I am giving one star because there is no option to give zero. Over the past few years Mama Nina's has SIGNIFICANTLY gone down hill. I used to look past the bad service/ownership because the food was worth it. Recently the food has been subpar and they are rushing you out the door when realistically they should feel lucky to have any customers at this point. If you live in the area you have probably noticed the abundance of people at Urbano, Tapas and Brew Works - and the empty tables at Mama Nina's. The hovering of the servers and owner to rush you out the door when no one is waiting for a table is ridiculous. Also I understand COVID-19 has impacted all small businesses but really a $1 for a water bottle when you can still hand out sodas? I will never be back. read more

I wish i can give a 3.5. The first time i went to Mama Ninas my hubby and I were asked if we wanted to share a table with another random couple... we politely declined and waited outside (in december). eventually we were sat in the basement where everyone was very closely sat together and it was very loud. I didn't mind this so much but the food could barely fit on the table. All in all the food was great! The environment...not so much. I would give my first expierence 7/10. Fast forward to a few months later, my hubby and i went a night during the week and it wasn't as crowded and the service was excellent, except.... they put chicken in my pasta dish that i previously said no chicken. i didn't mind but the chicken was somewhat rubbery? i had to eat around it. i would give the second expierence a 5/10. This past weekend we went on a double date (our friends are huge fans) and we got an appetizer of the balsamic calamari which was amazing! i got my penne vodka again and this time no chicken was added! I would give my most recent visit 9/10. read more

Our visit to mama Nina was off to a terrible start when we arrived. Reservations for 7 had been made 2 weeks in advance, and upon arrival, there was no table set aside for our group. We were asked if we wanted to sit outside or inside, and trying to be nice, we said either is fine. The hostess said "outside would be better" in a condescending tone and escorted us outdoors. When outside, the hostess and a bus boy motioned us towards two tables that were not even next to each other, and made US move the tables together. The tables were held up by bricks and salt and pepper shakers fell off the tables. Once seated, our server acted as if we did not matter in the slightest the entire time. The only reason for the second star is that the food is fine. But certainly not worth the terrible service. read more

Hands down one of the best Italian restaurants ever. Food is amazing- especially the Penne ala Vodka, salad dressing is delicious, and the free garlic knots are a great way to kick off your meal. Only downer is the limited space in the restaurant since it's constantly so packed. Yeah, be prepared to wait outside if there's a wait to be seated, but it doesn't take away from the overall experience. read more

Mama Nina's - Penne ala Vodka - Italian Near Me - Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

I was in town for the Runner's World Festival and stumbled upon this place. The staff is extremely friendly and quick. They offer you a basket of free garlic rolls and a free glass of house wine. I passed on the wine since I was running the next day but the garlic rolls were very good. My table ordered two pizzas, spaghetti with sausage, Caesar salad and mozzarella sticks - all items were delicious, made with fresh ingredients and very hot when they arrived. You could tell the items had just been cooked. In addition, their portion sizes are huge! We hard leftovers for lunch the next day. The marinara sauce is the best I have ever had. read more

The Blackened Chicken is my always go to meal here. Dine in or dine out you can never go wrong. And the Mozzarella Bella is fantastic read more

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We made a reservation 3 weeks ago for 7:30. Showed up at 7:25. Easily 30 people standing outside waiting. Owner locked the door to keep people from checking in. He needs to seriously consider another line of work. We waited 35 minutes. Watched our "reserved" table given to others. Watched his "friends" show up and walk right in. I don't give a hoot how good his food is alleged to be. DO NOT SUBJECT YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS TO THIS MISERABLE ABUSIVE ESTABLISHMENT!! read more

How are you gonna talk about your customers right in front of them as a we're not even standing there? Professionalism is not their strong suit neither is customer service. The food is great though if that's something you're into. read more

Excellent service but the worst Italian food I've ever eaten in a restaurant. Once you leave the New Jersey New York metro area it's impossible to get good Italian food. read more

This place is horrible. We made reservations for a party of 24 people and when most of our party got there, they made them wait outside in the cold instead of seating them. Everyone in our party ordered a meal that came with a salad and only one person received a salad. They were rushing us to finish because they reserved another party in our seating area for an hour and 15 mins after our reservations. One person didn't get her food until everyone was almost finished eating. They over charged us $22 and the cherry on the cake, we forgot a gift back there and instead of calling us to let u know, they just threw it out. When I called in regards to the gift bag, the guy on the phone calling himself the manager was extremely rude. I will never go there again. The food was ok! read more

Visited Mama Nina's recently. I am from New Jersey but know some Pennsylvania restaurants. From the few Italian restaurants in PA, Mama Nina's is very good! Food tastes authentic and fresh. I got the pasta bolognese with ziti. I was delightfully surprised with how it came out. Service was quick. Prices are just above average but worthy for the quality of food. read more

Mama Nina's - Italian Near Me - Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

This restaurant was recommended to us by a friend for our stay in Bethlehem. We were torn between Mama Nina and the Corked steakhouse for our dinner (we were only staying one night). We chose Corked but were fortunate enough to arrive in Bethlehem early enough that we could try out Mama Nina for lunch! I am SO glad we got the chance to eat here. The food was absolutely amazing. I found myself saying "Mmmmmm" with every single bite. You could absolutely tell that the pasta was freshly made by hand. I had a gorgonzola sauce on my handmade pasta and it was so unbelievably tasty!! I've never had a sauce made from gorgonzola cheese before, but I am HOOKED! It was so tangy and delicious, it complemented my dish so well. It was unbelievable! I am definitely glad we came here for lunch and not dinner, as this isn't so much of a romantic dinner venue. However, if you're with family or even just looking for something more laid back, definitely stop in here. Or for lunch if you get the chance!! There are tons of restaurants on the Main Street in Bethlehem but this one is really a must have! read more

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This place overbooked on December 22nd and had all their patrons wait outside for 30+ minutes in 30 degree weather. We had a reservation for 6:30pm and finally left without eating at 7:15pm. The host was rude and kept saying "only a few more minutes" until a table opened up. We were still waiting outside at 7pm when a party with a 6pm reservation was finally seated. Really disappointed with this experience and the treatment from the staff. If it was going to be a long wait, we'd at least like to know so we aren't waiting in the cold for an hour. Don't expect that a reservation means anything here. read more

This is probably one of the worst restaurants I have ever been, horrible food such as Caesar salad that was only served with lettuce and croutons !! That was it and it was $7!! and tasteless "garlic" knots , the place is too crowded and as an Italian I would say that it does not represent how authentic Italian food is. read more

There are other places to eat along the block and I recommend trying them instead The food was pretty average overall. The complimentary garlic bread was great if you really enjoy garlic, and the commplimentary wine made the beginning of the meal enjoyable. During the meal however, we were rushed out in order for them to clear tables for future customers (no one was waiting) - we were literally still eating when a busboy began clearing our plates. Overall, it was a negative experience and based on how they treat customers, I would not return for the food that was very average. . read more

This place is absolutely phenomenal. Get the crab cakes and bring your own booze and you won't regret it. Mmmmmmgooood. SOMETIMES they stick you in the ocean dungeon when they run out of room. IT'S OKAY! You'll be shoulder to shoulder but the food is so gosh darn good you won't even care! Eat here now. You won't regret it. read more

Great portions, good service, nice small atmosphere. Food was really good. Chicken Parm was delicious. I will be a return customer.

In one word: AWFUL. I visited as a solitary diner. The serving size was grotesque and the presentation even worse. At what point did quantity become confused with quality? At what point did putting more food than a plate can hold with viscous unflattering sauce oozing over the sides become okay? I was honest with my waitress about my unhappiness (a young lady whose false obsequiousness was only surpassed by her lack of sincerity) and she made NO attempt to rectify my obvious dissatisfaction and proceeded to charge me IN FULL for food I couldn't stomach. The food was also served scaulding hot and all I could taste was raw garlic. If you're planning to go to Mamma Nina's: lower your expectations dramatically, make sure you go with three or more people and only order one entree for the entire table- unless of course you fancy the idea of consuming an entire week's calories in one poorly presented meal. read more

First I'll start out with what was good. The hostess was friendly and eager to please. The garlic bread was good. The pizza was great. The portions are very generous for the price. A simple appetizer can be a dinner. Now the bad. My Chicken Parm was salty. I didn't have a huge problem with this since every restaurant has it's ups and downs some nights. What really bothered me was the fact that two servers repeatedly touched a dog sitting at one of the outside tables beside us. This table with the dog was apparently friends of the business, or regulars since the one male server went to that table 6 times to just chat, and every time he kneeled down to pet the dog. Then a young female server did the same. Ok, well they weren't my servers so I didn't get up and leave. My server was actually very good and wise not to touch an animal in front of customers when dealing with food. My friend said that the male server probably washed his hands after touching the dog the first time, and that was plausible since he was greeting them (even though it's still wrong). But 6 times? I doubt he's washing his hands 6 times during a dinner rush. To top this dog fiasco off, the cook came out (he wore a black shirt and apron, and I'm guessing he's the owner/head cook) and HE touched the dog. Luckily we had already been served our food. I'm a chef and I was appalled. I don't even shake customers hands at work because it's unsanitary and no one wants to see that. The male server did pack our pizza to go, so I reluctantly forfeited it to my friend. read more

Is your typical American Italian.. big portions so if u hungry thumbs up. Again, American Italian do not expect real Italian flavor. Service is good. But most important way over prized for what it really is. read more

Since i wrote this the owner has changed so I tried it again and food was horrible. My fettuccine alfredo had zero taste. Absolutely awful.

They don't serve focaccia! They charge $5 for sharing a main, and they tried to pass off poor-quality American deli ham as Italian Capicola. It blows my mind that this place has a 4+ star rating. read more

Lousy customer service. They won't see us again. Beautiful weekday evening at 8pm. We wanted to sit outside and there was a table empty but they wouldn't give it to us b/c it was for 4 and we only had 2 - we even asked and they said it wasn't reserved, they just wanted to hold it in case a party of 4 came. The inside was empty, so there was plenty of seating if anyone else came back. Of course when my husband went by 15 minutes later to feed his meter, there were 3 empty tables outside. Must be nice to be able to turn people away - I hope it worked for them. Can't wait to try the little Italian place across the street. read more

After the last fiasco I thought I would try it again... I can't tell you enough what an idiot the owner is. There was a 4 top open which he refused to seat the two of us at. He said it would be a few minutes and asked us to wait on the bench outside. Five minutes later two young girls strut up to him and miraculously he seats them immediately at the table he denied U.S. Because we were only a party of 2 . This man has no concept of guest service nor does care about anything but $$$. I will never set foot in his restaurant again. He's a disgrace!!! read more

Never disappointed here. This restaurant goes above and beyond to make your dining experience as wonderful as possible. Though you may have to wait in line as there are no reservations, this place is WORTH IT! read more

Ew! Me and my family from New York came into this place and let me tell you, when me and my cousin walked in, the host lady gave us a dirty look ! Nobody greeted us and we didn't know where to sit! We finally all found a spot and they spotted us in the corner!! It was a very tight area, we asked the owner for a bigger table and he explained to us in a rude tone, that the table we wanted is reserved! He could've said it in a nice tone. The garlic rolls were disgusting!! They were so dry and tasteless, they put too much olive oil and i gagged. Then i ordered their chicken franchez... it was so dry and the chicken was hard, gorden Ramsay really needs to fix this place up! Our waiter was a sweetheart, but overall the host and the owner was really rude, and the food was dry and tasteless, this isn't real Italian food! This place is worse than Olive Garden, and Olive garden is pretty nasty! LOL oh and when we left there were so many people waiting outside trying to get inside, they need to renovate that WHOLE place and change their staff ASAP read more

Place is really small and tight. Food is very good. However the "rules" are not customer focused. Five of us ate there today, most had gift cards. She could not ring up separate and said she had to put all the cards together and we could split the balance? Made no sense, never encountered that before. Also, we all parked in the garage and they have validation of parking as they advertise but only ONE per table! Ridiculous! read more

Not sure how this place received so many high reviews. Very disappointed. We were seated right in a main traffic walk way for staff and deliveries. It was noisy and not comfortable at all. When asked to be reseated we were told no because there were only 2 of us. Only option was to stay at our noisy table or sit outside in the cold. We opted to get our food to go. The review could have been redeemed if the food was up to par, but it wasn't anything special. In fact, what we were told was part of our meal wasn't the case. Very disappointed. And wouldn't recommend this at all. Especially due to the lack of customer service. read more

This place stunk. From the horrific service to the mediocre food. Do yourself a favor and get a better meal at the Olive Garden.

A few years ago it was a 41/2 star place. Now the antipasta salad was closer to a chef salad , only thing Italian about it was the Romano sprinkled on top. The service was good but the garlic piazza really had no fresh garlic. I won't bother coming back. read more

This restaurant is not set up to receive large groups (we had 8). Tables and chairs were banging each other, other patrons were also getting upset because of the cramped quarters (and we were outside). It was a Sat. night, there were many people waiting to sit, and it was obvious the staff wanted us to eat, then leave (so relaxing and chatting with your family was not an option). The owner actually came over to ask us how long until we would be leaving (even though two in our party were still finishing their desert). Upon voicing our displeasure to the owner, regarding their attitude, the owner had no problem with telling us never to come back. I was dumb-founded ... My family is in the restaurant business, and I'm embarrassed for the owner and his obvious lack of regard for his customers. I cannot offer a positive word to say about our experience. When business isn't quite so good, perhaps this owner will wonder where all his patrons went ... although I doubt it ... he's clueless. Sean Kelly, Sr. Boston, MA read more

had a gift card for this place since last Christmas and finally decided to go. I had been reluctant to because I have eaten some very good Italian food in the past with my ex wife Sicilian relatives. I am often very critical and disappointed eating Italian out in PA. Not the case today though. Meal was very good. actually very freakin good. baked mozzarella for app sauce very nice with fresh basil. Ceasar salad very nice. with anchovies of course. Pasta dishes very nice as well. portions very large. One app per 2 people enough. You will be taking food home with you. The only negative I have is the garlic bread. Its sweet they hook you up for free. no charge. Basket of rolls come out. Warm, oily and covered in garlic and parsley. Many people RAVE about this bread but gotta say not a huge fan here. I love garlic but this is coated with enough large chunks of raw garlic that it actually was bitey when you eat it and the taste stays with you through your meal and afterwards. Its just too much of a great thing for me. Also, we read reviews of being crowded and waiting for a seat. We went off hours. Like 4pm mid week. No issue with that time but it is small and one could see it getting crowded peak times. Finally we went to pay and forgot our gift card in the car so we just paid for it but we are glad to still have the card to encourage us to got back. Its worth it. Really good Italian food. check it out. you won't be dissapointed read more

So I recently decided to try this place since I heard that this place offers up some pretty decent Italian food. I was excited to give it a shot since it is this little adorable spot on north side and north side cuisine has not let me down...until now. So everything started off well, we got seated immediately at one of the tables outside which we wanted and received our drinks and complimentary garlic bread very quickly. It was turning out to be a good start. Unfortunately, this is where that good start ended. Once we put in our orders and received our drinks our server vanished. It was a good twenty minutes or more before she decided to reappear and we were able to catch her attention to get our drinks refilled. The wait continued for another 40 minutes until our food arrived. Finally after an hour we were able to dig into our food. After several bites I had the unexplainable urge to want to travel back in time to stop myself from choosing this restaurant on this particular night. I ordered the veal oscar which was one of their specials (veal cutlets with shrimp, crab meat, and asparagus in some type of sauce). What I received was three bland cuts of meat floating in a lake of oil with shriveled asparagus trying to make it look appetizing. The only saving grace to this dish was the shrimp which were nice sized pieces and cooked well. That's it. I was really surprised by the side pasta that came with it. And it wasn't a good surprise. I understand that side pastas are just there to help compliment the dish but claiming to be an awesome Italian restaurant you better have at least a good basic tomato sauce down, which this place did not. What I received was angel hair pasta drowning in flavorless red water. I literally had to bury my pasta in parmesian cheese just to give it some kind of umph. All in all this place was terrible, on this particular night. Maybe it was just way too busy for them to handle, which is no excuse but I will give it to them. I will be trying this place one more time when they are less busy and not it being a weekend to give them a real shot at being an Italian restaurant that's able to throw down some good flavors. Everyone deserves a second chance. read more

Probably the most blandest chicken I have ever had. Broiled really? My wife couldn't find her lettuce in her salad as well...and Tommy needs to work on his service. And you all need some bug spray in your bathrooms. read more

TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE!!! I went to Mama Nina's Restaurant to have lunch with my family, I ordered blackened salmon because I have had the same dish many times in diferent restaurants but at this place the salmon was burned and overcook so it was chewy and dry, I told our server and she told me that it is the way that they cook that dish, then another server arrived to ask how was it so I asked him if was possible just to change my salmon but in a very rude way he said that I have to pay for it, the problem was not the money but the way that they were trying to fix the problem, so I am extremely disappointed with the service at this restaurant. read more

When I first looked at the prices on the menu I thought it was a bit high. After taking the first bite of my meal I would have paid more! The food and service was amazing!! Each meal is unique fresh and made with soo much love. I was in love with everything that I ate there two nights in a row. I was only in town for a week for work. I wish I found this place sooner. I will definitely come back to this joint again. read more

How did I never hear about this place? Was up for vacation and easily was one of the best places we went to. Tight seating but nice atmosphere. Our server was very knowledgable and he made great recommendations for the table. Went with a party of six and everyone LOVED their food, and that is usually not the case. Recommend the penne vodka and chicken florentine. Will be back :-) read more

I have been to Italy and the food in Italy isnt this heavy - I mean its very good and the portions are big but its just so heavy for me and i think red sauce or any other sauces shouldnt be this heavy. Love the garlic bread - the more garlic on there - the better! read more

Went in tonight with my girlfriend. I got the chicken parmigiana and she ordered the Bolognese with spaghetti. Both were the best quality food weve had in the lehigh valley. Two giant pieces of chicken and choice of pasta came with my dish. And her bolognese was to die for. Better than your nonnas. Great portion sizes. Everyone in the restaurant was taking home extras read more

Mama Nina's - Bolognese with spaghetti. - Italian Near Me - Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

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I didn't love the food here. It was OK, but no better than that in a very good Pizzeria restaurant. It's very hard to order anything healthy. Traditional red-sauced, creamy sauce, garlic and oil sauce, sausages, ravioli, parmigiana type of stuff abounds. And everything is REEKING of garlic. The "famous" garlic twist things are too foul for me. It's the type of food that I would eat when I was in my early 20's. Now, looking at it, I just get agita. I took home a good portion of my meal. It really was huge. The service was diner-like; efficient but not friendly. The bathroom wasn't up to my standards. And while I'm whining, it's cramped in there too - and even in a booth, you kind of feel like you are in the way because the waiters/waitresses have to turn sideways to pass each other. read more