Series 2 - Episode 1: The Maharaja Tandoori
Fernando Peire comes to the aid of the father-and-son team behind a struggling Indian restaurant in the heart of London.
Available until 21:00 3 May 2013
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Fernando Peire comes to the aid of the father-and-son team behind a struggling Indian restaurant in the heart of London.
Available until 21:00 3 May 2013
Fernando travels to a small village in East Sussex.
Available until 21:00 3 Jul 2012
Fernando visits a roadside restaurant in Somerset.
Available until 21:00 26 Jun 2012
Comments (23)
11 months ago
michelle
Glad to see Mamma Rosa on here! Used to be lovely years ago. Not only is it looking dated now the food is over priced for what it is! Food is either over cooked or under cooked. Lots of dust and general house keeping looks poor with a strange dirt damp cloth smell. Hope the advice they get works. Will pay them a visit over the summer. Will be watching tomorrow night
11 months ago
Emma
I will be very interested to see what happens in this programme. I have been to Mamma Rosa's over the years, but would not choose to go back. The food is sub-standard and the waiters give you the impression that paying customers are an unnecessary hindrance.
11 months ago
Tim
Gregorio and Isabella are lovely. I have been going to Mamma Rosa for years with my family and have always enjoyed meals there. The recent troubles the restaurant has had are more to do with the decline of the market after a poorly thought out redevelopment locally. I will drop in this weekend to enjoy their excellent calzone and to let them know not to take Fernando's comments about their chairs too seriously!
11 months ago
Sophie
I used to go to the restaurant when I lived near Merton Abbey Mills and I enjoyed the pizzas. Interesting to see them on this show. I now own a restaurant in South Devon with my husband and now how difficult things can get. Good luck to them!
11 months ago
Andrew
oh dear. Can't even get on the website. Get a bandwidth exceeded message. Also very few review sites for them
11 months ago
Matt84
Recent redevelopment (six years ago) imported 600 plus, mostly affluent residents. First we thought we had a great Italian on our doorstep. How wrong. Sad, missed opportunity. The amount of plastic tat outside the premises would keep the local authority refuse department's recycle team busy. Wish them well but it's time to hand over the reigns to a new team.
11 months ago
Hysterix
Why isn't this episode online yet?
11 months ago
Kev
This aint online yet either. demand 5 is getting to be a total joke in the uk, police interceptors aint online either, sort it out big bosses, your viewers are your bread and butter !!!!
11 months ago
Caroline
Like many others above, we used to visit regularly but the over-pricing pushed us away - the drinks (beer) in particular are extortionate, and the quality doing a nose dive - the last salad I had was at least a wk old, the lettuce had turned to green slime, and the reaction of staff to this when I pointed it out was notchalence. We recently gave them a chance by ordering take-out, the pepperoni we ordered came with 4 pieces of pepperoni on it - need I say more! We'd love to see Mama Rosa turn things around, we'd be the first to return
11 months ago
Lizzie
More than a lick of paint is required for this place. Still the same nasty, filthy, horrid faded blue paint on the rusting doors & windows & vinyl awnings outside.... ten years & counting and the sign boards might just be troubled with a bucket of hot water & detergent. Took my Canadian cousins over last year for dinner. They insisted because it's a ten meter walk from our door. You hope for the best, you get what you dreaded and know will come. I received the slimy salad too. Should be a frequented local by the locals... the locals walked away a long time ago. Rude staff would be an understatement. Previous post had a point. Time to hand the baton to someone who can make a go of it. I so wish I had something positive to say. We should and could if they just listened to their absent customer base. Market owners, Office Estates should take note too. They never do... that's why the place is deserted.
11 months ago
joe
Channel 5, your a joke. Why is this not online yet? This is one of the reasons nobody take this channel seriously. Pull it together 5, or just don't bother.
11 months ago
lorraine marsh
mamma rossa is dead is that the mother im confused hope not the owners wife she too young
11 months ago
Jacqui and Ally, Morden
Just came back from Mamma Rosa. We both had a lovely meal and Gregorio and Isabella are delightful hosts and made us feel very welcome as did the rest of the staff. the food was lovely and will definately be returning soon with friends. Please ignore the bad comments, we had a great time!
11 months ago
Pen
I agree with Tim. The fact that this area has been badly redeveloped hasn't helped these proprietors at all. I've been living in Merton for over ten years and firmly believe this is the best restaurant in the area. Great food (that has never disappointed) and hospitality that is unrivalled in my experience. I wish both the proprietors good luck - I would hate to see this restaurant go.
11 months ago
Bex
Think it was lovely the program had a dedication to Rosa at the end- they didn't need to do that, but they did.
11 months ago
Hamish, Wimbledon
I think the woes of Mamma Rosa mirror the steady decline of the Merton Abbey Mills Market in general. The site looks very shabby and run down these days, and seems to be stuck in a 1980's timewarp. It does not appear able to sucessfully target the mainly affluent residents of the adjacent flats, nor the wider south west London community. Perhaps the owners of the Market have thrown in the towel already, or are they lacking investment money? As for Mamma Rosa, it's rather like an Italian restaurant you might have the misfortune to eat at in a dodgy holiday package resort. Mediocre food, poor service and tacky fixtures & fittings. Likeable as the present owners are, I feel the only way forward is for them to hang up their hats and let some fresh blood in to revamp the whole restaurant. Sadly, the future for Mamma Rosa (and Merton Abbey Mills) looks very grim indeed.
11 months ago
Nick, Abbey Mills
Clearly Gregorio & Isabella need a guiding hand. Nice people. Interesting programme despite the obvious shoe-string budget.Mama Rosa was in dire need of both a decor and menu review and revision. Restaurant Inspector is in my opinion an unfinished project. Mama Rosa is just a few meters from some 600 or so residents. Many, many white collar professionals. Couple of good dining experiences and you've got a steady & loyal income stream year round. Stand on the street and nothing has changed. Same tropical blue painted window frames, tired, weather beaten vinyl awnings, collection of ugly sign boards, plastic chairs, plastic banners, plastic barriers, plastic.... Plastic fantastic it is not. Hire a skip, rip down the awnings, throw all the plastic chairs, banners, signs, anything that shields the view in the skip and take a good look. Next, fix some smart roll down awnings for summer use. Install some very deep ones on the bandstand & river facing windows. Result: al fresco dining in the shade without the need for lots of miss-matched plastic gazebos and such. Easy to sweep dining area and arrange seating & work in. Couple of smart blackboards with offers hand written daily to entice customers in, positioned by both entrances. Define your patch with inexpensive steel oblong planters, plant some privet and let it grow to form a knee high natural hedge. Paint the window frames & doors a shade of white. Finish the sign project with a couple of painted swing boards. Result: it looks good on the outside and should attract crowds of hungry punters. The rest I understand Fernando the Restaurant Inspector covered. There is a marketing, brand & advertising agency just a few meters from the restaurant. Would make sense for both Mama Rosa and the site owners to call upon their collective experience. It's a shame both Gregorio, Isabella, traders & businesses of Abbey Mills and residents have been let down by the owners of the market. A company with working capital of six million yet the place lacks vision, sign of planned improvements or maintenance. Needs a strong market manager with taste, culture and passion for his tenants and customers. There was a lovely chap called John. He left and the rot took hold. I share the opinion of previous posters. Place is run down, uninviting in parts. The ugly shields all that is pretty and inviting. Suggest Mama Rosa initiate a moral boosting exercise. Erect some stocks on the bandstand, install the directors & 'management' of Abbey Mills in said and invite both tenants & residents of Abbey Mills to throw all manner of rotten food at 'em. Might just focus the mind. Mama Rosa's could fuel the enthusiastic collective with wine & lasagne :) Keep your spirits up Mama Rosa. Follow the above advice (re. your restaurant, that is) and reap the rewards.
11 months ago
mrs_fleur
I don't wish to sound paranoid but I can't seem to watch any videos on this site :(
This comment was removed by a moderator
This comment was removed by a moderator
3 months ago
Barb Searle
Saw this on TV, great show and think Gregorio and Isabella are lovely - don't think Fernando is though - he is just too Rude! Maybe Gregorio seemed deaf and 'unresponsive' in the beginning because he was just so Gobsmacked with the 'inspector's abrasive and constantly mean force-fed critique - there is telling people - and there is telling people and Fernando is making his job harder by doing neither and making his clients so defensive - that they don't want to participate ! Too much trying to be like a ruder more aggressive version of the House Doctor - there's just no need for it as the programme is interesting to stand up all by itself.. They did ask for his help in the first place, so no need for him to alienate them!
29 days ago
Ron
Iwould like to see some 2012 comments as there must have been some improvement since the channel 5 programme.
29 days ago
Petula
None at all. It's empty most nights. Hundreds of locals right on their doorstep walked away years ago. Needs more than a cheap budget TV makeover. Only solution is to sell what remains to someone who can cook & understands the industry.