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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2018 |
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You just watched MuppetVision*3D, and now you’re hungry. You’re in luck. There’s a “yesteraunt” near the show’s exit. |
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It’s Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano, a table-service eatery with a dark interior decorated with all sorts of Italian-American things. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Located in a backlot warehouse |
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You might be wondering about this restaurant’s unusual name and why it’s hidden in an industrial building behind MuppetVision*3D. The Walt Disney World website had an official explanation: The Mama Melrose Story Once upon a time, a young girl from a small Sicilian village moved to Hollywood to become a star. However, she soon found that cooking was her true calling as she re-created her papa’s secret recipes for her starving actor friends. At their urging, she opened a restaurant in a vacant backlot warehouse once used to store film equipment. Mama’s culinary talents soon attracted the patronage of film industry insiders, who dubbed her Mama Melrose, after the lively Los Angeles thoroughfare. Her establishment became known as the place “where Italy meets California in the heart of the Backlot,” and the rest, as they say, is history. Step inside for the opportunity to dine like film industry insiders. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2006 Mama’s entrance |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Mama’s lobby |
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There’s plenty to look at inside the compact lobby. The focal point is an alcove with the Latin phrase in vino veritas, which means “in wine, there is truth.” That’s because people under the influence of wine are thought to be more likely to reveal truths about themselves. The phrase is sometimes translated as “drunk words are sober thoughts.” |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Mural with in vino veritas |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2018 Celebrities, as they looked in the late 1980s and early 1990s |
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In its early years, Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park treated guests to a visit by a celebrity every day. Under the “Star Today” program, a well-known (or somewhat well-known) actor or other “star” would appear at the Theater of the Stars for a “Star Conversation,” followed by a motorcade down the park’s Hollywood Blvd. and a handprint/footprint ceremony at the park’s Chinese Theater. Park guests could stop by Guest Relations for a souvenir 5"x7" black-and-white photo print of that day’s celebrity, with a Disney-MGM Studios logo in the lower right corner. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2011 Gary Burghoff, Lee Meriwether, Jon “Bowzer” Bauman, and John Astin |
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Mama must have stopped by Guest Relations many times. She framed the prints and decorated her restaurant with them, especially in the lobby. For the park’s name change to Disney’s Hollywood Studios on January 7, 2008, she updated every print with the new logo. Try to look at all the photos throughout the lobby before the host calls your name and you’re shown to your table. You’ve now been seated. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2006 Wooden tables and chairs… |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 …or red “leather ” booths |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2018 Big, dark dining room |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Ceiling decorations |
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Mama likes to keep her electric bills as low as possible. At least that’s what the low light level provided by the itty-bitty bulbs and low-wattage light fixtures suggests. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2025 Final menu (2025) at Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano |
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You might want to use you smartphone’s flashlight feature to read your menu. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2025 Lots of decor |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Dean Martin’s album That’s Amore as decor |
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As you wait for your meal to arrive, and as your eyes become accustomed to the darkness, you’ll see how Mama has decorated the place. Look up. There are fake grape vines, bunches of plastic grapes, and even ceramic pizzas. Look at the walls. There are record albums, ceramics, Disney photos, and garage sale finds. Your food arrives in several courses. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Ciabatta roll and olive oil liberally sprinkled with Italian seasoning |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2025 Caesar salad |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2025 Mama’s Pasta with Shrimp, as described at the top of the menu |
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If you were expecting authentic Sicilian food from Sicilian immigrant Mama Melrose, that’s not what you were served. It seems that “her papa’s secret recipes” were Americanized versions of dishes from all over Italy. Not bad — just not authentic Sicilian. Maybe that’s a good thing. Some of the authentic Sicilian items you didn’t find on the menu were Pani câ Meusa (a sandwich made with veal spleen and lung), Stigghiole (seasoned intestines wrapped around spring onions), and Pasta con le Sarde (pasta with sardines). |
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Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano opened at Disney-MGM Studios on September 26, 1991. It replaced the short-lived Studio Pizzeria, which had opened in the same location on June 15, 1991. The restaurant space was part of an expansion that also included the May 16, 1991 opening of Muppet*Vision 3D. Originally, the whole area was supposed to be themed to Jim Henson’s Muppets. Disney Historian Jim Korkis has written that the restaurant that became Mama Melrose’s was supposed to have been Great Gonzo’s Pizza Pandemonium Parlor, an Italian restaurant operated by Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat. Guests would have been entertained by things “going horribly wrong” in the dining room and kitchen. In August 1989, The Walt Disney Company announced a deal to acquire Henson Associates Inc. for $150 million. Before closing the deal, Jim Hensen died at age 53 on May 16, 1990. Negotiations between his heirs and Disney failed. The 3D movie attraction opened under an earlier contract, but the rest of the area would not be Muppets-themed after all, except for some Muppets theming at Studio 1 Company Store. For almost 34 years, park guests could enjoy Italian meals at Studio Pizzeria and its successor, Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano — just without Muppets. The reason for the name change was never revealed. Presumably, the original generic name was a temporary placeholder until an agreement could be made with Hensen’s heirs. When that didn’t happen, the restaurant was given its own story and a new name to go with it. |
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Artist Concept Only © Disney/Pixar February 2025 concept art for a Monsters Inc.-themed land |
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At D23 Expo in August 2024, Walt Disney Imagineering announced that a new land, based on the 2001 Disney/Pixar feature Monsters Inc., would be coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Its headliner attraction would be an indoor suspended roller coaster based on the movie’s portal doors between the monster world and the human world. It was unclear where in the park this land would be located. The answer was revealed in February 2025. As many fans had feared, the Monsters, Inc.-themed land would replace Muppets Courtyard, MuppetVision*3D, PizzeRizzo, Stage 1 Company Store, and Mama Melrose’s. The door coaster would replace a cast parking lot. Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano served its final meal on May 10, 2025. |
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From Monsters Inc. © 2001 Disney/Pixar Harryhausen’s in Disney/Pixar’s Monsters Inc. |
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In the movie, Mike Wazowski takes Celia Mae on a birthday date to Harryhausen’s in Monstropolis. The Japanese restaurant is a tough spot to get a reservation. What’s supposed to be a romantic meal does not go well. The concept art unmistakably shows Harryhausen’s were Mama Melrose’s had been. Let’s see if this also becomes a tough spot to get a reservation. |
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© 2025 Werner Weiss — Disclaimers, Copyright, and Trademarks Updated June 20, 2025 |
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