Mezzo Mare

We’ve been coming here forever, ever since moving to beautiful Hull. Food and service is outstanding. Plenty of parking and restaurant is clean.
We both had the special (offered only on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday nights only) Chicken parmigiana (any pasta). BTW, specials change weekly. We both loved our entrees. Fresh and abundant (you could eat it for 3 meals).
This our choice for Italian near us, since it’s literally a mile away. We had Bonnie last night as our server but we LOVE Terry. We definitely love and recommend this place. It’s hard to beat.

Basic menu, quality indigence, rustic ambiance and good service make for a marvelous dining experiencing.

I will say that the chicken pesto dish that my husband ordered was ample and tasty. It was ALMOST worth the price. The general dinner menu seems quite expensive for the ambience of the place.
What I have issue with is their policy of sharing. I was not hungry, and my 84 year old MIL eats maybe ½ cup of anything at dinner. Our thought was to take a few bites of my husbands dinner, then order cheesecake to share. We were summarily told that we would be charged $ 5 EACH for sharing. For $ 10 extra we could take a few bites of something he would already be purchasing? Ridiculous.
I will say, they brought out a salad (paltry) for the «sharers» in our party, but we didn’t need that either. I did not eat mine as I had decided to only order cheesecake, which I had communicated to the waitress.
I had thought they made their own, as I had seen some in the window while walking by that looked amazing. Alas, I was told they only had blueberry, (not what I had seen) and then it proved to be a frozen mass produced cake. It was still slightly icy at its center. Overall an underwhelming, disappointing experience.

My wife and I love Mezzo Mare and have had quite a few fantastic meals here. The portions are great, usually enough for the next day’s lunch. My only complaint is that the lobster fra diavolo comes with the lobster in the shell, so it’s kind of messy getting the meat out with the sauce already poured on the shell. Other than that great staff* great service* great food.

Such a bad meal, where to start… well with my dirty wine glass, would be good.
Went out on a Friday night with my husband and parents, the place was very slow with many open tables. I had a feeling it was not going to be good when the waitress handed us her specials card to read herself… but she was very nice, so I’ll let that go. My wine glass was very dirty and the bread was stale. We did have the option to have oil/​garlic with our bread, which we opted to do… and received over a cup of olive oil in a bowl with fresh garlic, quite a waste and very unattractive to serve. And, everything we ordered, EVERYTHING, comes covered in parsley. Look at the pictures on here as evidence.
We started with calamari, that was oven roasted… however, it had NO FLAVOR. I’m not sure how that is possible considering it was roasted in tomatoes, pepperocinis, etc. We left over half of it and that was with 4 people eating it and covering it in salt and Parmesan cheese.
As for our meals, three of us were served and my husbands would be out in ‘one minute.’ Fast forward 10 minutes later, it arrived and they admitted they had to cook it again. We were almost done with our meal when his arrived. Each dish came over at least a half pound of pasta, what I would serve for 4 people, which is fine but to me, that just screams quantity over quality and I was right. There was no flavor in my marsala, the veal parm my mother and husband was bland and mushy and my fathers veal piccata was flavorless as well.
Bottom line, when everything comes COVERED in fresh parsley, there is something wrong… just look at the pics on here.

This place is great.
Kevin one star for not being open is pretty harsh. They are closed Monday and Tuesday and there have been times that this has bummed me out but they need a weekend too.

This place is closed. Went by and it was not open and looks like it’s been shut down.

Went with a group last night and had our own little room to ourselves. Yummy platters to share of gnocchi, meatballs and eggplant parmesan. Great service, too.

Mezzo Mare is a place to bring an appetite! The hostess and wait staff were so accommodating … they took the time to explain the menu options, what most people do when they come (split a meal) and save room for dessert… Daughter just moved to the area and this seems like a good family place to visit once a week!

This place does not even deserve one star. We waited so long for our food and every time we were told it is made fresh. Well I should hope so! Ten every time someone came over it was another 10 mins or well there is a big party. So is the big party your only party? Are they more important than your other parties ?? Horrible horrible experience never going back. No service recovery!!!

As one might expect in late November, it was a cold and blustery night by the ocean in Hull. It felt good to walk into the warmth of Mezzo Mare with its brick fire place aglow and its unassuming home-​style décor.
And a perfect night for a hearty Italian meal of ravioli with sausage in red sauce — or a perfectly cooked fresh haddock prepared by the chef/​owner. The portions are generous to say the least. My dinner companion observed: «No one ever leaves here hungry!»
I had not been to Mezzo Mare since it moved from its previous location just up the street. The new location, as noted, has a signature brick fireplace and similar décor of various antique found objects. (Beware that some of the online mapping programs still show the old location at 265 Nantasket Avenue. The current location is at 245 Nantasket Avenue.)
Absolutely no complaints about the service. Molly, our waitress, was attentive and knowledgeable about the menu and the daily specials. She was able to answer questions about particular dishes and how they were prepared.
Although Mezzo Mare is located in a busy part of the Nantasket Beach area, the traffic planners have done it no favors with a confusing collection of one-​way and no-​left-​turn patterns at the intersection of Nantasket Avenue and Hull Shore Drive. The restaurant’s small parking lot is best accessed by making left turn into the lot from the south-​bound direction on George Washington Boulevard. However, there is also plenty of on-​street parking and public parking lots in the area, so you may want to park where you can and just walk a few hundred feet. (See the aerial photo.)
Mezzo Mare also operates Beach Food Market, a pizza-​and-​sub take-​out business at the end of its building.

I went to Mezzo Mare with my family of four tonight. This was by far the WORST dining experience we have ever had.
We walked in at 6pm and were pleased to see there were not a lot of people there (in hopes of getting fast service since our boys are only 5 and 7). There was one table with a large group of 10 people, another table had 2 people and another table had 4 people. We could not see who was in the bar area or the other room.
The waitress was very accommodating when I requested iced tea since they do not have it ready made — so she made it for me. When our drinks came out, the glasses that had juice for my boys were dirty. Seriously, it looked like they came out of a dishwasher that had not been run. She gladly returned them to the kitchen and we waited 10 minutes before we saw our drinks again.
She took our order and I made a special request for my younger son to have the Veal Parm without sauce. She said she would check to see if that could be done. When she took our order, a party of 3 and a party of 4 had come in and were seated near us. She came back to say that they could not do that so I ordered him plain pasta with butter and she said they could put a sausage on the side, which he agreed to.
We did not see our waitress again for 20 minutes. She brought us salads and some bread. After that we waited another hour for our meals to arrive. In the mean time, the large party, the party of three and the party of 4 that were seated after we placed our order all had their food. In fact as we got our food, the party of three left!!!
At that point our children were falling apart and I did not want to ruin dinner for the other customers so I asked for togo boxes and I packed up our meals and asked for the check. I complained to the hostess and all she said was, «oh I’m sorry». When I asked if one of our meals could be comped for the horrible inconvenience, I was told that they do not do that.
We will never go there again and I will spread the news of this horrible experience to anyone looking for a place to eat in Hull.

This was easily the worst service I’ve ever encountered. It was so bad that it was actually funny. Fortunately, I was not in a hurry so I didn’t just walk out. But to give a sense of the timeline, which was completely nuts — we waited about 10 minutes to be noticed/​seated. Tables everywhere were stacked with dirty plates that hadn’t been cleared. They were obviously understaffed, despite it being a holiday weekend.
So finally, we’re seated. About 15 minutes later, we flag down a waitress and order. She’s not even our official waitress, but she gamely takes our drink and food order. 5 minutes later, drinks arrive. The water we asked for does not arrive.
Here’s the amazing part — 45 minutes pass. No water. No sightings of our waitress. It’s not even busy. Then finally, salads arrive. We ask for water again. Nope.
Entrees come about 20 minutes later. They are average, certainly not worth the wait. I make the mistake of ordering a 2^nd glass of wine when the entrees arrive. It doesn’t come until well after we are finished with the meal and wanting the check.
It was a complete disaster. I am stunned this place is in business.

Had dinner here for the first time on Saturday. The décor might scare some people but Mezzo Mare is definitely a case of don’t judge a book by it’s cover. The food was excellent and the service was good. I’m not a big seafood person so at first I was a little underwhelmed by the choices on the menu but the server explained was very receptive when I asked about getting Chicken Parm even though it was not on the menu. All the food is cooked to order so it takes a little longer to get it but it’s definitely worth it. The portions are huge, be prepared to take some food home with you. Our waitress was attentive and quick with drinks and refills. You also cannot go wrong with their delicious desserts. We will definitely be going back again and again.

Hands down, best Italian food I’ve had in a long time. Have been here several times, loved chicken Marsala, shrimp Alfredo, tagliatelle alla bolognese. Great apps– love the buffalo mozzarella, calamari, and house salad. Great service, wonderful, relaxing atmosphere and large portions make for a great deal. Highly recommend!

Went last night with a large party. Read the previous reviews –good food, enormous plates, slow service. This is exactly how this place is.
I would give this place 5 stars if the service was faster.
That being said, onward:
FOOD: Excellent! A+
First off, Mezzo Mare passed my litmus test for good Italian eats: everyone at our table reported their pasta was cooked perfectly al dente, firm and salted to perfection. Excellent! No fancy Euro eccentricity here, Nothing but rustic homey Italian favorites. Portions were enormous! How does this place make money? Our party had 3 different apps — Tom/​Mozz/​Basil — Poached Calamari — AntiPasto. All 3 were delicious — fresh and massive in size! Our table’s entrees ran the gamut from the daily specials to regular menu items.
SERVICE: C+
Would be a D except the servers were extremely pleasant and friendly and worked their asses off. There is just not enough staff. We sat for 15+ minutes with empty drink glasses/​bottles on more than one instance=not good for the customer, not good for the owner.
Also the food came out in waves — and was brought out by only one server {for a table or 12?}. One appetizer arrived 15 minutes after the rest did — blame is on the kitchen here. Entrees came out in waves — 3 different waves that took about 10 minutes before we all had our entrees. Desserts were all fresh and delicious — Cheese cakes/​Ricotta Pie/​Black Forest cake/​others — excellent.
Bottom line: great food & enormous portions more than offset the wait and gaps in service

Don’t judge the restaurant by it’s appearance. This place has good food consistently. By the way the the portions are enormous.
Beware, of the bolognese, it is not a true dish. We just got thier version of it, as we all know it has cream and different meats. This was just a meat sauce, not a authentic bolognese. I did get the gnocchi pesto which was great and brought me back to get the bolognese. Oh well, live and learn.

My family and I used to patronize this restaurant almost monthly. We liked the kitschy interior décor, the bread and salad were always fresh, the waitstaff friendly, and the food plentiful and delicious. Their Chicken Gorgonzola was in particular a big fan favorite. We stopped going, however, for the simple reason that they didn’t seem to put much care into prepping their chicken. I’m not a picky guy, but there’s not much less appetizing to me then to be chewing my food and bite down on a gnarly piece of connective tissue. The first time this happened, I chalked it up to a slip of the preparer’s knife, wrapped the half-​chewed mouthful in my napkin, and thought little of it. But then it happened the next time we dined there, and inexplicably, the time after that as well.
Once is a mistake. Twice is pushing it. Strike three, and your out. That was a year ago, so perhaps whatever their problem was, it’s been resolved. I’m just not sure I’m willing to spend another $ 60 to $ 70 dollars to find out. Shame really, ’cause that Gorgonzola still calls to me sometime ;-)

Real Italian meals in Hull??? You betcha! The service can be a little slow and rude which is why it got a ⁴⁄₅ but the meals are just awesome. I highly recommend the Penne Rosa it’s my favorite meal by far. They don’t like to take phone orders for take out, but if you know what you want and ask very nicely, they will hook you up if you want to eat at home. If you eat there, get there early and I think they are closed on Monday’s and grab a seat by the fire for a wonderful dinner.

I had driven by this place for years before ever really paying attention. But once you notice it and realize there’s a restaurant in there, you don’t really want to go in. The outside is so forlorn looking and ramshackle. However, a friend at work told me that she loved this place and would go whenever she was on the South Shore. So hubby and I bucked up and walked through the less than appealing door. The place is hard to describe. You first walk into the bar area which is usually buzzing with a crowd that seems always to be having a good time. You get the feeling everyone at the bar knows each other or they’ve had so many drinks they are now best buds with everyone. Then you walk into the first of two connected dining rooms. It is a strange experience but strange in an interesting, mostly good way. The décor looks like it’s been stolen from someone’s yard-​sale inventory. There is an array of vintagy, kitschy stuff everywhere and you wonder how anything relates and you ponder how all of it ended up in an Italian restaurant of all places. Don’t let yourself wonder when the last time might have been that anything was dusted. There is a big wood burning fireplace in the main room which is great to sit near on a cold winter night. This first area is where we generally like to sit. On a crowded Saturday night we were once relegated to the back dining area which we didn’t like as much. This place is local and casual. The wait staff is friendly and efficient. The food is very good, well-​priced and the portions are huge. I always have food to take home for delectable leftovers. My one complaint is that on a couple of occasions, I thought that some of food was a bit too oily. I find that a lot of places need to use a more restrained hand with the olive oil and trust me, I love olive oil. Listen, it’s not fine dining, but it’s tasty food in comfortable, unpretentious surroundings with friendly waitstaff. We love that it’s a neighborhood place. We’re glad to have it in our south shore backyard. If you’re in the area, try it. Just get over your fear of what it looks like from the outside and walk right in. You’ll have a good time.