Eh.
Yes, the combo plate does get you a lot of meat for the price, but I didn't find the meat served particularly well-prepared or tasty: there seemed to be little or no seasoning applied during the cooking process.
For a few bucks more, Ninfa's offers roughly equivalent meals, but better prepared, with better service, and in a nicer setting.
For this trip to Amaya's, Dwight and I opted to split a combo plate, which gives you a lot of meat for the price, along with the usual rice and bean sides. The beef fajitas are very good, maybe just good enough to crack my Austin Top 5. Also good are the pork ribs (at least I think they were pork ribs) and the dark-meat chicken. However, the white meat was a bit dry and the beef ribs were (at best) undistinguished.
We each had a puffy taco on the side, not because we feared the combo plate would leave us hungry (we both ended up stuffed), but because Amaya's are probably the best in town. Service was good, and they kept my bottomless glass of Dr Pepper well-refilled.
Though it's easy to find restaurants that do various aspects of Amaya's combo plate better, you would be hard-pressed to find this much meat, this good, this cheap.
I'm still fond of the food. I'm becoming less fond of other aspects.
The (in my opinion) odd reaction to seating incomplete parties in a nearly empty establishment is one annoying thing. Another is the "1/2 price appetizers" during happy hour: sure they are, if you sit in the bar. If you'd like to sit somewhere away from the piano player and the movie projector (which, on the night we were there, was showing Citizen Kane of all things), you're out of luck. (And full price seems pretty high, given the portion size.)
As for the table service, it isn't bad: but many of the waiters have developed a supercilious attitude that bothers me a bit. Getting the check and clearing the bill is also a process that can drag on far too long.
Good food, though: best chicken marsala I've found in town, and one of the few places that does a proper carbonara sauce. And the bread has a pretty good dose of black pepper to give it some bite. I agree with Lawrence, though: while I like Ceaser salads, the dressing at Mama Mia's tends to be a little too thin.
Mama Mia's is a pretty firm fixture in our Top Five list for Italian restaurants in Austin, and this trip showed why. My Veal Carbonara was truly delicious, ranking as one of the best Italian meals I've had, and the escargot was very tasty as well. Once we were seated, service was quite attentive, despite a small delay in getting my entree after my companions (in fact, a much smaller delay than I expected). Plus the pepper grinder and grated parmesan cheese are nice touches.
However, some caveats: Their insistence on only seating full parties was rather inexplicable given that the restaurant was mostly empty when we arrived (and still far from full when we left). The fried mozzarella was good, but the portions could have been more generous, and the dipping sauce (a rather generic marinara) was bland. Also, the dressing on their ceaser salad is too thin, and they don't seem to have a non-ceaser house salad.
Mama Mia's also seems to be something of an Old Aquantence Magnet for us. This trip we were joined by the elusive Todd Hartman, who last joined us at Landry's a couple of years ago. This is also the restaurant the even more elusive Joe Dimaggio made his sole SDC apperance at many moons ago. Go figure.
Yet another high bang-to-buck ratio place. (Two people can eat pretty well for about $7 each, plus drinks, tax and tip.) The nice thing is that the food's pretty good, too.
Then again, the traditional New England boiled dinner (which this is pretty close, if not identical to) is hard to screw up: $13.95 gets you roughly 1/2 pound of shrimp, one crab, 1/2 pound of sausage, potatos and corn, thrown in a big pot, boiled, and dumped in front of you. Variations are possible: they're quite flexible about substituting potatos for corn, and you can throw in other seafood (crawfish, crab, or whatever's in season) at an extra cost.
This isn't refined formal dining: like most good seafood dinners, it's messy. But in a large group, it's great fun.
I do think the shrimp could be a bit fresher, but that may be a supply problem. Otherwise, highly recommended. If you have room, try the key lime tart.
A simple idea, well executed. You have a very limited selection of things to order (crabs, shrimp, crawfish, sausage, and the occasional seasonal item, plus potatoes and corn), and whatever you order they put together in a big boiling pot. When it's ready, they drain it, then dump it out on the white butcher paper on your table. That's it.
I splurged on the Alaskan King Crab legs, which came with a side of drawn butter and were utterly delicious (I'm something of a crab devotee). I also had a small side-order of sausage, and both it and the tangy sweet mustard that goes with it were very good as well.
The main downside (assuming the concept doesn't put you off in the first place) is that The Boiling Pot is down on Sixth Street, which is one reason we ate there while UT was on Christmas break. Under ordinary circumstances, parking may be difficult, but the food is worth the effort.
Still excellent food and excellent service.
So why don't I go there more often? And why do I prefer Mama Mia's? Variety. Carrabba's just doesn't have enough menu items that I like: too many tomato-based dishes, and not enough white sauces. I'd also like to see more low-fat dishes. (Yes, you can do that with non-tomato based dishes: Mama Mia's pollo con rosemary e potato is a good example.)
On the other hand, the seafood dishes (such as mussels and the spiendo di mare are well done, and worth trying if you're in that mood.
My comments on this trip to Carabbas aren't terribly different from my comments on the last trip: The service is excellent, the food ranges from very good to excellent, and the mussels are a hell of a bargain.
This time around I opted for the veal marsala, and it was delicious. However, this year's trip confirmed the impression that their fettucini alfredo has too much cheese and not enough garlic. Next time I'll probably opt for a different pasta side.
The choice between Reale's and Carrabbas for best Italian food is a tough one. I think I would give Reale's an edge for being a local place, being open for lunch, and for having an excellent menu of pizza as well. However, I would have to give Carabbas the edge for service and atmosphere. Either way, Austinites in the north 183 area have an embarrassment of Italian dining riches.
Return to the main Saturday Dining Conspiracy page.