Mangia Bene

We love trying new restaurants but there seems to be a few that we always go back to -- restaurants that consistently have good quality food that we can enjoy over and over and that aren't too far from home. Mangia Bene on La Paz Road in Laguna Niguel is one of those restaurants (along with Marios by the Sea, and Sango Sushi). Earlier tonight, Jane's Madrigal choir from school performed their fall concert. As neither Cathy nor I nor Jane had eaten dinner, we were all famished following the concert. We decided on Mangia Bene as it was just down the street from the concert venue.

The decor in the restaurant is far from stuffy with whimsical tomatoes, pizzas and naked dough boys in chef hats handpainted on the walls. The restaurant can be a bit noisy during peak hours but as we sat down to dinner at 8:30 the crowds were gone and the atmoshpere was quiet and relaxing. The only decorative feature of the restaurant that I despise are the three or four big screen TV's situated throughout the restaurant that are a total distraction from an otherwise tasteful atmosphere. The bright flashing screen above your head make it difficult to focus on having a pleasant conversation with your dinner partners.

As for the food, they always start with a plateful of garlic bread that is generally gone within 5 minutes. The bread slices are thin and toasted with garlic butter (of course) and parsley sprinkled on top. It is easy to fill up on the bread before dinner even arrives. They will continue to bring as much bread as you want throughout the evening.

The menu is extensive and it is difficult to go wrong with any of their pasta dishes. Tonight I had rigattoni with a cream tomato sauce, chicken and portobello mushrooms. Cathy and Jane agreed that it was the best dish of the evening. Jane had angel hair pasta with tomotaes and mushrooms and Cathy had a steak with carmelized onions and portobello mushrooms. The steak was very good and had a distinct grilled flavor as if it was grilled over an open flame with wood chips. My only complaint with the food (and this is true for many of the times I have eaten there) is that it is often slightly saltier than my taste requires. I find that as I arrive towards the end of the meal, the saltiness of the food becomes distracting. In the past, Cathy has asked for the low salt version of dishes and that seems to help. I never remember to ask for this. I can thank my parents, who never cooked with much salt, for my current intollerance to things that are too salty. Most people would probably be fine with the salt content of Mangia Bene's dishes.

We gawked at the fabulous dessert tray on our way out of the restaurant but restrained ourselves. (I later snuck a few spoonfuls of Thrifty mint 'n chip ice cream after we arrived home to neutralize the salty dinner.)

4 Beavers for Mangia Bene.