The vivacious Mama Melrose serves up home-style Italian fare with flavors as bold as she is.

Checked curtains, overhead string lights, hanging foodstuffs, and walls crowded with Mama’s eclectic mementos transform this former backlot warehouse into a cozy and inviting dining space. The same scrumptious menu is served for lunch and dinner.

Buon Appetito!
Start with one of Mama’s appealing appetizers—like crispy calamari or a margarita flatbread, fresh from the oven.

Then, select from a host of enticing entrees that include authentic pastas, savory chicken and seafood preparations, or even the charred strip steak.

For dessert, enjoy a taste of la dolce vita with Mama’s tiramisù or Ghirardelli chocolate and cherry tort.

Naturally, we offer a selection of Italian and Californian wines, draft beers and specialty cocktails for Guests 21 years of age and up. And, of course, Mama always invites you to top off your Italian dining experience with an authentic cappuccino, espresso, caffé latte or caffé mocha.

Advance reservations are highly recommended. Learn when advance reservations can be made.

Once upon a time, a young girl from a small Sicilian village moved to Hollywood to become a star. However, she soon found that cooking was her true calling as she re-created her papa’s secret recipes for her starving actor friends.

At their urging, she opened a restaurant in a vacant backlot warehouse once used to store film equipment. Mama’s culinary talents soon attracted the patronage of film industry insiders, who dubbed her Mama Melrose, after the lively Los Angeles thoroughfare. Her establishment became known as the place “where Italy meets California in the heart of the Backlot,” and the rest, as they say, is history.