Mamasamas Italian restaurant opens in Neptune Beach, FL
Mamasamas owner Nic Sama focuses on fresh ingredients, including house-made pastas gnocchi and pappardelle, at his new Neptune Beach restaurant.
Mamasamas, a new Italian restaurant, has opened in Neptune Beach, offering authentic Italian cuisine.The menu features traditional Italian dishes made from scratch, including pasta, meatballs, and carpaccio, inspired by family recipes.Mamasamas aims to provide a welcoming and familial atmosphere, reflecting the warmth and hospitality of Italian culture.
NEPTUNE BEACH | A new Italian restaurant is building on a family legacy rooted in Australia with an inspired menu offering authentic scratch-made pasta, meatballs, carpaccio and elegant desserts.
Mamasamas recently opened in Neptune Beach, at 1451 Atlantic Blvd., the space previously used by Dos Vatos Tacos, which closed in November 2024.
The upscale-casual Italian restaurant offers made-from-scratch pasta and other authentic Italian dishes showcasing veal and fish as well as desserts rooted in family recipes.
“Every dish we serve is made with that same love, inspired by generations of family meals and the joy of sharing good food with good people,” owner and founder Nic Sama told the Times-Union.
Mamasamas, which began as a popular popup two years ago, is more than just a restaurant, he said.
“It’s a piece of my family’s story, a journey that started with my parents cooking the food they grew up with in a place far from home. Their passion, hard work, and love for bringing people together through food have shaped everything we do,” he says on the restaurant’s website, noting that “it’s my turn to carry on that tradition.”
The menu features dishes that were mainstays on the Sama family table at home as well as at his parents’ restaurant in Sydney, Australia.
“We’re doing real traditional Italian food here … These are dishes that we got brought up with at home,” said Sama, who has two brothers. “We used to have pasta every night. We used to have Cotaletta every night and meatballs on Sundays.”
Sama said he plans to change the restaurant’s welcome sign.
“I want it to say ‘Welcome to Mamasamas home.” I want it to be a home. A family, a home where people come, they indulge, they eat, they drink, they know each other and they pass wine around. That’s what my father did so well. And that’s how a restaurant should feel, like a home,” Sama said.
Building a family legacy with meatballs, gnocchi, carpaccio, and Pappardelle 24-hour Ragu
Mamasamas offers a small menu with big flavors. The food is elevated and served amid a relaxed ambiance where guests are welcomed as family and friends.
From the Arancini to the meatballs, beef carpaccio, and Pappardelle 24-hour Ragu, the restaurant’s menu “is made with love and for sharing,” Sama emphasized.
All the pasta and sauces are made daily in-house. The recipes and Mamasamas menu were inspired by dishes served at the family’s table and in his parents’ restaurant, he said.
“We try to keep it all very traditional,” he said. “We don’t do spaghetti and meatballs. We do meatballs and if you want a plate of pasta, we do that on the side. That’s how we really eat.”
Mamasamas signature offerings include:
Frattini Special ($19): An appetizer in homage to Sama’s parents’ restaurant featuring fresh spinach, ricotta, creamy gorgonzola, and lemon parsley crumbleArancini ($20): Rice balls, saffron, wild mushrooms, mozzarella, peas, Pomodoro, Parmigiano and NdujaBeef Carpaccio ($24): Razor-thin sliced filet mignon, candied walnuts, gorgonzola, olive oil, honey, dijon and lemonMeatballs ($25): Beef, Parmigiano, garlic, whipped, zest, ricotta, basil, parsley with Pomodoro sauceGnocchi Arrabbiata ($26): Gnocchi with cherry tomatoes, cream, Parmigiano, onion, garlic, parsley, and Calabrian chiliPappardelle 24HR Ragu ($27): Pappardelle with 24-hour braised ragu, Pomodoro, Parmigiano, onion, garlic, and parsleyAl Cartoccio (Market price): Baked catch of the day with cherry tomatoes, lemon, parsley, capers, potatoes, olives, and olive oilCotaletta ($35): Chef’s pick of the day but typically made with a veal. A schnitzel that is breaded and pan-fried with parsley, Parmigiano, pepper, lemon, Nduja aioli, and garlic
Fresh salads offered are Arugula ($17) and Mista ($13), the menu shows.
Featured desserts include tiramisu ($14), Budino ($15) and affogato ($13). After-dinner offerings range from fresh espresso ($8) to Italian liqueurs such as Limoncello and Sambuca (each $10) to Amaro Averna and Amaro Montenegro ($13 each).
“We created the Budino and that has been a big hit. “It’s chocolate crème anglaise set in the fridge with salted caramel gelato. Amaretti biscuits for that nice crunch and then we have an Italian meringue on top,” he said.
Mamasamas has a full bar offering classic and craft cocktails along with wine and beer. Among the signature cocktails: Benvenuto ($15) featuring Tito’s vodka, spiced pear, lemon and Prosecco; Ritardando ($12) which is red wine, vermouth, apple, cinnamon, and citrus; and Buona Notte ($14) featuring Old Forester bourbon, Amaro, banana and walnut.
“We’re mastering the classics with a heavy Italian influence … We’re trying to bring a different cocktail culture to Jacksonville and Northeast Florida. We really want to show what this area can produce and put Jacksonville on the map for cocktails,” said Alex Arnaiz, restaurant beverage manager, adding that most of their wine selection is Italian.
Menu inspired by family restaurant from ‘The Land Down Under’
Mamasamas began as a popup at a local American Legion post three days a week. Next came its Vintage Pizza Bar catering trailer. After two years of searching for the right location, the Neptune Beach spot became available for the brick-and-mortar restaurant, he said.
Sama spent three months renovating the space to transform it into his vision — “bringing a bit of Sydney, a bit of Italy and a bit of all that culture together” to make his vision of the restaurant a reality. None of which would have been possible, he said, without the dedication of the restaurant’s staff.
The restaurant is named Mamasamas in honor of his mother — “Mama” and his father’s surname “Sama.”
It’s an extension, Sama said, of the family’s restaurant legacy that began when his parents emigrated from Calabria, Italy to Australia.
Although they spoke no English, his parents opened a small restaurant — Frattini Italian Kitchen — in the heart of Sydney. Before it closed after 35 years, the restaurant served as a gathering place and “a bridge between cultures,” said Sama, who moved to Jacksonville about five years ago.
Sama and brother grew up in the restaurant, he said.
“Mom taught me how to cook. But there also were these ladies in the kitchen of the restaurant who were about in their 70s and I learned all these recipes off them,” he said.
Sama learned the welcoming hospitality side of the business from his father.
“So, it’s all for them. It’s not for me. And now, eventually, it’s for my little boy when he grows up,” said Sama, who hopes to pass on the family restaurant legacy to his son, who recently celebrated his first birthday with pasta instead of cake at Mamasamas.
The restaurant currently has 65 seats in the main dining room and bar. Additional seating is planned outdoors on the covered patio, Arnaiz said.
Reservations are recommended for Mamasamas, which is open only for dinner for now. The restaurant is open from 4:30 to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and closed Sunday through Tuesday.
The Vintage Pizza Bar, which is a vintage horse trailer renovated to become a catering vehicle, remains active and available, Sama said.
Teresa Stepzinski is the dining reporter for the Times-Union. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @TeresaStepz or reach her via email at tstepzinski@jacksonville.com.
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