Mambo taliano Ristorante & Piano Bar

You would think that an Italian restaurant in Little Italy would know how to cook a basic Pizza. Wrong! So so wrong. Shameful excuse for a restaurant too. Clean up the place, update the bathrooms, take some pride. Nope this place is surviving because of location only. Shame on us for not checking ahead of time on Unilocal.Stay away! Too many other great choices all around to choose from.

THE WORST RESTAURANT IN LITTLE ITALY!!!
We went to the wonderful city of New York looking for great pizza. We ended up in Little Italy thinking any place there would have great pizza. BOY were we WRONG The pizza came with very few topping and half cooked. We asked the waiter to cook the pizza longer so the crust would be done. It came back the same way-​YUCK!!! Tastes like Gracie store frozen dough! On top we where charged a mandatory 18% tip for awful service. RUN AS FAST as you can from this place. There are many great restaurants to try in Little Italy. If I could give this place a-​0-​Zero I would

it was by far the worst experience i ever had with any restaurant. The food was even worth the wait. Me and my family sat there just about hour and fifteen min for our food. the food came out along with our appetizers and it was cold. My add chicken with my salad and i renamed it chicken chips it was so thin and size of half an iPhone if you would sum it all up. we couldn’t even order second glass of wine because there was no one around to order from and no one offered or asked if we like to have some more drinks. If you have nothing to do sat night and have a lots of time in your hand, not minding the long excruciating wait for your simple order this place is for you

Great food, atmosphere, and smells. Service was a little laggy and they only had diet coke but eh.

Terrible service and they add the tip on a dinner for two. We should have known better when the door man told us the restaurant was «great». Our pasta was average. Antipasto was only partial. Dessert was «only cannoli’s»
Pass them by…

Terrible food, terrible service, so terrible that I’d rather eat from a street cart. I ordered cheese ravioli and got six cold raviolis that were not worth the $ 18. Hubby ordered the flank steak cooked medium and it was burnt to oblivion and tasted nothing like beef. What the hell are they doing in that kitchen? Would not recommend this place to my worst enemy because I wouldn’t want them to think I had that bad of taste.

I ordered a seafood pasta dish recommended by the waiter. The pasta was under cooked and I found pieces of shell in it. I expected a lot better for the price. Only reason I went here was because the place next door which I found on Unilocal was closed for the evening. I wouldn’t go back. A disappointment for a restaurant in Little Italy, NYC.

What Italian restaurant microwaves the bread?!
The food was eh at best. The bill was not reflective of the prices on the menu. Don’t worry. The waiter said its correct. Ha.
Don’t come here

This place really is terrible, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t have a good time, but know that before moving on that the things this place will serve you are not good.
Walking through Little Italy, we got it into our heads we wanted pizza. And maybe margaritas. Margheritas and margaritas. This was something at least worth attempting.
Right on cue a man, trying to get people into this establish suggested ‘free wine with lunch!’ ‘Can you make them margaritas?’ I countered. He gave a less-​than-​confident answer and we were led inside (where I was also awarded a badge for ignoring highly rated places). A messy table, despite there really not being any other guests, we were in fact brought what ended up being free margaritas and a pretty terrible pizza. But buoyed up by a gimmick and it being a wet lunch still had a good time.
But now I’ve check margs and margs off my list, I can go find a proper slice.

MamNO!
This place was awful, on so many levels! By the time we left, we still didn’t know who our server was…
Once we finally got acknowledged and were offered a *little* service, we were given the wrong bottle of wine… a completely different kind of wine than what we had ordered. Not that the wine was presented to us… it was opened and poured and the server (our server?) walked away. When I mentioned this to the manager (? our server? it was someone else…)he said, «we must be out of what you ordered.»
Um, okay… I told him we didn’t want to pay more for a bottle that we didn’t order… unfortunately, we did.
After waiting and waiting to order dinner, we lost patience and decided to just share an appetizer and get out of there asap. BIG mistake! The antipasto was cold cuts and dried artichoke hearts… nothing resembled the description on the menu. Not that I was going to say anything again!
We couldn’t get out of this place fast enough! After a disappointing bottle of wine and an even worse appetizer, I still can’t understand where our $ 75 went?!

Ugh horrible pizza! My dad and I came here bc it seemed decently priced, and it served pizza. I got the margarita pizza and my dad for the little Italy pizza. The dough was undercooked. The sauce was straight up from a tomato sauce can, no flavor whatsoever. Definitely the worst pizza I’ve ever had! The frozen pizza from that grocery store is better than this pizza! Never got a refill on my iced tea.
Never again. Lesson learned.

Not familiar with the area and so many choices, we came in because the guy outside was just too funny.
«We have Italian t.v.»
Oh, okay… since we don’t understand Italian. Inside, it’s kinda kitschy but inviting. I liked the mismatch tables and chairs. They had a bunch of lunch specials and a full menu. I just needed something simple since we just had dim sum. I ordered the spaghetti and meatballs and the partner ordered the chicken parm. Both were decent and came with a marinara sauce.
«This comes with your meal» as the waiter placed two glasses of wine on the table.
Free wine? Sure! We then ordered two more and he recommended another wine, which came out in these large glasses. These were not free, but towards the end of the meal, he came by and refilled our glasses, «Just a little more for you.»
Service was attentive and friendly. The refill was a nice surprise. It wasn’t the best Italian pastas we’ve had, but it hit the spot. We might come back for a glass of wine and to listen to whoever plays the grand piano.

A group of friends and I went to Mambo Saturday afternoon to get a drink at a bar. We had stopped at a couple of other places in Little Italy and couldn’t find a place that offered mixed drinks. We sat at the bar. The bartender was awesome! He was friendly and attentive. The drinks were excellent. We ordered a platter of antipasti and it was huge.
I’m glad I didn’t read the other reviews before we tried this place or we may not have went and that would have been a shame.

I’ll start with the positives. The restaurant’s ambiance was quite pleasant and the service was quick.
On the other hand, the servings were very inconsistent from plate to plate. The portions were meager overall and generally undercooked. I got the gnocchi napoli and I can say with assurance it was the worst gnocchi I have ever had. The entrée was only about 20 gnocchis and it was entirely undercooked. To top it off, the bill left both my pockets and stomach empty.

My experience at this dump is best described as a nightmare. Truly, I couldn’t make up how horribly run this place is.
I normally scan reviews before I try a place for the first time but my phone was dead. It was midnight and after a long day in the city, our expectations weren’t high. We just wanted some basic, edible food and some cold drinks.
Enter Mambo Taliano.
We order food (for our table of 4), it was atrocious… We sent one item back that was entirely wrong and were never offered a replacement, or another option. So, after a long, 12 hour day in the city, I ended up SHARING a Caesar salad because we were not offered anything else after we so rudely sent back an incorrect item. To be honest, you couldn’t pay me to eat this disgusting «food».
No refills. Waiter never checked on our table but instead sat across at another table eating and texting.
Ask for check… Wait 20 minutes. Check arrives. 20% gratuity automatically added to table of 4. Asked to remove gratuity, told it cannot be removed. Asked to see a manager. and I quote, «go back in the kitchen and find him yourself».
We refused to pay the bill until the manager emerged. Oh, and what a surprise, turns out the manager wasn’t in the kitchen afterall, but sitting across from our table listening to this whole mess happen. He was actually going to let all of this occur in hopes that we would just pay and leave. If we hadn’t refused to pay, he’d have never owned up to being the manager. I guess I wouldn’t want to admit I was in charge of such a poorly run establishment either. How embarrassing for him.
We couldn’t have gotten out of here fast enough. From what I here, there is much better Italian food in Brooklyn or the Bronx.

Dive! Went in for a drink at the bar. There were about four other customers out in the main salon and about five or six Mafioso looking italians pretending to work. Took forever for someone to get two glasses of bulk Chianti.
Smelled like pine sol inside.

I came here with my mom after a nice afternoon of walking around Union Square and then Little Italy and SoHo. We each ordered a starter. I had the olive miste, and she ordered fried calamari. I loved the olive dish — which was also served with some lightly marinated eggplant and roasted red peppers.
We each had a pasta dish for our main course. I had the orechiette alla checca, which was really just orechiette with tomato sauce. Nothign too special. My mom had the trenette al pesto. It was good, but a bit bland.
The service was painfully slow, and the food wasn’t anything super special or competitive given the area. Not sure that I’d return.

BEWARE!
Do yourself a favor and simply walk right past this dump!
This ‘restaurant’ is a disgrace! Food is sub-​par and service is extremely horrible! This place is a tourist trap. Getting people in there that don’t know ‘diddly-​squat’ about good italian food or fine dining. They’re a bunch of scam artists. I really don’t know how these crooks are still in business.

Wow. Where do I start? How about I begin with going out with my cousin (first time in Little Italy) and two friends to the San Gennaro feast. Of course, we’re searching for a nice restaurant to sit down at outdoor tables and stumble upon Mambo Italiano, which in retrospect I realize why it had plenty of available seating.
After we were seated, my friend got a glass of water that had lipstick on the rim. Then, the waiter came to take our order and tells us that we have to order everything at once because the kitchen is backed up and the food will probably take about 45 min to 1 hour to come. We order a couple of appetizers, including eggplant parmigiano and a fried mozzarella dish. I ordered Canneloni with meat sauce and my cousin and friends ordered different pesto pasta dishes. While we were waiting for our food, we each ordered a Peroni beer. The beer came, and it was so warm that we had to ask for a glass of ice to put in the beer to make it colder.
While we were waiting for the appetizers, my friend asked if there was a cold appetizer they could bring to us because of the long wait to cook food, and the waiter says, I’ll bring you some fresh antipasto. I’ll take care of you. No problem. Obviously, we’re thinking they’re going to give us some antipasto on the house because of how awful everything is going and we’re thinking that the antipasto is going to come before the dinner.
Instead, we get the two appetizers and our dinners all at once, which were all sub-​par Italian food that we each ate out of pure starvation.
After we ate this terrible food, the waiter came with the antipasto and throws it on the table. We take a couple of bites and are ready to get out of this place.
The check came and he charges is for the antipasto as well as including a handsome tip for himself (we were a party of 4). After some not so relaxed arguing with several members of the establishment by myself and my friends regarding paying for the antipasto, the owner comes up to me with his hoarse, I just smoked my second pack of cigarettes voice and starts cursing me out in Italian and poking me in the chest. Need I say more.
Never go here. Ever. Food, service, and atmosphere are all a zero.

Stay away from this place. Service is bad, food is horrible and nasty. Owner is rude and dose not care.
Simply, try going some where else and avoid this place.