A woman with dark hair and tattoos wearing a pink dress stands close to a man with a beard and tattoos wearing a denim shirt; they are smiling at each other against a floral wallpaper background.

Mila & Mateo

Martinico

MEET THE OWNERS

Seal with a woman wearing a headscarf, holding a steaming bowl of noodles with chopsticks, surrounded by text 'Authentic Italian Recipes' and 'Made by Mila Martini'.

Mila Martinico — lovingly known as Mama Mila — opened Mama Mila’s to keep her Nonna’s legacy alive.

After her Nonna passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack, Mila felt a pull she couldn’t ignore. Her Nonna came to her in dreams, urging her to keep the legacy alive — the food, the traditions, and the way love is expressed through feeding people well. That calling became Mama Mila’s.

Mila was raised in her grandparents’ restaurant. As a baby, there was a playpen in the lobby while her family worked. By the age of nine, she was already helping in the kitchen, learning not just how to cook, but how to care for people through food. This life wasn’t a career choice — it was her upbringing.

In 2017, Mila and her husband Mateo moved to Tennessee in search of a better life for their children. With very little to their name, they lived on a farm in a renovated vintage Airstream named Louise. Just like their Nonno and Nonna before them when they immigrated to America, they started over with nothing but determination, faith, and family recipes.

From Louise, Mila began selling Italian pastries and take-and-bake lasagnas out of a parking lot. What started as a way to help her grieving heart  quickly became a way to share her heritage with a new community.

Six years later, that dream has grown into Mama Mila’s — a place built on legacy, resilience, and uncompromising standards. The food is made from scratch, using carefully sourced and imported ingredients, prepared with deep respect for authenticity. This is the food of her ancestors, made the way it was always meant to be made.

At its heart, Mama Mila’s is meant to feel like visiting Nonna’s house — an open kitchen, voices calling your name, plates being passed, and someone always insisting you eat more. It is a place where you are fed until you are full, welcomed until you feel known, and loved the moment you walk through the door.

Mama Mila’s is more than a restaurant.

It is a home.

It is legacy.

And everyone has a seat at the table.

Ingredients

A table with a red and white checkered tablecloth set with plates of pasta, a slice of cheesecake on a decorative plate, and a vase with red and cream carnations.

Our commitment to you is quality. Our sausage is made in house, our ingredients are locally sourced, when possible, and imported from Italy. Our flour is Organic, non-GMO and is specially grown and made in Italy which means we get all of the benefits and none of the crap. Our desserts are made in house by our incredible bakers and at the end of the day, we want to feed you the food that your heart craves AND that makes you feel good.

Columbia, Tennessee

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We call the Arts District of Columbia, our home. Located on South Garden Street, we are proud to help bring this community to life. Come visit us at Row & Co. and check out all of the businesses that our corner of Columbia has to offer!

Sign for Mama Mila's, an Italian restaurant, featuring a woman in a dress carrying a large bowl of food, with the phrase 'Real Italian Food' at the bottom.

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