Mambo Italiano

Mambo Italiano
748 S. Butterfield Drive, Mundelein, IL 60060, (847) 281-9100

After the walkthrough on the house, Nancy took me out to a place she'd never been but had recently heard of called Mambo Italiano. It's in a small shopping center, so from the outside, it is pretty plain jane. The inside was fairly charming however, and the menu was really quite extensive. It'll take you a few minutes reading before you can narrow down your choices.

It is a locally owned place (the Cardone family, according to the menu) and they say that everything is made to order and special requests are no problem. The servers and staff were also very friendly.

The dining room is completely no smoking on the weekends, but it sounds like there's a smoking section during the week. That might not be for long, however...the hostess seemed to think that the whole state might be going smoke-free soon (or at least the county). That will be nice. I know that most of the area around us is already smoke-free, but there are still some places that aren't. At any rate, we were there on Thursday night and there was no noticeable smokiness.

I had the Italian Wedding soup for a starter and it was good, though unlike any Wedding soup I'd had before (no pasta, for one, and lots of greens). For dinner I had the carbonara, always one of my favorites. It was pretty good (the sauce hadn't seized up like some do and they had a nice amount of peas and prosciutto mixed in). Not as awe-inspiring as the one I had in Rome, but hey. This is Illinois, not Italy.

I'd say this is definitely worth another visit with Tony. Robust menu, good prices, friendly staff, and all the dishes I saw/tasted were solid.