Mirabito's Italian — Restaurant in North Liberty

We had recently moved nearby to this place and decided to give it a whirl. I went in with pretty standard expectations. It was either going to be great or 'Applebee's Italian'-esque. The interior was nicely lit, casual and clean. The staff said we could pick a table (it is a small place) and promptly took care of us. My waiter was down to earth and attentive. After taking our orders, he came back with fresh bread and grated us some parmesan for our 'olive oil' plates (yeah yeah, I'm sure it has some kind of name I don't know). It was an amazingly delicious bread and was a nice appetizer of sorts while we waited. Again, our waiter was attentive, always filled our drinks and was not too peppy or in your face (Peppy people are the bane of this earth). We both got the soup of the day; tomato basil. It was amazing. And it had the best quality of italian cooking, garlic! Well balanced and not too basil. Once we demolished the soup, they brought out the entrees. I got the Brie Porto Melt and my friend the Hot Italian Beef. Roommate had nothing but kind words for her dish and I LOVED mine. Not too much pesto, the mushrooms were sliced and the roasted bell pepper added great flavor. I was worried about the mixed greens in it but it all went well together. I'm not a pickle person (there are a lot of jokes there trust me) but my roommate said they were the only average thing we ate (I mean, they're pickles, not sure what people expect). Everything else was spectacular. Desert we snapped up some cannolis and they were amazing. This restaurant could totally charge $2-$3 bucks more for everything and it would still be well worth it. I look forward to returning to try the pizzas and pastas! Overall (TLDR) - Great place, great food,...

One of our family's all time favorites!

Mirabito's is a family owned and run restaurant.

You'll be served bread and have a bottle of oil on the table, then the server will grind some cheese on your plate, if you'd some. I highly recommend trying the cheese with your oil dipped bread.

We've been going there for possibly 9 years. It's the one restaurant we could take our autistic child to that treated him really well (always so kind and thoughtful) and where he would eat the food! They would even grind a mountain of cheese on his plate because of how happy it made him.

He loves the bread with oil and cheese, and has been a fan of the noodles, kids cheese pizza, and the meatball madness antipasti (eats one, takes one home). Noting - he would never eat any of this at home, which means it's really special.

He's been eating their Tiramisu since he was 3 years old and it's still his favorite dessert. It's house made and served perfectly in a little dish.

We've the majority of the non-seafood dishes over the years, and all of them are consistently delicious and flavorful.

We tend to enjoy a pizza with a side salad or the soup of the day the majority of the time, but it's always hard for us to choose! The salad is always fresh and the pizza always comes out beautifully. We like to swap the red sauce for white sauce on some days and it makes for a fun and still delicious meal change up.

If you are tired of pizza, then I highly recommend the following: The Pirlo Bri Porto Melt Meatball Madness Farmer's Pasta Fettuccine Alfredo Farmhouse Quiche Lasagna ANY of their daily specials

Sorry, not sorry, I'm not making it easy for you to pick! Don't worry, you'll have a great experience and the food...

My wife and I came for dinner a few weeks ago, and I’ve been going back on writing a review, but I can’t stop thinking about our disappointing experience.

I had heard so many wonderful things, and would consider giving them a second try, but the terrible service ruined our experience. Our waitress, a young blond, was incredibly unknowledgeable.

We had ordered a bottle of the Pinot noir to split. She returned with 2 glasses, and I shared my confusion as we wanted to split the bottle. She stared at us as though we were in the wrong, and said “ummm okay then I guess I’ll go ask my manager.” I had a direct view of their expo area as she whispered to her supervisor, and the supervisor stared at me. The waitress returned and said they would give us 4 glasses for the price of the bottle. A bottle has 5 glasses of wine, but I was honestly just eager to move past it and order.

My wife asked what kind of sauce came on a certain dish, and the waitress responded, “um, it’s just your basic pasta sauce.” My wife then received the incorrect salad she had ordered, and it took about 10 minutes to fix.

My wife’s pasta dish was mediocre. I ordered a sandwich, and while I did enjoy it, it was on the exact same complimentary bread that they give when you sit down. I wish I had known that when I ordered, it felt repetitive and lazy.

We then asked for our second glass of wine, and it took so long, that we ended up just requesting to be charged for just the 2 glasses so we could leave. I really wish I had had the same amazing experience as...