Mama Melrose at Hollywood Studios Review

 During our time at Hollywood Studios, we had reservations at Mama Melrose, the Italian restaurant. 

Mama Melrose is located in the back of the park in the Grand Avenue section. It is near the Muppet Vision attraction.  

When we got to the restaurant, we checked into to let them know we arrived and then waited outside the restaurant for a text to tell us our table was ready.

We were there for lunch and my first impression was that once we got past the lobby, it was a little dark in there. Some pictures have been manually lightened for your viewing pleasure! 

 It just seemed like more of a dinner atmosphere, but that's just my opinion and it certainly didn't effect my experience there. 

On the way to our table we passed by an "open kitchen" where we could see them preparing some of the food which was neat.

We enjoyed talking to this cast member and he agreed to let us take his picture while he prepared a brick oven pizza.

As soon as we were seated, I started with this fun cocktail which I believe was the Magical Star Cocktail without the glow cube!

For appetizers we started with  Crispy Calamari and Vine- Ripened Tomatoes and Mozzarella.  The Calamari was delicious because of the spicy aioli sauce that came with it. I highly recommend this dish and would order it again.   The Tomato and Mozzarella was good but not presented the way I'm use to having it. I like it when the Mozzarella pieces are sliced  the same way as the tomatoes because it's easier to eat together. In this dish, the Mozzarella was in balls. 

Now was time for the main meal. I was actually already quite satisfied with just the appetizers, but I continue on!  

For my meal I had Shrimp Campanelle  which was sauteed shrimp with Campanelle pasta tossed in a four cheese sauce with cauliflower, sun dried tomatoes, fresh spinach and sweet onions.   This dish was very good but it was very rich and heavy so I suggest if you want to order this dish, skip the appetizers! 

Because we were so full, we were not planning on ordering dessert BUT.... because I was wearing my birthday pin ( Because this was my birthday trip), the server brought out a treat! 

It was a chocolate cupcake with vanilla icing and sprinkles and as an extra touch it had a chocolate truffle on top! This looked pretty and I appreciated the gesture but wow, that wrapper was really difficult to get off! 

The staff here was super friendly and the food was great.  Prices for this restaurant are moderate to high with appetizers between $10-15, entrees between $21- 36 ( kid's meals around $11), and mocktail $10 or less and cocktails between $13-15. 

What is your favorite Italian restaurant?  -L

This was just my experience of this restaurant and all menu items and prices were accurate at the time of this posting. We were not on the dining plan for this meal.