Mama Mia Italian Cuisine – Knoxville TN

Once again, our friends Norm and Linda ‘scooped us’ with the discovery of a restaurant in Knoxville where we’d never eaten before.  So…off we went on another dining adventure! 

Mama Mia Restaurant is located in an old strip shopping center on the north side of I-40/75.  We remembered the shopping center as there used to be a Thai restaurant here that we’d eaten at years earlier.  However, we didn’t remember…or perhaps notice…Mama Mia.

To say that the inside of Mama Mia is colorful would be an understatement!  When we arrived just bit after 4 PM, (way before the normal dinner hour), we were the only customers.

The total color sensory overload continues throughout the restaurant!  It’s a good thing that the interior lighting wasn’t very bright…

While we were waiting for and then consuming our dinners, a number of takeout orders were processed and 2 family groups came in for their evening meals…  Laurie asked the waitress how long Mama Mia had been in business.  We were startled and impressed when she told us that they’d been in operation for 10 years!  We couldn't believe that we'd never tried this restaurant before...

This was the first food item that we noticed after sitting down!  Was it gyros on a spit?  Hope springs eternal.  We had never seen meat of any kind on a spit in the Knoxville area…and we love gyros!

Our energetic and talkative waitress started us out with these nice warm rolls with a marinara dipping sauce.  She also brought us a container of tzatziki sauce for us to sample.  We’d asked her if it was garlicky and she’d said that it had some garlic in it.  We told her that we’re used to the garlic impact offered by tzatziki in the Chicago area. 

   

The rolls were excellent, the marinara sauce was very nice and the tzatziki sauce was a little garlicky…not Chicago style…but better than most that we have found in East Tennessee. 

In Chicago, most gyro meat is a combination of lamb and beef.  Our waitress told us that at Mama Mia it’s really beef or chicken shawarma.  Sometimes they also have lamb…but not the combination loaf that we were used to.

In any case, on Mama Mia's menu, Laurie’s meal is called Gyro…roasted and grilled thinly sliced beef served in a piece of grilled pita bread. ($8.99) No lamb but Laurie liked it anyway.  She gave me a taste and I agreed with her, it was very good.  Laurie added a side salad instead of French fries for an up charge of $1.50. (This isn't her salad on the plate. Didn't take a photo of it but she said it was very fresh and good with mixed lettuce, carrots, cucumber and tomatoes.)

The name ‘Mama Mia’ evokes thoughts of Italian cuisine.  Indeed, the register receipt reads “Mama Mia Italian Cuisine”.  The take out menu simplifies the name a little with just “Mama Mia Cuisine”.  

To clarify the breath of the selections offered here, I’ve listed a short sampling of the variety on the menu: Wings, Potato Skins, Fish n’ Chips, Falafel Platter, Fried Garlic Mushrooms, Baba Ganoush, Grape Leaves, Greek Salad, Caesar Salad, Shepherd Salad, Grilled Reuben, Italian Philly Steak, Quarter Pound Burger, Meatball Sandwich, Pizza, Calzone, Fassoulia, Mujadara, Lobster Ravioli, Pasta Alfredo, Eggplant Parmesan…etc., etc.  The variety is a bit overwhelming.  This is a Mediterranean Restaurant with some typical American options!

I decided to go for something from the Italian side of the menu.  This was my Chicken Parmesan.  The breaded and fried chicken breast sauce was served over linguine in a marinara sauce…and a “lot” of mozzarella cheese.  As you can see, portion control isn’t an objective at Mama Mia.  This very satisfying entrée was $9.99 and it came with a couple more hot rolls…

On this occasion they were out of Lamb and I wanted to try the Mansaf…a Bedouin dish that features lamb cooked with Jameed yogurt sauce and served over rice.  We’d also wanted to try their thin crust pizza.  So the following week we returned with our friends Morrie and Jodie.

Jodie ordered the Chicken Parmesan and she thought that it was pretty good.  Morrie ordered the Alfredo with added meatballs. ($9.98) He thought that it was OK but nothing to write home about...or to drive very far to order.  They both ordered side salads which they thought were pretty average.  This time we had to ask for the rolls but as before they were very nice.

Laurie and I shared a Caesar salad...with Romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, black olives and parmesan cheese. ($5.99) The homemade Caesar dressing was served on the side in little cups...not tossed with the salad.  The salad was OK and the salad dressing was pretty good, but it would have worked much better if the dressing had been tossed with the salad before coming to the table.   

Laurie ordered a 12" thin crust pizza, requesting salami, pepperoni and sausage.  Our waitress informed us that they were out of salami so Laurie just went with the pepperoni and sausage. ($13.57) We've eaten a lot of pizza...from the northeastern US to Miami, to Cleveland, Chicago, Omaha, St. Louis and even in Ireland.  We do understand that personal preferences for pizza vary widely, but from our standpoint this was one of the most disappointing pizzas we've ever eaten.  It just didn't have any distinctive flavor...bland even.

I once again tried to order the Mansaf...but once again I was told that they were out of lamb!  Yikes!  So I resorted to a back up selection, the Italian Sub Grinder. ($7.99) On the menu it was described as containing ham, salami and pepperoni, all topped with provolone and Swiss cheese on a French roll.  It didn't dawn on me until I was eating it that our waitress had told me that they were out of salami... The sandwich was OK as were the fries. 

It was before 6 PM on a Wednesday when we visited Mama Mia this time.  There is no reason why they should not have lamb twice in a row and being out of salami just doubled up on our disappointment.  Most of the food was OK, (except the pizza), but nothing special.  On the up side, portions are quite large.  

We had the same waitress as during our first visit, (she was the only waitress on both occasions), and she was helpful but quite scattered during our second visit.  I was also unhappy about the fact that she told us that they'd give us free desserts if we posted an 'excellent' review for Mama Mia on Google.  Bribery or rewards for a good review are a no no for most review sites!  

Mama Mia Restaurant is located at 9115 C Executive Park Drive in Knoxville Tennessee.  Phone: 865-691-9100.  Website: www.mamamiacuisine.com. 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by to see what was for dinner!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave