Italian Food Throw-Down! Which is better...Tony's or Mama Melrose?

[WDW_Ding]

Which Italian-style restaurant do you like best...Tony's or Mama Melrose?

Bonus points:

Which one has better pasta dishes?
Which one has better non-pasta dishes?
Which has a better atmosphere?
Which has better desserts?

Menus:

Mama Melrose
Tony's

 

[gharter]

Mama Melrose by far.
Their red sauce is much better than Tonys.
Have had good pasta and non pasta meals at MM. Definitely like the atmosphere better at MM.
Desserts - haven't tried either place so cannot comment.

 

[WDW_Ding]

Mama Melrose by far.
Their red sauce is much better than Tonys.
Have had good pasta and non pasta meals at MM. Definitely like the atmosphere better at MM.
Desserts - haven't tried either place so cannot comment.

Have you tried the flat breads at MM? Are they filling enough to have as a meal?

 

[SteveH]

Isn't this sort of like comparing Olive Garden at the Mall to Olive Garden downtown?

 

[gharter]

Have you tried the flat breads at MM? Are they filling enough to have as a meal?

We didn't try them. Saw them being made and they looked good. Looked to be about 10-12 inch.
If you are looking for that, I would do pizza at Via Napoli in EPCOT instead.

 

[goofyintoronto]

There is no contest here. Tony's is horrid.

 

[kaybird]

I'm also in the Mama Melrose camp. Have given Tonys several tries, and just never cared for it. However, all the family enjoys mama's every time. My favorite is the spicy seafood clioppino, and DH thinks they have the best steak on properly!

 

[BeachPrincess]

MM hands down. We love it and have never had bad food. In fact we prefer their flatbread to the pizza at Via Napoli. VN's crust is too soggy. We think MM is much better than Olive Garden. Tony's however was absolutely HORRIBLE the last time we ate there. To be honest, we only scheduled there because we wanted a glass of wine with dinner in MK. The wine was lovely but the pasta was so over cooked it was mush.

 

[Hey it's Kris]

Mama Melrose
better in all categories except maybe atmosphere *if* you can get a seat in Tony’s that over looks Main St. and I do love all the Lady and the Tramp decor.

 

[rwdavis2]

I'm also in the Mama Melrose camp. Have given Tonys several tries, and just never cared for it. However, all the family enjoys mama's every time. My favorite is the spicy seafood clioppino, and DH thinks they have the best steak on properly!

I've had this. I'm a pretty critical (not picky) eater and it was pretty good.

 

[Dean Marino]

Off topic... please, for God's sake go to Il Mulino (Swan) if you actually want Italian food....
All personal opinion - I'm not necessarily right, no one else is necessarily wrong. You will chose.

 

[WDW_Ding]

Off topic... please, for God's sake go to Il Mulino (Swan) if you actually want Italian food....
All personal opinion - I'm not necessarily right, no one else is necessarily wrong. You will chose.

I'm glad you brought this up because I always forget that the S&D has restaurants!

 

[msb578]

I'm glad you brought this up because I always forget that the S&D has restaurants!

Not only do they have restaurants, the signature restaurants there are each contenders for best-in-category at WDW.

 

[JerseyJanice]

Tony’s and Hollywood & Vine are two restaurants I am unlikely to ever try after reading so many bad reviews about them over the years.

I generally avoid Italian at WDW since it is excellent where I live. (And I’ve been known to whip up a decent Italian meal myself. ) But we did eat at Mama Melrose one time for the Fantasmic package. We had a fried calamari appetizer that was quite good. I got a steak and a hazelnut cheesecake. Everything was fine.

 

[CynBeth]

We love Tony’s! Have only had the spaghetti and meatballs with Tiramisu for dessert. We also enjoy Tutto Italia at Epcot.

 

[gharter]

Off topic... please, for God's sake go to Il Mulino (Swan) if you actually want Italian food....
All personal opinion - I'm not necessarily right, no one else is necessarily wrong. You will chose.

I fully agree and believe that Il Mulino is the best Italian restaurant at WDW.

 

[PrincessTess]

I feel offended as a Mama Melrose supporter to have it even be attempted to be compared to Tony's lol!! Mama Melrose is better by far. But, i second the opinion about Il Mulino being probably the best italian offered on property.

 

[Lexx1214]

Between the two I’ll go with Mama Melrose. Though Tutto Italia and Via Napoli are both better. My family is half Italian so I grew up with Italian home cooking. Of course nothing is as good as my nonna made, but I need a pasta fix at least once a week at a minimum so I’ve tried most of them in the parks. I haven’t tried the new ones in Disney Springs or Il Mulino yet but I am looking forward to trying them.

 

[Lisa F]

Tony’s and Hollywood & Vine are two restaurants I am unlikely to ever try after reading so many bad reviews about them over the years.

I generally avoid Italian at WDW since it is excellent where I live. (And I’ve been known to whip up a decent Italian meal myself. ) But we did eat at Mama Melrose one time for the Fantasmic package. We had a fried calamari appetizer that was quite good. I got a steak and a hazelnut cheesecake. Everything was fine.

H&V was really not bad. It was typical dinner buffet food. The character interaction was EXCELLENT (I had read that before about it too so it's not a one off thing). The characters they had in their Christmas outfits was worth it. We did it on the DDP with F! package so overall definitely worth one credit. Not sure I'd pay the higher price OOP when there are better food options. But the food is not horrible there by any stretch of the imagination.