Mangiamo Ristorante — Restaurant in Makati

Had a quick lunch with a few colleagues at this relatively new restaurant near the office. I do enjoy Italian food but have never been to Italy or any "authentic" Italian restaurants so this was promising.

I had dinner here with the previous tenant (a Japanese restaurant) and noted some similar features and configurations with the current one. We actually got seated at the same part of the restaurant floor too as my dinner at that Japanese restaurant.

These dishes were all ordered by my colleagues. I had wanted to order their Pappardelle Ragu but they were out of pappardelle the day we dined.

As a general note, the pasta and pizza dough were by themselves pretty good for me and were prepared "correctly"/"perfectly" in terms of texture, hardness, etc.

Welcome Bread (0.00)

Bread is fine and comes in sliced loaves and breadsticks with a small individual dishes of olive oil and balsamic vinegar (dolloped into an "M").

I was not able to taste the breadsticks but the sliced loaves are fine and I personally snack on bread+evoo+balsamic so this was fine for me.

Calameretti Fritti (460.00) 3.0

The squid was slightly chewy and not tough. Batter is light but a bit salty for my taste. Served with a small dish of tartar sauce.

This is perfectly fine but isn't something I would order again.

Pasta Luganega e Funghi (760.00) 4.0

This was my favourite from what we had. The dish is is served in a small bowl with a lot of creamy cheese.

Spaghetti Alla Carbonara (720.00) 3.0

I'm not the biggest fan of carbonara but this was perfectly fine for me, if a bit salty for my taste. Guanciale was cooked well.

Casarecce Alla Siciliana (690) 3.5

I'm partial to marinara sauce in my pasta so this was pretty solid and fit my taste well. The pasta in this dish was pretty novel too as I haven't had casarecce before.

Pasta Al Forno Ai Quattro Formaggi En Tartufo Nero (740.00) 3.0

Pizza was served with pepperoncino in oil which had a rather mild spiciness to it. I didn't find anything particularly interesting with this pizza.

Service was quick and attentive and the Italian manager(?) even offered free coffee to the lunch guests.

Serving size was fair for an upper-class restaurant. Each dish can be finished by one person but can be shared if several dishes were ordered. There were five of us in the group and we ordered five dishes. Everyone in the group was full but...

We visited this establishment after a quick Google search, and it displayed them closing at 10 PM. We entered at 9:08 PM, assuming that would leave a comfortable margin, with only a party of three with us present. Straightaway, however, we saw that we did not receive a warm welcome. The one whom we assumed to be the manager visibly bristled at our presence, even rebuking the man who opened the door for us.

He immediately informed us that 9:15 PM was closing time for ordering food. That was cutting it a little too close, but we hoped to order in a timely enough manner. Grumbling, they sat us down. After such a rude welcome, we breathed a sign of relief when, at approximately 9:45 PM, the food actually arrived and it was terrific. We ordered three pizzas and three root beers, and all of it was excellent.

But at 10:01 PM—a minute past closing time—the staff wasn’t shy about informing us that they no longer wanted us around. Lights were turned off, and even the air conditioning was switched off. It was an unnecessarily abrupt and unfriendly end to an otherwise good meal. We, of course, hadn’t finished eating yet as it had only been 15 minutes. We just had everything packed for us to leave instead.

Good food, but service and hospitality could have been...

A must try Italian restaurant ! Not on ground floor so not easily visible but this partly hidden gem was a wonderful discovery. The spinach ravioli was excellent: wrapping was al dente, filling tasty and the cream sauce just had the right consistency and quantity (does not overpower the spinach but complements it) . The shrimp was cooked to perfection as well as the salmon. However, the side dish of mashed potatoes was a tad too salty.

The fried calamares starters were evenly fried and were as big as onion rings! Crispy at first bite, then tender on the inside.

The panna cotta is highly recommended; not gelatinous, or too creamy . Very good taste and consistency.

Since it was a private party and food was pre-ordered, I did not get to see the menu. But based on this first experience, we are definitely going back!

Ps: We did come back but service was not tip top. My order of onion soup was not noted down. They placed the main dish on the table without removing the appetizer plates; we had to call the attention of the food server. What we ordered : lasagna 4/5 too creamy ; farfalle ragu 5/5; ravioli tomato sauce 4/5 ; rigatoni 4/5 .

Dessert: totally forgettable. This is an area for...