Mangia with Gigi & Mike — Restaurant in Watertown

We were big fans of the former Matteo's, and were kind of let down when we saw it had changed hands. The new owners formerly ran the restaurant at Crestbrook, which we weren't big fans of. The last time we ate at Matteo's, it was actually during the transition and we could tell the difference in the food right away. We had ordered dishes that we regularly ordered in the past, but this time they seemed...rushed and tasteless. Needless to say we stayed away for awhile. But having heard some good things we decided to give it another try for lunch.

Service was totally on point, but more important...the food was as good, if not better than before. We ordered a prosciutto pannini, Caesar Salad and a bowl of the Pasta Fagioli soup. Pannini was amazing, seriously danced on my tongue like a ballerina. And the soup was some of the best we've ever had. Stellar. The salad was good but we didn't like the croutons. No biggie really, just kind of a weird seasoning that tasted like powdered gym sock. Still though, pretty solid.

Overall we we super impressed. Glad we went back and are planning on dinner there this weekend. The new outdoor patio is also a big plus. Another local gem that just got a little...

Sorry to say, it was a flop. We'd had a hard day, & just wanted a quality meal and good service before going home to collapse. They admitted they had just finished an event, but our waitresses had the entire room of 6 tables alone. We ordered nice entrees($25 each) and then proceeded to wait over 30min for them. My husband's veal was very tough (why was it not veal?)and so unpleasant he didn't finish it. My scallops were fine, we were just really dissappointed. The dining room was so Loud (radio over speakers plus ruckus bar people plus normal diners) it made our wait miserable. The waitress was nice, it wasn't her fault. Way too expensive for...

I can only partly agree with both the good and bad reviews. I will justify that by saying this, I have had several items on the new menu and some were to my liking and some were not, I am willing to let that slide because there are few restaurants that have a full menu that I like. I really like the Sauteed Spinach and the Chicken Francese, however, the Ravioli was not to my liking you can't be all things to all people all the time. The restaurant also has a nice bar, but it can sometimes be crowded with people eating even when their are open tables.

I will say this, the food is not the same as when it was Mateo's not better, not worse, just...