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Mezzo Italian Kitchen & Wine
Neighborhood: Gahanna
130 Creekside Plaza
Gahanna, OH 43230
(614) 476-9900
130 Creekside Plaza
Gahanna, OH 43230
(614) 476-9900
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
4 reviews for Mezzo Italian Kitchen & Wine
Very cute place! The little plaza is beautiful, and the restaurant is very pleasant. Make reservations as it gets busy.
The food was good, and the service very friendly. All four people at my table had various pasta dishes, and I think everyone was happy with their selection. There's a parking garage right there, and you can take a quick elevator ride up to the restaurant. There's also a cold stone creamery (ice cream) next door! So leave some room for ice-cream!
Here for restaurant week.
The rolls were good and sweet and warm. The butter was nicely herbed giving the rolls a sweet and rich earthy taste that was lovely.
The salad was good but un-special. The mixed greens were lightly dressed in some indistinguishable vinaigrette, mixed with candied (maple or butter rum?) walnuts with a scant of Gorgonzola cheese and some marinated apples.
The entree was bland (I make much, much better at home.) Soggy boxed pasta with completely dry, overcooked scallops and shrimp (yuck). No real sauce or seasoning (i.e., no salt or pepper or fat or anything), maybe a 1/2 pat of butter and a few colorful vegetable bits. The waiter (see below) did not offer any parmesan cheese or red pepper or fresh pepper for our table. The pasta would have been better with a little extra to hide the dry gross seafood.
The dessert was technically the best part of the meal--a homemade-tasting cheesecake with a loose, rich cheese filling and fresh strawberries.
The portions were great, but the food wasn't overall.
And then there was the service. Our waiter was dead inside--no personality and seemed annoyed to be awake and working. He said, "Hi, may I take your order?" That was about it. I had to ask him if there were any specials or a soup of the day. I was too annoyed with him to ask for parmesan. Jobs are tough to get and keep these days...I hope he is let go and someone deserving can have his job.
I might be tempted to go back for wine during happy hour. The place is beautiful--the lighting, the bar, the tables inside, the patio.
Mezzo was good. It was close, convenient and had a good selection. I thought it was a bit pricey for the area but I liked the restaurant. I sat at the bar in the open air and had a quick dinner and drink. I would go back; that's what's important, right?
As much as we were happy that a new, slightly fancy restaurant has opened in Gahanna, Mezzo has some serious flaws, which by themselves are grave but not lethal -- but given the fact that the manager, Jon Cohen, chose to argue in front of other guests at the hostess' station about them makes this a no-go zone until some serious improvements are made.
This restaurant opened in late November and has some major kinks which need to be worked out.
Here is the run-down of what is wrong at Mezzo:
* The wine list has wines running in the $30s, 40s, 60s, all the way up to 100. Nice selection, but our waiter did not know how to remove the foil from the bottle, poured it over the aluminum -- and then joked about the fact that he screwed up.
He also poured glasses worthy of an all-you-can-drink event in Atlantic City.
And no, he never came back to pour more wine.
The food:
Pizza from a stone oven sounds good, and their dough is good. But more is less. They put so many of their ingredients on the pies that the two varieties we tried were soggy beyond redemption.
Not a single staff member of those who served us could pronounce the wines, the names of the dishes on the menu, let alone the word "espresso" properly.
The kicker:
As we commented and complained our way through the dinner, the people at the neighboring table and a second couple at the bar chimed in, saying the pizza was definitely not even remotely Italian, that the service left a lot to be desired, and that the management did not pay attention to these deficits.
When we talked to the manager, he quickly shifted from apologetic to hostile and denied that Mezzo is a "fine dining" establishment since the average check only runs in the $30 range -- as if lowering expectations were an excuse for having badly trained waiters. One look at Mezzo's press release, dutifully reprinted in local papers and websites, and you know he's copping out, as it's described as an Italian place allegedly filled with "spontaneity, fun and Italian lifestyle." Oh well...
In summary:
If you want to show off a wine list as thick as a small magazine and sell dishes which sound nice in a fancy setting, make sure the staff knows what you're selling, how to pronounce it, how to serve it -- and please respond to customer complaints while you still have the chance to win them over! Customer service is the best form of marketing.
