Mambo Italiano

Maybe really good for seafood. I’m vegetarian so didn’t have many options to order from. Servers changed twice during the meal. Service is poor. The pasta I got was linguine with spinach and broccoli. Was average.

The best Italian I’ve ever had. Granted we had a $ 400 bill, between 4 people, we are ALOT of food, and drank ALOT of alcohol! Was a great time!

Had a great family dinner here. The food was EXCELLENT, huge list of specials, lots of variety. The gnocchi was light and fluffy, the crab & lobster ravioli and the veal parmesan were also big hits. Everyone in our party of 8 was very happy with their dish. Our server Brad was great. Will definitely go back.

Friendly staff, excellent food, and of course house made pasta. Had lunch here with a supplier otherwise I probably wouldn’t have found it in a nondescript strip mall but WOW do they know how to cook. I would come back in a heartbeat for the pasta, and everything I tasted was great quality, perfectly seasoned, and full of flavor. If they have the chicken ravioli special with mushrooms by all means order it. Bravo to one of the better Italian restaurants you’ll find anywhere, it just happens to be in Mundelein!

We had reservations for 6pm on a Saturday night and this place was packed! I am so happy I made reservations! The host and hostess (owners ?) were extremely nice. We had the calamari and rice balls for appetizer. The calamari was lightly breaded
And very good, the rice balls (I forget name, begins with A, was so tasty but could have used more red sauce. That being said, I am sure if I asked my waiter would have brought it to me! Dinner was osso bucco, lol, again do not know how to spell… was excellent and linguine mussels and clams very good. I will be back and definitely make my reservations again!

we’ve lived right down the road for over a year and have driven by this place over a thousand times without taking a second glance. finally, we decided to give her a chance.
first impressions: we came for Friday dinner with no reservation. the parking lot was packed, but huge, with no problem finding a spot. we walked in to a full house, with a cozy, yet lively atmosphere. the place smells AMAZING! We put our name in and headed for the fully stocked bar (minus draft beer, but great bottled craft options). I got an amazingly over-​poured Glenlivet 12 and she got a dirty martini. The other girlfriend forgot her ID and got nothing. Our booth was ready in less than 10 minutes, and we were off to dinner!
Service:
our hostess sat us near the front of the house and we promptly had our waters filled. our server, joey, came by in about 3 minutes with hot, fresh bread and was very nice and knowledgeable. He recited their 50-​something dinner specials almost completely from memory and everything sounded delectable. definitely enticed me to come back before I even ordered my first meal! The menu was also huge.
Throughout the whole meal, Joey was super attentive. He catered to other girlfriend’s vegetarian needs without hesitation.
Food:
appetizers: you can usually judge a good Italian place by their bruschetta. we got that and their antipasto misto (sampler) with calamari, garlic bread, pizza bread, stuffed mushrooms and baked clams. the bruschetta was on point. crispy bread and fresh ingredients with a lovely house olive oil and freshly shaved parmesan. the calamari was tender and crispy and everything else I tasted was pretty good too.
entrées:
I ordered one of their seafood specials: jumbo sea scallops with asparagus and linguine. she ordered the linguine with clams and mussels in red sauce. soups were minestrone and creamy asparagus. The portions were huge! We literally got enough food for 3 meals per portion. The quality was excellent. I’m pretty picky about my seafood preparation because a lot of places overlook and leave it rubbery. Here, everything was cooked to perfection and each bite was luscious, juicy and not forced. Even the calamari was easy to chew. Scallops were sublime. Highly recommended.
Overall, I love this place! I almost feel like not posting this review because this truly is a «hidden gem» and I’d selfishly like to keep it that way, but the world (lake county, il) must know of the Italian food supremacy that is Mambo Italiano.
Update: I’ve been here several times since the initial review and tried a lot of different items and was waited on by a variety of different staff members, typically weekend dinner hours. Every experience has been consistent. Friendly, professional staff, and the food quality is second to none.

Homey, authentic Italian food served in generous portions! Mambo Italiano is a wonderful little candle-​lit restaurant with a full spread of pastas, meats, and seafood.
I came here with a few coworkers and we ordered a variety of dishes on their menu. Highlights: 1) veal parmigiana — thin cut breaded veal, very tender, very tasty; 2) white wine linguini with clams — perfect, light sauce with fresh seafood and al dente noodles. Lowlight: seafood risotto — unimpressive red sauce and texture, but fresh seafood.
The wine selection is okay, but there’s a full bar – pretty awesome if you want a whiskey with your dinner. I’d definitely come back here to try other items out; overall, pretty good experience!

This restaurant was SO good! I was hesitant at first because every time that I visit my dad in Chicago, we eat at Tuscany. However, tonight my dad took us here. I was reluctant to try something new and especially reluctant when we pulled up to the building. It is older, small and in a random strip center. BUT, as soon as I walked inside, I instantly loved the family atmosphere and had a hard time choosing between all of the amazing items on the menu. In the end, I chose a triangular stuff shell with vodka cream sauce that was absolutely amazing. My brother ordered lamb, and it was equally as good. I absolutely recommend this place 100%.

Great place! Wish I would have found it sooner! Wait staff is very friendly and helpful. Everything was amazing! From the Cream of Mushroom soup to the Tiramisu. My friend and I had the specials — the stuffed peppers were top notch! The Butternut Squash ravioli was surprisingly good too. Can’t wait to go back!

Great service, excellent dishes and dessert. Had the three cheese ravioli, a house salad with creamy Italian dressing, and pistachio cream puff covered in chocolate. My friend had the seafood risotto which was excellent in taste and quality.
Would recommend anyone to visit this classy restaurant any given day.
Will come back of I get the chance to!!!

Our waiter is missing. Never came back so had to finish meal without refill. Steak was bland and almost rare which was not ordered that way. Waste of $ 30bucks on a piece of meat I did not eat. Wait! Our waiter has found us… bringing us the check… not sure we will b back

Just love this place! NEVER had a bad meal there. Everything is delicious!
The best veal parmigiana and I love the scallops. Great service, nice drinks and love the owners Sal and Brianna

Waiter john was good. Food unfortunately was not. A horrifically bad, rotten batch of vongole and a tiny portion of Vitello, and I was pretty disappointed to be paying my share of a $ 300+ check. Oh well.

Great Italian food! We can here on a whim meeting a relative who was in town. Let me tell you that they have specials and they are really the best thing available; the menu is standard Italian fare. I read comments about Seafood Risotto and Lobster Ravioli but they were not on the menu, we soon found that some of the most popular meals mentioned were specials.
The Lobster Ravioli was excellent; the pasta was great and they were substantive in size. My wife ordered these and loved them, as did my cousin whom we dined with for dinner. I had the Seafood Risotto: fresh shrimp (prepared wonderfully), mussels, clams, Calamari, etc. were all about a large bed of risotto; the meal was delicious. My son (age 11) had their Tilapia and a side of pasta and he got the «clean plate award» as it was all gone. He loved it!
Warning: I did had adverse reactions that night to the meal (vomiting, etc.) but I question if this was the restaurant’s fault. The Seafood Risotto is a popular dish and if everyone was sickened this would become known. I may be very susceptible to reactions (it has happened more than once) which leads me to believe it is an allergic reaction. You should never eat shellfish that are unopened; I am unsure if my reaction was one had been unopened after cooking, but opened before serving, or if I am potentially allergic to one of those types of shellfish. I have had mussels and clams without reactions on many occasions so I deducted 1 star as a result.
Overall: great meal and I would eat there again but not order the Seafood Risotto.

Outstanding family owned Italian restaurant. Caesars salad is huge and a meal in itself. Minestrone is full of goodies and not the typical runny red tomato broth.
Plenty on the menu with at least eight daily specials. Something for everyone. Portions are huge and most served with a side of pasta with marinara or meat sauce. Best meat sauce EVER!
Veal dishes are the best tenderest veal. Seafood is fresh and prepared perfectly.
Prices are reasonable, service excellent and attentive.
We love this place and go back every couple of weeks.

Service was very slow and had a batch of bad mussels. When I told the manager (Mark?) about it, he apologized and said we get them from a very good purveyor but sometimes things slip through the crack.
He said next time you come I’ll make it up to you… I’m thinking hey fat ass, what are you going to do for us today? Well Sherlock, there was no next time!

Nice atmosphere. Attentive service. Good food. Look forward to coming back again.
My husband had the gluten-​free pasta and I have a chicken Cesar salad. Both were very good. The complementary bread was served warm and crunchy but had a little flavor. That’s the only reason I didn’t give it five stars.

Great food! Great place for a family dinner, date night. I often have customer meetings and staff meetings for lunch — the food and service are excellent!

Let me list the things I liked —
1) Sat night 8pm-​ish, Maggianos at the mall has a 2 hour wait, Mambo Italiano as a walk in, no reservation, and family of four get seated in a booth immediately
2) Nice booth
3) For a strip mall location, this place is bigger inside than it looks
4) The food I experienced was good stuff — had the calamari salad and lemon chicken
5) prices seemed reasonable
Now for the things I did not care for —
1) hard to understand our waiter due to heavy accent, when asked to repeat or clarify, he would just say the exact same thing just as fast as he said it the first time. Not bashing the guy but we need to be able to meet on some level, I don’t think we ever met
2) The booth we sat in was next to the window and it was freezing, literally a constant draft. Not sure what the source was or if they could do anything about it, I asked, but we were all cuddled up in the booth in an effort to stay warm and it did rush the meal as a result
I will be back for another round and hopefully a warmer spot ;)

Great Italian food and extensive menu choices! Three of us split the grilled and fried calamari and our entrees came with a salad that had a nice balsamic dressing.
I ordered the shrimp scampi with linguini pasta and red sauce. And we also split the seafood risotto and veal Marsala. All the dishes were good but we liked the linguini noodles better than the risotto. The portions were large and we took some of the veal home.
The ambiance was decent and the booths were large with nice leather seats. Overall it was a good dining experience and we would come back!