My girlfriend's birthday was yesterday, she picked Mangiamo as her restaurant of choice for the evening. The two of us arrived early to enjoy a glass of wine on me before a few more of our friends arrived for dinner. The Bartender was super nice and attentive, we enjoyed a reasonably priced glass of Joel Gott Syrah, it was really good and the bartender gave us a great ""pour"". We were both a bit hungry and had an hour before dinner reservations thus we orderd the lobster ravioli appetizer, as they had no cheese plate or antipasti type of starters. The lobster ravioli was oily flat and very very bland. Little did I know that oily, flat and bland would be the theme of my dining experience at Mangiamo. \r
We sat down for dinner and I ordered the ceasar salad to start and then chose the penne pasta with grilled chicken and sun dried tomatoes etc. The ceasar salad was on par with what you would order in a mall food court and the pasta dish was equal to what I had on my last flight from LA to New York. The meal was just plain ""bad"". My friends all seemed to have fared better than I, my friend Curt ordered the braised beef that tasted pretty good, (he shared a nibble), the birthday girl ordered the spinach and mushroom salad and had the tuna tar tar as an entree, (did not resemble even a semblance of Italian). My friend donna orderd some sort of fish with risotto which was equally disppointing. Even the desert was a let down, strawberry short cake that did not taste home made and a sugary syrup masquerading as strawberry something or other. The best part of the meal was the hostess ( a very pretty) woman who took delightful care of our group.
Pros: great service from the bartender and hostess
Cons: food was inedible
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