Mama MelGross!

[Disney_Barbie]

I want to start by asking if anyone as any recommendations on how I go about contacting Disney about my experience. I was considering stopping by guest relations while on vacation, but I don’t vocalize myself well, I do a lot better in writing and would much prefer sending them a fax/email/letter. I was looking around on both Disneyworld.com & on the info central tab but couldn’t find anything in particular, should I just send it to Disney in general, or is there some specific address/fax number ect that I should use??? Please let me know if anyone has any ideas – thanks!

That being said, I have been a HUGE defender of Mama Melrose on these boards & I would like to retract my defense! First of all they changed the Fantasmic Dinner Package (note to moderator: I noticed it’s still listed the old way on info central, we ate there on 9/3/07 and it is no longer choice of selected flat bread to share, family style salad, entrée and tiramisu. It is now off the regular menu and it is appetizer, entrée & dessert) Which was stinky, I really liked the old way they did the dinner package, but baring that the food was good, it wouldn’t have been a problem. The last time we ate there was just about a year ago, and as usual everything was splendid! In fact, just before our trip my DH asked me what I was most looking forward to, and I said Mama Melrose, but after this I will never eat there again.

Alex was our server… if you can call him that. We were servers ourselves for many years and are kind, patient, understanding, and always leave a 25% tip because we know what it is like. However, we had very little pity for him. When we asked questions about different menu things he didn’t know the answer & didn’t offer to find out for us. Everything took forever (and we consider ourselves patient people, but this crossed the line! A table across the way from us sat down after us and had their entrée in front of them before we had our appetizers & we were ready to give our full order the first time Alex came to our table). Then, he seemed unconcerned by the fact that neither of us hardly touched our food. Literally, I got the eggplant napoleon, and didn’t even eat a full eggplant cutlet. Alex never asked how it was, or if everything was ok (especially when someone hasn’t touched their meal, it’s a server rule of thumb to double or triple check with them that the food itself wasn’t the reason for their loss of appetite) but he seemed unconcerned, when he came back and our entire entrée was hardly touched, sitting at the end of the table, he just asked what we wanted for dessert.

And worst of all the food : I had a Brushetta appetizer that actually wasn’t too bad, defiantly the highlight of the meal. DH on the other hand had a salad that tasted like it was prepared (and dressing was put on it) a week ago! It was wilted and soggy. He hardly touched it. Then the entrees came. I (as mentioned before) got Eggplant Napoleon, and one would have been hard-pressed to find any eggplant amongst the grease patties that were served. Not only where they disgustingly greasy, but it was that old grease taste too (like a 24hr highway side diner) I attempted to pick off the fried greasy part but there was no differentiating the grease/batter from the eggplant. My husband had the four cheese flat bread, because we SO adored our appetizer flatbread that we had always gotten with the old dinner package. But this flatbread tasted like microwave pizza! And of the 4cheese (Gorgonzola being one of the four) the Gorgonzola flavor was not well blended amongst the other cheeses for a nice kick as usual. Instead it tasted like straight Gorgonzola, the flavor was so pungent the smell of it alone turned your stomach. He had one bite and couldn’t stand it. He tried then picking the cheese off, but then the ‘microwave pizza’ taste was even more realistic so he gave up and hoped that he would be able to enjoy dessert. But dessert was soggy and flavorless too! (once again, tasted like it was prepared and plated SEVERAL days ago) I wonder if with the free dining they just can’t keep up during normal serving hours and are doing too much prep work in advance, because that was the best way to describe most of it, it tasted like leftovers reheated in the microwave.

And to top the evening off, we both got horribly sick. We’re not 100% sure of what caused it, but we actually determined that it was the water. We determined this because neither of us ate more than about 2 bites of each course, and neither of us shared any of the same items, but we both got sick. And admittedly, the water had a very gross flavor to it, granted all Florida water has a sulfur taste to it, but it was more than just that, it was a particularly bad flavor. But it was so hot outside that we came in and both downed our water despite the taste. We left the restaurant and walked down to Tower of Terror, and before we got there DH said he had weird stomach cramps and that he was going to run to the bathroom. I said I would wait for him right there, but a couple seconds later, I got the same feeling as he did and I had to make a run for it too! We both threw up and had wicked diarrhea.

Long story short, that was our LAST experience at Mama Melrose. I think it was especially disappointing to us, because it’s one thing to try something new and not enjoy it. But to go back to something that you’ve enjoyed many times over again and see it all of a sudden take a giant step down in a matter of 1year can be VERY disappointing. We were very glad that we had so many positive dinning experiences to weigh out this VERY bad one. But you can be sure, we will not eat, or recommend Mama Melrose ever again. And since I had defended it so often on these boards, I wanted to set the record straight that they’ve had a major downslide!

And yes if anyone has any recommendations on who in particular I should inform about my bad experience please let me know. I don’t want anything, I just want to let someone know about the serious decline the restaurant has experienced in the past year.

[magicmyway]

Wow. Sorrry for you bad experience. This just goes to show how experiences can be totally different from one day to the next. We ate there on 9/2/07, a day before you, and had a great experience. We had a party of 12 and everyone enjoyed all three courses, including the items mentioned in your post. The service was also very fast and very friendly. Our server decsribed the entrees and also made recommendations for those of us who were undecided. We all considered this a must do for next year. We did an extra tip on top of the DDP 18%.

[SBETigg]

I've never been there but ugh, it sounds like an awful visit. Really sorry for your experience. Blech.

On getting sick afterwards, it really could have been anything. Most food illness comes on within 48 hours of eating, so it actually could have been anything you had eaten in the previous day or so as well as possibly being the Mama Melrose food or water. A lot of people jump to the last meal they had before getting sick, but that is usually the least likely culprit. Except in this case, considering your experience, you may be right.

[Momof2boys]

We ate at Mama Melrose 2 trips ago and it was probably tied for our worst meal experience at WDW. I can totally see where you are coming from. We complained that day to the Mgr and even though they gave us free dessert, which we declined, I felt better after giving my thoughts.

[T-Belle]

What a horrible experience! My DD and I like to try new places when we visit and Mama Melrose's is on our list for our next visit, now I'm very nervous! Who wants to take a chance on food poisoning??

[Figment!]

I want to start by asking if anyone as any recommendations on how I go about contacting Disney about my experience.

Here you go:

Walt Disney World Guest Communications
PO Box 10040
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830-0040

[email protected]


Just so you are aware, standard response procedure is a blanket statement initial response with a contact number for a personal follow-up.

[Disney_Barbie]

Here you go:

Walt Disney World Guest Communications
PO Box 10040
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830-0040

[email protected]


Just so you are aware, standard response procedure is a blanket statement initial response with a contact number for a personal follow-up.

Awsome, Thank you!

Wow MagicMyWay, that's good to know that you had a good experience just the day before! Hopefully I just hit a string of bad coinsidences then. I sure hope so, cause this used to one of our FAVORITES. But, it would sure take alot of good stories to get me to try it again.

As far as getting sick, yes, I guess it could have been anything but I'd still place my bet on the water. My DH is an athlete & nurse and quite in tune with his body, if there's any kinda problem he generally knows it in a short about of time. He actually thinks the water had a slight bleach like taste. He wondered if they use bleach in the dishwasher and the glasses somehow didnt' get rinsed all the way. I'm not as intune w/ my body or taste buds as he is, and I could not have pinpointed exactly why it was "off" tasteing, but I do have a rock of a stomach and a wicked fast digestive system. It's actually a bit of a joke in my family beacause I've eaten expired or rotten food by mistake many times and never felt a thing, but boy oh boy if ever there is a problem, I'm generally feeling the effects of it an about 2 hrs or less.
Oh, and I don't think it was like food poisening or anything, because once we got ALL of it out of our systems, we felt fine. We actually went back to MGM later that night for Fantasmic and felt fine, it was just while something (whatever it was) was still in our bodies we were having a hard time!

[disneygirl17]

My family ate there about 2 weeks ago on our trip and it was fine. No problems. Service was good, food was good. I would probably eat there again if doing the fantasmic package since I am not a fan of the Brown Derby or the Hollywood and Vine.

All the reviews I read for Mama Melrose have up and down experiences.

[#1donaldfan]

Sorry to hear about you terrible service.....but I'm glad you let us know......We almost went there this year, lucky right?? We always rate the tip on how good the server is, it's rare we rate our tips on the actual food....the server cannot control that.......he would have received a penny.....at least a penny shows you thought of a tip and just didn't forget.....

[pox24]

I hate to agree, but we probably won't visit the Mama any time soon again. Two years ago our dinner was less than good and we were terribly let down as well.

[KylesMom]

I'm so sorry you had to suffer through such a miserable experience. We've had a more than a few of those, although it has never been at Mama Melrose. We ate there three separate times in June and have yet to have a bad meal - and we've been going there for seven years, on average three ADRs per trip. When we've had these types of experiences, we tend to avoid the restaurant for several years - or possibly forever. I'm glad the effects didn't linger and you were able to enjoy Fantasmic later in the evening. It really stinks, though, that both the service and the meal were awful. Usually it's one or the other.

My DD and I like to try new places when we visit and Mama Melrose's is on our list for our next visit, now I'm very nervous! Who wants to take a chance on food poisoning??

I wouldn't worry about the food poisoning aspect at Mama Melrose more than anywhere else on Disney property.

[Disney5+2]

Several years ago my family and I had an experience that I felt the need to inform Disney about. I did get a letter and later a phone call, as well as a small token for our trouble. I think you should forward your post to the email address and see what kind of response you get. I wasn't looking for anything but an outlet to express my dissatisfaction with the usual Disney efficiency in hopes that they would improve upon the situation. It can't hurt and might make you feel better that you have let them know.

[laprana]

My family ate at Mama Melrose last June and it was awful! We thought we'd be pretty safe with the food choices based on looking at the menus beforehand, but we were wrong! The service wasn't too bad, but the food - horrible. My sister ordered salmon and when the server brought it out it was almost completely raw. Looked like it had been cooked for about 30 seconds. The server was gracious about it and took it back to the kitchen where she said she'd have them cook it some more. She brought it out again, and while the outside of the salmon was cooked, the middle was still raw! By this time, my sister was so grossed out that she just didn't eat any of it and didn't have much of an appetite for anything else. I had flatbread that was OK, but nothing too impressive. The desserts left a lot to be desired as well. Three of us had the Tiramisu and it tasted like vanilla pudding in stale sponge cake. We won't be going back to Mama Melrose any time soon!

[dizneeat]

I am very sorry for all those of you who had a bad experience there. Never happened to us! We have been to Mama Melrose 5 times in the last 4 years, last time, being Sept 1, 07. We always had wonderful food and great servers. Coming from Europe we enjoy slower service, so there is nothing to complain about that either.

[Jared]

Sorry to everybody who recently had a bad experience. My family has enjoyed two great meals at Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano and may try the restaurant again.

I hope everybody voices their complaints to Disney.

[illini]

I'm so sorry! That's not what you want to experience on vacation. It's amazing, though, that it can have such extremes of up and down... literally one day to the next. But if its downs are that bad, I'm glad that I ended up cancelling our ADR there. I've been second guessing that decision, but no more.

I hope you get a response from Disney. Keep us posted.

[disney]

Sorry to hear of your problum. That place was never a number one spot for us. Anyway we, my DH and myself had food poisoning but it wasn't from Disney, it was from K.F.C. We had the same type sickness, we just had chicken and withen 3 hours I could barely walk to the bathroom and had all the stuff you all had, my DH got the same thing but 5 or 6 hours later. I guess when it comes to food poisening I think it depends on how much you weigh because my DH is bigger then myself by a bit. I guess you very well could have had food posisening. Hey, my spelling really stinks doesn't it? but mine went on for hours before I ended up going to the ER. Then if they told you it was the food you could have told them where you ate, send a copy of your treatment to Disney people and mabe get some kind of satisfaction. It was our anniversary too. Bummer! Another thing, when the food is bad you can't always taste it . It usually tasts fine.
But you know there are lots of other great places to eat. Better luck next time.

[mrsgaribaldi]

I'm really sorry for your terrible experience and I'm glad that you 2 were feeling better by the night. I've never eaten there myself.