Mangia Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Manchester

Valentine's Day dinner was ruined by the EXTREMELY rude owner after discovering that the "deposit" that I paid for making the reservation for Valentine's Day was not actually a deposit, but was a booking fee/surcharge, and this was not properly communicated by his staff.

I made the reservation a few weeks in advance for dinner with my wife and our five year old daughter. Being informed that we would need to make a $37.50 deposit to make the reservation seemed reasonable considering that it is a big night for dining out, and they have small dining room. I paid the deposit at the time of making the reservation.

Fast forward to the meal. We ordered a bottle of wine, an appetizer, entrées, and dessert. Everything was good. The dining room was a little chilly, but otherwise dinner was fine. The spaghetti and meatballs was a little underwhelming for what I expected to be home-made pasta and sauce (unconfirmed). Certainly not something I would write a negative review over had that been the only issue but not anything I would order again for $22.

When the bill came, it was just north of $150 and the "deposit" was not deducted. When I asked our server, she referred to it as "non refundable" (was not asking for a refund, only for the deposit to applied as expected) and stated that several other guests had been confused by this as well. When I said that I wanted to speak with a manager, she told me that a manager was not going to come out and speak with me. I told her that I wouldn't pay the bill if they didn't come out. The owner came out and impatiently explained that the "deposit" was non refundable. After an extremely unpleasant exchange where we discussed the meaning of "deposit," and he agreed that the intention was to discourage guests from making a reservation and not showing up at all, but the deposit paid would still not be deducted from the food bill, he said "you don't want to pay? Fine, but don't come back." To which I replied "I do want to pay for our meals, but I want the $37.50 I already paid applied to the bill." To which he replied "No, just don't come back," and walked away. No apology for the misrepresentation of his surcharge/fee that had been described as a deposit. No offer for anything other than to not come back if I didn't want to pay. He was arrogant, rude, and completely unconcerned over my dissatisfaction with the situation.

After several minutes of discussing with my wife, we disagreed as to what the appropriate course of action would be, leading to an extremely unpleasant end to our Valentine's Day. We paid the entire bill, including the surcharge which had been misrepresented as a deposit, tipped the waitress 20+%, and left the restaurant.

I will absolutely never be returning to this...

By far my favorite Italian restaurant in the southern NH area, even the whole state so far. This place is the real deal. Everything is made fresh to order, and you can definitely taste that it is. Because of this, the food will take slightly longer than normal but it's worth the wait every time. I do recommend having a reservation because it's a pretty small place so it could full up fast. And because it's small, it could get a little loud but you can still hear your conversations at your table.

This place used to be BYOB but they have it so you can order mixed drinks and beer too. Not a huge selection of beer but it'll do. I would like to see some IPAs available but it actually is kind of good they don't have any because those would fill you up so much, that you won't be able to eat as much of the delicious food. The espresso martini I ordered was one of the best ones I've had, definitely recommend it.

As far as the food, the warm crispy bread with the dipping oil was so addicting to it, I couldn't stop. We ordered the bruschetta as well and I'm glad I got a 2piece because the pieces of bruschetta are HUGE. And to no surprise these were amazing. For the main meal, I got the chicken parm. This chicken just melts in your mouth it's so tender and cooked to perfection along with the sauce all on it and on the pasta. Top notch chicken parm, my favorite chicken parm anywhere. My girlfriend got the fettuccine Alfredo with chicken and like my chicken, it melted in your mouth. This dish also didn't taste heavy like some Alfredo dishes are.

Also an important thing, they do accommodate a severe peanut/ treenut allergy. We did not have a problem with that.

I cant recommend this place enough. The chef Angelo really knows how to make an authentic Italian meal the right way and I will never stop...

Wow! I've lived in NH 6 years and man was I surprised. Originally from RI and I've missed true Italian. Campo has been the best I can find...and they're great, but Mangia it's hands down the Italian spot to beat. BYOB is fun...the liquor store is across the street so you can get anything you like. Only $6 corking fee. Everything is made to order. We had an app, entrees and desert, we were there for 2 hours.

The food was phenomenal. We had the bruschetta and garlic bread. Bruschetta was like a french bread pizza. So good!

My girlfriend had chicken marsala. Absolutely wonderful. Better than Campo and definitely contends with Federal Hill. Definitely opt for the creamy version.

I had the veal sopresatta. Imagine crispy breaded veal topped with thin sopresatta and topped with mozzerella in a creamy sauce with pasta. Unbelievably good.

I knew if we had something this good we had to go for desert too. The cheesecake we had with vanilla gelato. Omfggg. The chocolate egg thing (can't remember the name) was amazing. Peanut butter gelato with a hard chocolate coating.

My coffee was even freshly made just for me.

The price for all this was only $86! Totally worth the money and absolutely exceeded expectations. Will...