MAMA Oakland has always been about what my own Mama taught me about hospitality: that it’s a way of welcoming ALL and providing our broader family of humans with a place to feel safe and loved.

So, you can imagine the deep ravages of shame I felt when I wanted to just… blow the whole thing up. It was mid-2020—barely a year after first opening our doors in homage to my grandmother—when the shame overtook me because, in case you haven’t heard, running a restaurant is hard. REALLY. REALLY. HARD. And that’s not counting a global pandemic that turned our lives into an 18-month-long dumpster fire. Throw in profoundly crucial social justice movements, impossible logistics and supply chain ordeals, and ever-diminishing margins, and it became nearly impossible to succeed. 

We had to ask ourselves: Will we try even harder to defy the odds and reopen? Or pull the curtains forever, wave PEACE OUT, and go live happily ever after… elsewhere…. (Common sense says, “Run, girl! RUN.”)

But we couldn’t do it. We couldn’t run away. Maybe it was Mama Maria’s legacy. Or maybe… just maybe, it was the nagging question: What would society be if we did not have restaurants? What if our communities lacked hospitality—void of safe and welcoming spaces to gather and commune? 

So, we made a promise. MAMA Oakland would not become a void. And just like Mama Maria herself, we would invest in our space to make it a place where all are truly welcome, where we respect humanity and redefine the social contract between our guests and those who serve them. We exist to focus on conversation, debate, laughter, joy, celebration, and hospitality. MAMA Oakland exists to unite people over a delicious meal, commune, and build a better tomorrow.

Today, I am so proud to say that MAMA Oakland is more vibrant than ever. As we look towards our future, we’ll continue to invest in our community through our diversity and equity practices and ethical business decisions—as well as, obviously, in really tasty food and drink delivered via kind, compassionate, and gracious service… all of which we also humbly, in this spirit of all this, ask our guests to reflect back on us and our teams. 

It takes two to tango. We can’t exist without guests like YOU who care about what we’re doing. So, THANK YOU for being here with us. With immense gratitude and in community,

Stevie, Josiah, and the MAMA Oakland families 
*Thanks, Michelin, Eater, etc., for your accolades. We are truly humbled.