Ciao Mambo — Restaurant in Billings

Staff - A+ Menu - A Atmosphere - A Food - A+

My wife and I arrived very close to opening. As soon as we walked in, we were warmly greeted by the hostess. She asked us for our table preference (high top or low top), and we were promptly seated. Our waitress was friendly and very helpful as we made up our minds.

We ordered our drinks and appetizer while we looked over the menu and finalized what we wanted. When she took our order, she let us know that the dish my wife ordered would take a bit longer than normal.

While the lighting and décor were pleasant, the acoustics were pretty gnarly. I can't be to upset about it, because everyone there seemed to be just having a good time. However, as a synesthete, this created a cacophony of colors in my vision. And as the night went on, our table seemed to be at the acoustic center of the dining area. This is my only complaint, and that is a small thing.

I was constantly watching the door. I didn't see people waiting to be seated for what I would consider a super long time. Space is limited, and apparently it is a popular place to eat.

As an Italian having grown up in a traditional Italian home, I have to say the food was excellent. The bread they bring to your table was on par with the breads my family would make at reunions. The sauces brought a flood of childhood memories of large family dinners.

Pasta was perfectly al dente. The wine selection actually overwhelmed me a bit, but I settled on an Italian red. Sicily if memory serves. It did not disappoint and was a great balance to my extra spicy gamberi fra diavolo. And for dessert I tried their cannoli di bacche. The Italian in me was very happy, to say the least. My doctor is probably going to lash me. Worth it. Telling an Italian that they can't have pasta is like telling your average person not to breath.

If you are going to go, plan ahead and arrive hungry because the portions will not disappoint. Don't be in a rush and expect it to be rush service. Ciao Mambo has a very intimate feel to it, yet is very casual at the same time. It is meant to be savored, not rushed.

We will definitely be going back.

Update: We went back for our anniversary again this year. And the food and service are still incredible. Also, this...

There was ample street parking and we often just walk to downtown anyway. We finally decided to try this place because we always see people going in and out. The place has an atmosphere of a high end restaurant, but the food falls woefully short. The bread was warm but the other reviewer who said it was doused in oil and sawdust Parmesan was spot on. The paper it’s wrapped in became immediately transparent. Calamari was greasy with flavorless batter, and it’s the kind that looks like it came out of a freezer bag. The dipping sauce was pure sodium, just big chunks of tomatoes in tomato water. I think all the people who love this place must have high sodium because we found it a common theme. The manicotti had good flavor in the filling, maybe less ricotta than I’m used to and more other cheese, but the baked cheese on top was a bit unnecessary and, again, that sauce. I went through a glass of water just trying to eat a couple of bites for how disgustingly salty it is. Parts of the dish were piping hot, parts were very cold — sometimes in the same bite. We also tried the margherita pizza. The crust was oily (another theme) but fairly decent. We waited for many minutes for the chili flakes we asked for to be brought before we had any. It is clear they made the pizza then threw chopped tomatoes and ribboned basil on, then put the pizza bake in for a minute. Very uncooked tomatoes, but there was plenty of basil for some flavor. Otherwise extremely bland food overall. Our service was pretty good (although I think she was really busy so we waited some for things). I don’t understand why they had to sit us right next to a huge family during a pandemic when they had a completely empty section, so that was a red flag. Finally, we had to send back two glasses — one had some kind of Coke splashes on it, the other had pink lipstick on the rim. When I’ve worked in restaurants, I would never send a glass out without checking it and thoroughly polishing it. If they want to pass themselves off as a nicer restaurant, they have a long, long way to go. We took home leftovers of course because we don’t believe in wasting food, but I can’t imagine we will give this place another try. Bistecca and Bistro Enzo on a bad day...

The food was fantastic and I highly recommend it. But there were some problems with service/reservations keep reading if you are interested in that.

We made a reservation for 18 people. Admittedly 18 people is a big group, but ciao mambo expressly says that they only accept reservations for large groups so you would think they could handle a large group.

However if 18 people was to big of a group for them them they could simple have said they can't take a reservation for a group that size and that would have been fine.

When we showed up they were intending to seat our group at different tables. Different tables near each other. So we were all able to have a seat, but we really weren't eating together.

We asked if we could all sit together and they said it really wouldn't work. They said they had tried putting more tables together before but it was just awkward. So we all had dinner in the same building but not really together.

If they had told us ahead of time that this would be the seating arrangement that would have been fine. But because they said they could do a reservation for 18 people we believed they could seat 18 people together.

I called them twice the week before to insure the reservation was correct as well as I arrived 30 minutes early to double check the reservation was set. And never once did the mention that the tables were not together.

It might seem like a small thing, but our group probably spent close to $500 when you combined all of us together, and we really wanted to eat together. If they simple told us that they couldn't have accommodated that before hand it would have been fine. But we ended up spending lot of money and to feel like we didn't spend time together at all.

18 annoyed...