Mama Rose's Restaurant

Never have I felt so uncomfortable with a server as I did tonight. He was snappy, rushing us to order as we arrived, snapped one word answers to questions we had about the menu, generally made us feel as though we had done something wrong! What we had done wrong was choose this place for dinner! The food arrived very quickly, obviously pre prepared. My fettuccine Alfredo .. the sauce was splitting, the pieces of pasta many stuck together making it very thick , and bland taste . Husbands spaghetti with meat sauce was lacking the meat! The outside seating was u comfortable, low benches, high tables , even my tall husband felt uncomfortable , for me my mouth was virtually on level with the plate! A place I would certainly not return to.

Beautiful location, right on the river. No parking lot on property but parking is close by. It has lots of potential, but the chicken Parmesan tasted like the chicken was old, and about to go bad. The sauce on the spaghetti had an odd flavor that we couldn’t place. The service was almost nonexistent. We had to search for our waiter, drinks would go empty for a while before we could find someone. It was just too expensive for the experience we had.

Our waiter today was amazing and had us laughing the entire time. Sat outdoors and enjoyed the nice view and weather. Writing this review because the fried mozzarella had the best cheese pull I’ve ever seen!

Delicious food. We loved the spaghetti scampi! The homemade garlic bread was really tasty. Gluten free options available. (Gluten free bread too). We made a reservation for 8pm but it seemed like the staff was a little bit in a rush to close, even if we still had plenty of time.

This place is only in business because of the nice waterfront location. Food looks good but tastes blander than microwave pasta. Menu on their website do not match with their current menu. The wait list is extremely disorganized. We waited 40 minutes while another group was sitted right away while we watched them arriving without any reservation. The 2 hosts don't communicate with each other and can not agree with the waiter on where we should sit. There are way too many olives in the salad. I understand that they were busy and probably understaffed. But what broke my last straw was that when my party informed our waiter she was disappointed with her food. The waiter was sarcastic toward us and shook his head while he left. Not to mention, he clearly changes his demeanor while talking to some guests vs others from the beginning. I can't think of a worse experience than this.

Absolutely incredible Italian food. Really good wine list. Fantastic staff! Amazing atmosphere all up in the mountains. Plus they let us have our dogs on the deck.

We walked by the Fall River on the way to Mama Rose’s, listening to the still flow, below, and the rising splash of the rapids by Mama’s. Because of the hour, we ate inside, but regretted that decision. Sitting by a riverside window, we ordered Mama’s Old World Spaghetti, with special sausage and red & yellow peppers. So generous, we couldn’t finish this delicious dish. Caesar Salad with lots of croutons! The Rocky Mountain art on the walls was captivating, along with lovely family photos.

Amazing food and great, prompt service! We got shrimp scampi and baked seafood pasta and we inhaled them. Family friendly even though it’s fancier. Great experience!

So disappointed from previous experience. I had a very mushy eggplant Parmesan. The bread was undercooked and slightly warm. Recommendations: Include a small house salad with dinner, serve a nice bread with oil and cheese for dipping right away. Offer fresh cheese to top meals. My son had shrimp scampi, generous portions, but all butter, needed to lean towards oil. My husbands 70th, waitress was pleasant, took a pic of us all, but needed a celebration One candle on a dessert would have been nice.

What a wonderful experience we had tonight we were in town for the Estes Park holiday parade after Thanksgiving and we had reservations at Mama Rose's Holy cats... Alex, our waiter, was so attentive and took care of all of us. We had a table of 13. All of our dinners came out just perfect. The special tonight was a sirloin marsala, and oh my gosh, it was "melt in your mouth" delicious... I had an option of either pasta or roasted potatoes and vegetables and I thoroughly enjoyed the potatoes and vegetables. It was absolutely delicious and so flavorful. The lasagna was absolutely delicious and my hubby's Chicken Parmesan was also really good... What a nice little place tucked away right on the river....

I wish I would have read the yelp reviews before trying this place. My friend and I were in Estes Park and we just found a restaurant and decided to go in. We would not come back if ever in the area again. Upon entrance, the waitress sat us down in their patio area but the table was right behind the door trapping whoever sat there. We kindly asked her if we could move after realizing we wouldn't be able to get in and out like if we wanted to go to the bathroom. She immediately said yes, and proceeded to let us sit at the booth that was right next to it. We were admiring the cute outdoors and the view of the mountains and trees when a different waiter approached us and said we could not sit there. He was very abrupt and rude. We told him how we didn't sit there on our own that we had actually asked the waitress. He proceeded to walk away and continue to say "I don't know. I don't know. I just know you can't sit there. It's reserved." We were confused and just staring at each other when the initial waitress came up to us and apologized for the confusion and offered us a different table. We were finally situated when, unfortunately that waiter guy came up to us again because he was our assigned waiter. He took our order and was not nice at all. My friend and I debated leaving, but we also felt bad doing that. The food came, but the eggplant order was actually mistakenly brought with chicken. We felt bad even say anything, but we had to because we're vegetarian. The guy did not respond to us and just took the plate and walked away. Overall, this was a horrible experience, and it was all because of the male waiter. We were very bummed out that this was the experience especially because we were tourists, and potentially other tourists are being treated the same way. We would not recommend this location to anyone visiting Estes Park.

It was good. I got the three bake or whatever it's called and that was a mistake- but first off, I don't really like pesto, so there's that. It was super greasy though (yucky). My hubby got the eggplant parmigiana and he really enjoyed it. The appetizers were delicious. We would totally come back again, I'd just make better food decisions for myself

We really enjoyed our experience here. They clearly label the menu with the vegan options which made everything so much easier and took the guess work out of looking at the menu. The pasta sauce was delicious and it was a great serving size. The ambiance is very Italian and family owned which I love. Our service was quick and the staff were helpful with questions.

Tucked beside the Thompson river in Estes, this Italian restaurant is a true gem. The Chicken Parmesan was tender and flavorful, paired perfectly with creamy, rich fettuccine Alfredo. The food was hot, beautifully presented, and full of depth. Service was quick and friendly, and the atmosphere--elegant and tranquil--made the whole experience truly unforgettable. This is an excellent location for a riverside date night. Well done Mama Rose's!

The food was as beautiful as was the taste. The service was very good. Sitting on the patio was a different and more relaxed atmosphere than the inside.

Always a big hit! Ceviche is delish and the margarita selections are fun and creative.

First, let me say, we visited this location several times on multiple trips to Estse Park the view if you sit on the patio, the is just lovey with the rambling water running along the river. It's just so peaceful. The food is fantastic we have enjoyed every meal there. On our last trip we brought my sister who asked to go back there multiple times during our visit. Needless to say, she loved it! Fir presence we usually go around July 4th - the weather us perfect and the are empties out bit after the holiday.

Way over priced for average dinners - service ok but I won't be back ! Very disappointing !! Had better food and service at The Old Spaghetti Factory

The good was really great. The tomato cream sauce was amazing. I loved their champagne vinaigrette was out of this world

We eat here for Dinner, I wouldn't eat here again. The Lasagna was not good, and the canoles crust was stale. it was $70.00 and we split a lasagna and ordered 1 salad, 2 drinks, and 2 canoles. felt this was over priced.

Enjoyed great meals tonight so no changes there. What I will mention is they serve very large portions of any pasta option. So be aware to order family style unless you have a huge appetite! Also, if you order fettuccine pesto you may want to ask them to go light on the sauce. It can be overwhelming.

This is my experience at the restaurant. Upon arrival, there was six people at the hostess stand, the gentleman finally greeted me and I said we'd like two for outside. Upon sitting at our table, the server came over and was very attentive to our needs. I ordered the chicken pesto and my husband ordered the lasagna. The chicken pesto was very dried out, and the pasta was undercooked. My husband said the lasagna was really good, but not the right temperature. So for two entrées an iced tea the bill was $67!! Way overpriced for Estes Park and Italian food. The inside of the restaurant was nice but outside on the deck by the water most of the tables were very dusty and dirty. So food 2 out of 5, Service 4 out of 5, overall 2 out of 5.

We were here July 4 weekend. Enjoyed a table outside along the water and had a delicious meal!

The tiramisu was still frozen when it was served but the entrees were delicious and the employees were professional and nice.

Tried this spot based on a review from another guest at our hotel. Came for early dinner after hiking all day and got a nice table on the patio. First off, the service was amazing - from the hostess to the runner and especially our waitress Ilina who seemed like she had every table outside and was also maybe training at the same time. She was very professional and friendly and seemed very engaged with all her tables. The food was good - not great. My boyfriend had the spaghetti with meat sauce and it had shaved Parmesan on top. He said the spaghetti was perfectly cooked and the sauce was great but the cheese was not as good as what we're used to. I had the baked rigatoni with marinara and I agree that the sauce was great, but the cheese was subpar- also the rigatoni was a little overcooked for my liking. It was nice that they served a basket of garlic bread with the pastas. Good experience overall and I would come back if we were in Estes Park again, but I would try something else.

I don't give out bad reviews usually but I have to for this restaurant. The food was bland and just not good. Barely any sauce and things came out stale. I kind of ignored the reviews on here since there were a lot of people inside but I made a mistake. Also everyone around us had water and other drinks in glassware. Our waitress gave us our drinks in plastic cups without any explanation whatsoever which made me feel discriminated against.

Nestled in Estes National Park this is not your average overpriced tourist trap. It's next to the cutest stony brook, and fun to walk to. Service is attentive and just the smells emanating from this place are saliva inducing! There is a pizza shop across the way in a sandwich type shop, but with a serious gluten allergy just thought this was best, and my friends loved it. Caprese Salad ftw!

I had the fettuccine Alfredo and a meatball, though the meatball tasted bland and they are very fringy with the bread but it tastes really good. And the Alfredo was immaculate it had so much depth, the waiters came by often to check up on us, the atmosphere was very friendly and they had paintings of army generals and admirals it looks fancy but you don't have to be uptight to go there overall it was awesome. The price was a little expensive but it's worth it.

The food was delicious and service and ambiance was great! Enjoyed our dinner very much!

Mama Roses has the best view of any downtown Estes Park restaurant! We always bring guests here when the outdoor tables are open. The food is not epic enough to bring people when outdoor is closed. It's good enough Italian for Colorado. Doesn't v stand up to East Coast Italian. The portions are enormous . My husband likes their lasagna. It's our Experience that the baked dishes are better than the pastas with sauce. The tri- color baked pasta is my favorite. Baked rigatoni with meat sauce, Alfredo and basil pesto baked under a layer of mozzarella it's enough to serve two. They do make an effort to serve several healthier options--chicken, salmon, or vegetables without sauce. But the other menus items look so good I've never yet tried the healthier ones. Service is predictably good.

Yea I didn't really know what to expect. We visited Estes Park, CO for the 1st time. After hiking we were starving for some good lunch. We found Mama Rose's in the little town of Estes and decided to try it out. The server was so friendly w us, we felt comfortable and excited for the food... Just from the start, the table-garlic bread did not taste well. It was just a baguette with butter, garlic, and parmesan spread on top with little to no taste. When the food came, the kid's spaghetti was the largest plate out of the other orders (lasagna, soup, and baked pasta). It was noticeable that they used store-bought cheese, which isn't something I would expect from an Italian restaurant, oh well. If I am ever in the area, I don't think I would come back. Sorry.

From the moment we walked in to the end of our dinning experience was just lovely. The whole ambiance is definitely Italian fancy vibes, but also tourist down to earth. They have indoor seating and outdoor seating. The indoor seating is where we sat just cause it was like 60 degrees outside and chilly. The restaurant sits along the river which is an amazing view from all of their windows and they're not little windows they're the big ones. Almost like the whole back wall of windows to people watch and watch the river. We were sat immediately. And our server greeted us immediately. Very nice gentleman. He was an amazing server. For our drinks I got a moscato which is a wine if you don't know and it's a very sweet wine, well usually is. I've had moscatos before that we're quite bitter and shouldn't be allowed to have been called a moscato lol. This wine was very sweet and refreshing. For our appetizer we got ricotta roll ups which is basically lasagna noodles rolled up in ricotta and each one was on a bed of a different sauce. The sauces we tried were pesto, marinara and the arrabbiata sauce. They were all uniquely delicious, I must say the arrabbiata had a kick to it but was equally just as delicious. My favorite of the three was of course pesto only cause it's my favorite. For my main course I got the shrimp scampi. The portion sizes are enough for 2 literally and the sizes of the shrimp are HUGE!! There was a small hiccup w my plate. It came out cold and didn't taste good so my waiter had me a whole new plate made and let me say the difference between two plates is night and day. The new plate, omg the flavors of the garlic and the fresh basil were just phenomenal and of course made me do my food happy dance in my chair. Listen things happen and you just go w it. They made up for it and didn't even charge me for my plate which I would of absolutely still paid because one they fixed the issue so kindly and two the 2nd plate was just . I forgot to add I also had a side Caesar salad and the salad was so crisp and fresh. The dressing and croutons paired well w it. The croutons were full of flavor and so crunchy! For our dessert we had the tiramisu. It was delicious. A few things I would change is a little more of the coffee taste with in the actual lady fingers and little less of whatever chocolate was used. The chocolate over powered the whole thing and it was a little dry. Overall it was still good. This place is definitely a returnable place and will definitely dine here again.

Food was excellent so was the service. I had the lasagna, maybe the best I've had. Wife had the fettuccine Alfredo with chicken, also excellent. Server was very attentive and handled the grumpy old guy at the next table with professionalism. I would recommend Moma's Rose!

Good find in downtown Estes park. Food, service, atmosphere - all good. We'll return when in area.

To start, the service was nice and polite. The ambiance and location right next to the river is the best thing about this place and honestly very likely the reason this place gets any business. The food alone cannot be it. This was hands down on my list of worst Italian restaurants I've ever been to in my life. Out of the 4 of us that went, 3 of us ended up being sick. The garlic bread was sub par, although the crunch factor was acceptable. It tasted like garlic powder coated on French bread, with the ability to feel each granulated piece as you took a bite. The salads were sub par, with a cup of olives thrown on but not listed on the menu. Two of us ordered the mushroom ravioli that came with an imitation looking vodka sauce and a type of basil infused olive oil in place of the listed pesto. The raviolis themselves were cold, and the flavor was right out of the freezer section of King Soopers. The baked pasta dish had marinara water that was described on the menu as a meat sauce. Lastly, we ordered a fettuccine pasta dish that had a marinara Alfredo sauce, that was bland and had no seasoning. Overall I highly recommend going somewhere else. Sit outside and drink a glass of wine for the ambiance. Get your meal somewhere else.

Tasty Italian food close to the river that runs through Estes Park (Big Thompson River).!

Great food, service, and ambience! Love sitting outside by the river! Authentic Italian! Love me a nice sausage link with my Lasagna!

Have been eating here for at least 20 years, but this time disappointing. Ok food, ok service

Maybe it was an off night and they were short on staff . Sat us at a table next to kitchen with food all over the floor and table (no tablecloth) Asked to be moved. Sat us at a table with a table cloth that had just been used. Food was marginal , portions were small , bill came wrong.

The most delicious lasagna, Caesar salad, and tiramisu. Service is excellent and welcoming. We stayed past closing time and were made to feel welcome and not rushed.

Our waitress was having her very first day at work, maybe someone of the management team could have helped her??? She didn't know much about the menu and she never checked on us, we had to constantly flag someone down to help us w our food. The food is mostly good consistently here, the service is mostly bad. We were given a broken glass w water that soaked our table cloth... had to be moved... we were hoping for a better experience for the price we paid. It was kind of stressful!!

Stopped to load up on pasta before our hike the next morning. It's not terribly priced, and service was quick.

The food was excellent, the atmosphere was cozy and the wine list was good. Service was quick and friendly

Our waiter went above and beyond to make our experience wonderful. I used to come here as a kid and it was just as magical and the food was wonderful!! Highly recommend the fried bread and lasagna.

We had a nice dinner on the patio. The service was good just a little slow but they were very busy. They're pesto sauce is so awesome get the t r i pasta dish if you go it's delicious. The new booths on the patio are a little strange they're so low and so far apart it's hard to reach your food lol other than that awesome

Nice ambiance. Very good spaghetti. Fast service. Needed reservation to eat on the patio.

We really enjoyed our dinner at this restaurant while we were in town! The food was fresh, the service was great, and the restaurant itself is in a prime location on the Estes Park Riverwalk. I'm giving this restaurant 4 instead of 5 stars because things seemed a bit messy. There were back packs all over the floor in the front and several of the mirrors/table tops in the entrance seemed a bit dusty/greasey. It wasn't so dirty that it hindered me from eating, however, it is an issue worth fixing on the restaurants end. Would I go again? Yes! Should you go? Also, yes!

We felt so duped by the reviews as our experience was far from even an average meal. The caesar salad was exactly the same as a Kroger bagged salad with the exact same little sticks of parmesan and dressing, and the chicken parm had sauce that tasted like a jar of grocery store sauce with very little non-fresh cheese. For the price, we should have gone to The Rock Inn a second night. Please don't waste your money! We also had to rack down our waitress to have my daughter's entree delivered, 10 minutes after the other three had our meals. Great location, but that was only redeeming element.

We went here for ValentinesDay. Good service, our table was out of the way but the whole room seemed to have low noise levels. Cloth napkins and table cloth. Good food, came hot from the kitchen, nice portions and included a bread basket. We had mussels for an appetizer- very good!

Service, prices and food were poor. Definitely catered for the tourists, food was bland.

Everything was great they really took good care of our 5 year old granddaughter, getting her food quickly and hot

On Friday, 03/14/25, we wanted to celebrate of 35th anniversary while in Estes Park and chose Mama Rose's restaurant, which is an Italian mainstay. Their Friday night special was the Seafood Melody Pasta dinner. This dish had most of the whole ocean seafood in the dish. There were octopus, scallops, shrimp, mussels, and clams. The only seafood item missing was a shark - LOL. The sauce was a light red sauce that tasted like a vodka red sauce, which was served on a bed of fettucini noodles. It was served with garlic French bread. As for our waiter, Caesars was outstanding and he ensured that we were well taken care of. The atmosphere was like a classical restaurant from the old world of Italy. And for a 35th anniversary, we were served a chocolate mouse cake with a chocolate graham, crust that was rich and decadent. The kitchen staff wrote in chocolate the words, "35th" which was a wonderful surprise.

Server was very polite and attentive, food was absolutely amazing and nice and fresh. Definitely will be bringing family up with me next time!

We snuck in here our second evening in Estes. We were seat right away and staff was very attentive. Food was excellent and not over the top expensive like some other places in town.

I ordered the seafood baked rigatoni. It came out COLD. I sent it back to be heated, but when I finally tasted it, it was BLAND. Definitely not worth $32. And to make matters worse, we were celebrating my birthday. Our waitress was nice though.

Cosy ambiance and delicious pasta! Ricotta roll-ups 4/5 Tri color baked pasta 4.5/5 Fettuccine with tomato cream sauce 4/5 (the pasta was a bit overcooked) Tiramisu 3.5/5 Their marinara is delicious and I'm generally not a marinara fan! Service was pleasant.

A perfect end to a day of sightseeing in Rocky Mountain National Park. My wife and I were craving Italian, and Mama Rose's hit the spot. Though the restaurant was a bit crowded, the staff was incredibly polite and seated us promptly. Our meals arrived quickly and were delicious. The tiramisu and coffee were exceptional, rounding off our meal perfectly. Highly recommend for anyone seeking a relaxing dining experience in Estes Park.