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We won't be going back to Bella Mangiata in Villas
Print this Article| Posted: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 | 0 comments
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Have you seen the movie "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events"? My 9-year-old daughter compared our visit to Bella Mangiata Ristorante & Pizzeria to that film and you'll soon see why.
The pre-spring Thursday evening visit began well enough. The kids spotted a cooler with gelato, a frozen Italian dessert, and were looking forward to trying it after our meal. The eatery's dining room is decorated with murals depicting Venetian scenes, bright silk flowers, lots of colorful wine bottles and miniature chef figurines. After seating us at a long table, our server introduced herself by name, which too few do, and took our drink orders right away.
Hungry, we ordered more appetizers than usual - garlic knots ($2.99 for a dozen), crab bites ($6.95) and bacon-wrapped shrimp ($6.99), a special that night.
The garlic knots were actually dough nuggets; my older daughter liked them and ate quite a few. My 7-year-old daughter enjoyed the crab bites, which I found to be too oniony and mushy. But the worst of the three was the shrimp dish - the shrimp were small and maybe even previously frozen, and the bacon was chewy.
That was the first unfortunate event.
The second was the crouton incident. My older daughter snagged one off of my husband's Caesar salad, only to make a horrible face and spit it out. My husband (brave dad that he is) tried one to see what was the problem and confirmed that there was something terribly wrong with the croutons. He told our server, who took away the salad and took note of the complaint. We didn't hear back about it.
The she-crab bisque I chose instead of a salad (for $2 extra) tasted OK, but was not warm enough and so thick and chunky it was almost like a dip. Isn't bisque supposed to be smooth? I ate a couple bites.
The younger two kids were having better luck than their older sister.
My daughter declared the chicken fingers and fries ($7.99) she found on the appetizer menu to be very tasty. She even brought about half home and thoroughly enjoyed the leftovers warmed up after school the next day. My 3-year-old son, who loves nothing more than cheesy pizza, found his big slice ($3.99) from the children's menu to be quite acceptable. He brought half home in a doggy bag and had it for lunch a day later.
The crouton incident had ruined my older daughter's appetite. It didn't help that the ravioli ($5.95) she had ordered from the children's menu, asking for a little butter on it, arrived at the table swimming in melted butter.
She didn't touch it.
My husband's Italian pork chop ($16.95) was the biggest disappointment. It had been butterflied and seemingly deep fried.
It was so dry, he could hardly eat it. To her credit, our server noticed that the chop was untouched and inquired; my husband explained the problem and she took the chop off our bill; she also gave us a card for 10 percent off on our next visit, which I don't expect to use.
The server did the right thing; but I think the chef or manager should have come out and apologized.
As a former server, I felt bad for ours; she was kind and none of the unfortunate events was her fault.
The stuffed scallops ($17.95) I ordered probably was not that bad of a dish. Plentiful scallops sat atop a crabmeat mixture; sadly, like the crab bites, the crab mixture tasted too oniony for me. I didn't eat more than a scallop or two.
By this time, we had to get out of the restaurant quickly. That meant no gelato for the two happy kids, but we appeased them by stopping at a new Dairy Queen on the way home; my older daughter had recovered enough by this time to take a few licks of a small vanilla cone.
Like the "Lemony Snicket" movie, we ended the evening on a happier note; but we won't be going back to Bella Mangiata.
Bella Mangiata Ristorante & Pizzeria
WHERE: 1891 Bayshore Road, Villas
HOURS: 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Wednesday; 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Thursday to Sunday
HOW MUCH: Breakfast $3.95 to $6.99; appetizers $4.25 to $8.99; soups and salads $3.75 to $7.95; entrees $15.95 to $21.95; pastas $9.95 to $13.95; sandwiches $4.75 to $7.99; pizzas $6.95 for 12-inch cheese to $18.95 for margherita specialty. Our bill was $70 after tax and before tip (one entr�e was removed from the bill).
SERVICE: Credit cards; take-out and delivery; catering; BYOB; school and campground discounts
INFO: 609-889-6800
Posted in Dining, Dining on Wednesday, March 25, 2009 8:00 pm Updated: 6:45 pm.
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