Mangia Bene Big Slice — Restaurant in Cape Coral

I was out and about and craving some pizza, and the photos I saw online of the this place reminded me of traditional Italian restaurants I knew growing up in New Jersey, so I thought I'd check it out.

When I arrived in the parking lot, I couldn't tell if it was open, and almost drove off. Even when I approached the front door, I couldn't tell, and almost left again, but decided to check the door, and it was open. (!)

My original plan was to get a couple slices (whichthey offer at a so-very-NY front counter, but once I was inside, I liked the place's vibe, so I decided to dine in.

(The restaurant was dark and quiet when I came in, but within 10 minutes a large family with kids sat at the table next to me, and that was the end of the quiet! They were adorably boisterous and showing off their DuoLingo German to their grandparents, though, which was just fine.)

The regular (thin crust) pizza is listed in the menu as "New York Style," so I told the waitress I wanted "a large New-York-Style pepperoni and mushroom pizza," but she had no idea what I was talking about, and asked what I meant, so I had to point out to her how it's listed.

(The menu also lists "Sicilian Style," a true sign of an actual Italian NY/NJ pizza place!)

The 16" pizza came out in about 15 minutes, and it was still sizzling. I let it cool down a bit (having too often experienced pizza-burned roof-of-mouth), and added some grated parmesan.

The first bite had two primary aspects: the crust is decidedly "New York"--thin, slightly crunchy on the outside, but flakier and moister next to the sauce--but...the sauce is just slightly too sweet. After a few more bites, I decided that this is exactly like most of the pizza you get on the streets of New York or on the boardwalk in New Jersey. It's what you'd expect from a typical pizza joint or family Italian restaurant. Not what I'd call exemplary or especially tasty... that is, mainstream New York.

I did rather quickly devour half the large pie, though, and I felt overwhelmed with that rather familiar "can-I-possibly-stuff-more-of-this-in-my-mouth?" feeling, which is certainly a sign of decent 'Za.

With two glasses of okay house wine, plus tip, my bill was $43. (And I left with half a pie.)

It's not easy around here (SWFL) to find a decent re-creation of the pizza of my youth. This is certainly it, and I might sometime bring in friends or family from back home (especially if they're feeling homesick!), but I doubt I'll make a special trip otherwise. There are tastier options around (but maybe without the familiar...

Had a to-go order that we took with us in addition to our dine in meals. It was their special for the night Beef tip Marsala. The special was everything but special. The first picture was the oil that was just on the surface of the dish that we could get out. It was swimming in oil so badly that it was completely inedible. We called the restaurant and they said we had to bring the dish back when we offered to send pictures. When we got there the owners wife I had to guess said that we could order something else and admitted what the Marsala looked like was unacceptable. We asked about the meal being comped since they said we had to drive it back up. She stated she could not do this since it is food which is incorrect plenty of restaurants chain or otherwise have comped a meal when there was an issue. She said the best she could do was give us the difference on a gift card not even back to the credit card that was used. While the other meal that she said we could get was being made we also observed a child between the ages of 4-7 sitting on the food prep counter that was actively getting used in the kitchen that is visible from the front. This is absolutely disgusting. The meals that we also ate in the restaurant were subpar. The garlic rolls were hard and when we asked for some plain ones those were also hard. The replacement to go meal was a regular chicken marsala that had 3 chicken pieces that were extremely tiny. The time it took to receive our dine in meals was extremely long. The half the tables were empty and we were only a party of three it took over 40 minutes to receive our meal which consisted of 2 hot hero's and a chicken parm. The to go order took 20 minutes by itself to get. I am going to recommend to all my friends and family to actively stay away from this restaurant as it has slid completely down hill. I encourage anyone who reads this review to do the same. Will also be reporting the kitchen incident to the health department. As an aside someone in back was cursing out the woman we were dealing with. This was also not my first visit have been here on a couple of occasions. Thought it might improve but a complete let down and to not being able to refund...

My husband and I have 4 children, 3 who are disabled, and I was very happy to see that my children were not looked down upon by the wait staff like so many other places when you walk in with children (not all children are unruly and I am glad the wait staff were polite with us). The food was great for 5 out of the 6 of us and the wait staff was super friendly. I didn’t really understand why the sodas are bottled, but could have been due to a down soda machine - I didn’t ask. The portions were decent sized as well, and my teenage son had a hard time finishing his baked ziti but he said it was great. The chicken tenders my youngest son ordered had a large tendon in each of the pieces, but I cut around most of that for him and the kids’ spaghetti we ordered for my daughter was plenty to split between the both of them with extra to bring home. The lights on the little booth roofs were super cute and gave a warm atmosphere and our children enjoyed the music. The experience was overall very lovely, with the exception of whoever was at the front desk. Upon leaving the restaurant, my husband asked me to ask for a bag to put our to-go boxes in as he ushered our children out the front door to make room for new customers coming in, but the woman at the front desk was quite rude. While I understand that everyone can have a bad day, that’s not the way to bring customers back. The last experience is usually what makes or breaks for me whether or not I go back to a restaurant, and the attitude I received from her may just be enough to prevent me from returning with my family, which is also the reason for the...