Seems like the reviews for this place are all over the place, and I'll just add to the confusing mess of reviews that is Mama Lena's. We went here on a Sunday night over Memorial Day weekend. It was a total ghost town--we were the only ones in the restaurant. That's never a good sign. The waitress started telling us about the specials and sort of mumbled through them because she was nervous. Really? I ordered Manicotti and we got bruschetta for an appetizer.
When the waters came out, my dad's had something floating in it. Ew. The bruschetta came out shortly after. It was a plate of tomatoes, onions, and basil with bread buried under. No cheese. It looked so unappetizing that I didn't even try it. Nobody reported that it was good, though. Dinner came out shortly after, and my Manicotti was okay. The ends of the pasta seemed hard and underdone but the middle was fine. Too much cheese though--not the restaurant's fault, just a dish I wouldn't order in the future.
While we were eating, the next 2 groups to walk in were put in the two booths of either side of us. They couldn't bother to utilize the rest of the empty restaurant. My mom didn't like her dish, and got eggplant instead which she said was cold. As mentioned, service wasn't the best. It was also quite expensive--around 60 bucks for 4 of us. Really there's no reason for me to make the drive to Waxhaw for Mama Lena's again. Oh well.