Address: 260 King Street East
Type of Meal: Lunch
As a warning, Mangia & Bevi's may be a bit difficult to find given it’s not directly off King Street. Once you get to a series of office buildings, you’ll have to go into a parking lot and at the back find a door with a decorative “260”. Go up the stairs, through the door directly facing the parking lot and once you enter you’ll find the restaurant in the lobby.
Once you find the hidden gem, your nose is greeted with a wonderful doughy essence captured in
a comfortable café like environment. Mangia & Bevi’s décor mixes exposed
ducts and brick walls with plenty of artwork; a giant rattan
ball light fixture beside the bar is particularly striking. If you don’t want
to be disappointed, I suggest you reserve a table. During our Friday lunch visit, the restaurant was
bustling and someone had to be turned away given all tables were spoken for.
Known
for their pizza, my friend and I stuck to the crowd favourite and
shared the patata & pancetta ($15) and Capri ($16). The patata &
pancetta, a white pizza, topped with potato, pancetta, onions, rosemary,
mozzarella and parmigiano is favourite combination.
M&B does not disappoint with the pizza chocked full of ingredients and tons of fresh rosemary to really bring an earthy herb smell and flavour to the pizza. For a Neapolitan crust it was toasted quite well on the bottom so that you could easily hold each piece without any drooping or ingredients sliding off. However, given the white pizza doesn’t have any sauce (instead relying on olive oil) the crust began getting hard after eating the first slice.
M&B does not disappoint with the pizza chocked full of ingredients and tons of fresh rosemary to really bring an earthy herb smell and flavour to the pizza. For a Neapolitan crust it was toasted quite well on the bottom so that you could easily hold each piece without any drooping or ingredients sliding off. However, given the white pizza doesn’t have any sauce (instead relying on olive oil) the crust began getting hard after eating the first slice.
Whereas,
the Capri ($16) with the tomato sauce base stayed softer throughout the meal.
Topped with ham, roasted red peppers, mozzarella and smoked provolone this is a
flavourful pizza filled with tons of flavours and gooey cheese. This pizza
also went particularly well with the selection of hot sauces and red pepper
flakes brought to the table.
Pizza
portions are large and can easily be shared if you add a salad. Given its popularity and freshly made pizzas, it does take a while to
get an order – especially if you don’t beat the initial rush; our meal ended up
lasting almost 1 hour (after ordering) despite not having any appetizers or
desserts. However, service was pleasant and our waitress did come by to update
us on the status of the meal. All in all, it was a wonderful lunch and I can
certainly see how Mangia & Bevi earned its accolades amongst the Toronto pizza market.
Overall mark - 8.5 out of 10
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Gastro World's Grading System
- Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
- 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
- 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
- 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
- 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
- 10 - absolute perfection!
Is That It? I Want More!
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