Mangia Bene - Lakeland

Wish I took pictures! Excellent Eggplant Parm, Excellent Chicken Parm, Excellent Ziti, Excellent Salad. This place is by far the best Italian food in town. Best Marinara Sauce anywhere. Period! Highly Recommend, 5 Star experience!

Order take out for first and extremely pleased with the meal. The chicken parm was delicious. The best I've had in a long time. Will definitely go back to try other items on the menu.

Soooo glad the old Ernie's Restaurant location in Lakeland got itself a new tenant. There's a new sheriff in town with a new owner, new menu, and super friendly staff. Hello Mangia! (I don't think this new place has any thing to do with the former, I was just having fun with the intro. With Antonio's To Go shuttered, this side of town was in desperate need of a suitable replacement. And I find this place a most apt replacement. I loved the eggplant Parmesan at Antonio's. I love the eggplant Parmesan at Mangia. From the sweet sauce, to the eggplant, to the portion size, and to the price, they all hit the mark of terrific. Tangy sauce, heaps of eggplant rest below a mozzarella layer of cheese, finely portioned. Give this new place a try if you're looking for good variety at a good price. By the way, it's takeout or delivery only.

This place sucks ass. The food sucks, the wait staff sucks. The preparers don't wear gloves One of the owners is incapable of running anything. I would say don't go here, but the one who owns the land kicked them out. They only lasted 1 year. Just want to give them a **** eating anyways.

Finally got a chance to try this new family run business on a Friday evening. This new Italian restaurant/shop is now open to takeout and catering orders. They have a lovely large menu and a special pizza oven that I just had to try. This business bills itself as an Italian kitchen and meat market. As I entered, it reminded me of Italian salumaria 's of long ago With its cold case of olives, cheeses and cold cuts, freezers full of Italian foods, and stacks of Imported canned goods. What I found remarkable was The low prices on the canned goods. Even the imported olive oil was a bargain. I ordered a nana style spinach pie pizza. On the website, they indicated that the pizzas are well done and cooked in a brick oven. Count me in. All of the pizzas are one size and mine was cut down the middle and then into parallel slices, like a twin trees pizza. The pie had a garlic sauce base, ricotta cheese, spinach, mozzarella, and was topped with roasted cloves of garlic. It was truly a gourmet pizza. The crust was fabulous and on the thick side. There were just too many roasted close of garlic for me, so I had to remove several from my slices. We also ordered Utica greens which were fabulous. It is easy to order online and my food was ready when I arrived. The market was busy but I had no wait. My only negative comment is that I had wished the people behind the counter wore masks. One had no mask and the other was wearing one below her nose. Can 't have it all.