Antonia Mamsha: The Abu Dhabi Pizzeria Built on a Family Starter

A Roman slice with an Abu Dhabi origin story

Antonia may feel unmistakably Italian, but it is also one of Abu Dhabi’s more successful homegrown restaurant stories. Chef-owner Simone Federici named the concept after his grandmother, Antonia, whose kitchen in Abruzzo shaped his fascination with food from childhood. The emotional centre of the menu is pizza al taglio: Roman-style rectangular pizza, baked in trays and cut by the slice, made with a sourdough tradition the Michelin Guide traces back to a 50-year-old starter recipe.

At Mamsha Al Saadiyat, that pizza arrives in a setting that could hardly be further from a Roman neighbourhood bakery. The restaurant faces the beach and folds naturally into Mamsha’s promenade culture, where a casual lunch can easily become a longer afternoon. The dough may be the headline, but the menu has depth beyond it: antipasti, carpaccio, burrata, handmade pasta, risotto and seafood give the kitchen enough range for a full dinner rather than a pizza-only visit.

Pasta, seafood and a taste of Abruzzo

Federici uses the menu to move between familiar Italian comfort and more specific regional references. Fresh crab linguine appears as a recurring special, while sea urchin spaghetti brings a Sardinian note. Elsewhere, porcini and truffle fettuccine, ricotta gnocchi, beef-rib ragù and seafood linguine show how seriously Antonia takes pasta.

Those details matter because the restaurant’s rapid expansion could easily have diluted its character. Instead, Mamsha still feels like the original expression of the brand: informal, ingredient-led and personal. In 2026, MICHELIN added Antonia to its Abu Dhabi selection, highlighting both the sourdough pizza and the restaurant’s classic pastas, carpaccio and tiramisu.

Why the original still matters

There are now several Antonia addresses, each with a different personality, but Mamsha remains the most evocative. The beachside location gives the restaurant a rhythm that suits the food: slices shared at lunch, pasta after sunset, or a table built around several plates rather than a rigid sequence.

For Simply Abu Dhabi, Antonia is interesting because it proves that a locally grown concept can expand without pretending to be imported. Its story begins with one family kitchen, passes through Roman pizza culture, and lands convincingly on Saadiyat Island.

Practical details

Location: Mamsha Al Saadiyat, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Cuisine: Italian
Telephone: +971 2 667 2554
Official email: hr@antoniarestaurant.com