Mandola’s

This place was more than a restaurant, it was like we were visiting some Italian family where we were being hosted by very hospitable folks 😉  Italian is my friend’s favorite cuisine hence Mandolas for lunch with friends and Italian hospitality was what she liked for her birthday.  We chose this place for its cuisine, it’s convenient location and overall high rating on all the reviews;  and  we were not disappointed in any aspect.

Focaccia Bread

The restaurant has a café style of ordering your food upfront before being seated, but since we wanted time to decide from the menu, get settled with our stuff and catch up, we occupied a table first.  Even before we ordered, we were served fresh warm Focaccia bread with olive oil and spices.  The delicious fresh Focaccia with its enticing freshness and taste prompted us to go order our lunch quickly, to taste more of the Italian fare.
I chose the ‘Trenette al Pesto’ – a thin flat pasta with a sauce of basil, pine nuts, garlic, romano, parmigiano  and extra virgin olive oil;  my other friends were interested in a pasta salad kind of dish. They chose something which was a mix of two things on the menu. The wanted the Spaghettini Ortolanoin a sauce of asparagus, zucchini ,tomatoes, spinach, peas, mushroom, onion, garlic, with extra virgin olive oil topped with pine nuts and grated Ramano cheese,  without the spaghetti and substituted by Tagliarini flat pasta!

The Focacia was so scrumptious we couldn’t stop ourselves from eating  but were refilled  regularly by the very sweet wait staff.  The food arrived in good time which was enough for us to shower our friend with gifts and good wishes;)

The food was excellent. We could actually feel the freshness in the pasta. My Trenette al pesto was very good, but I like pesto, so it couldn’t go wrong. Our friends  pasta needed some more sauce base; they loved the  fresh vegetables and flat pasta but possible combining two different things on menu may be the reason for the less sauce!

Lastly we ordered the Marzipaan cheese cake and celebrated our friends birthday.  The cake was irresistible even though I was avoiding deserts 😉

This restaurant has a homely ambiance but also houses an Italian market which sells gelato, bread, and other Italian groceries.  We browsed around and decided to take home some fresh Focacia home which made an excellent side for my dinner that evening.

Our family’s  favorite Itallian restaurant is Carrabbas, and incidentally in conversation with the staff at Mandola’s, I discovered Mandola’s and Carrabbas are related;)  http://www.carrabbas.com/about/meet-the-family

My family after tasting the focacia from Mandolas can’t wait to check out the Italian steak Panini and the Calamari fritti next time we go there…

Cuisine:  Italian
Price Range:  Average
Rating: ***.5 (3.5)
Website: http://www.mandolasmarket.com/Menu.html
Address: Shops at the Galleria
Bee Cave / 620 / 71
12815 Shops Parkway, Suite 400
Bee Cave, TX 78738 MAP
512.600.8500
beecaves@mandolasmarket.com

Food Reviewed

• Focaccia
• Trenette al Pesto
• Tagliarini Ortolanoin
• Marzipaan cheese cake