Mangos Southern Kitchen and Bar — Restaurant in Tampa

Where do I begin. As soon as we walk up to the restaurant the valet is automatically 10$ for spots. The parking lot was empty. Valet is supposed to be used in the event of shortage of parking. We were told to walk up the street which was a hill and park. We walk in no reservation. We were told that they were fully booked. Mind you more than half the restaurant stay EMPTY our entire dining experience. We walk in and we were told we had seats inside then another customer complains to the host and our seats were given away. The host claimed she has a canceled party so she was able to seat us. She was kind but the phones don’t work in order for you to call or see that type of information . I assumed since it was two weeks after their grand opening the hitches would be figured out. I was a bit confused when walking into a black owned establishment and see only 2 ppl of color who worked there…. Let’s just say The other establishment is much more diverse with their staffing choices. We are then seated outside in 90 degree heat. When there were multiple seats open inside again! Stayed empty through the whole 2 hours we were there. I understand that slowly the income of people should lead to amazing service but that was quite the opposite. Our server was not attentative at all. We are sat and our server gives us paper small menus but only for liquor . We had to scan a bar code….. We were told the establishment is fine dining but has no actual physical menus? We then go to order drinks the server was not knowledgeable on the liquor menu. It takes 15 minutes for us to get our drinks mind you it was slow. We finally get out drinks and order our food the food took 20-30 minutes to come out. But the taste was different than the other location. The oxtails were tasteless green were overly salty. The catfish was extremely salty. We chose to discuss our issues with the manager because our server decided to focus on the table behind us visiting us only 3-4 times. When the manager comes up she seems open to feedback and is apologetic. 2/3 of my table did not eat the food. Mind you the serve did not check us once we received our food. It took her at least 30 minutes to approach us. The only highlights of my meal were the cornbread Mac and cheese and liquor. The Cesar salad was not it at all. The crotons were dried pieces of flavorless bread. The sauce was a vinaigrette? Which makes no sense. Overall the flavors were not there. I’m in love with the other location the food is top tier there. The Not to mention the food was plated terribly. We had assumed the manager took care of the bill because she took our FULL plates back to the kitchen. Turns out she thought only 50 percent off was okay for something we did not eat. We had to go back and forth 2-3 times with the server because of this. And the server tried to charge us full price for our happy hour drinks. Putting staff in that position is outrageous. Not to mention the server was just not attentive at all. She payed more attention to the white group behind us FULLY explaining the wine menu. The chef then came up and was apologetic and offered mac and cheese in place of some items which was the most customer service we had received all day. Again the fine dining concept was not there….. we were handed boxes instead of having things boxed up for us and a corner store black plastic bag. In total we won’t be back to this location. The one in temple terrace will be the only one receiving my money. I still tipped well at the end of the day regardless of the service but I wont be there again. Servers need to knowledgeable of liquors if your going to say it’s fine dining. Also, giving a customer 50 percent off for something they did not like or eat after you took back the full plate. Was the most insane experience of my life. I hope for better for this restaurant in the future. The place was insanely gorgeous and has so...

Congratulations to the owners and I do wish them well. However, if they don't step it up, this restaurant won't last long.

Reason one is charging $10 to park. That's greedy, The valet didn't even seem to have a good grasp on how put my car in gear. To top it off, i walked to my car to drive it off the lot myself. Why even have valet other than to rake in a free $10?

Reason Two - the place is small and does has an inviting ambiance. Our reservation for four was at 5:30 and the hostess seated us at the front door. We asked to be moved away from the door, but she refused to move us. She said the other tables (all empty) were reserved. We sat there for a good hour before anyone was seated at those tables.

Reason three - Despite it being Thursday, we were told happy hour, advertised on the menu as Wed-Fri from 3-6, was cancelled by the owner. We pointed out the printed and online menu which clearly stated the aforementioned days and times, but our server said she would not honor any happy hour drink or food selections.

Reason four - the old fashioned was terrible. It was watered down and flavorless. The other drinks tasted better, but were not full pours.

Reason five - the appetizers took way too long to arrive at our table. I had to ask the server for a status. The salmon bites were very flavorful and everyone enjoyed them. In fact, they were the best part of our dining experience.

Reason six - three of us ordered turkey wings, mac and cheese, and collard greens. The other guest ordered grilled snapper. The turkey wings, were not as described. The menu said there was to be two turkey wings per entree. However, there was only one on each plate. We questioned the server and when she couldn't explain it, we summoned the manager. He seemed annoyed with us for asking, but explained that online and printed menus were incorrect. He gave the same excuse for the happy hour menu. He concluded by saying we would "only" be charged $22 for the one turkey wing and two sides instead of $29. $7 for one turkey wing is not a bargain, nor is $22 for a turkey wing and two sides. It's cheaper than that at the original location.

Reason Seven - all four of our meals were cold. I sent my whole meal back, as did the diner with the snapper. The other two sent back their sides.

Reason Eight - the food was not good. The greens were really salty, the mac and cheese was hard, and did not have a good taste. When the fish was re-served, it lacked any seasoning and the diner refused to eat it.

Reason Nine - everyone at the table had long finished their meal before my turkey wing plate was served again. It was not good and I didn't finish it.

Reason Ten - The manager hung the server out to dry. He left her to explain policies that she didn't fully understand. Moreover, he didn't come back to the table to check on us after we complained to him directly, and seemed indifferent to our experience. He only offered a weak apology once and we never saw him again.

I like to support new businesses, but I'm not going to waste money to do it. This restaurant is way overpriced and not worth the time and effort to go there. I would expect a restaurant in its second day of existence to go all out to impress its customers and generate more business. That was not the case. Based on my experience, I'm not willing to give them a second chance, and I...

This evening my mother and I had the chance to experience Mangos Southern kitchen and bar. Upon arrival it is $10 valet which wasnt bad but they only have about 10 spots maybe so unsure where else they would park you if not in the lot. We walk in to the establishment and it felt like instantly walking into someone's living room, no space to wait or anything. At 6pm when we got there it was ppl seated but not fully seated just yet. The bar was crowded and there was no hostess to greet you so we initially walked past the podium trying to figure out where we go. Once greeted we were guided upstairs to the patio where we would be seated......WHOA!!! Not enough fans for the heat florida gives us. On one side they have curtains (which were a pain after a while blowing on you and your food) to block the sun. We asked if we could be seated across from where we were just to be out of direct sun, the curtains and try to get a breeze in another seat the hostess declined us which she wasn't personable, professional or anything. She sat us with no silverware or napkins so we waited for our server. Our server Kevin was very helpful and tried to accommodate us by fixing our curtains to get a little breeze since we weren't able to move but we did ask if he could check one more time if we could move but were declined again. So we asked about drinks first and Kevin gave us a run down and we finally chose a drink but as pictured we were not happy with the presentation $15 for a drink that had one sip left. We ordered our food oxtail and lamb chops as well as salmon bites (those were good) and we odered an extra side the corn bread which was good as well. As other people started coming in we noticed they were changing their tables but we were declined twice so we weren't happy about that so we asked for the manager. The man looked like he was coming from the kitchen so I think our conversation about not being able to move tables etc was not realty taken seriously he thought when we reserved our table that we could see where we were sitting before hand and needed to stay in the seat that was provided. He did offer 10% discount but didn't seem like he had time to finish the conversation. Still waiting for our food it took 1.5 to get but before it came we decided to leave and as we were leaving the food showed up but we declined it and just wanted to leave. The attitudes from other waiters, quarter size amount of dipping sauce for salmon nuggets shown, just all those things I mentioned made me not want to stay for our meal and pay even more money I was over it. No apologies or no accountability for anything mentioned just excuses. Upon leaving we heard a manager say two parties wanted their valet fee back bc they were not happy with the overall visit hence all the one star reviews. To be open on your 3rd day and you are completely out of this n that and no to go cups and not a little more prepared tells me you needed to push back grand opening another 30 days bc I have never experienced service like this not even a...