mamasita

tasty food, lively ambience, lovely staff, overall interesting experience. we had a great experience with the mexican food here. the place is kinda costly, so we stuck to the nachos and the nut chorizzo tostadas.

went there with a group, had their banquet, the food is not bad but for the price they charge vs food i wouldnt go back. stand out are drinks and the fish and corn ice cream at the end. some of the dishes was really meh, the fish came with a garden salad of some sort, they look like compost and taste like just a bunch of peels put together with vinegar. service is ok, nothing to write home about, 7 of us with about 3 jugs of drinks with the bill about $800. with all the choices in the city i certainly wont be back in a hurry.

one of the highlights from my gruelling experience undertaking the south australian matriculation (sam) in taylor's college 10 years ago would be the friends i have met there. from day 1 until the very last days of college, everyone in my class were absolute gems be it with helping cover each other's class absence to celebrating birthdays at nearby cafes/ restaurants to studying together after classes.

we had a tasty meal here tonight. the only downside was the hefty $15 price tag for the sparkling water (on tap, not bottled) which barely had any gas in it.

this is my favourite mexican restaurant in melbourne. no, in australia. it’s a must visit for me every time i visit. we really need more mexican restaurants like mamasita in australia, especially in sydney. #mexicanfood #tacos #elotes

first time here and everything was great! love the chargrilled corn and tacos trust me they are so yummmm. cocktails were also amazing. i ordered the pink cooler and it’s superb. the only thing is...careful with the tequila...i got drunk and lost my phone 😂

this place used to be amazing and we used to go very often.

the last few times have been so average, we thought maybe it was a one off and tried a few more times but they change in the menu and the service was very average and we haven’t been back since. such a shame as it was our favourite restaurant!

totally gone downhill!
what the hell happened to this place?
i used to love it here but not anymore.
just had an anniversary dinner here - the tacos are gross and sloppy, they tasted cheap and nasty.
the fried fish taco had no sauce and some dried cut up cabbage all over it and too much batter! where is the sauce?
the pork taco was just gross , too sloppy and too much meat , it was just a big sloppy cheap tasting taco.
the tostadas are just one big corn chip with a garnish that you cannot share!
the mojito has no alcohol and tasted like cordial with some mint herbs.
seriously $120 for that is unacceptable and i will never eat here ever again and i suggest whoever is reading this to spend your money elsewhere.
if you are expecting good quality mexican, you’ll notice the kitchen is staffed by chinese who clearly don’t know how to cook mexican food!
this place used to be great and my favourite place in melbourne, now i can say hand on heart i hate it with a passion. truly the most disappointing experience i’ve ever had.

i’ve been here in the past and had a good experience, however today was the opposite. i was dining alone so perhaps that threw the wait staff, but given that the restaurant was half empty i expected more. two couples on either side of me that were sat after me ordered and received parts of their meal before i was acknowledged past the initial glass of water i was given. i finally had to interrupt someone and ask to order. i wish i could say the food improved the experience but i found it bland and overpriced for what i was getting. i’m hoping this was just an off night, but i’m not sure i’ll be returning to find out.

i came to dine at mamacita with a group of 6 friends, at one of their recommendation. we had vegetarians in the group, and they apparently offered good vegetarian and gluten free options. we rocked up around 5pm to put our name down and were pretty stunned by the rude manager taking people’s details. not only was he dismissive, but when asked for an estimated waiting time he just kept saying “it’ll be hours” in a rude condescending tone while rolling his eyes. we ended up being contacted after about 2 hours, to a text informing us our table was ready.
our waiter was also a bit off and rude once we were seated. one of our group had to use the bathroom and he told us he’d come back to talk about the food menu but insisted we order drinks immediately (before we’d even opened the menus). we had to repeatedly tell him we would like a couple of minutes to look at both menus, especially to ensure our friends with dietary requirements could see what they offered.
we eventually ordered their corn as a starter for everyone, with the chicken wings, lamb rib chops, grilled fish tacos, ox tongue tacos and pork neck for half of the group. the other half ordered vegetable tacos, a grilled fish taco and the squashflower quesadilla. the corn was the star and favourite of the night; grilled perfectly with a delicious coating of cheese, chilli and lime. the vegetarian and gluten free dishes were apparently also all tasty, and the friends with dietary requirements were all satisfied after their meal.
for the rest of us though, we were pretty disappointed. i mean, the entree of corn turned out to be the only dish that wow-ed us. the chicken wings were ok; they were a bit dry but were served with a tasty sauce. the lamb rib chops had a lovely flavour and sauce as well, but were a bit chewy. the driest of them all was the pork neck. at $31 it was dry dry dry with no flavour to the meat whatsoever. the sauce didn’t do anything to help. my ox tongue tacos never served, so after asking the waiter for an update, he did not return with an explanation or apology. they were simply brought out about 10-15 minutes later. obviously they’d been forgotten and hurriedly made. the ox tongue was (surprise) dry, and had the texture of jerky. it had obviously been overcooked.
what a disappointing experience this dinner was! not sure i want to risk returning to give this place another go. another “popular and well-renowned” melbourne eatery that simply left me feeling severely disappointed and curious at how they are so over-hyped. guess we went on an especially bad night?

pretty decent mexican food in a city where mexican food isn't all that popular!

atmosphere: pretty cool. despite being on collins street, it's a bit hidden. you have to walk up stairs to get here, and you are brought into a room with a massive bar and some additional tables for seating. reservations are recommended, but you might be able to sneak in a spot at the bar.
presentation: the beets looked delicious, but it was a little hard to tell i was eating a quesadilla. 
food: there might have been a little too much going on with the quesadilla - it was to the point where i had to use a fork and knife to eat it, and i prefer to eat my quesadilla with my hands! despite this fact, the 'dilla was pretty good. i think i preferred the side of beets to the quesadilla, though, which is a bit odd in a mexican restaurant. all said, the food was very good. i think i would go tacos next time.

we went on a friday night and the restaurant was really busy consistently throughout the evening. this meant the drinks service was really slow but surprisingly the food service was not. we had 10 dishes for $69 which was amazing, a taste of a good variety. plus one lady in our group can't have shell fish so they adjusted our 10 dishes accordingly. great evening, nice decor, lovely food & cool cocktails.

great food, service and location! very well priced too. went on sunday night without a booking and ended up getting the best seat in the house, in front of the window!

still to date, the spanish place that tops the list for me. everything here is just so fresh and perfectly balanced. the combinations are bang on - light, fresh, tangy, herby, meaty... nothing is excessive and everything serves a purpose. great job guys!

having tried to get into mamasiita a couple times in the past with no success, saturday night was the night that myself, tim.e and his partner finally got to try mamasita and see what the hype was about.

the restaurant is sleek and nice with wait staff doing their best as they were a team member down.  

unfortunately, i found the food underwhelming and would say that the food in general was average and not worth the hype.  we ordered each taco along with a couple other dishes, my favourite was the ox tongue (ox tongue i know!) but other than that it was a little meh for me.

i won't be back anytime soon.