Mangiamo — Restaurant in Grand Rapids

UPDATE: We've since returned to the former Paddock Place restaurant in the last 16 months when it first opened as Mangiamo.

After several memorable dining experiences, me and our various companions are absolutely in love with the new concept. The food is extraordinary and the service remarkably on point.

In our latest visit - April 8th - GM Lain was able to happily accommodate us with some concerns and Taylor, our server, was the stuff of dreams. An additional appreciation to Liam.

The four of us dined on calamari & garlic bread plate and house salads as starters; chicken piccata, Scottish salmon and Conchiglie Al Pesto were our entrée. All of them delicious, dreamy and devoured.

And as we've once said of the former haunt, we'd give Mangiamo 10 stars if it possible.

We'd give Paddock Place 10 stars if it were possible.

If someone were to write the scenario of a perfectly cozy, romantic Sunday brunch while outside was a damp, chilly November we’d say they dreamed it up.

But it did happen and it happened to us. Two weeks after dining at Paddock Pl we're still pinching ourselves.

Conventional wisdom holds that an establishment with charm usually serves bad food, i.e., tourist trap. Or, sometimes the best food can be found at hole in the walls. Then again, we found great food and drink at inexpensive prices situated in a dream-like atmosphere.

We made online reservations earlier on the morning of for 11am. We were pleasantly greeted by the hostess and immediately escorted to our table. Server Marissa Mireles wasted no time with sincere pleasantries and updated us on menu items and such.

We ordered a Grey Goose Martini and their craft made French Toast "Martini". My husband - whose usually persnickety about his Martinis - said it was perfectly dry. My "Martini" was sublime; one of the most fantastic cocktails I've ever had.

Though I was disappointed there was no Loaded Baked Potato Soup, I was unbothered. After we made specific inquiries about the entrees, Marvelous Marissa made note and we were served our food exactly to the "T" in which we asked.

My husband's Thick cut French toast with bacon and my Biscuits & Gravy with 2 eggs & sausage couldn't have been more enjoyed. As I've already said, they were cooked to our liking.

The service was impeccable; not rushed nor slow. And my word, the prices were incredibly reasonable. Just the day before, we dined at an Eastown upscale sandwich restaurant and our bill was nearly 50% more; just mediocre sandwiches with a side of ordinary fries and no alcohol. WTH?

Unfortunately, the names of both the hostess and bartender now escapes me. But we want to include them in our raves. Thank you each of you for your extraordinary service. My husband and I do know a good deal about food/hospitality industry: He used to bartend and I worked at restaurants and catering.

As per our request, GM Chris came by so we could articulate our thrills. Thank you Chris for taking time from your busy schedule.

Thank you Paddock peeps and Gilmore Collection crowd. You made our first time experience a most memorable one. We're returning for another Sunday brunch in two weeks with friends.

And I have to give one more shout out to Marissa. Thank you for such great company and hospitality....

I rarely write bad reviews, but this place ruined our first wedding anniversary and robbed us the opportunity to celebrate -- NOT THE FIRST COUPLE THEY HAVE DONE THIS TO.

They kept avoiding accountability telling us two servers called in sick, but if they knew that when we walked in, they absolutely should have turned us away. We could have had a lovely anniversary at the Chop House. I unfortunately pushed for this restaurant because I had been to a wedding at this venue years ago and thought it would be a beautiful place to celebrate. I have never been more wrong.

My father in law wanted to treat us somewhere nice, so it was my in laws, my husband, daughter, and me. We waited half an hour to get seated, which was fine. We got settled, greeted, and they took our drink orders. Server said she'll be "right back" with bread since our daughter was hungry. Which was fine.

We chatted for 30 mins before realizing we haven't seen our server or the server's "assistant" since. I had to go up to the bar to inquire about our drink orders and bread. The bar tender was attentive and I appreciated her help in getting the manager.

The "manager" or manager's assistant was a ditsy lady who could not keep track of her train of thought. She came over to apologize and promised us our drinks ....... to which it still did not come. Her excuse later on was that she "passed it along" to another person.

We were greeted with another "manager" who apologized and promised they would "make it right" before we left. We never saw this guy again.

I do not know who is managing the place, but they absolutely need to get fired.

We had to complain AGAIN about the bread that never came because our daughter was so hungry. We were promised this would come out, but then shortly after, our dinner order finally came.

Food was absolutely incredible.

15 more minutes go by and my husband had to go to the bar to get the drinks. Two BEERS.

Our waitress came to check on us and when we voiced our disappointment, her response was, "yeah, I was in the other room". Really? Didn't know. (sarcasm)

She again emphasized how two servers called in. She offered my daughter gelato and asked what flavor she wanted. My daughter said chocolate, and the waitress confirmed.

She came back with vanilla gelato.

The wait staff and management are absolutely incompetent for such a prestigious place and I will forever be PISSED that they have robbed us of our celebration.

We told THREE different people it was our first anniversary and in my opinion with my experience in management, mine and my husband's meals should have been taken care of MINIMALLY. Not to mention I really wanted dessert, but I could not bring myself for them to ruin that order, too. They did take all our alcoholic drinks off the bill, but it does not make up for everything.

The ditsy lady came back asking for my father in laws email so they could send "a proper apology". Whatever that means. Guessing they'll send a pathetic 20% off coupon on our next visit so we spend more money we'll regret.

As we were getting ready to take care of the bill, after it has been two hours, they tried serving us the bread. LOLOL -- we all politely declined it.

Can't wait to tell this story for the rest...

Placed a reservation for our 5 year anniversary. Was greeted by 3 individuals at the door and seated promptly. Having been to the restaurant Pre-closure in 2017, I was pleasantly surprised by the redesign and think it was done well. We were seated in the back corner of the enclosed porch. It was a bit loud throughout, some patrons needed to use inside voices for sure. Overall, our server was very nice and sincere; the food was pretty good for the price point (we had Chicken piccata and a salmon dish). However, the timing and availability need work if this restaurant is going to survive again.

Our poor server had to tell us 3 times our beer selections were not available, but over the course of 30 minutes. Also mentioned the wine was lacking a lot of options as well. She stated the bar doesn't have access to the system to update inventory, that needs corrected ASAP. Having over 50% of your options unavailable at the beginning of a weekend with no updated list for service providers to inform customers at the beginning of their meal, is unacceptable. The bread service, albeit nice, was delivered AFTER our meals were finished because the kitchen had just started a new batch. If you offer free bread service, batches should be consistently being made during busy dinner service. Additionally, at one point after our appetizer and before dinner, a food runner dropped another appetizer at our table and just said "here's your potatoes" and rushed off. My husband and I did not order them, so we placed them on the edge of our table and waited over 10 minutes for an employee to come into the porch so we could inform them of the error. They ended up bringing them over to the table 2 away that ordered them, but at that point, those needed returned to the kitchen or even left with us, and the ordering table needed a replacement made fresh (and perhaps comped)...that's a bit unsanitary.

From start to finish with drinks, app and dinner, our meal took over 2 hours. Most of that time was simply spent waiting for something. Water wasn't refilled until after the post-dinner bread service while we waited for our payment to be picked up and was done by the GM instead of the "waiter's assistant" that we only saw at the beginning. Again, our server was great and the GM seemed friendly but I felt uncomfortable speaking with him about the errors because after 2 hours, I just wanted to leave. While I completely understand running out of things (although the "out" list seemed quite long...who is ordering?)...communication about that needs to be done on the front end (not 30 minutes into a sit down) and the timing of service needs a lot of improvement. There were multiple times we saw random employees wandering around, but they were just looking at tables open, not filling waters, engaging customers, etc. I feel bad for the table that got cold appetizers that were delivered wrong and mostly for our server who was tasked with informing us over and over again our selections were not available. Unless service improves drastically, this place isn't going to survive. There are many other GR locations at this price point with way...