Anniversary and Mama Rosa's

It was anniversary # 8 this week. We both worked on the day itself. D. bought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers with some gorgeous lilies that have just opened. We exchanged our cards and rather last minute decided to go to dinner Saturday night.

There's a Japanese restaurant in Port Whoody that we really like and sort of planned to go there. However, we were keen to try something new and fairly close to home. I did some research and heard about a place called Mama Rosa's or rather Rosa's Cucina Italiana. Sounds doable right? I read about it being a busy place that often had line ups since they take no reservations and that Mama Rosa greeted you herself. People rated the food as excellent. So we go for it.

Mamma mia! The place was packed, but we didn't wait long. We were greeted by Surly Mama who looks overworked and suspicious of people she doesn't recognize. There's one very pregnant waitress for about 40 people who starts off to be somewhat friendly with us, but is soon as surly as Mama Rosa.

I didn't expect the menu to be vegan or even that veg. Knowing Italian food and having travelled through most of Italy I know that there is always something I can eat and indeed I find a Pasta Primavera with a "red sauce" option. There's no insalata mista which as far as I'm concerned is a menu standard from Piemonte to Calabria. I order a tomato and onion salad (those that don't know I typically can't eat onions) and figure I can risk eating a few onions (I do love them) and give the rest to D. I double check with the waitress when she comes to take our order to make sure the "red sauce" is a plain tomato sauce. My question seems to have made the waitress more surly.

We get a basket of thick sliced mangia cake bread with a promise from the waitress that she'll bring our water on the next trip (water is very important to me since I spend a lot of time hydrating before going for those long runs). The bread is fine (I guess that makes me a mangia cake). Our "salads" arrive (no water yet, but again we're promised that she'll have it on the next trip. The place is small the tap can't be that far away. We're sitting beneath the bar and I know there's a sink on the other side, but I don't dare get my own water and send Mama Rosa into a rage). The four giant slabs of tomato that make up my salad are sad and pale. I know it's not tomato season, but I think Mama Rosa could benefit from some organic and locally grown produce. The olives are good and the house wine is fine. We're together and wanted to try something new so that's all good. We don't discuss the food because we both know without telling each other that it's as we expected after we saw the menu, very average, actually below average.

The waitress drops off our plates. She's stopped promising watering and I don't dare ask so I give up too. It's not going to happen. I worked in the restaurant industry at one time, I know she hasn't forgotten but has given up instead.

The portions are huge. The Penne Primavera is a heaping portion of penne with more pale looking tomatos to make the sauce (maybe it's the dark and anything but atmospheric lighting). The veg is at least al dente, but is an odd mix of cauliflower, broccoli and carrots. I suspect it's one of those pre-chopped bags from the supermarket. Even though I don't eat cheese, I'd still like to refuse the offer of having some grated on my pasta. D.'s Manicotte with spinach and ricotta caused him to comment is "there's too much sauce." We didn't see the waitress again until she leaned over my shoulder and asked if we wanted dessert. When we said no she zipped away so fast I wondered if she was really trying to get rid of us or maybe she was going into labour. In any case, I didn't see her again. D. did mention that she spent most of the night chatting in a very friendly way with the big table behind us. Anyway, it would seem that the prices on the menu must reflect the portion size and not the content. It really is too much money for what we were served. I thought of D's mom's amazing Italian meals that she's served us over the years and think that Mama Rosa has brought shame to Italian cuisine. It's very sad that she's chosen to go cheap and taken traditional Italian food to a subpar level.

D. and I had one bad meal during our three week honeymoon in Italy (thanks again sis!). We stayed in Tropea in the last room available in August which was over the kitchen. There was a reason it was the last room available in the 40 degree weather in August. We couldn't breath in there it was so hot. We ate one night in the hotel restaurant which was full of families on holiday. I ordered a simple spaghetti that was awful. The pasta was way undercooked (al dente x 10) and stiff in a boring tomato sauce that had no freshness to it at all.

Italy is famous for its food and the Italian immigrants have brought so much to North America culturally including its cuisine and here's Mama Rosa with the room to do something unique amongst the pubs, the family restaurant chains, the fast food stops, and the sushi bars in our neck of the GWRD (Greater Whoville Regional District) and she can't even find a chef to make a suitable tomato sauce. It's too bad. I'm thinking she's related to the family that ran that restaurant in Tropea. Maybe I should have asked her. I might have if I wasn't so afraid of her with her surly manner.

Oh, our anniversary was nice because like I said at least we were together and that was what it was really about.

The next morning as I ran past the restaurant on my Sunday run I noticed a well worn sign in the window of Mama Rosa's that was looking for kitchen help. Ha! Good luck.