Mangia Mangia, Albany

Have you ever had one of those days where you are craving pasta but don't feel like cooking it? I know, it's the easiest thing in the world to make but for some reason I just wanted to relax, sit down, and have a gigantic bowl of pasta made for me.

After a long day at school on Tuesday, I decided to go check out Mangia Mangia on San Pablo at Solano. I used to drive by it everyday on my way home from work and had always been curious. In an angry mood from rude, line-cutting commuters, I walked into the nearly empty restaurant. I was greeted by two very friendly waiters and led to a seat facing the door so that I could people watch.

As I sat down, I was brought ice water, a basket of bread, and two different dipping sauces. The first was a tart marinara-like sauce which was okay. The other was a mix of fresh minced garlic, salt, and dried red Italian pepper. By itself on the bread it was very strong, but I soon caught on that the olive oil on the table was there for a reason. Mixed with the good quality olive oil, the garlic mixture took on an entirely new flavor and texture; this time it was a bit softer, lighter, but still had great flavor and heat.

I first ordered a mixed green salad with gorgonzola, pear, and walnuts ($8). It's a somewhat tired salad on most menus, but I still order it frequently, and this was the best version I've ever had. The baby greens (mostly peppery arugula) truly were baby greens--sweet, crunchy, and so small that I didn't even have to use my knife. The pears were soft with just enough crunch and extremely sweet.

One problem that I often have with these salads is that the walnuts are overly sweet and they overpower all of the other ingredients. These walnuts were still sweet, but they weren't caked in sugar and had a very good, natural, but crispy texture to them. I also liked that the chef crumbled up the gorgonzola into smaller pieces and didn't overwhelm the salad with too much of it. Finally, the dressing is very light, and doesn't smother the greens. Instead, it just allows the ingredients to work together and make a great, tasty salad.

Next, I had linguini with seafood in a white wine cream sauce ($13). Unfortunately, even though I came for the pasta, I wasn't thrilled with it. While the pasta itself was cooked nicely, the sauce wasn't very good. It was supposed to be a white wine cream sauce, but the proportions seemed to be a bit off. Wine or cream sauces need to either have a majority of cream or a majority of wine in the sauce. This was about fifty fifty, which led to a watery cream flavored sauce.

On the good side, the seafood was cooked well. I was given a variety of shrimp, scallops, salmon, and mussles. All of it was perfectly cooked, but the salmon flavor took over everything else. Plus, they put some fresh veggies on top which actually made it worse! The problem wasn't with the fresh red and yellow peppers, but with the fact that they put shredded carrot on top. The carrot and the salmon ruined what already was a not very good sauce.

Saddened, I picked out the noodles and seafood and ate them individually. When I was about halfway finished with my meal, the waiter came up and asked if I would be interested in having their famous chocolate souffle. Since they make it to order (and it's entirely worth it, said my waiter), the souffle should be ordered about 15 minutes prior to the end of a meal. I gave in, and it was worth it.

The souffle ($8) comes to the table in a little ramekin on a plate, drizzled with chocolate sauce and sprinkled with powdered sugar. It is delicious. Please ignore my review of the pasta, and just go to get the souffle (and the salad if you are feeling healthy). It will be worth it for you, too.

The chocolate flavor isn't too sweet or too rich so as to make the souffle impossible to eat. Instead, it is just perfect. It has about five different textures to it as well. On top, it has a little bit of crunch where the cake has had a chance to harden a bit. In the middle, there is molten chocolate which I kept burning my tongue on because I wanted to eat it fast. Just outside of the liquid center is gooey, sticky batter. Lastly, on the outermost section on the bottom is spongy, light, chocolate cake. Seriously, get the souffle.

Mangia Mangia is located at 755 San Pablo Avenue in Albany. They take reservations at (510) 526-9700.

Their website isn't working, but to see a photo of the souffle and read reviews that aren't nearly as well written as mine, see Yelp!: http://www.yelp.com/biz/mmU8dN3D6TWCesGPdxC1gg#hrid:B0opWjwtw-nbOJvhxUK_1g/query:mangia