Dining

[claire dowden]

Tell me about Mama Dellas restaurant. How far in advance can you make resertations and how. Thanks, C.

 

[kellymonaghan]

Mama Della’s Ristorante

What: Home-style Italian dinners
Where: Facing the Harbor Piazza, next to the Trattoria

Price Range: $$ - $$$

Hours: Open for dinner only

Reservations: Not required but recommended during busier periods. Call (407) 503-1000 and ask to be connected to the restaurant.

A lot of people will tell you this is their favorite Portofino Bay restaurant and it has attracted a dedicated local following. It isn’t as fancy as Delfino Riviera and the cuisine is more comforting than intriguing, but perhaps that is the attraction. Then, too, Mama Della’s comes complete with Mama, a perfectly cast woman of a certain age who greets you warmly at the door and makes you feel as if you never left the Old Neighborhood even if you were never there to begin with.

The decor evokes a large and comfortable country home with its beamed ceilings and colorful wallpaper. Vintage family photographs and gaudy gold-framed floral paintings line the walls of the various rooms. Colorful pitchers, bowls, and other folk ceramics are displayed in niches. Adding to the casual air is an open galley kitchen in the back room where you can see chefs in baseball caps dishing up their homey specialties. And a festive note is contributed by a strolling singer offering popular Italian songs to an accordion accompaniment.

Among the appetizers ($6 to $16), you’ll find the tender fried calamari with both marinara and pesto dipping sauces and the Cozze Posillipo, mussels in a garlic infused sauce, especially noteworthy. The mixed antipasto of cured meats, cheeses, and marinated vegetables is also worth sampling.

The entrees ($17 to $27) can best be described as Italian comfort food: chicken cacciatore, chicken parmigiana, lasagna, and the like. The porcini mushroom risotto with a marvelous béchamel sauce is spectacular as is the sliced eye of sirloin served with rich caramelized onions and roasted potatoes.
Another winner is the frutti di mare, grilled shrimp, scallops, and snapper with roasted tomatoes in a garlic sauce. Chicken cacciatore and veal scaloppini marsala are too often boring cliches, but here they are very toothsome indeed. In the same league is the rigatoni with spicy fennel sausage bits and broccoli rabe. Many of the dishes here can be served “family style” on large platters for a group. Family style service typically means a modest discount off the individual price for each additional person.

Vegetable side dishes are priced separately ($7 to $8) and include a very nice mixed salad, broccolini with lemon and olive oil, and spinach with roasted garlic and tomato. Desserts ($6 to $9) range from simple sorbets and tiramisu to a layered chocolate “lasagna” served with a blood orange sauce.