Nonna Angela’s Italian Bistro — Restaurant in Maryland

The moment you step inside there is a welcoming smile to greet you.Once we were seated, our server, ,Jemma, became our culinary tour guide. She had a great familiarity with the menu and had had a small taste of practically everything on it .As a customer that meant a lot to me and I ordered the most wonderful,tender but firm, Eggplant Parmesan with Angel Hair Pasta that was cooked perfectly. My sister and I are constantly searching for tomato sauce like our Mother made every Sunday( and we were always disappointed), that is until we tasted Mamma Angela's. Finally our quest has ended in triumph! Even the salad dressing was a taste of times around the family table. The salad and Italian rolls came with a yummy evo, Balsamic vinegar ( I think,but I have no knowledge of vinegar's) that was thick and dark with cloves of garlic. Needless to say, it required at least one and a half of those gorgeous, beautifully chewy rolls. The salad was very fresh and the perfect size for just before lunch. The dressing was placed on the side without my asking and Jemma was right there with fresh Parmesan and cracked pepper. But Wait! I forgot to tell you about the appetizer! Jemma recommended the Calamari. We were leery because we've been very disappointed ordering it at other places,everyone has a rubbery war story. But then Jemma told us that Mama Angela's processes many of their ingredients on site and their Calamari is one of the gems of the kitchen. Well, it was unlike any Calamari I have ever seen! Huge lightly breaded rings, (some could fit around a small pill bottle and as tall as an inch!),of the most tender, almost melt in your mouth Calamari I have ever encountered. After eating lunch I didn't feel uncomfortably full. I felt very satisfied and so we shared a dessert. Once again Jemma helped us order something light and a little sweet. Something she had tasted just the day before because Chef had just turned inspiration into reality the day before and on top of that, Chef makes the liqueur himself! Unfortunately , I do not remember the name of the liqueur but it is commonly used as a friend to digestion after a meal. What Jemma brought us was a light, lemony song of a Tiramisu,it was just as fresh as everything else had been. A great interior,Italian themed, I found the booth to be rather intimate, lots of tables on the other side of the Bistro so that families and larger parties may exclaim when their Calamari arrives. I would like to mention the staff now, especially your server, Jemma. You can tell a lot about a place by the way staff performs but I cannot really call Mama Angela's individuals "staff", in Jemmas' words,"We are a family here". She looked like she really enjoyed what she was doing. I loved the, "Jemma Treatment", and the passion she had. I had been having a rough time of it that day and just being with Jemma for that short time made me feel so much better. She was my Angel that day. To Chef and staff, you do not cook. You are sculptors! You take your best tools, unformed ingredients and with your passion and imagination you find the perfect form that they were meant to be. Bravo! To the other staff, there was never a moment where I saw indifference or boredom or even inactivity! Everyone was engaged, smiling and hustling like crazy! I'll call it" Smustling". Well done! Mama Angela's you've got a...

I felt discriminated against. Upon arrival I wasn’t greeted. A young girl stood as hostess and a crowd gathered near the bar and to the left of the stand as they awaited a few more guest. Although she sees me she is putting her head down and looking other directions. I stand a few feet back. She seats them and acknowledges me I state party of one where she makes a face and tells me it’s a 30 minute wait and she’ll text me. Since I don’t see anyone else waiting I take a seat. As I’m sitting a man comes in with 2 children he doesn’t stop and says is the booth in the bar available for me to sit and she said yes ! I am not sure why I wasn’t offered that seat and told 30 minutes but I continued to be patient, it’s a birthday dinner for myself. I’m still waiting and 2 woman enter the establishment she immediately greets them. And they state party of 3 at this very moment I receive the text stating my table is ready, although she could have just called my name as I sat on the bench. As I approach the stand she walk the party of 3 to be seated making me wait. Yes this young girl sat 2 tables, even the woman looked at each other. She treated me with such disrespect. Once I was seated. My waiter took over 10 minutes to acknowledge me. Another server called him and said she’s been sitting there for a while. He looks at me as he had been this entire time and comes over and says give me a second as he runs back to the other table with their bill. He goes else where then finally officially greets me. He asked me how I was and as I was explaining the wait time I had to endure while others were sat before me and then him ignoring me, I’m hungry he did apologize. By this time I know what I’d like to order so I do. I order 2 appetizers and my entree and a sprite. He replies back do I want that as an entree ? I said well it is an entree so how else is it available? So he says he means do I want it all at once ? I told him I prefer my appetizers first. And asked him how do they normally serve people ? Then he ask me should he put it all in at once. I said I’m not sure what you should do, but after my long wait I know exactly what I want. Am I the first person to order all at once ? It was strange and I felt as if rafiel didn’t want to serve me because I am a young black woman and alone. The appetizers came out before my sprite and I was the only guest not offered bread. The calamari and the 3 meatballs were yummy ! But after that treatment I’d rather finish my “entree” at home. The chicken Alfredo with broccoli gave me diarrhea all night it didn’t look fresh And I wonder if he forgot to put it in since he suggested the appetizers to be put in first then the entree at a later time. In my 34 years no server has asked me how to input meals. He literally asked me how to do his job after I ordered. How would I know ? I also ordered desert to go which I haven’t had yet. This was my first time being treated this poorly in a restaurant and I’ve had better. If you’re blackmail and over 50 I’m sure you’re fine. I wouldn’t go back even 20...

My hubby and I came in for dinner around 8:30 pm on Thursday, March 3rd. We were greeted by a very friendly, smiling hostess. Shely was our waitress, and we were SO well taken care of. The bread in our basket was warm and fresh with a nice crust, and the cloves of roasted garlic in the oil were a nice touch. They tasted wonderful, slathered onto our warm bread. Our appetizer, Polpette Casserole (3 large meatballs and crostini) was tender and flavorful. The marinara was light and flavorful, the perfect pairing with the richness of the meatball. My Gnocchi Tegamino was amazing. The gnocchi was so fresh, with just the right amount of airiness. And the sauce was another wonderfully light compliment to the rich starchiness of these delightful little dumplings. My husband had the stuffed shells. The ricotta used to stuff the shells was high quality, with a slightly more complex flavor than the American-produced ricotta that we might be used to and can buy at any supermarket. For dessert we had a cannoli and tiramisu. The pastry shell on the cannoli had the right amount of crisp and seemed pretty fresh, more than likely homemade, with just the right amount of cinnamon. The mascarpone filling had the right balance of sweetness. The tiramisu was light and airy, a great way to finish a meal! Altogether, our bill was around $53 for an appetizer, two entrees, two desserts and an iced tea and soda. The average dish was around $13, and seafood and beef dishes at around $19. There was something for every palate and budget, and the price was reasonable. The atmosphere was great. The owners did a wonderful job of merging the quaintness of a little nonna's country kitchen with modern upscale finishes like granite accents and plush booths. You would be at home whether dressed up or in jeans and a tee shirt. Overall our first impression was very good. It's so nice to have a quality, affordable, family friendly Italian restaurant right outside our neighborbood. If they keep up the good work, it won't be long before they're considered a beloved...