Mambo Italiano — Restaurant in Steamboat Springs

We first dined here last year and immediately fell in love. We had a small table outside on the back patio, and the weather was perfect. Even more perfect was the food, ambience and service, and we knew we wanted to return. So in July 2024, we brought our kids.

APPETIZERS: Fried Calamari - nothing special with this one, but not bad. It's a very average and basic fried calamari, no special aiolis to write home about.

Caprese salad - looked amazing with presentation. Actually not super functional; the tomatoes, basil leaves and cheese all need to be self chopped, and that's not easy on a super small table. Almost cut the bowl right off the table! Could've used a little more olive oil and balsamic, IMO.

MAIN ENTREES: WHERE THE FUN BEGINS! Rigatoni Alla Vodka - perfectly cooked al dente pasta, and the vodka sauce was perfect ... PERFECT! We opted not to add protein on this dish and it was fantastic as is. Honestly, protein would've taken away from this dish.

Tagliatelle Bolognese - this. dish. was. absolutely. spectacular! The tagliatelle pasta was the right amount of al dente chewy and the correct width to soak up the sauce. Not a drop was left of this dish.

Fruitti De Mar - seafood pasta is usually my go to. My personal preference is a better pasta than spaghetti, and I think this dish with a linguini, fettuccini or tagliatelle pasta would've been much better. The spaghetti noodles diminished this dish IMO. Seafood and sauce were great, I personally added more crushed red peppers to my dish because I like spicy pasta.

Fusilli - our least favorite dish. Liked the unique pasta shape but the flavor and meat was off. It just didn't taste good as a combination. We wished, in hindsight, that we would've gotten another bolognese.

Large Pepperoni Pizza - was good. We arrived before 5:30 and got 1/2 on this pizza which is an excellent value, considering this was for a kiddo.

Also for happy hour was $3 off wine glasses so we were able to get in a little discount there. Wasn't expected but for those that like to feel as though they got a deal, I recommend the HH 1/2 pizzas (dine in only). If you follow my food blog Central Iowa Foodie Chic, I did a taste test of 4 pizzas from Steamboat area restaurants, and this one rated fairly well.

Jarrett provided us amazing service (and as a fellow Iowan we liked him even more)! This experience we sat inside, as my youngest is on the spectrum and dining outside can be a challenge for him. We had a nice corner high top 6 seater for us 5, and had...

It has honestly been quite some time since we visited Mambo Italiano in Steamboat, but no matter how much time has passed, I always ensure that I post a review for a restaurant deserving of it! On an extended weekend cabin trip, this restaurant offered us a nice reprieve from camping-style dinners and snacking. We stopped in on a rainy evening, so the outside seating was unavailable. It may also have seemed foolish to walk into such a nice restaurant around dinner time and expect to be sat immediately, and it indeed was. The wait was going to be fairly long, but to our surprise and excitement, there were four seats available at their walk-up seated bar which was just covered enough to not be impacted by rain, so we were able to get seated quickly there!

My husband ordered the Gnocchi Gorgonzola which came with a gorgonzola cream sauce, topped with mushrooms, peas, and toasted walnuts. I love when you can tell that a restaurant makes their own gnocchi because the consistency of gnocchi is what makes 75% of the dish! They were light and tender, and had a nice bite through it. The toasted walnuts seemed a bit out of place, but it did not impact the flavor too much. Overall a great dish! It appears that they do not offer this dish anymore, but I'd be even more interested to return and try the Pesto Gnocchi.

I ordered the Gamberetti Piccanti, which came with linguine, topped with shrimp, calabrian chili, sun dried tomatoes, basil, and grana padano cheese, cooked in white wine. Visually, the dish seemed a bit busy, but the flavor was great! The sauce was quite light and the touch of the chili offered a bit of a "zing" without having an overwhelming spiciness to it. I tend to lean very spicy with dishes, so if I had a preference I would have preferred it to be a bit spicier, but the balance in the dish was good. I find it quite intriguing to see how many of their dishes are garnished with microgreens. I know they can add a textural difference as well as visual enhancement in some cases, but here they seemed to not add much to the plates in either realm. Either way, just a tiny observation that carries no weight!

I will mention that we had a couple of Lemon Drops and Espresso Martinis that were incredibly enjoyable! Very refreshing for a summer post-rainy night dinner. Overall, I definitely would recommend Mambo Italiano if you're looking for a great Italian meal nestled in this beautiful...

Mambo came up on a quick dinner search in Steamboat Springs. We were visiting the area the week before Christmas with a group of 9, and were able to easily make a reservation for our group about one week in advance. Upon a quick glance of the menu, you can tell that Mambo is an italian restaurant, so you can expect a variety of pastas and pizzas. The ambiance of Mambo was perfect for a birthday celebration. I would say you are safe in casual dress attire, but I would suggest this is more of a special occasion dining option. Prices reflect the ambiance, and I would say are fair based on the location and quality. Our large group arrived at our reservation a bit early, so we chose to hang out at the bar while waiting. The bar area is small, and patrons are able to both eat and drink at the bar. When our table was ready, we couldn’t transfer our drink tab to our dining tab, so it was a minor inconvenience to have to close our bar tab before moving to our table. The dining space is space in general, so tables are fairly close together. To start our meal, we ordered the house bread and calamari fritti. These in my opinion are definite musts when dining at Mambo. I will also note that you can order gluten free options, and modify some of the menu items to your specifications. A nice thing to be able to do at an Italian restaurant. Some of the entrees ordered included: spaghetti and meatballs, chicken parmigiano, fettuccine alfredo, and the principessa pizza. All the entrees were served with a generous portion size. A note on the large pizza, it is enough to feed 3-5 people. As someone that enjoys a well made pizza, I would avert from ordering pizza here. It just wasn’t cooked enough for my liking, the dough/crust seemed hardly cooked and the toppings were cool upon first bite. I would say the pizza is cooked in a very artisan-style. Overall, our group had a very pleasant and enjoyable experience dining at Mambo. I would recommend dining here to others especially if you’re looking for an...