Mangia Bene - Lakeland

Mangia Bene, the new store/meat market/restaurant/caterer in Lakeland, is 1 1/2 miles west of Gate 1 of the New York State Fair. The building was home to Ernie 's Lakeland Cafe for 17 years until the roof collapsed in 2017. The owner, Ernie Tuff, decided not to reopen and sold the building. Chris Maroney bought Ernies, rebuilt it and put it on the market. Chris ' longtime friend, Roy Sardo, was looking to open his own restaurant. He had been a part-owner of Attilio 's on James Street, but he wanted to be out on his own. Roy and Chris came up with a concept of a specialty meat market that would prepare high-end takeout meals. At the same time, the building 's dining room could be used as an in-house catering event center, and that was the birth of Mangia Bene, which means Eat Well in Italian. Not only does he make all the food here, he makes most of the ingredients. Roy learned how to make sausage years ago while working for Nojaim Brothers Super Market. He spent eight hours a day in a cooler mixing and grinding meat. He has since developed his own mix that he sells behind the counter here. He bought a Biro meat grinder that can mix and push out 240 pounds of sausage at a time. My wife grew up in Lakeland so Ernies was a staple, and seeing them close and then Mangia reopen, we were excited to try it after hearing all the buzz. We decided to grab some take out today after running some errands. Their take out menu is really only on Facebook even though they have a website with a menu drop down, but that mostly shows their catering. We decided to order a Mangia Meats pizza, a pizza topped with homemade sausage and meatball, soppresatta and hot capicola. They advertise their pizzas as rustic and well done , as they are cooked in a high temp brick oven. They WILL cook it lighter if you ask, but we figured we 'd give their way a try. They do NOT have bone in wings, just boneless and drummys , literal full sized chicken legs, we but wanted to try their fire ice sauce, a mix of hot sauce and horseradish, so we also ordered an order of boneless wings. We ordered right when they opened, at 11. We were told 25 minutes and showed up just about then. When you walk in, you walk into their butcher shop/take our counter, and to the right is their event/dine in area. The dine in area was very nicely decorated, but we were taking ours to go. Employees were friendly and food was ready when we walked in. $33 for the pizza and boneless wings. We got home, opened the pizza, and were immediately concerned. Their pizza is cut into squares and we have a preconceived notion that pizza cut into squares tends to not be the kinda pizza we like, and we were unfortunately correct. While the toppings were plentiful and high quality, we were not a fan of the rest of the pizza. The crust is a thicker crust, we were not a fan of how well done it was even though we wanted to try it, and with the amount of toppings and thickness of the crust, it caused a slightly blackened crust with a undercooked, doughy center. It was a very dry pizza as well, very little sauce. We also were a little disappointed with the sauce on the boneless wings. While they weren 't bad and were decently sized, the sauce had an extremely faint flavor of horseradish and really just tasted like buffalo sauce. Which wasn 't bad, but we were hoping for something different with the fire ice sauce. If you 're a fan of Twin Trees pizza, you 'll probably love this place, as their pizza is extremely similar. We 're not a fan of that style of pizza, and while their employees were nice, prices were fair, and toppings were high quality, we probably would not order pizza again, but I 'd be open to trying their other food, as everything else was fine.

Great value and awesome food. With the high food cost these days the pricing is pretty low and great food and service. Will be going back more often but would love delivery option via,them or like a grub hub

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.

I ordered food for a party of six recently. I ordered online the day prior to the event and the order was ready on time, accurate and well packaged. My guests loved the food. The food was so well packaged that it was still warm when ready to serve hours later. I ordered eggplant, chicken cacciatore and cavatini with broccoli and mushrooms. Half pan orders feed 10. There was enough food for my party of six and then sent them home with leftovers, with a remainder still.

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.