Milano's Pizzeria — Restaurant in Mesa

The décor and seating were very nice, so I had high expectations given the reviews. Out waitress was nice, but had the demeanor of a diner waitress (not a negative thing in diner, but this place bills itself as more upscale). Unfortunately, the food was nearly unpalatable.

We had bruschetta to start and it was essentially pre-made garlic toasts (with garlic salt, not fresh garlic) with tomatoes that has clearly not been marinaded for more than maybe 20 minutes, hardly any basil, and lots of pre-shredded flavorless mozzarella cheese. On the plate was a sad pile of feta and kalamata olives as garnish, neither of which are Italian and didn't add anything to the dish.

For my main course I got a capriciosa pizza which is traditionally one of my favorite pizzas. Given their advertising of a wood oven, again my expectations were high. Sadly the pizza was barely edible: again with the flavorless mozzarella which was stringy and chewy; kalamata olives instead of salted black olives; bland artichoke hearts; what appeared to be black forest ham instead of a good Italian ham; and sauce that contained so much added sugar it tasted like ketchup. The crust had a good texture, at least around the edges, but in the middle it was soggy. Thè center of the pizza was literally wet by the time I had eaten two slices -- clearly it hadn't been cooked at a high enough temperature. Thè dough itself was also BLAND and obviously made from bleached white flour instead of semolina or another flour with some flavor.

My friend ordered lasagna and although it had at least 6 sheets of pasta, there was no ricotta or sauce between several of the layers. It also had the sickeningly sweet tomato sauce, and he was unable to finish his meal. Stouffers makes better lasagna.

Based on the area perhaps this place is catering to its demographic, which appears to be middle-aged alcoholic smokers from the Midwest who have long since burned out their sense of taste. That being said, Italian food especially is based on using quality, fresh ingredients. It feels like this place just uses the cheapest stuff they can find, and it shows. Combined with the sub-par preparation, I would be hesitant to give it a second chance. Maybe we went on a bad night, maybe they have a new chef who doesn't know what he's doing. Either way, this place seriously needs to step up their game on both ingredients AND preparation if they want to stay...

Short version: it was meh. A disappointing birthday celebration for my sister. She was house sitting out in that area, I drove to meet her from Laveen. Definitely will not be making that trip again.

Longer version: it was a nicely decorated restaurant, with a small patio, and quite a large crowd, so obviously other patrons like the food. There was ample parking, which is a big plus for me. Unfortunately, the food was not all that appetizing.

We were going to order some drinks but they didn't have a cocktail menu, which sucked because I like mixed fruity drinks. More accurately, I like those drinks to be on a menu with their ingredients so I know what sounds good. I don't want to have to say "mix this and this and this" or be a plain Jane and ask for rum and Coke. No cocktail menu was definitely a bummer.

We opted to go with the blazin' saganaki for an appetizer because who doesn't like cheese? And thank my lucky stars I am not lactose intolerant. It was the best part of the meal. The Montanara pizza was so-so (crust was a bit too thick for me) yet the spinach, chicken and artichoke heart was the most disappointing. I like my calzone to be semi-thick and soft, just barely beginning to develop a crust, yet this calzone was too brown (almost burnt) and crispy like the lavash pizza crusts. I don't like to waste food but I couldn't force myself to even finish the leftovers the next day. Sorry to say, it went into our compost bin. There really was nothing good about it.

I don't like doing rating places less than three-stars, especially nowadays when so many places are struggling, but I am unable to find any reason to give Milano's more...

I've been to the Bellagio now about 8 times. Only once was to dine in, and just like most restaurants with decent food and atmosphere, they were very busy and full on a weekend night, no surprise that the service was a bit spotty and seemed slower than average. The good part is that the food was quite delicious and good size of portions made up for the wait. My favorite item is the Calzone (any 5 toppings, you pick) if I'm starving I can eat it in one sitting, otherwise it's half for dinner and the other half for lunch the next day...still tasty!! I don't know if I want to criticize the service or applaud it, because it can be very "Jeckle and Hyde" here, it really depends on your server and if they seem to be staffed well enough to handle the workload. I've had both great service and lacking here. The owner seems to be genuinely nice and was a pleasant experience the one time I've spoken with him. I keep craving their food and keep coming back. I believe in tipping according to service level and eventually that will solve itself. Sometimes I will try to make a polite suggestion to improve service if I feel they are at least trying to give good service. There is after all a nuance to reading when customers want space or...