Mangia Clam Bar — Restaurant in Florida

Roaches/Palmetto Bugs We were expecting a nice dinner at Mangias tonight but instead found ourselves having the opposite of a great meal. To start we had made reservations for 7:30 for an outside table. When we arrived the hostess took us to a “canal view table” to see if we liked it. Seemed odd but ok. Instead of being at a regular table we were sat at a make shift section about 2 feet from the canal. Clearly this was an area for bar patrons to go smoke, there were quite a few of those, and only 2 tables set up.

I attached a picture of the area which no where can you find a photo with tables in this area.

This was not a normal place to be sat. Instead of complaining we sat here to enjoy our time with family as we are from out of town. As our meals came out we noticed multiple large palmetto bugs crawling around the table on the wood wall. It only was a matter of time before they sniffed out the food and were walking on top of the bread and making their way towards our entrees. I grabbed the bread container and flipped the bread along with the palmetto bugs into the canal. We tried to alert a server, not ours, and she was extremely rude and responded “what do you want me to do about it”. Our server came back eventually and we told him for the first time the situation. He was surprised to hear this. As we were telling him another palmetto bug ran behind him within inches of his shoe and he almost fell into the canal. He alerted the owner who came over to tell us that “this is Florida, your outside, what do you expect?” What we expected was to not be sat in an area with palmetto bugs. With proper treatment of the wood and regular pest control service there would not be a palmetto bug problem. This area shouldn’t have been open to begin with for safety reasons being so close to the water. As people walked by the table they were inches away from falling in. If you are going to sit patrons in this area it should be free from 1.5 inch roaches and not inches away from falling into a canal. It seems like these 2 tables were just fillers for overflow and no one should have ever been seated there to begin with. We were not looking for anything but an apology but yet the owner “Dave” who came over was anything but apologetic. Needless to say we will never be back. Not bad food but the service was undoubtably the worst I’ve experienced.

Stay far away unless you want a little extra protein when seated outside....

We are EVERY DAY (4-6 time a week) lunch customers in this restaurant, since it was Manatee island and then become Mangia Restaurant. We have been patient with them, waiting for 'adjustment", but coming from an experience of years of outstanding management by the previous owners, served like Kings with outstanding food. Patience, after MANY failures from the kitchen, has found an end today. We complained (again) about a sole oreganata that came on our table in a watery uncured sauce that the only taste was raw garlic. Pushed it back I ordered simple and easy mozzarella sticks that came totally raw, still frozen inside. We complained with management about the poor chef attention and the result is that the owners, both, zeroed our bill and literally kicked us out of the restaurant. Seriously pushed out!!!! We love this place because we meet with friends daily, we have good time, but we also pay good money for, allegedly, good food, also understanding the "set up' time a restaurant needs to optimize their kitchen performance. But here there is no desire to optimize, no desire to take care of your valued customer. You get what is in the 'behavior" of the kitchen that specific day. Good or bad they don't care. They just kick out us today, and not in a nice way, losing 40K in annual revenue, and just because they are unable to manage their own business/kitchen. If the ownership doesn't take care what come out of the kitchen an you pay for it, means, as EXACTL:Y happened today. that you worth nothing to them. Just think twice before to go there. By the way, I am Italian, born in Italy, and I am a chef too. If you think to have Italian food here just forget it. Newyorkish Italian sh....that's what...

For the time that it took to flip this establishment from Manatee to Mangia clam bar, maybe the expectations were set a little higher than they should have been. There wasn’t much really flipped with the establishment itself with the exception of paint an add on of a pizza oven and kitchen renovation. Started out with apps of Calamari, Meatball Ricotta, and Clams. They all ranked in that order. Calamari was good, Meatball Ricotta very bland, Clams over cooked and over use of garlic. Ordered Linguini & Clams, which is a favorite Italian Dish. However came out with Spaghetti instead of Linguini. Pasta was cooked to perfection, however garlic and clams scorched. No bread offered with entree, a dish I never put cheese on, drowned it in cheese for the pallet. Not fresh Parm or Gran Padana. Park Cheese shaker like in a pizza restaurant. Some work to be done here.

2/1/2023 Update. Have been back to the establishment as the location has been a local go to before the recent switch to the new establishment. I have since had this dish 2 more times. Both times pasta came out as linguine, the second time clams & garlic were still scorched. The 3rd time was the charm cooked to perfection and bread was served.

2/23/23. Fruiti de Mar. 5 stars. Dish came out amazing. Over linguine as it says on the menu Dave....