Located on a quaint cobblestone street just steps from Paul Revere‘s house sits the exceptional Italian restaurant Mamma Maria. With so many Italian restaurants in the North End Mamma Maria is truly a standout with its excellent service, locally sourced food and amazing city views. It should be on everyone’s list to try.
The restaurant itself is a beautiful house with five separate rooms great for a date or special occasion. We sat in a cute porch with mural on the walls full of birds and flowers on pastels and tapped our toes along with the 20s and 30s big band music.
The dinner menu changes daily so you know you are getting what is fresh and in season. The meal started with house made pesto and delicious olives. Always a good sign that equal attention to detail is paid to the house appetizers as it is to their main dishes. For the appetizer we ordered the Maine Seas Scallops: Day boat-harvested Main sea scallops, pan-seared, with Champagne grapes, baby spinach and poached fennel. The scallops were perfectly cooked with so many flavors to savor. The sweetness of the grapes was balanced with the licorice flavor of the fennel.
With so many wonderful dishes on the menu it was difficult to choose what to eat but we end up with the clam and crab pasta and the Bolognese pasta.
Clam & Crab Pasta: Pasta alla chitarra with Falmouth, MA clams, fresh Maine crabmeat, toasted pine nuts, Parma prosciutto and fresh English Peas. Despite having three proteins this was a very light and fresh dish. Same day fish and house made pasta elevate this dish to perfection.
Bolognese Pasta: Bolognese as prepared in the village of Serralunga di Crea with spicy artisanal pepperoncini pasta. A lot of time went into cooking the meat until it was tender and full of rich flavor. I ate the whole thing. If they set second plate of bolgognese in front of me I would have eaten that too. The picture does not do it justice but please trust me when I tell you this was a plate of heaven and everyone deserves to eat this at least once in his or her lifetime.
Coming off my pasta high I wasn’t even thinking about dessert but then our waiter sold us on the lighter variation of tiramisu. It was made with local blueberries with some berry-infused ladyfingers and whipped Mascarpone.
Another stellar dish that I can’t imagine missing and we uh, ahem, managed to finish off the entire thing. Before heading out for the night we took a tour of the other rooms, check them out.
Alicia Tastes Life 
Looks fantastic! Have you been to L’Osteria in the North End? It’s my favorite!
It really was an exceptional Italian restaurant. I haven’t tried L’Osteria, I will definitely put it on the list for the next time I go to Boston. Thanks for the recommendation!