Hello, I have a dinner package for Fantasmic, with the dinner being at Mama Melrose’s, and I was wondering how the food was there. I have read some reviews, which state that it is very welcoming and delicious, but I wanted some additional input. I have been toying around with our reservations, and I just hate that our “dinner” that evening is at 3:55, because it just seems so early. We have an early breakfast at Gardent Grill on the same day, and I am just trying to put the final tweak on our plans since we leave next Sunday, July 3, for our WDW vacation. Thank you in advance!
I can’t answer as to MM, as I haven’t been there, but as for the meals, it sounds like a good combination of times to me. With a full breakfast at GG and an early dinner, you can just have a light lunch/big snack in the middle, you know? I have a day or two planned like that, figuring it’s one less true meal i have to plan for. Those days, I plan on grabbing something from food carts as we want them.
We thought the food was fine. We booked it as a lunch and were one of the first tables seated. The food was average but not terrible. The service, however, was slow and not particularly helpful.
Having said that the restaurant generally gets good reviews. I’m not a big fan of the food at Hollywood studios in general though so I would take my opinion with a grain of salt.
I loved my steak dinner but my son ordered a pasta with cream sauce and chicken- and that dinner was inedible. I think with research you can get a great meal.
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We also thought the service was very slow. If you are used to great Italian food, you will find the food mediocre. But if you are not picky, it’s ok.
We’ve eaten at Mama Melrose’s several times and always had a good solid meal with pleasant service. The New York Strip is fairly good. Brown Derby is better, but far more expensive - last trip we regretted doing Hollywood & Vine for the Fantasmic! package instead of MM in hindsight.
And personally I think a buffet breakfast in the morning combined with an early dinner is perfect. Sprinkle liberally with Mickey Ice Cream bars as snacks to tide you over and you’ll be good to go with plenty of food for the day…
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I’ve enjoyed MM’s food, I do love Italian food and it’s not the best there I grant you, but this is Disney! I liked the ambience, a bustling trattoria feel. I think your timings with an early breakfast are just right 
I like it. IMO, the pizza there is second only to VN for “best pizza in WDW”. I’ve always had great service, and the theming reminds me of the Italian restaurants I used to go to with my parents when I was a kid.
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Mama Melrose’s is one of my family’s favorite. We eat there almost every trip with the Fantasmic package. I don’t know if its luck, but our service has been great the past 3 times we ate there in the past 5 years. Because your on the Fantasmic Package ,you do get a “free” appetizer if you’re using the Dining Plan. The Steak and Mac n Cheese is my daughters favorite and we find the pastas there superb! The theming is great and its overall wonderful experience that I highly recommend.
For us, MM is about what you’d expect for an Italian restaurant at home. It’s nothing special but I’ve had way worse. The price is definitely too much for the quality but I assure you, it’s worth it for those prime seats in Fantasmic! I’m probably bias because it’s my favorite show at Walt Disney World but we book MM every trip solely for that reason.
Thank you to everyone who replied, as this is valuable information no doubt! My mil has Italian relatives, therefore she loves Italian food. I am not sure how “Italian” MM really is, or if it is even real Italian food, but I thought I would book it just so she had something different than a buffet character dinner to eat. We are also eating at Sci Fi, Biergarten, BOG and Rainforest Café. The other meals are all character meals for my 4 year old.
When we went Spring 2015, the meal was really good. We all got the steaks and thought they were above average for Disney. In fact the entire meal was much more than we could eat. I found it to be one of the best bargain dinners at Disney when you factor in the excellent seating at Fantasmic. I would not hesitate to do it again. In fact we are probably doing just that in January.
How long does lunch take at MMs? Trying to plan my FPP around a 1200 lunch. Should I plan 60 min? 90 min? I’ve read that service is slow sometimes.
60 is probably OK - assuming that you are seated on time…