Mango Mangeaux: A Simply Panache Bistro — Restaurant in Hampton

Day of visit July 23 (2:00pm) They should have done me and my wife a favor and turned us away at the door..... But they didn't, so strap in and I'll break down why this was the worst restaurant experience I've ever had in my 30 years of going to restaurants...So I made reservations here for my wife's birthday a a month and a half in advance. Reserved a table in the private dining room and they knew the occasion was a birthday. Read many reviews, did all our research, looked through their menu, rules, and history, this was where we wanted to go... We arrive 15 minutes before our reservation (very responsible) we walk through the door and there's many open tables down stairs, plenty of open tables. We stand there for about 6 minutes at the wait to be seated sign before we were even acknowledged (even though the manager, both waiters, the bar tender, and every table had been starting at us since we entered) once we were finally acknowledged it was another 7 minutes before we were truly greeted, and it wasn't warmly. We proceeded to inform them of our reservation in the private dining room and he says "oh yes I have a great table for you" he brings us to a table right by the bathroom. We don't complain because who wants to stress extra on a birthday right? So we start looking through the menu while we wait for water and a beer while we decided on drinks, they took forever to get to the table. The manager was more concerned with what page of the menu we were looking at than the fact that we had no drinks at the table, he turned the menu pages while they were in our hands.... I told him oh we've been ready we're just doing some light reading while we wait for the drinks we ordered 15 minutes ago. No apology for how rude he was or the sorry service of his employees. The beer and water finally appear. Water is in a fingerprint filled foggy glass (didn't get drank cause ew) and the beer was only half a beer served in a mason jar with a handle.... For 6 dollars I got half a Stella Artois.... Like where is the rest of it? ..Then after dropping off the drinks the waiter pulled the same rude move the manager did and turned the pages of the menu, un solicited... We ignore it and place our order for drinks I got a mule and she the French 75 cocktail. Drinks were the best part of the visit but that's not saying much because they were still terrible, the mule was all ice and tasted like they used ginger ale not ginger beer, the French 75 was tiny, expensive, and weak...When the drinks finally get to the table the manager shows up with the waiter and (for the 3rd time now) they both proceeded to change the pages of both of our menus. We agitatedly proceeded to order I got the Chesapeake Benedict and my wife the chicken fried Benedict. It's now that the manager realizes we still don't have silverware on the table and he brings them, expensive napkins with super cheap flimsy silverware that feels like it bends with the force of picking food up from the plate...Now we're waiting for the food to come.... High hopes because it was going to be the saving grace of the horrible service, our 25 dollar a piece plates came out around 45 minutes after being ordered.... The food runner comes up with 1 plate asks who got it and practically just drops it in front of my wife then goes to get mine and does the same, she let go of both plates so high off the table that the "food" on the plates moved when they loudly hit the table (senseless rudeness). I've had food off of street carts in Louisiana, if they tried to serve that down there they'd have run them out of the state. ( probably why there here in va and not down there) The chicken was fried to the point of burnt and had no taste of seasoning just burnt breading dry chicken. The biscuits were frozen the scrambled eggs were from a carton and the hollandaise sauce was definitely not made in house (and if it was, they didn't use real butter. they used that soy "butter" groop that restaurants use as an expensive pam spray...

A friend and I ate there about a week ago. It was truly, an unexpected delight. We finished a tour of Old Fort Monroe, north of Norfolk VA and were looking for a place to get lunch. My buddy Googled the best restaurants nearby and a Cajun Creole place came up in Hampton, VA that was highly rated. A place called Mango Mangeaux. This restaurant was pleasant and vibrant as we walked in. Black topped tables with bright orange chairs are distributed throughout this tastefully decorated restaurant. We were lucky to get a table within five minutes at 1:00 PM on a Saturday afternoon. There was a line waiting for a table over the next hour, plus. Our waitress, Katherine, came over to get our drink order and immediately informed us of the drinks and other food items where mango would be included. I had the mango iced tea and it was wonderful. The tea was not too dark and there was a distinct mango flavor to it….very refreshing. For lunch, I ordered a Po-Boy with fried flounder and a cup of gumbo. Both were very, very good. Just to be clear, neither would make you forget the same choices if you ordered them in New Orleans. That said, the gumbo at Mango Mangeaux has a rich broth with pieces of chicken, sausage, and shrimp. It stands on its own merit. The Po-Boy did not use French bread but does have a delicious French roll. Again, it is a very good sandwich; the flounder was perfectly fried and hot when it was brought to me. We were both pretty full after our meal but asked what the dessert menu offered. When beignets were mentioned, we both agreed to split one order of three. Many years ago, Doug and I were geologists living in New Orleans. Getting beignets at Cafe Dumond was one of those things that you do with guests visiting the Crescent City. The beignets at Mango Mangeaux are better….a lot better. Their beignets have a light, mango cream filling that is addictive. No matter how full you think you are, these delights will make your taste buds come alive. The next time that I am in Norfolk, I will make a plan to visit Mango Mangeaux. Maybe for dinner…which according to our waitress Katherine, is even better than lunch. We will see….and I will definitely write a review afterward. Duncan M My wife and I were in Norfolk, VA, yesterday (May 9, 2023) in time to have lunch at Mango Mangeaux. As before, our meals were equally wonderful. This time, Bethany and I sat at the bar. A delightful young lady (and the bartender) named MC served us. We started with mango margaitas….could not have started with anything better. A splash of mango juice in a standard margarita…and lots of salt on the rim! We ordered an appetizer of fried oysters. The batter was mildly spicy (I think they use salt and pepper) and we inhaled those fried delights. Bethany had the shrimp n grits for her main course and I had the crab cake sandwich. My meal disappeared, quickly and there wasn’t much left of Bethany’s. MC also told us about some of Mango Mangeaux’ take home products (mango preserves and some seasonings) so we added that to the tab. This restaurant is actually in the small town of Hampton, VA, just a few miles from Norfolk. If you go on the weekend, you’ll need a reservation. And you might need one during the week but a visit here is...

This restaurant is a really nice & quaint small biz...I was torn between 4 or 3 stars, but felt 4 wasn't an overall honest rating. The ambience & design is quite nice & brightly decorated in an orange motif that feels very warm & exciting. The deductions in rating come in dealing in pricing, service speed, & portion size.

My 1st observation was that as my party arrived, (large party in the early breakfast hours) I noticed how the staff, albeit nice, seemed to be overwhelmed with the customers already on hand, which in my opinion wasn't very crowded (approximately 6-8 customers). I immediately thought as I watched, wow, they haven't even taken our drink orders yet & the kitchen logistics seemed to be way off. There was no way that if they couldn't handle half a dozen separate customers that were already seated & ordered, could they handle a party of 10 added to the mix all at once. Not well...not well at all.

Just placing drink orders took place 15-20 mins after being seated. Placing food orders took another 15 after that, so mathematically there was no way you would possibly even see actual food until at least 40 mins after sitting down. This could be possibly expected if you arrived at an already busy establishment, but once again, the business was only about 25% capacity when we reached.

The next thing was dealing with pricing. If you haven't noticed, I deal with many things numerically. Numbers tend to make sense where people sometimes don't...at least that's what I find lots of times, but not this time. I ordered a breakfast plate that is served with texas toast. I asked if I could substitute the regular toast for French Toast. I totally expected an upcharge for the difference, but was taken aback by the amount...I was told there would be an additional $5 charge for this. I found this especially strange because an addon of French Toast to any plate is listed as $4, so why, would changing toast I was already set to receive to French Toast cost more than if I just ordered an additional side???

I ran this question by the host, the server, & the manager, all who seemed perplexed once I pointed out the obvious. None of the above had an answer, but as I pressed on, they said they would speak with the owner about what clearly didn't make mathematical sense. Eventually, my server returned & told me that my upcharge would now be $4 instead of $5. Crisis averted I guess, just not explained, lol.

Overall, the food was very good, but not great...the service was very friendly & helpful as they could be, but just not expeditious...& the pricing was a little more expensive than expected ($80+ for my wife & myself for 2 breakfasts & a Mimosa sampler.)

There's always some give & take in an eatery, & something as simple as a good kitchen manager that's able to regulate food quality control & timing of service, could be the difference in questioning price or otherwise. One may not mind paying extra if all the other check boxes...