Il Mangiolino - FERRARA

Besides the Amazing pizzas they make a sort of pizza starter made with chick peas...FANTASTIC.. Too many choices

This place came to our attention because another online reviewer had strongly praised Il Mangiolino 's gluten-free pizzas. Having coeliac disease any restaurant that is specifically recommended for its handling of this potentially awkward issue now seems to me worth considering. And in this case we definitely weren 't disappointed. The location is well off the beaten track. In fact it 's deep into a housing estate outside the city walls of Ferrara and unlikely to be close to many visitors ' hotels. But it was well worth the effort of taking a taxi there and back from the city centre. Indeed the low prices and excellent value of our meal meant that a large proportion of the evening 's cost came in the form of the cab fares but nonetheless we thought it fully justified by the experience. Il Mangiolino is, as you 'd expect from a restaurant in such a location, about as far away from the standard tourist-oriented establishment as you could imagine. Actually we were the only non-Italians in a very crowded outside eating area which was clearly hugely popular with the locals and a focal point for the residents of the estate (each new party to arrive went over to someone else 's table and exchanged kisses and chatter . And needless to say English-speaking wasn 't exactly widespread: in fact our waiter, a very charming and helpful young chap with somewhat better English than my Italian, was probably the only one. The meal was everything we 'd hoped. We began with the local Ferrarese favourite of ceci, meaning a dense baked pancake made with chickpea flour. (Pretty much every table was also ordering them, so they must have met with expert local approval. We then had pizzas and I 'd agree with the earlier reviewer that for a gluten-free product (my non-coeliac wife had one too so we could swap and share it was splendid. It lacked the sogginess of some gluten-free pizzas and the dryness of others. It was in fact the closest I 've yet experienced to the true pizza texture and flavour, which is not bad considering the difficult chemistry and physics involved in the absence of gluten with all its magical properties. I almost forgot. Said young waiter also pointed me towards a fabulous Udinese gluten-free beer which I very much enjoyed. And we had two great espresso coffees to finish before our waiter called us a taxi back to the city centre. Drawbacks? Only the mosquitos, a constant feature of Ferrara outdoors in high summer, especially at evening time. All the diners, us included, spent part of the time either swatting or itching. But this is hardly a feature Il Mangiolino can do much about, despite their best efforts with insect-repellent candles around the eating area: it comes as standard with any location in the lower Po valley!

This place came to our attention because another online reviewer had strongly praised Il Mangiolino 's gluten-free pizzas. Having coeliac disease any restaurant that is specifically recommended for its handling of this potentially awkward issue now seems to me worth considering. And in this case we definitely weren 't disappointed. The location is well off the beaten track. In fact it 's deep into a housing estate outside the city walls of Ferrara and unlikely to be close to many visitors ' hotels. But it was well worth the effort of taking a taxi there and back from the city centre. Indeed the low prices and excellent value of our meal meant that a large proportion of the evening 's cost came in the form of the cab fares but nonetheless we thought it fully justified by the experience. Il Mangiolino is, as you 'd expect from a restaurant in such a location, about as far away from the standard tourist-oriented establishment as you could imagine. Actually we were the only non-Italians in a very crowded outside eating area which was clearly hugely popular with the locals and a focal point for the residents of the estate (each new party to arrive went over to someone else 's table and exchanged kisses and chatter . And needless to say English-speaking wasn 't exactly widespread: in fact our waiter, a very charming and helpful young chap with somewhat better English than my Italian, was probably the only one. The meal was everything we 'd hoped. We began with the local Ferrarese favourite of ceci, meaning a dense baked pancake made with chickpea flour. (Pretty much every table was also ordering them, so they must have met with expert local approval. We then had pizzas and I 'd agree with the earlier reviewer that for a gluten-free product (my non-coeliac wife had one too so we could swap and share it was splendid. It lacked the sogginess of some gluten-free pizzas and the dryness of others. It was in fact the closest I 've yet experienced to the true pizza texture and flavour, which is not bad considering the difficult chemistry and physics involved in the absence of gluten with all its magical properties. I almost forgot. Said young waiter also pointed me towards a fabulous Udinese gluten-free beer which I very much enjoyed. And we had two great espresso coffees to finish before our waiter called us a taxi back to the city centre. Drawbacks? Only the mosquitos, a constant feature of Ferrara outdoors in high summer, especially at evening time. All the diners, us included, spent part of the time either swatting or itching. But this is hardly a feature Il Mangiolino can do much about, despite their best efforts with insect-repellent candles around the eating area: it comes as standard with any location in the lower Po valley!

Friendly and familiar staff, wide choice of pizzas, gluten-free pizza and delicious desserts

Saturday evening, food arrived in normal time (not as in other restaurants where after an hour you still do not get food). peeccatttoo for pizza, which was too little dough and was a little heavy