Daniel B.
Yelp
This place was okay.
This Mambo Italian Street Food opened January 2019 in the old Boneheads space at The Shoppes of Powers Ferry. It's currently the only Mambo Italiano restaurant open for business in the Atlanta area. There was a longtime location in Peachtree Corners at The Forum on Peachtree Parkway: https://bit.ly/2O1nWSe. It lasted from 2004 to 2018. There was also a location in Sandy Springs at the City Walk development: https://bit.ly/2EYM5Vv. It lasted from 2007 to circa 2014. Only time will tell how long this incarnation will stick around.
This is a sit-down restaurant with a casual atmosphere. There's plenty of seating, but tables are packed together somewhat tightly. There's a dining room with tables, booths, and a small banquette. There's a fully enclosed patio with more tables plus a couple sofas. The bar is huge. One section of the bar has TVs while the other faces the restaurant's open kitchen. The kitchen features one of those fancy Neapolitan wood-burning ovens. The interior has a hodgepodge of decor such as street signs, soccer balls, and an Italian bicycle (suspended above the dining room entrance from the patio). Some tables have tablecloths while others don't. On the patio side of the dining room, they have a setup for live music (e.g. keyboard, mic, speaker).
We visited for lunch which is served Monday-Friday, 11am-3pm. Brunch is served on Saturday and Sunday, 11am-3pm.
The lunch menu featured a wide variety of items: appetizers like calamari ($8.95) and bruschetta ($5.95); soups and salads ($4.95-14.00+ each); red and white pizzas ($8.95-10.95 each) and customizable pizzas (starting at $8.95); calzones ($9.95 each), oven-baked sandwiches ($8.95-9.95 each); pasta such as lasagna ($8.95) and penne chicken pesto ($9.95); entrees like piccata, marsala, and Parmigiana ($12.95-15.95 each); sides such as mixed olives and Parmesan fries ($3.95 each); desserts like cannoli ($4.95 each) and gelati ($3-12 depending on serving size); plus espresso-based coffee drinks ($2-3 a cup). Beverage-wise, they had an extensive wine and cocktail list as well as beer and several non-alcoholic drink options as well (e.g. San Pellegrino Fruit Beverages).
Here's what we ordered:
Antipasti
* Burrata ($10.25) - Italian soft creamy cheese, arugula, EVOO, kosher salt, pepper, warm Italian bread
* Meatballs ($7.95) - ricotta, pomodoro sauce, fresh basil
Pizza Rossa
* Pizza Bianca ($8.95) - EVOO and garlic base, mozzarella, sun-dried tomato, smoked provolone, feta, garlic
Panouzzo
* Polpette Della Nonna ($9.95) - Nonna's meatballs, mozzarella, San Marzano tomato, fresh basil, Parmesan
* Vitello ($9.95) - crumbled veal, provolone, arugula, sliced tomato, lemon garlic mayonnaise
* Genovese ($8.95) - prosciutto, Genoa salami, mortadella, provolone
Controni
* Parmesan fries ($3.95)
Pasta
* Gnocchi ($9.95) - potato dumplings, fresh spinach, tomato cream sauce, cherry tomato
In general, I thought the food was satisfactory. The best dishes were good, but not great. A common theme across almost all the items was the bread/dough. It seemed the pizza, sandwiches, and even the apps were served with the same type of bread, and there was a lot of it. Generally, the bread was dry and/or too chewy (not the most appetizing) and that had a negative impact on most of the dishes for me.
Out of everything we ordered, the burrata was my favorite (burrata is typically one of my favorite things to order at an Italian restaurant). The burrata was fresh and delicious. However, the portion size was small. I've seen better value burrata around the city. Also, the bread-to-burrata ratio was out of whack. There was way too much bread for the small amount of burrata given.
The meatballs were alright. They weren't memorable. Three meatballs were served in a black cast-iron skillet with three large pieces of flatbread. Again, the bread-to-meatball ratio was off.
The pizza bianca was my second favorite item. According to the menu, Mambo's pizzas are made with San Marzano tomatoes and 00 flour (both considered standard for "authentic" Neapolitan pizza), fresh mozzarella, and are baked at 900°F. Of course, our pizza bianca, being a white pizza, did not have tomato. Mambo's pizzas are no greater than 12 inches in diameter so they're more of a personal-sized pizza, though two people could easily split one. The only thing I didn't like about the pizza was it was a bit too salty.
The sandwiches were fine (I did not try the Genovese). The Polpette Della Nonna, unsurprisingly, used the same meatballs as the meatball app. The "crumbled" veal in the Vitello was breaded veal, similar in taste and texture to schnitzel. We had the Parmesan fries with our sandwiches and they weren't anything special. Salads were also included with our sandwich platters. The simple mixed salad was good.
The gnocchi wasn't bad, but it was unmemorable. Decent portion size though.
Our server was nice and our dishes came out fast. Service overall, however, was slow.