MANGIA ITALIANA
Hoppen Hierarchy:★★★
District: Northwest Omaha
Pizza, Pasta, & Italian Sandwiches
Perfect For: Casual Dining; Takeout
Standout Dishes: Vincent Special Pizza; Buffalo Chicken Pizza; Cheese Bread
Nothing about the ambience of Mangia Italiana screams upscale Italian. It’s located on a backroad off of Irvington Street near 680 in Omaha, the kind of place you’d likely never stumble into unless you were specifically looking for it. The exterior is humble and looks more like a home than a restaurant. The inside consists of a small waiting area and a tiny dining room with eight tables, capable of seating maybe 25-30 people if everyone packed in. Most fast food restaurants are roomier.
But Mangia is yet another example of why you it’s never wise to judge a book by its cover. It may not look like much, but anyone passing up on the joint because of that is missing out on some solid Italian eats.
Time of arrival is key at Mangia, because it doesn’t take reservations and the dining room fills up quickly. We were seated immediately when we arrived around 5:30 on a Friday night, but the waiting area was packed when we left about 45 minutes later. Mangia does offer take out orders, and during the summer there is outdoor seating available on the patio.
The menu is sprawling with Italian favorites and some interesting spins you’re not likely to find at your typical spot. It features 23 specialty pizza offerings, ranging from the mundane, such as supreme, carne and Hawaiian, to some pretty creative offerings. Among those choices: two versions of buffalo chicken, the Shrimp Special, Ranch BLT and Italian Beef. Diners can also create their own pie with whatever toppings they choose. Mangia tops the pizza menu off with four breakfast options.
There are also a number of classic noodle dishes, baked pastas, chicken, seafood and sandwiches available.
The pizza is the star. The Vincent Special, which is topped with beef, pepperoni, bacon, meatballs, onions, and fresh garlic, is absolutely delicious. Each meat manages to stand out in its own way. The fattiness of the beef and pepperoni marries nicely with the saltiness of all the meats, while the garlic and onions add some freshness to cut through the sodium. The sauce doesn’t add much, but that’s understandable considering all the meat it would have had to fight through.
The Buffalo Chicken is very unusual. The sauce is a combination of Alfredo and buffalo sauce, which makes for a creamy, slightly spicy mixture. There was so much cheese perched atop the pizza that it gave me the vibe of a bowl of mac & cheese with some Tobasco hot sauce poured in. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a delicious combo, and this was a solid pizza. Unfortunately, the chicken gets mostly lost amongst the dairy and cream.
The crust is pretty average. It’s a bit soggy and, though it held up well enough amongst all the sauce and toppings, it adds little flavor or texture to the experience.
The pasta dishes are less successful. Allow the Cheese Tortellini Alfredo with Chicken to be an example. It’s drowning in cheese and cream sauce, making for a very heavy meal that sticks to one’s ribs the moment it touches their lips. Samplings of chicken or pasta on their own were actually quite flavorful, but most bites are drowned in dairy. If this dish had 30 percent less sauce and cheese and allowed the other ingredients to sing, it would be much better.
The Parmesan Rolls, which come with each meal or can be purchased for 65 cents apiece, were a step above the typical bread option that accompanies most Italian meals. The interior is soft and pillowy, and the exterior isn’t too thick or crusty. They reach another level when dipped into the broccoli cheddar soup, which is tremendous but just about thick enough to be considered a dip.
The prices are most fair. Most entrees range from $11-$16 dollars, while pizzas cost around $15 for a small (10 in.), $18 for a medium (13 in.) and $21 for a large (16 in.). Personal pizzas (7 in.) are about $8.
The service is friendly and attentive, and the wait time on meals is pretty quick. The kitchen is just as large if not bigger than the dining area, which allows the Mangia staff to craft its meals fairly quickly.
The restaurant has two main drawbacks, starting with the limited seating. A better location with more room would make Mangia a much more attractive location. It also relies a bit too much on cheese and sauce, as some of the dishes are straight up doused in it, hiding the excellent flavors of the meat and pasta.
But the pizzas are very good, the meats are excellent, and the portion sizes are more than large enough to tackle the typical appetite. Mangia has a lot going for it. I just wish it had a better location, more room, and less dairy. Those fixes would really send it over the top.