Mama Mina's Fairfield

[shark_attack]

There are times in life when you find a place so good, so right, so on the-mark that it becomes your regular steady place. Mama Mina is MY regular place. When it comes to TRADITIONAL Italian-American cuisine (think red sauce and checkered tableclothes) this is THE place if you're anywhere near Fairfield. Cozily tucked into a non-descript strip mall off the Post Road next to Bob's Stores, Mina is not just a place, but a person, a wonderful woman who hews to a very narrow dictate.......She makes Italian food that pays full devotion to that most classic of Italian styles, the one popular on the east coast during the postwar period. This is food Sinatra would have traveled for.

It''s all the classics.....Mina (a pleasantly-plump woman from Italy, along with her husband and 2 of her kids) makes a Lasagna so perfect, if you went to the dictionary and looked up "lasagna" you'd see a picture of hers. It's divine, constructed with many small compartments perfect for catching and holding sauce, and baked to a golden brown.

Also fantastic is the veal francaise, the veal Mama Mina (a nice wine and tomato sauce with mushrooms cheese and served, as are all the entrees with a generous side of fantastic pasta.

Understand that the atmosphere, while genuine and in keeping with the traditional dictates, would be considered too spartan for fancy affairs and very-important-to-impress occasions. Alll the better, maybe I can get a table.

My criticism with the place involves stuff they don't offer.......A stuffed mushroom appetizer would be nice, as would an appetizer portion of shrimp scampi, but hey......Now I'm really nitpicking. If it sounds as though I really like these people and have a lot of respect for what they're doing, it's because I do. I've been to Mama Mina a hundred times in the last few years.....and I'm going back right this minute. Let's see if Marco has a spare booth for me.

[shark_attack]

Hey...Did any of you guys try this place yet? And if not, why not?
It's awesome, and I don't have an interest.

[foleyd7]

I've seen their menu in the window and it didn't seem inspiring. Basically stuff I can make at home (and I'd probably like mine better). The following words in your review would turn me away from any Italian place:
"Italian-American"
"thick red sauce"
"stuffed mushroom"
I'm pretty picky about Italian food and I prefer fresh, simple, inspired dishes along with well prepared Italian wine lists. Places that serve thick sauce (and I'll bet over-sauced, too) Italian American dishes are not what I dine out for. There are plenty of Italian restaurants in every town like this so they obviously have a following, but I think most chowhound readers and writers are generally in search of something finer.

[foodpulse]

I love this place. Mama Mina and Papa Joe's in Darien are actually brother and sister...the big diff is that Papa Joe's is tablecloth and Mina's is casual and, I think, makes better pizza. We live in Darien and actually drive up (usually in traffic, no less) to this very simple but really good Italian restaurant where they remember you and never rush you.. We typically go and pretty much get the same things every time. We always get the escarole in tomato sauce appetizer, and sometimes a second app of calamari. I love their thin crust margherita pizza with a carafe of some red wine. ..I often call ahead for a few orders of sauteed escarole when I have people over for dinner... The owner, Mina is lovely. I can't comment on other foods but the pizza is really great...