Reviewed
15/02/01

The prognosis was good: my housemates, on being casually asked if either would like to come with me, could not be separated after several closely fought rounds, so both were allowed to attend.

It was fortunate that it occurred to us to call and check whether we needed to book. We did. Arriving at 8.30 on a weekday night, we found the place full, but by some sleight of table, not crowded. The atmosphere is warmly neutral, if that is possible : there were families with children, pensioners celebrating a birthday, young sophisticates, and people too busy eating to be categorised. All looked at home. We studied the menu with the help of a crisp Italian lager. For starters we chose baked goats cheese, antipasto mesto and spaghetti putanesca. (All pasta main courses can be sampled in half-portion as starters, childrens dishes, or out of simple curiosity.) All (and this is where it starts to get repetitive and descriptiveness falters before truth) were excellent, the antipasto mesto looking and tasting (we rotated) particularly sumptuous.

Our main courses, a roast vegetable pizza, a calzone, and a rigatoni molisari, were all very fine. Companion A, who knows pizza through diligent study from infancy, found no fault whatsoever. Companion B could not be induced to opine until every last molecule was consumed. And I, who had taken a non-pizza option the better to be representative of the whole menu, had the last laugh as they both expressed jealousy at the absurd creaminess of the rigatoni. As befits persons concentrating seriously on food, we washed it all down with a carafe of house red, which was suitably but not excessively sharp.

Dessert: apple rustica (pie and ice cream), tartufo (crunchy ice cream and cocoa) and tiramisu (a lush combination of coffee, brandy, chocolate and cream) were all decidedly worthy, if not spectacular. Coffee (we were thorough) likewise. The waiters were friendly, relaxed, very capable and efficient, and no more Italian than ourselves, though this did not detract from the Mediterranean feel. Pizzas are prepared from scratch under the diners scrutiny and nowhere is authenticity lacking. And at a little over twenty pounds per head, there is no doubting value for money either. The secret of Mama Mia's popularity is a simple one: people working very hard to make sure that they cannot be faulted and then some. They succeed.

Neil Williams