The sandwich in that review looks way better than the more recent review. Maybe things have just gone downhill.
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I went to a diner-with-pretensions kinda restaurant with friends and their kids a while back, and the menu showed pictures of the kind of mac 'n cheese you’d expect from Panera, for example, and you could add broccoli, hot dog, whatever. The kids ordered it, and what came out was clearly from the old blue box. My friends were pissed, not unreasonably so, for paying the 800% mark up on a box of Kraft, but when brought to the table, the manager explained that he used to serve what was in the picture, but when kids came in, they wanted Kraft with hot dogs. (While the parents were complaining, the kids were hilariously wolfing it down and then saying, “Don’t worry mom! It’s all gone now!”)
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I don’t know. I feel like that takes some effort.
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It’s good food.
It’s not fancy food.
It’s been an Austin (TX) mainstay since 1980-something.
I’ve eaten there in the past. I liked it. Good vegetarian options.
It’s amazing that this restaurant somehow still exists (after the onset of the COVID pandemic) in whatever incarnation they are currently working with.
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Given that context, my initial reaction to the review was that they had the wrong perspective. The spaghetti is really intended to be experienced on the way back up, presumably.
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It doesn’t.
Mother’s Cafe was a celebrated dining spot in Austin, Texas for over 40 years. Since closing the cafe in October 2020, we have been working hard to expand distribution of our beloved Cashew Tamari Salad Dressing and develop new products for retail sale online and in grocery stores.
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And rolled out the door.
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Childhood comfort food in restaurants has the same problem all good cheap peasant food has, in that what it is can’t justify the prices needed to keep the doors open on a dine-in sit down restaurant in a decent location*. Either the prices are insultingly high for what it is or the quality is very poor. I have a can of chef-boy-ar-dee spaghetti and meatballs on my shelf at this very moment, and I loves me some powdered parmesan straight out of an american Italian resaurant from 1971, but the overall thumbs-up-or-down hinges on value.
*see also being charged more than $5 for a taco that should be $2.
I wonder do american Italian restaurants still typically have a night for an all you can eat spaghetti feed?
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Eh, that’s still some pretty shady bait and switch BS.
Have two options if you like – one that’s fancy and one on the kid’s menu. Or update the photo. But you can’t offer the one and provide the other.
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I have no memory of it, but apparently I and my siblings did the same thing to our poor mother when we were young. She thought she’d do something special by making us a fancy mac ‘n’ cheese from scratch, and we all turned our noses up at it. Poor mum.
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I think people misunderstand the restaurant: Eminem’s mom hated him, so this is the kind of food she served him as a kid. Authentic slim shady cuisine, but not for the faint of heart.
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It’s just in a different incarnation.
Businesses have to change and morph all the time.
It’s… not… completely… dead… yet…
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Well, yeah, but it’s not exactly a “restaurant” any more.
Went to the site looking for the menu to see if it was going to be worth getting a meal from. Got disappointed that it was just salad dressing.
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Getting to put their name on the business and have people talk about it.
If you are in central Texas, there’s a huge number of really good places to eat. Even for vegetarians (which was a big chunk of Mother’s clientele). It’s one of the reasons I moved to Austin–its a fairly culinarily adventurous town. It’s just not as cheap to eat out as it used to be. Still it’s a foodie dream here, with embarrassingly well-stocked groceries and I am excluded Whole-azon (or Ama-Whole) in this reference.
If you haven’t been to MT Supermarket on very North Lamar, it’s worth a stop if you want a massive pan-Asian grocery selection.
The Austin Chronicle has a pretty good roundup of listings for the newest restaurants and new openings.
Back on topic:
Short answer: no, probably not. Parmigiano Reggiano is extremely expensive [at least here in the States], and most U.S.ians are not willing to pay that much. Pecorino Romano and a good Asiago, likewise.
However, being served cold food that is supposed to be served warm… yeah: that is a problem.
ETA: errant word
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… we could say that about anybody
By definition, the subject of every article is doing something that is getting them attention, and we can claim that’s their only motive 
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Someone needs to post their own review of [Eminem’s] Mom’s Spaghetti to confirm this.
By the way, I don’t really remember spaghetti in middle school, but I could always count on elementary school spaghetti being fully cooked with more than enough sauce and cheese powder to keep me going.
Been to MT Surpermarket maybe twice, it’s pretty good though too far for me. 99 Ranch Market are closer and up the street from it there’s a nearby Korean grocery store called Han Yang Market. I really like both 
Also as a heads up there will be a new H-Mart on 11301 Lakeline Blvd Bldg 8 if you’re on the north side of town (i’m coordinating the gas install for them).
Vegan and Vegetarian fare in Austin post-COVID has been iffy for me as well. I feel that it’s gotten so expensive, took my SO to Beer Plant for Valentine’s Day and the prices were eye wateringly high. Another vegan fave of mine used to be Bistro Vonish, they’re great but again the last time i ate there i felt disappointed mostly based on price point.
Also in the past 2-3 years i’ve noticed a slew of food trucks and restaurants we loved close shop, particularly vegan ones. On the plus side we’ve been eating out less but i do miss it.
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Even basic spaghetti is pretty damn good so they must be working extra hard to make it terrible.
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