Local Restaurant Obituary: Mangia

Mangia = Italian for "eat". Morire = Italian for "death".

R.I.P. Mangia in Post Falls, the second unfulfilled attempt by brothers Tim and Josh Mitchell to run a succesful Italian eatery. The first incarnation of Mangia was out in the Spokane Valley in the Valley Mall and closed only a few months after opening to mediocre reviews and little public interest. Sadly, they were unable to stir up any dust at thier former A&W location in Post Falls and after a little over a year in business, shuttered for good a few weeks ago.

Here are a few sample reviews from TripAdvisor which seem to sum up the general public's feeling toward the place:

"The food here is average, with a menu comprised of bland versions of all the usual staple italian dishes. The sandwiches are average, much like the rest of their food, except that they are extremely salty and also very pricey. The atmosphere is nice though, with a nicely decorated interior to the restaurant. Nice place to go out for something different than home-cooking, maybe once or twice per year. Not a place that you would go regularly though...it's so expensive that you might as well go to the Olive Garden."

"The worst meal I’ve had in years. For the sake of your stomach, stay away. I would recommend that everybody avoid this place, save your money and buy a frozen microwavable meal, it will still be far better than what you will get at Mangia.”

Harsh! I actually gave them a pretty good write-up about a year ago, after dining there with my mother for her birthday. I found out later that she was just being polite at the time and din;t want to mention that her Eggplant Parmigian was truly horrendous. I had the Seafood Fettuccini and found nothing to complain about, but after the review came out I had a bunch of people send me emails baffled as to why I was so nice. The comments on this blog were mixed:

Anonymous said...I totally disagree with this review. I ate with two other people at Mangia and everyone's meal was revolting. The alfredo tasted like corn starch, thr tortellini was more like a torelline soup and the salad was brown. The service was horrible and we were charged $8 for a 2oz serving of wine. This was the worst dining experience of my life.

Anonymous said... I disagree with the disagreement. I ate at Mangia with my mother and a friend a few months ago. The server wasn't the best, but the food was delicious and the atmosphere was great. I'd go back.

I think the death knell for Mangia finally came recently after the success of Hayden's eatery Ciao Mambo and the failure this summer of the Mangia-sponsored "Post Falls Food Fest" which tookplace in thier parking lot and was reportedly a disorganized catastrophe.

Ah, Mangia! Ye tried and ye failed. Aye, we hardly knew ye...