Mambu

04/22/09

Sorry to say

by thepinkplum at Citysearch

My boyfriend and I went to eat at Mambu recently, and sadly it was a terrible experience. We went on a Tuesday night, so its was not busy at all. Our waiter would leave for large chunks of time and not even bother to check on us. It took us almost 30 minutes to track him down and give him our food order. By the time he brought our food, which was over an hour into our time there, we were totally out of water - which he never refilled the entire time we were eating (even after multiple requests). My boyfriends paella was ridiculously soupy, and the rice even tasted like spoiled seafood. My chicken dish was supposed to be that sweet/hearty type dish with chicken, figs and dates. Somehow the cook thought it would be a good idea to toss in some random big green olives - which did not fit in the dish in any way.

We had never eaten at Mambu before, and were really excited about trying a new place. Unfortunately we were grossly disappointed and felt like it was a total waste of $60. We won't be back.

PS - I hate writing terrible reviews, and actually this is my first. I just value honest opinions and look to reviews often for advice. I am just hoping no one else has as bad of an experience as we did.

Happy eating!

• Pros: Cute decor
• Cons: Slow service, strange food

08/01/08

Not worth the hype

by Nashvegas1976 at Citysearch

I've heard a few people talking about this establishment and have visited a couple times over the past couple months. The food I had, as well as the food sampled by peers of mine, has been mediocre at best. The atmosphere is kitschy, each room having its own decor that looks thrown together from goodwill rejects. From what I've learned of the staff, the cooks are in constant turnaround, which may explain why the food is not consistent. When the restaurant is busy, dishes are often served incorrectly or just forgotten. On my visit, in a party of 10, one patron at our table (the one paying the bill, i might add) waited for 10 minutes for his food while the rest of the party ate. The drinks made by the male bartender working that night were poorly made. The second visit was for lunch and the place was full of obnoxiously loud power lunchers yapping on cell phones while we attempted to eat. Also, there was swearing coming from the kitchen loud enough for our table and other tables around us to hear. I don't know what was going on back there, but I'm guessing yet another cook bit the dust.

Also, the construction going on across the street makes parking a hassle. The noise from the construction during the day is almost intolerable.

I would not recommend Mambu to friends or peers, and will not be returning.

04/19/08

BEWARE.. Must read

by rdwidene at Citysearch

Check out health dept score on website. This place could make you sick. Several items noted but read for yourself. inspection was done 4/2008.

• Pros: Voted for good food in past
• Cons: Needs to clean up their act

10/03/07

You have got to be kidding!

by ellianna at Citysearch

Seriously. I read these great reviews and wonder where these people are eating! Not at the same restaurant where I have been eating. I have given Mambu 4 chances and only once was it a good experience. I like the idea of Mambu, but the service is HORRIBLE! I went last weekend for a friend's birthday... BAD IDEA. The server brought our appetizers at the same time as our food but we didn't have silverware or napkins and waited another 5 minutes with our food in front of us, we had emply drink glasses for the entire meal, we requested a dessert menu 3 times and finally got them from the hostess after a member of our group got up and requested them, then our waiter went our for a smoke break and never took out dessert orders. Then he had the audacity to include a 20% tip on our tickets. I will NEVER go back. Don't waste your time.

• Pros: great drink menu if you can ever get your order filled
• Cons: service!

02/13/07

Baffled at this citysearch rating of 9.5

by chefshawn at Citysearch

I always look up new restaurants here on citysearch before going out to see them. I was glad to learn about the "bonus" parking lot inthe back, as there was NO chance of finding an easy spot out front to park.

I will first say that the service was outstanding. One server for our 8 top worked out wonderfully.

Sadly, though, the food was an embarrasment to cuisine. Every looked and sounded wonderful on paper, but when all of it arrived to our table, we saw 10 full feet of mediocrity. I was the only one of us to order an appetizer. After my "Smoked Duck with Gnocchi" was delivered, I spent the next 10 minutes looking for a third little bit of duck, to no avail. Surely there was less than half an ounce hidden in there. By "hidden," I mean that my appetizer was drowning in at least 6 ounces of some red soupy concoction that supposedly had something to do with red peppers. I got nothin but maybe some cheese and cream in that "sauce." The 8 little pieces of gnocchi were edible, but I had to pick them out form the surrounding undercooked lil bits of asparagus that were so small, I needed a spoon rather than a fork, and one was not provided. THAT WAS JUST THE APPETIZER!

The entrees came out with good timing, though a food runner would have been beneficial to get 8 plates out, more than 2 at a time.

My entree was the braised lamb, and it just saddened me. Of the 10 or more ingredients in the dish, it felt like none of them were cooked together. The lamb shank itself was cooked wonderfully, EXCEPT THAT IT HAD NO FLAVOR! There were olives and capers covering the dish, but none of the flavor built into the braise. I was already missing those $22. I was very excited, though, to try a side of the cajun crawfish mac n cheese. I must recommend that you DO NOT do this. The "cajun" appeared in just a slight hint, and i did not find a single piece of crawfish. That's fine, though, as the dish was dry as carboard, and inedible.

(out of space.)

• Pros: Great service.
• Cons: Really, just don't go.

03/24/06

two thumbs down

by bjanow at Citysearch

I enjoy to eat out at nice places.. When we got there the place was not what I expected but I still I was very optomistic to it all. When I sat down my chair was so wobbly I thought I would fall into the floor at any moment. The other people eating were right upon us . I ordered the tuna which came out like a huge piece of RAW sushi (EWWWWWWWW) my boyfriend had seafood something that was like rice in broth,. The waiter actually was being very smart mouth to us for no reason & then it was an hour before they were closing & they were sweeping around us and acting like we were in there way and several other things while we were talking (very unclassey) we wanted coffee but they were so quick to rush us out we just decided to leave.

05/05/04

Terrible

by davidandtammy at Citysearch

We went to Mambu with 4 other friends for what we thought would be a nice, relaxing dinner. The hostess was rude right when we walked in. When we were finally seated it took the server 20 minutes just to fill our water glasses. There was never a hello, how are you or any sort of greeting. Just rude! Perhaps they want it that way. If so Mambu will not last long in this town. There are too many other places that care about customers.

• Pros: decor
• Cons: , rude staff

12/20/02

Nothing special

by b2jones at Citysearch

I didn't think Mambu lived up to the hype. The martinis were good, but, then again, how can those be messed up. The salmon was very fishy tasting and still slightly raw, and the triple chocolate dessert was dry.

12/20/02

No leisurely meal here

by afrossar at Citysearch

My friends and I were very disappointed in Mambu. We had reservations at 6:30 and had a 3 course meal. At 7:45, the chef and manager, Anita Hartel, asked us to vacate the table for another reservation before we even finished the bottle of wine! We apologized for overstepping our "allotted" hour to complete dinner. We will not return and would not recommend this restaurant to anyone.