Mangiamo Ristorante & Bar

Mangiamo Ristorante & Bar Restaurant Review:

About the restaurant & décor: Serving beachside residents since 1984, Ron Guidone’s Southern-influenced Italian restaurant offers an enjoyable experience and, at night, a buzzing bar scene. With a policy of “no flip-flops or beach attire” and “no cell phones,” the atmosphere is serious, but somehow not stuffy.

Food & Drinks: The menu provides plenty of intriguing selections, so it may take a while to decide what to order. To start, opt for wild mushroom and pumpkin tortellini, flavored with red peppercorns, sage, beurre blanc and toasted pumpkin seed oil, or the smoked pheasant nachos. Interesting specialties include roasted rack of lamb with “blackberry essence” and potato-crusted halibut with baby artichokes and Spanish olives. Other fish specialties include sand dabs and cioppino. As if that isn’t enough to induce indecision, there are also several pastas, which include sauces like Alfredo and marinara created by Guidone's father; or for the more progressive, a farfalle with porcini and California brown mushrooms, flambéed with Madeira wine and chili flakes. Desserts are more than comprehensive with traditional options of tiramisu and affogato. To drink, there is a well-balanced wine list with quite a few Brunello and Barolo options, plus 30 martinis, including cantaloupe and Godiva dark chocolate.