Katherine MacAlister returns to a revamped Mamma Mia and plays spot the difference in the Oxford institution

Notice anything different?” I asked Mr Greedy when he joined us at Mamma Mia in Summertown?

“Have you had your hair done?” he asked cautiously.

Long pause. “No, I was talking about the restaurant?” “Oh,” he said looking around at the usual green gingham tablecloths, wooden chairs and brick walls. “Well now you mention it, it has been painted, but I’d never have noticed.”

And yet Mamma Mia was closed down for a refurb until very recently, reopening to much fanfare while remaining pretty much exactly the same. Clever.

But then when you have reigned supreme as Oxford’s number one pizzeria for decades only to turn around and find the city positively swamped by other Italian restaurants, every Tom, Dick or Harrio saturating the cheese and tomato market with wood-burning pizza ovens, something had to be done.

So why not close, smarten yourself up and then reopen to remind everyone that the King still rules? We snuck in for a peek with the kids, Mamma Mia being famously family friendly, arriving at 5.30pm for a pre-theatre meal. By 6pm the place was crammed with families, office workers, couples and regulars, all smiling and greeting the staff like long lost friends.

But then Mamma Mia is fundamentally a neighbourhood trattoria, beloved of young, old and everyone in between, with regulars so fiercely loyal that they need ASBOs.

Mamma Mia restores your faith in the idea that somewhere so resolutely old-fashioned remains centre stage regardless of the trends and food fads whirling away around it.

The restaurant is owned and run by Jon Ellse, who also boasts Portabello on the same street, a second Mamma Mia in Jericho, and more recently The Perch – the place in which he realised a lifetime dream, despite endless planning battles and building hassles, to run a decent riverside pub in Oxford, which continues to flourish in Binsey under his new ownership.

But back to Mamma Mia – once seated by a wonderfully familiar waitress who’s been there as long as I have, the children immediately bounced up to the glass counter at the back to watch the pizzas being made while we studied the menus – comfortingly familiar with a few new additions, and the specials chalked up on the blackboard.

That’s not to say that the meal was seamless however. While the cheesy garlic bread went down a treat with the kids and the special herb polenta with parmesan creamed mushrooms were much nicer than they looked, a great mix of texture and taste, the battered zucchini (£5.75) were far too big for my liking and almost hard in the middle – a far cry from the French fry-style crisp, curly, crunchy offerings I had been expecting, and the tomato sauce they were served with was ice cold.

Next up an American hot (£9.55) – a great pizza, doughy, crispy, pungent and oily with authentic salami rather than pepperoni that tastes and smells synthetic and disappeared before Mr Greedy could make another faux pas.

My daughter had the margherita di bufala cruda (buffalo mozzarella, tomato sauce, cherry tomatoes, fresh basil and oregano, £10.95) which had lovely chunks of fluffy mozzarella all over it, and again was an instant success.

The spaghetti arrabiata however (olives, onion, garlic, chilli & tomato, £9.55), was not remotely spicy despite the lashings of chilli oil I added.

It also contained heaps of badly cooked onions, similar to those you’d find in a hotdog, which were crunchy, stringy and quite inedible.

Oxford Mail:

  • The new interior at Mamma Mia in Summertown which recently reopened

There is no kids menu per se, but little ones can have half portions and the smaller-sized spaghetti bolognaise disappeared without a trace.

Curtain times meant we didn’t have time for dessert so we had to bribe the children with promises of an interval ice cream just to get them out.

But that’s the charm of Mamma Mia – it’s gentle, relaxing, fun, easy and never goes out of fashion.

An Oxford institution through and through.

THE PARTICULARS
Mamma Mia Summertown
8 South Parade, OX2 7JL
01865 514141

Mamma Mia Jericho
102 Walton Street, OX2 6EB
01865 311211 

www.mammamiapizzeria.co.uk

Opening Times: Monday to Friday noon - 3pm, 5pm - 10.30pm
Saturday & Sunday, noon - 10.30pm
Key personnel: Jon Ellse
Parking: Like gold dust, use Summertown’s main car park
Try: Set lunch £7.95 for pizza/pasta or salad and a drink.