Mangiare Italian Restaurant
In a Bite
Location: https://g.co/kgs/9Yj1Nr9
Restaurant Website: https://mangiare-greenbay.com
Ambiance: Upscale
Music: Pop
Service: Personable
Price: $$-$$$
Food Style: Refined Italian
What to Order: Seafood
Reservations: Call or OpenTable
Go Again?: Yes
Notes: Closed on Sundays
The Whole Plate
io mangio, tu mangi, lei, lui, me mangia.
If you haven’t brushed up on your Italian conjugation lately, happy to help: “I eat, you eat, he, she, me, eats.” I’m not learning Italian but I am always willing to eat it. Despite my commute to downtown Green Bay for work, we don’t often get back up there for date night. So with reservations in tow for our wedding anniversary, we meandered our way back up to Mangiare Italian Restaurant on the eastern side of the river. We’ve heard mixed reviews about the restaurant but we’ll decide for ourselves. Was it worth the extra drive time for us Appletonians? Let’s find out.
Ambiance
Mangiare is within walking distance from the Northland Hotel downtown. If you’re leaving the hotel, head south and in about a block, you’ll see a black circular sign with a white M. Heading inside, it’s a long alley of a restaurant with a modern dark interior. Tables go from the front window all the way to the back. About half-way back, there are these repeating timbers on the ceiling/wall. It trips up my brain and makes me think the space is a lot deeper than it actually is. Don’t know if that was intentional. Rest assured it’s not distracting.
The bar has all its liquor displayed on glowing shelves and has a single TV for the folks in need of watching the Packers win or the Chiefs lose AND enjoying a great cocktail. It’s a courtesy display being in a football town and I appreciate they don’t have more.
Service
Service has always been quality the couple times I’ve come, once for business and once for personal. Something I’ve never had happen in the Midwest though: they gave us a happy anniversary card as we were seated. It was simple, a few words of congratulations, and then signed by several staff. It was a nice touch to start off the meal. Looking back: definitely a tactic to set the tone for the meal.
When service is great, there isn’t much to say. They know the menu well, food was on time, waters refilled at appropriately, friendly but not hanging over your shoulder.
Food
To start, we ordered the Burrata aka gooey cheese balls from heaven. The soft mozzarella was paired with a crispy baguette spread with tomato jam and prosciutto. And my favorite part of any dish, whether appetizer or dessert: the balsamic glaze. The burrata was full of flavor for a mild cheese. The tomato jam wasn’t our favorite by itself but a little bit of everything made the bite better.
Delivered with the starter were our drinks. Lindsay had the Italian margarita and I had the Italian old fashion. Our go-to cocktails with just a little red, white, and green aka Italian born liquor. They do have a large wine menu and eight beer taps as well. Lindsay says the Italian margarita was good but not great. Maybe it was the raspberry flavor? She would try something else next time.
For entrees, I went with the Agnolotti. It came highly recommended by the wait staff and what Mangiare is known for. I’d never had that type of pasta before so if you didn’t know, it’s a filled pasta, like a ravioli. The difference is agnolotti’s sheet of pasta is folded over the filling and pinched where ravioli has another sheet of pasta laid over top and crimped. As someone who has dabbled with homemade ravioli, agnolotti sounds a whole lot faster and easier to make. Back to the plate: Mangiare’s agnolotti is filled with butternut squash and ricotta, smothered in sage cream and garnished with a crispy duo of sage and thin sweet potato chips.
My favorite thing about this dish is the variety of textures in every bite. Creamy, chewy, crispy across the palette. Flavors weren’t too heavy or too light, even for a dish without meat. I did order a chicken breast on the side for protein and I’m glad I did. I had a lot of leftover sage sauce and the chicken was a perfect mop to clean the plate.
Lindsay had the lobster ravioli. Keeping in line with the “filled pasta smothered in cream sauce,” except this time it’s saffron. Ooh la la. Now does ‘highest price per ounce in the world’ spice make anything taste better? duh. But butter poached, whole lobster claws also help. It was very seafood forward and if you’re a lobster-lover, you will appreciate this dish. If you are on the fence about lobster or seafood flavor, you may want to choose something else.
For a sweet finish, Linds ordered the lemon tart cake with fresh fruit. Very bright and any What we didn’t expect was three slices of cake. Definitely should of have shared. Linds took home two and enjoyed at home.
I ordered the tiramisu (because I can’t not when at an Italian place). Served in a glass coffee mug, it’s a fun take on tiramisu. Layers of mascarpone and coffee liquor, topped with a lady finger crunch. Non-traditional, it reminded me more of a pot de creme with tiramisu flavors. Still delicious.
Taking It to Go
Overall, Mangiare is a reliable, tasty choice for impressing a first date, dinner with friends, or treating business clients to a night out. Food has been consistently good with service to match in a modern setting. Is Mangiare so amazing that we need to come back every date night we get? Not for us. But it’s definitely in date night rotation. Mangiamo!
ps. if you caught my Patrick Star wumbo joke in the opener, we are officially friends.
