Mandola's Italian Kitchen — Restaurant in Florida

Mandola's Italian Kitchen is serving up better than adequate Italian dishes with a festive and family friendly atmosphere. The menu includes variety of Italian dishes in pasta, salads, soups, panini (served only until 4pm), chicken, shrimp, veal & short ribs only as daily specials, fresh oven baked pizza, as well as beers, wine, and cocktails. It offers an interesting vibe of counter-service meets sit-down meal.

Upon entry on a Saturday evening, I was immediately greeted by a cheerful staff who explained to us that I was to place my order at the counter, then find seating anywhere on the inside or their very large outdoor seating patio. The counter staff were efficient accurate in taking the order.

I decided to sit nearby the open kitchen with god view of all the cooking action. Their kitchen staff seemed to each have particular focus - one for prepping the salads, two for fresh baked pizza, three for pasta, soup, and chicken dishes. Warm bread and dipping EVOO with mixings along with plates and utensils were served pretty promptly upon seating. My cocktail came shortly thereafter. The rest of food came within 10 minutes of seating.

The bread tasted freshly baked amd a good balance of warmth and softness. The Lemon Basil Mimosa was a good balance of sweet, tart, and basil essence mixed with Prosecco. This drink paired well with my Gnocchi & Meat Sauce (Ricotta, potato gnocchi served with classic Bolognese meat sauce with beef and pork). I asked the meat sauce to be served on the side. The gnocchi was cooked just right - perfectly chewy without tasting doughy. The meat sauce was decent, it could have tasted a lot better if served slightly warmer. The Italian wedding soup (Chicken, pork, soppressata, pancetta, prosciutto, mixed greens) tasted nice without being overpowered by any one ingredient. The Insalata Cotta e Cruda (A raw & grilled salad with salad greens, asparagus, fresh basil, mushrooms, zucchini, red pepper, potatoes, green beans, garbanzo & cannellini beans) with grilled chicken had a nice crunch, flavors of fresh grilled veggies and grilled meat.

They also have a bakery serving in-house made cakes and gelato. Although I didn't get to try any of these during my visit, they were presented very attractively. The bakery has a constant flow of customers ordering.

Overall Mandola's is a great casual Italian restaurant that you can bring family for comfort Italian food. The atmosphere is festive with attentive amd efficient serving staff. The ample seating inside as well expansive outdoor patio seating seem to comfortably accommodate all...

Note: food pics were from a to-go order and at my home. I forgot to take pictures of my meals when dining in, but got some of the atmosphere.

I have now had three experiences at Mandola's, and they have all been fabulous. I am SO excited to have this restaurant close to home. Most new restaurants are a hot mess at first (until they figure out their groove,) but Mandola's has it down! The staff is all extremely friendly and on their A game- it almost feels like a Chick-Fil-A experience. The food has all been delicious, they have an incredible dessert selection, and they go above and beyond in small ways. I don't even have children and loved the fact that there's a mini table for kids, and the bathroom has COMPLIMENTARY diapers and wipes. I've never seen a complimentary baby changing station ever, and diapers are expensive. The self service drink area has everything you need, to-go containers, and cheese and roasted red pepper. Even their to-go utensils are a great quality. They have hilarious shirts for sale, which I couldn't resist purchasing. They have a great bar area. I had the adult lemonade, which was delicious.

I am Italian and am SO impressed. Best gelato I think I've ever had, I love that their chicken is really thin, and the pasta has all been cooked perfectly!

Tips: If you like sauce, ask for extra. I personally hate too much sauce, and the sauce portion is PERFECT for my liking. But I'm not necessarily the norm Be sure to tip generously. Even though you order from the counter, the staff is working their tails off! You don't see them stop, they go around clearing plates as you dine, are constantly restocking, and happily helping with anything. They offer family packs, which are great to-go! They have a bomb happy hour- I included a pic...

SAVE YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY AND GO FIND REALLY GREAT ITALIAN FOOD IN A PLEASANT ATTENTIVE, AND DILIGENTLY RUN PLACE,NOT AT MANDOLAS SLOP HOUSE ! This is a sincere update to a so called restaurant that previously I have given a 4, then later a 5.My most recent visit illustrated a significantly inferior restaurant compared to long ago.THE FOOD WAS SLOP ! THE MANAGEMENT IS PATHETIC! The Chicken Parmigiano was TRASH.An overly processed thin slice of chicken manure with essentially no sauce and enough cheese to coat someones thumbnail , necessitating a request for more sauce that should have been placed prior and I did not waste time asking for more cheese to be baked on considering it was inherently obvious before delivery to the table.The side of pasta was MINIMAL,maybe costing them 5 cents.On the otherhand the Fettuccine Alfredo WAS CLEARLY MADE TO BE CHEAP JUNK by the lack of butter,cheese and cream.THESE LOWLIFES ARE RUINING WHAT ONCE WAS QUITE DECENT BY THEIR ATTEMPT TO SAVE MONEY while they continue to expand to compete against their family that owns Carabbas as well as others,yet they fail miserably compared to Carabbas. One day later we went to an Italian Market bought the most outstanding sausage lasagne for just over $5 dollars which wss INFINITELY BETTER THAN THE JUNKY MANDOLAS $19 item.The manager cared less and was an apathetic fool, compared to staff that previously took customer service far more seriously......PLEASE GO ELSEWHERE AND SPEND YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY FOR FAR GREATER QUALITY THAN MANDOLAS CURRENT SLOP ! This is a review that I get no pleasure out of , other than making sure others get a great meal for their money as we did one night earlier at Kobi Japanese...