Mama’s On the Hill

We stopped in for dinner early Saturday evening after a day at the zoo and the Science Center. We were looking for something casual, and we found it at Mama’s. Early on the service was great. Fresh, warm Italian bread and butter and drinks were brought quickly. Our waitress happily answered our many first-​timer questions, and offered some insights to the menu. My wife ordered the Pollo Artichoke, and I had the Pollo Spedini. The salads had a nice variety of fresh greens, and the house Italian dressing was very tasty. The entrées were excellent — lots of flavor, very tender, and generous. I used our last pieces of bread to mop up the last of the sauce from the chicken (couldn’t let it go to waste!) and my wife took half of hers home. Each dinner also came with a large side of pasta with white or red sauce — this was the only bad part of the meal. The noodles were overcooked and beyond flavorless, and neither sauce was very good at all — a jar of Ragu would have been better. We had cannoli for dessert, which was very good (it was so crispy I suspect they filled it right before they brought it out — nice).
The place was mostly empty when we got there, but filled up steadily. By the time it was half-​full, we almost had to shout to hear each other, it had gotten so loud. Some carpet or sound absorbing panels would go a long way toward helping this situation. We saw almost nothing of our waitress after the food came, but another host kept my water glass full (hard work after a hot day at the zoo). It also took a long time to get the check after we were done, and a long time to cash out. If they fix the noise, the sauce/​pasta problem (in an Italian restaurant, seriously?), and pay more attention after the food hits the table, I would gladly give five stars.
A surprise bonus was listening to a fairly talented tenor belt out an Italian rendition of Happy Birthday to a nearby diner — very fun!

This authentic Italian food is absolutely the best I have come to enjoy during my years of travel.
Bread and butter was great, and the thin crispy crust pizza must of had fresh everything. Just an outstanding staff that paid a genuine attention to my satisfaction.
Great job from kitchen to table. I hope I travel this way again.

We decided to try lunch at Mama’s because Zia’s only allowed reservations for a party of six or more. It turned out to be a great decision! There was a large party in the lower level, so we were seated by the window upstairs. I had Seafood Linguini (very creamy & yummy with a red crawdad on top), my daughter had Fettuccini Alfredo (she said mine was tastier), the men had Lasagna, Spaghetti & Meatballs and Penne Arrabiata. They thoroughly enjoyed their entrees. The portions are large and two of us needed to go boxes. Our waiter was very polite, funny & professional. The waiter & busboy were attentive and the food arrived quickly, No issues to speak of.

Had a coupon and live nearby so decided to order food for carryout. With two meals and an app they said it would be ready in 10 minutes which seemed crazy fast but it was ready and fresh. They even kept my salad separate since it was cold.
Loved the house salad, was nice to get more than iceberg in the lettuce mix and the house balsamic was excellent and a pleasant change from the standard italian.
Got the penne carbonara which was delicious! Large portion, super rich but that is what I was craving. BF got the chicken Alfredo and ate every last bite. The GCB was pretty standard, wished it used mozzarella instead of provel but that’s just a personal preference. I’ve had the toasted rav here before too and was very good.
Will definitely come back.

Had $ 20 on the Oper app to spend on delivery, and since Mama’s was close and I haven’t eaten there in years, gave it a shot. Ordered a lunch portion of fettuccine and garlic cheese bread.
The good: they said 50 minutes for food and it was a little shorter. the fettuccini portion was huge.
The meh: the fettuccini sauce did *not* taste homemade to me but I’m honestly not quite sure. However, the sauce almost tasted borderline greasy to me. also, they seasoned it with way too much pepper.
The bad: my GCB was disappointing. Not super melty, and tasted like it had been sitting out a while. Super dry.
Bottom line, this is super casual Italian at best. If I walked in there and was expecting some kind of fine dining, or anything special, you’d be disappointed.

We ate there last night & a MOUSE had also decided to visit. It was running around the restaurant during meal service. It was beyond awful. They did nothing about it, no apology. Never again.

Pros: Personable, fast service. Above average house salads. Seafood pasta dishes stand out.
Cons: Kind of grungy. Overpriced for the quality of food and portion. Bread is simple white bread served with cold butter packets; leaves a lot to be desired.
Went on a Sunday night at 6pm. It wasn’t too busy, and the service was great. Waiter engaged guests in conversation and offered expert opinions on the menu. Started with the toasted raviolis which were average. Then got a house salad which was great… the house-​made dressing was fantastic. Main course was the seafood ravioli, which was above average but not amazing for the price point and portion.
Overall, a pleasant experience. However, a little underwhelming for the price. I would rather take my business a block away to Zia’s, unless a large wait was apparent.

Straight up fantabulous! I was in St. Louis for the weekend, visiting friends and decided to check out Mama’s after they had mentioned it had been on Restaurant Impossible and… just wow! The fried ravioli was exactly what they dish should be and the best I’ve had, the rabbit bolognese was something I had never tried and my mouth is drooling thinking about it now. My favourite part of the experience? The prices were more than reasonable and the company was the best.
Great service, amazing food and it will be my go to the next time I’m in St. Louis.

Guys, this is hands down the best Italian food I have ever tasted. The servers were friendly and kept up a running conversation throughout the night. They even knew most of our group by name from previous visits.
The Penne Carbonara had a delicious cream sauce. You know the problem that most Italian restaurants have where there is not enough cream sauce to cover a dish? This is absolutely not the case at Mama’s. Every bite was creamy perfection.
We will definitely be back for more!

Impressed! This was a dinner with friends, and they chose it. I am glad they did.
Great service, even better food. The pollo saltimbocca was just perfect. Huge portions; I ended up walking out with the telltale styrofoam box.
We did have crab-​stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer which were awesome… and I’m not even a mushroom fan!
I didn’t pay, so I can’t speak to the price/​value aspect, but I would say just from the menu, it was in line with a good, solid dinner.
Approved. :-)

We ordered lasagna and it was very bland, no flavor. The lasagna wasn’t fresh, you could tell it wasn’t just baked like it should have been. Very disappointed.

This restaurant was terrible. The chicken tasted like it had been made three days ago and was heated up in the microwave to serve to its customers. The spaghetti tasted like a can of tomatoes had been pour on it. The food was terrible, left there still hungry. Don’t go!

*** Delivery Order ***
First let me say, I placed a delivery order and had it delivered to a hotel.
I ordered the seafood linguine and tiramisu. They did not include any utensils or a receipt. The delivery guy was really nice and it only took about 40 minutes from order to delivery. I asked for a receipt and he said he would tell them to e-​mail one, but they have not sent one.
The seafood pasta was pretty good, not the best I have ever had and not the worst. They are very big portions of food.
Tiramisu is also pretty good.
Overall it was pretty good, however who doesn’t provide utensils on a delivery order or a receipt?

Mama’s On the Hill had the distinct honor of being the ONLY restaurant open on the Hill on Labor Day, so of course we had to try it.
The wait to sit down wasn’t too long (20 minutes on a holiday), however once we were seated it took longer than expected for our order to be taken (granted, it was relatively busy). I appreciated the server’s enthusiastic attitude, however my husband has a cheese allergy, and when he asked for the cheese to be left off his entrée (spaghetti with marinara sauce), the server told him the marinara sauce also contained cheese. She said there was nothing on the menu without cheese, but would check with the chef to see if he could create a custom dish. When she returned she apologized, and let us know that the marinara sauce actually did not contain cheese, so everything worked out, but it would have been nice if she had known the ingredients up front.
My husband and I both ordered The Hill of Spaghetti, which was fine, but not quite of the quality I expected from an Italian restaurant in the heart of what is reported to be one of the top «Little Italy» neighborhoods in the country. Our dining companions were happier with their choices of Rabbit Bolognese and Tortellini ala Pappa.
The short and sweet: not the worst Italian I’ve ever had, but it’s easy to make okay Italian. I’m still on the hunt for exceptional Italian, and unfortunately, I need to keep searching.

This review is only for take out. We were visiting from Nashville and before leaving town we decided to grab some Italian food to go. Believe it or not, Nashville does not have great Italian food. We have some, but we don’t have the shops like St. Louis or New Jersey.
Mama’s was wonderful and absolute delight! We got home, reheated the food, and ate on the couch in bliss. Their toasted raviolis lived up to the hype. The spaghetti and meatballs was perfection, and the chicken parm with provel cheese was surprisingly delightful. I was in love. IN LOVE! I’m so sad Mama’s is in St. Louis and not Nashville. I would go there regularly. They ship their pasta in from Italy. They mean business!

Such a nice surprise. Tucked away in the middle of a residential neighborhood, this restaurant is in an old house. This is the type of place that you know immediately when you walk up and in that you’re in for a treat.
The service was exceptional and true Italians own and run the joint. Started with the fried ravioli which was tasty. Had the Pollo Spedini which is basically chicken rolled and stuffed with prosciutto, mushrooms, cheese and other amazing was and topped with a savory sauce and baked. It was rich and delicious. Though one order could feed three people. We also had the Seafood Manicotti which we polished the plate clean. The marinara sauce with the pasta was memorable, and all homemade.
Highly recommend taking the time to find this hidden gem. Skip the chain restaurants and drive an extra ten minutes to have real food!

We decided to come back to Mama’s for my Mother’s Day lunch. The first time we were here was several years ago, and I was in the mood for some Italian today. Unfortunately (or fortunately, however you look at it), most of the restaurants on The Hill are closed on Sundays. This narrowed our choices greatly, and we decided to come back to a tried-​and-​true restaurant.
Since it was Mother’s Day, they did have a brunch happening, but we decided to order off the regular menu anyway. Our four choices: spaghetti and meatballs, chicken parm, penne carbonara, and cannelloni. Everyone enjoyed his/​her meal.
I tried my daughter’s penne carbonara, because it is also one of my favorites. SO good! I had the cannelloni, which was perfect!
We’ll be back. It’s not a fancy place, but the service is good and the food is great!

From what I can tell, there are approximately 800 thousand million Italian restaurants in «The Hill» in St. Louis. While I can’t speak for the other ones, as I haven’t really eaten at any of them, I can tell you that Mama’s is a solid choice.
The ambiance is alright. It feels somewhat home-​y, and is mostly dependent upon a few windows for light.
The service was fine. Our waiter was kind and pretty attentive.
Of course, none of the above would matter if the food sucked. Thankfully, it does not. I had a Caesar salad and «The Hill» of Spaghetti with two meatballs. No complaints on the salad, though it was fairly standard. The red sauce on the spaghetti and meatballs was smooth and tomato-​y. The spaghetti itself was tasty (and plentiful), but possibly could’ve been seasoned a little more. The meatball was meaty (which should make sense), but also could’ve been seasoned a tad more. Overall, though, it was good. My siblings seemed pleased with what they ordered, as well.
Be forewarned, however: the portion sizes are HUGE! Come hungry, because chances are good that you will consume far more calories than you originally anticipated.
But overall, again, it was very good.

3.5 starts seems about right but I’ll up it to four. We visited for the first time for my wife’s birthday and to my absolute amazement when we walked in at 7:30pm on a Thursday night we were the ONLY patrons in there, I was absolutely stunned and I felt like I was walking into a place just about to close down or something. Immediately I was nervous because I thought maybe I missed a breaking news story about the establishment giving the town dysentery and I was the only guy who didn’t read the papers.
I have to say though the food I ordered really was excellent and slowly (really slowly) two more tables of 2 arrived to make us feel a little better. Our service was good and attentive.
I had the Penne Carbonara and my wife had the Chicken Parmigiana (without this Provel stuff, Mozzarella only please) and I had a toasted rav. to begin. All excellent.
I really would like to return here but next time with a few more souls in the place to give it some life.

Food is great. Atmosphere is just so so. I didn’t care for the 70/80’s radio station playing, killed the ambience. But the food was very good, so I would come back.
The waiter was great. Funny, they just put on some standard Italian music as we are leaving, which I love. Haha