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A Review of Mama Gaia in Crosstown Concourse

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On Thursday, March 23, 2017, I visited Mama Gaia in Crosstown Concourse. Mama Gaia is a “fast-casual, organic, vegetarian restaurant concept inspired by the mission to make deliciously prepared organic vegetarian food accessible to everyone.”

Review of Mama Gaia at Crosstown Concourse
I was invited to a VIP reception through the restaurant’s PR firm and it started at 5pm. The invite didn’t indicate whether my kids were invited or not but a took a quick peak at their menu and they have a kids menu so I figured kids were fair game! I was coming from East Memphis, and my husband was coming from downtown, and he was running a little late.

I had both girls in the car with me and the first thing I’ll mention about Crosstown Concourse is that I don’t think parking will ever be an issue. There is a large lot, in addition to a parking garage super close. (I wasn’t able to tell/see if in the future it will be paid or free parking, anyone know?) I got a spot up close and walked right to the restaurant.

Mama Gaia in Crosstown Concourse is located at street level, with an exterior front entrance so I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get a good look at the inside of Crosstown Concourse (more on that later!) For the reception, they had a bunch a tables set up outside (and I think they plan to keep the outside tables going forward) Of course I snagged one of those because #kids and it was a gorgeous day.

Review of Mama Gaia at Crosstown Concourse
Standing outside looking up at Crosstown Concourse (street level).

You guys, I’m going to be honest with you. 1) I’m not a food blogger 2) I can pretty much find something I like on any darn menu and 3) I think what you really want to know is “Can I take my kids there?”

When I arrived at the check in, I gave my name to the hostess to check the list and I loud-whispered “Are there any kids here?” And she said “no, none right now, but you are welcome to bring them in.” I kinda panicked at first, but went on in, and after a few minutes, I saw several more people bring their kids in. (PS I had jeans and TOMS on, in case you’re wondering about dress code. But there were people there coming from work in career clothes.)

As far as the food goes, it was quite yummy, but it didn’t scream “I’M VEGETARIAN!” A few days later, I was describing it to a friend, recalling the different bites I tried, and I said “Who knows, maybe it’s a vegetarian/vegan place?” Like, I couldn’t recall if I had anything with meat in it that night, but I also didn’t think I was eating hummus and spinach that whole night either. Know what I mean?

I’m here to report Mama Gaia has a kid-friendly patio and a kids menu, too!

[bctt tweet=”I’m here to report @MamaGaiaOrganic has a kid-friendly patio and a kids menu, too!” username=”eastmemphismoms”]

I had a couple bites of a mushroom pizza, falafel, a simple hummus/pita thing and then a fancy hummus/pita thing. My kids didn’t eat a thing, but they had just come from a tea party birthday party. My guess is they will eat either of the things on the kids menu. I also tried some of the agave-sweetened sodas which were SWEET!

Review of Mama Gaia at Crosstown Concourse
We tried the agave-sweetened sodas.

My kids were running up and down the ramp and kind of hanging on the railing and I really don’t think there were bothering anyone. The setup, especially outside, allows for that.

So now for the potty situation. Of course, inevitably, someone had to go. I asked a server where the restrooms were and she pointed me into the Concourse. I asked her, just out of curiosity, if there would be restrooms located in the restaurant in the future and she told me she didn’t think so. So I walked inside! You guys, there is still a ton of construction going on but Crosstown Concourse is breathtaking.

[bctt tweet=”I walked inside #CrosstownConcourse, and kind of gasped. @yourconcourse” username=”eastmemphismoms”]

It’s going to be so, so cool. When I was describing to a friend that there is going to be a high school in there (maybe 2!) She didn’t realize it was that big! It is! And it’s awesome! I’m so proud of Memphis for this.

Review of Mama Gaia at Crosstown Concourse
Standing inside the concourse looking up.

Back to the potty, there were just a few stalls in the women’s room in the lobby of the main Concourse so my guess is most establishments on the street level may have their own but the lobby one is available for public use.

That’s my report on Mama Gaia in Crosstown Concourse. Check it out. Would be perfect to head to after the zoo or Art Project, either for lunch or dinner.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Mama Gaia says

    Mama Gaia is happy to announce to all East Memphis Moms that our three kids high chairs have arrived and are ready for use – whether inside or on our patio.

    We saw one comment here that stated something incorrectly, and we would love to post a picture on this blog to show you the size of our large fries (and they’ve been like this since day 1). It just seems pictures can’t be added to a comment.

    Our large fries are BIG. Whoever Sofi is who described our large fries as small: please send us an email to info@mamagaia.net, and we’ll be glad to take on your challenge. We’ve had hundreds of people raving about our organic, baked, hand-cut fries – and we have yet to see a single female who’s able to finish that portion. Even single males have to work hard to eat them all.

    Moms, please also check out if you can eat more than one of our pitas. We saw that the same person that commented about our fries also described the Gaia pita (with falafel) as being small. Again, we invite the person (Sofi) who posted that comment about our fries and falafel pita to come in, eat a falafel pita and a large fries (or small fries if you’re scared about the size) on the house (for free!). We’re also inviting the owner of this blog who’s written this nice article to come out and eat for free at the same time – in order to witness and document how Sofi will be working her way through a falafel pita and a large fries. Will she be able to finish it? Maybe after fasting for a while beforehand. Otherwise we’re betting she won’t. 🙂

    We love the earth, we love people, we love children, we love good food, and we love we can contribute to the Memphis restaurant scene with a concept that most rather expect in San Francisco, NYC, or Europe. We also welcome all of our customers’ feedback and try the best we can to provide a great experience at affordable prices.

    But we don’t really welcome a factually incorrect comment that misleads everyone who reads it.

    We’ll keep you posted whether Sofi will show herself and accept our challenge that she initiated with a comment that exposes her as someone who has never actually had or seen our large fries.

    At the same time we agree that we should have had high chairs from the beginning. After a wrong delivery we had to send that order back. So it took us a bit to get it all exchanged, but we’re ready to go now with several high chairs. Yay!

    We’re looking forward to having you over and see first hand what Mama Gaia is really about:

    – good, healthy, fresh and delicious food
    – organic food, never gmo, not exposed to harmful herbicides and pesticides
    – for it being organic and fresh (made from scratch, no processed food) most everybody is calling Mama Gaia affordable – with the majority of our menu items at below $10.

    Kids have loved our organic “Petitzza”, our organic cheese pita, pita with hummus, as well as organic vegetables with hummus. Moms have liked a lot that their kids can eat healthy at Mama Gaia while still liking the taste and actually wanting to come back. We never use refined sugar in any of our menu items, and even our sodas are made with organic agave nectar.

    Thanks again for the owner of this blog to have written a review, and thank you for giving us the opportunity to react to a false comment of another person with our own comment.

    Also a big Thank You to all the Moms that have already come out to see first-hand what we have to offer.

    Reply

  2. Peyton says

    Sofi may either be from jealous competition, doesn’t really understand what it means to actually offer organic food, and some facts are stated incorrectly.

    1. The large fries at Mama Gaia are not only organic, hand-cut and baked…it is actually a huge portion. Large wedge sizes actually. In ours we had 14 large wedges. We couldn’t finish it but it tasted great.

    2. We’ve been there multiple times, the staff is among the friendliest we’ve seen, and our food was delicious each time.

    3. It’s correct they didn’t have high chairs in the first week of opening. We noticed that because of our friends. They did ensure us these were ordered, and that the first delivery was wrong, so they had to deal with this delay. They said the high chairs should arrive no later then this coming week.

    As people that value organic food, we love this place, and we couldn’t be more happy it opened in Memphis.

    Reply

  3. Sofi says

    I went to Mama Gaia this weekend with my husband and kids. Honestly, I was disappointed. The portion sizes were small for adults (half a falafel sandwich per person). Even the large fries only had 10 fries in the basket. Also, my chickpeas were dry and not cooked through. I think I could’ve gotten a better deal at another restaurant or just cooked the same organic meal at home and saved time and money. I wouldn’t recommend.

    Reply

    • Dave says

      I agree with Sofi. I had really high hopes for this place due to its location and healthy options. Maybe they were unrealistic but the staff wasn’t all that friendly, portions small and NO little kids high chairs. No high chairs made it really hard for my family of 5 (incl. 19 mo. old) to be able to relax and enjoy our food this Sunday after church.

      Reply

    • Sally says

      Having experience in the restaurant industry, I always say give a place a second chance. They’ve only been open for a week or so! Hopefully they’re hearing our (parents) requests to add some high chairs!

      Reply

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