mammas secret spicy recipe" looked anaemic and unappetising, their so-called coating being a mere puddle in the bottom of the dish. The other starter was Macho Nachos, which was supposed to have a topping of Mexican style meat chilli, had a distinct lack of meat. For mains, I have to be fair and say that the pizza I ordered was perfect. However, this was served without the other diner’s main course as the waitress hadn’t taken down the order properly. After re-ordering the other main course, Ma’s Spicy Meatballs, further disappointment followed as the spaghetti hadn’t been drained properly leaving another puddle of water in the bottom of this dish. The waitress took the dish back to the kitchen where the bowl was drained and then brought back to the table. And yet further disappointment as, when the diner finally tucked into his “spicy meatballs”, they were bland and totally tasteless. No amount of spicy sauce could make them appetising. Needless to say, the diner had to set this dish aside and proceeded to tuck into what was left of the pizza.

Secondly, the staff. I appreciate that many, if not most, restaurants rely on employing serving staff whose native tongue is not English. However, I expect my waiter/waitress to be able to take an order competently (main courses and drinks had to be rectified) and also to be able to speak enough English to have some friendly banter with the customer. And as for management, at no time during our protestations about the food did the duty-manager of Mammas Pizzas care to placate us or offer any sort of apology. I was so outraged by our treatment that I returned the following day and spoke to the duty-manager personally. He did apologise for the food and service, but made no other effort to compensate for what was a most disappointing lunch-time experience.

I shall not be returning to Mammas Pizzas, nor shall I be recommending it to anyone.

I got a takeaway vegetarian pizza from Mamas at the weekend and it was absolutely horrible. The base was soft and soggy and the topping was tasteless. Also ordered chicken wings which were revolting. The barbecue sauce was minimal and the wings were also soggy. Never ever again.

Two of us ate at Mammas last night as it was close to our hotel (Apex International) across the road. On a day that temperatures in Edinburgh rocketed skywards it was a relief to bag the last remaining outside table on the Grassmarket.

You can't go too far wrong with a pizza, so we ordered a large veggie pizza to share between two, a starter of garlic bread and a couple of cokes. Garlic bread arrived quickly and was really good. It wasn't too long til the pizza was deposited at our table. I say 'deposited' because the waitress just put it down quickly and disappeared without the usual 'would you like black pepper with that?'. A couple of minutes passed and I flagged her down and requested the pepper. In hindsight I should have asked for salt and chili flakes so that the pizza would at least taste of something.

I was rather taken aback when she brought the pepper - it was a little shaker of the powdered stuff. On seeing that it was not the freshly ground variety I had a bad feeling that this was not going to be all I had hoped; and I was right! The base was workmanlike and nothing special at all. The pizza sauce was bland and the tomatoes were of the pale, unripe and tasteless 'el cheapo' supermarket variety that a proper Italian restaurant wouldn't be seen dead using. It was so bad we actually left some, which is unheard of.

We have awarded Mamma's Pizzeria at the Grassmarket a gold medal for 'Purveyors of the most Tasteless Pizza in the world'. I suspect that most of it's trade is of the passing tourist variety. I can't see locals beating a path to their door after the first visit.

The bill showed no sign of coming so we headed indoors and paid up. I can't remember the last time we didn't leave a tip after a meal. The only tip I can give Mamma's is to get to work on making the pizzas taste the best. They've got the location right - how hard can it be to get the pizza right. I wished last night that we had stuck with Pizza Express up the road instead.

Our expectations were quite high for this establishment as we picked this place based on the review from the List Eating and Drinking Guide 09/10. We went there for dinner tonight and it was distinctly average to the point of being actually quite unpleasant. The idea that the pizzas are stone baked fresh is laughable as what we got felt like we were eating bland cardboard frozen pizzas. The starters whilst plenty on the plate, looked cheap, roughly put together and with little flavour. Although we were using our List card, we did think the prices were very high for what you were getting. Normally we stay for all three courses to make the best use of our card but in this instance we could not wait to leave. Even then it took the staff 10 mins to bring the card machine after giving us our bill and seeing we wanted to pay by card and they were not busy at all - there was more staff in the place than there were customers. Maybe our expectations were too high considering this place is in the Grassmarket and aimed at the tourist trade, yet other places in the same place do a lot better.