Mangia Mangia Italian Cuisine

Take this with a grain of salt, Yelper's. I'm not a band wagon Yelper and this isn't Chicago. What Mangia is is an Italian eatery in a small town in the mountains of Colorado. That said, this is good food at a good price.

I've been coming here seasonally since it opened some years ago. They had some consistency issues in the beginning, but I believe that's been remedied.

They make things from scratch here. That's a lot of effort for a small market small restaurant. Julie, the owner, makes the deserts. They also make their salad dressings. I was told that everything is made to order. There isn't a Sicilian immigrant running the kitchen, of course, but the fare they put out is done with enough care to keep you coming back when a hankering for red sauce and garlic hits you.

The decor isn't distracting. Greens and wood tones mostly. They use white tablecloths and napkins. But the table center piece is a fake plant (suggest a live rosemary plant, though I'm not sure how well that would do come winter). No, I'm not OCD; just workable issues.

Oh, the music is a non-irritating blend of Rat Pack and classical.

Service was prompt, pleasant, and appropriate for an eatery.

My dinner this evening (and it was a Monday to-boot!):

The Cesar salad was a whole head of romain and it was crisp. The dressing was fresh and tangy, though I'd prefer more lemon and anchovy.

The bread was warm and fresh and came with a dipping plate of extra virgin olive oil and balsamic.

The house Cabernet was better than most restaurant house wines you might try. There's a bit of cherries on the top note, but it's light in tannins and acidity. It is a good table wine.

My standard order here is the spaghetti, meatballs and sausage. That dish has always been consistent and yummy. Tonight I ordered the eggplant parmesan and a side of meatballs (they pair well together).

The food was in keeping with my review above. It was hot and flavorful and fresh. Only complaint might be that the serving size was just a bit small. However, that's more of an American cultural criticism - we eat too damn much anyway! As it stands, I am satisfied.

The tiramisu was flavorful and fresh but too sweet, light and fluffy. It needed a denser consistency of lady fingers and stronger espresso notes. But it was better than many "authentic" Italian restaurants in which I've dined (New York, Chicago, and even Italy).

Coffee is one of the most overlooked aspects of a restaurant. Too often it's an afterthought. Of course with the coffee shop on every corner culture we have today, this is becoming less common. The coffee here was fresh, hot, and strong. I doubt its a fair trade bean from some off-the-beaten-path part of the world, but it was plenty good for the last thing I'll remember (e.g., service is the first impression, coffee is the last).

Give Mangia Mangia a try. Just remember to keep a perspective: You're dinning in a small town at 8,000 feet and surrounded by mountains; which by the way is quite nice via the patio seating. If you do, I don't believe you'll be disappointed.

I really want to leave 2.5 stars, but alas.

The visit got off to a rocky start, as we were seated and then forgotten about for 15 minutes. No drinks, no "We'll be right with you" - nothing. This was during lunch, and there were four tables in total occupied when we arrived...so you'd think this wouldn't happen. I was actually putting my purse back over my shoulder to go when the server finally came over and took our drink and food order.

I got the chicken caprese sandwich with fries, and the hubs had the classic Italian sandwich. 20 minute ticket time, easily. Which I could totally understand if this was a dinner rush, but again...four tables. Three of which already had food.

Anyway, the food itself is good. The sandwich was a little greasy and haphazardly put together, but good. The fries were awesome, I give them that. Hubs said his sandwich was good, as well. But I was pretty underwhelmed and truthfully, the poor service at the beginning didn't really make me want to like their food.

I doubt we'll be back...seems like there's plenty of other places in town to try.

We had eaten at the "pre" mangia mangia several times over the last few years. It got worse every time until I finally gave up (super heavy flavorless alfredo with bacon bits is not the same thing as carbonara). I was very excited to come back and try the new menu.

The price tag is high - but no more so then the other nicer restaurants in town. The portions are smaller though. Your first portion of bread is free, but you pay for extra. It is not unusual for nice restaurants to not give you sides or salads for free. They have a kids menu that is not written. They also have gluten free pasta (which I don't believe was on the menu either). I'm fairly confident the menu will grow as they get their feet wet, but I'd rather see a few delicious items then a huge menu of food that isn't palatable.

We had bruschetta (which is can't miss - though $7 for 3 pieces almost made me laugh), meatballs, lasagna, sausage puttanesca, and buttered noodles with parm for the kidlet. It was all delicious. Not exactly what I look for in a red sauce, but better then any of the other decent Italian places in the Springs.

I think once the hype dies down they may struggle because of the price but the food is excellent quality and really tasty. Good place for a special night.

I got take out from here last night - two bags of Italian food making my car smell amazing and driving me crazy on the 15 minute drive back to Manitou. I had an Italian restaurant craving, without the 'sit down' time - Mangia Mangia was in a precarious position, making or breaking my evening by being delicious or not. It was!

Calamari, eggplant parm. and salmon/risotto w/caesar - everything tasted and felt fresh. The calamari were delicious with a nice delicate crunch, even after a half hour - I'll have to try them right after prep. next time - with a good marinara - the salmon (which has olives on it for a little bite) was juicy and flavorful and fell apart just right into the risotto, which, I'm sure Ramsay would be pleased to know was not over or under cooked, and just right. The eggplant parm had a vibrant green layer of fresh basil that was nice to see and tasted like New York eggplant parm, very strong flavor.

I could clearly taste the different ingredients in the dishes. Really good. Simple, tasty and fresh ingredients done right. Washed down with a bottle of Zinphomaniac. Nice meal. Happy belly and wistful sauce aftertastes. You know what I'm talking about.

Worth the 10-15 jaunt from Manitou.

To-Do Local Field Trip: One of the 2 local breweries in Woodland Park and here for lunch!

Trying hard to be fancy, but the depth of flavor isn't quite up to speed. Waitresses weren't the most attentive.
The bread was dried out and lacked quality.

Delicious! We had lunch here today ... first off, the environment really is nice, clean, fresh. The tables look beautiful - nice job!

One server at lunch time and I thought that was going to be an issue. I wss wrong! Linda hustled her way around the dining area and kept up just great.

And now the food. OMG in am stuffed. So this tells you what? Lunch portions are very satisfying! And the food is so good! We had spaghetti & meatballs and my companion (east coast Italian New Yorker) said the meatballs were very good. We also had the Linguine Carbonara - creamy, bacon-y, I didnt see the black pepper as described on the menu but it was sooo delicious! Highly recommend!

P.S. if you are a weirdo like me, you will be happ y to know the bathroom was clean!

Service was friendly, food was beautiful and yummy. Over all: a lil cheaper than Olive Garden, prettier and yummier. I was jealous of my husband who got the salad, I got the soup. Definitely go for the salad !! Soup was good but his salad looked awesome. Chicken parm was amazing

Ambiance: A rather plain-jane sort of place (this appears to have been a former fast food joint, as you can tell there used to be some sort of drive-thru window along side the buidling.) With that said, it is clean. About 15 tables inside, with about six tables for outside dining.

Service: We had no problem with the service.

Food: Menu consists of the staples you would expect at any Italian-American joint. Went with the chicken provencal over linguini in a decent cream-white wine sauce. My dining companion had the Chicken Marsala, which I sampled, and thought it was good.

Overall, not a bad little place. Solid, enjoyable entrees, and on par with what I make myself. I would go back when in Woodland Park.

Stopped in around 815 on July 13th and it appeared busy inside so we decided to eat outside. It's an old fast food joint but the inside has revamped and is nice. The service was good initially, but decreased around closing time. The portions were small and poorly seasoned and the waitress forgot to bring out the fresh Parmesan and fresh ground pepper, but because it was so busy the owner bought the four of us a round of beer (bonus!!).
PS: the men's bathroom has a picture of Marilyn Monroe who stares you in the eyes while you use the bathroom
Overall meh to decent, but free beer kicked it up a notch. Won't return soon, but will return.

Being a small, Colorado mountain town Italian joint I expected it to be overpriced and bland. That's exactly what it was, wish we would have gone somewhere else.