Mangia Wine Bar/Kenosha: Underwhelming lunch Took in lunch a few weeks ago at the much-loved Mangia in Kenosha. kenoshamangia/wp/ Mangia is partially owned by Tony Mantuano, a celebrated chef and restaurant owner, and also a very likeable and successful contestant on Bravos Top Chef Masters. bravotv/people/tony-mantuano/bio. In a nutshell, Mangia did not live up to my expectations. First, the lunch menu has three pasta entrees. When we arrived, it was approximately 12:00 pm in the middle of the week and there were two other tables seated. We were told that they were out of two of the three pasta entrees. Seems a little bizarre given the time of day and that this is an Italian restaurant. However, the antipasti menu was large and looked interesting so we decided to just make a lunch of antipastis. We asked for recommendations from the new waiter who was being trained. We were told they are all good. I understand the new waiter may not have a recommendation yet, but his trainer could have offered her knowledge. First came the bread basket with butter. Very nice assortment of fresh breads. A good start. We ordered Nectarine Bruschetta, pictured. It was toasted (a little overly so) and topped with ricotta, arugula, nectarine, and almond. It was missing salt or some sort of vinegar. The nectarine itself was somewhat flavorless and awkwardly sized. Bruschetta is never easy to eat but I would have liked a smaller chop. We also ordered the Fried Cheese for Grown-ups This was described to us by the waitstaff and when received was as-described. However the dough/breading surrounding the cheese was rather tough and hard to eat as well as being burned on the bottom. The cheese inside was delicious. We also ordered the calamari. Portion was fine, but the calamari was grilled which left it with overly-aggressive non-calamari taste. Not sure why, but it wasnt pleasing. The fried dough and prosciutto was our final item and the prosciutto was very good but the antipasti was not a memorable one. The owner inquired about our meal and we told her it was somewhat disappointing. She offered to remake the items but we were pretty full (the food was edible certainly, just not memorable). She did bring out complimentary peanut butter gelato which was tasty. Given the reputation of Mangia, I will give it a second try. Perhaps they put their focus on the dinner menu. I know a lot of members count this as one of their favorite restaurants so I would love to taste it at its best.
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 16:39:07 +0000
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