Yesterday, for my belated b-day celebration, the Vinnys, Hubbs & I ventured out of our comfort zone to try out Mangiamo's Trattoria, pronounced as mon-JYA-mo's tra-tor-EE-ah. According to my fabulous Italian mentor teacher, the name of the place basically means "Let's Eat Casual Diner." It sounds a bazillion times better in Italian, non?
Anyway, the place is very upscale yuppy chic on the inside; neutral walls and dark wood furnishings and generally very classy. Nothing like what we would have expected for a place that touts itself as serving "Italian comfort food." It's also not a terribly large restaurant, so we were a little intimidated to see a table for 15 set up in the middle of the place. It worried us that perhaps our service would be a little on the slow side. Our fears were, unfortunately, founded.
That aside, the place was fantastic. The server was very friendly, personable, and helpful. The menu was small (3 appetizers, 3 salads, 5 entrees and 8 pastas) but the offered dishes were tantalising. I opted for a lemon herb salmon served with baby crab cream linguine, while Vinny had the striploin and Mrs. Vinny had the pork tenderloin. Hubbs went for the Italian sausage buccatini (spelling?), and the guys also shared the antipasti appetizer. All of their entrees came with your choice of side salad or soup, so I chose their house salad (mixed greens with candied walnuts and dried cranberries, and tossed with a honey vinagrette).
The app came quickly, as did the bread and our drinks. I didn't try the apps but am told that it was delicious, and came with a variety of 4 cheeses and 2 different types of salami-esque meat, along with some pickled asparagus. The bread (buns) were cold, which we were a tad disappointed by; warm buns make the butter melt much better, in my opinion, and I don't think it is too much to ask from any restaurant to make sure their buns or bread are warm. But that's just me.
Our soup and salad took a bit longer to arrive, but thankfully we had much to chat about so the time flew by. If you're super hungry, however, I can imagine that the wait would be torturous. My salad was the perfect size and also very tasty; I thought the walnuts were a bit too sweet and overwhelming for the rest of the salad, but generally speaking I enjoyed my greens. Mrs. Vinny, the lone soup drinker at the table, tells me that her wild mushroom soup was fantastic - not too creamy and not too thin, with a nice balanced mushroom flavour.
When our salad and soup plates were cleared, our entrees followed immediately, which I appreciated. I didn't sample others' dishes due to my cold, but my salmon was perfectly poached (still moist in the middle!) and had a nice lemony-herb taste to it. My creamy linguine was, much to my relief, not too creamy, although it was a tad heavy. Hubbs thought his sausage buccatini dish was scrumptious, and his serving was so large that he could only finish about half of it! Mrs. Vinny also really liked her pork tenderloin, and said that it had a nice (albeit slightly sweet) sauce that gave flavour to her meat; unfortunately, it probably overwhelmed her pasta because she couldn't taste the blue cheese that was supposed to be in her side dish. Vinny enjoyed his steak and said it was good, although he looked for a salt shaker (there was none) at the table and commented that the steak was a little undersalted.
Overall, though, it was a lovely restaurant and a very pleasant experience, and generally speaking the food was worth its price (main entrees ranging from $17-$26). Three out of the four of us had doggy bags to take home, and we left the place happy, well-fed, and well-watered.
If you're looking for a more upscale Italian dining experience, I would recommend Mangiamo's, but don't expect to find the typical lasagna and penne that you would get at a more chain-style restaurant. They have great food here, but it's not the type of Italian I would have guessed it to be. That said, the place has a great, relaxing feel to it and the food is really good, for the most part. Go with a date, and go on a weeknight!
Rating: 8.5 / 10
Hubbs' Rating: 8.5 / 10
1 comment:
Vinny was being kind when he said the steak was good. It was only okay - kinda tough, and not enough flavour.
As for my dish, I tasted a tiny hint of the blue cheese when I had the leftover noodles for lunch the next day. Guess the flavours had to simmer a little longer.
If it weren't for the steak and the gross buns (not only were they not warm, they were tasteless and kinda dry), I would've given an 8, but given those things, I'd give it a 7.5.
But that was one good mushroom soup :)
Post a Comment