Mannino’s Italian Bistro

Best she crab soup I’ve ever had. Food is great and service is great as well. The she crab is the star of the show!

Avoid the fried oysters, think they were frozen. My friend though enjoyed her veal parmesan.

The food is great. Bread is great. The facia is delicious. The she crab soup is also a must have. Seriously it is worth the effort to go just to try the soup. Entrees are large and great. Leftovers are a given.

A Hidden Gem!
The restaurant is located in an unassuming strip mall and on our first visit, we worried about our choice. Inside it is pretty plain and low-​key as well. However, our fears were quickly put to rest once the food arrived! Everything we have ever had here is excellent!
They make several of their items in-​house like mozzarella and sausage which I love about them. Always delicious! My favorite dish is the Chicken Parm. Even my youngest, who is very picky, loved it. My husband says the Crab soup is the best he has had! If you don’t like Crab soup, try the NY City Sidewalk Sausage & Peppers for an appetizer (delicious!) or just a meatball and ask them to put mozzarella on it (my fav!).

Tried this place for the first time and I’m mad I haven’t been going for years. Excellent she crab soup. Best bruschetta I’ve had in ages. And in November! The food was beyond excellent and the service made it all the better. Can’t wait to go back and try everything else I missed this time. Our server Nick was awesome!

Nice little place tucked away in a plaza. Don’t be fooled great food! My whole family enjoyed this place. Great service too.

I’ve only dined at Maninos 3x but each time I’ve been, the service and quality of food have been excellent! Very tasty and satisfying! Chris was our server (¹⁰⁄₅) – birthday celebration– and he was very friendly and attentive. Definitely will be regular spot for Italian dishes for me!

I hear they have a great crab soup. But we went for Italian food. We enjoyed our meals.
The sausage was good and had a nice flavor. I had the arrabiata sauce. It was a tad thin, and lacked something. What it did have was sun-​dried tomatoes. I’ve never had sundried tomatoes in arrabiata sauce before. They were out of place.
Ambiance is dimly lit with laminate tables. «Fresh» Parmesan cheese is fully grated. No fresh pepper offered.
Service was excellent.

So we had an 8am staff meeting here because Mannino’s is a preferred catering vendor of my company… they served us tiramisu for breakfast (if you’ve never had tiramisu for breakfast, I suggest you make a cup of coffee and try it!) and my coworkers raveddd about the crab soup. It’s won many awards, so naturally, I thought about this soup until tonight when I got it to go and it’s truly amazing.
It’s so incredibly rich, you can just taste the pounds being added to your body but it’s the crab that really makes it different… there’s a lot of it. I asked for a side of bread and made it dinner, alongside the tiramisu. By the time I had finished dipping the bread I was down to a ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ ratio of crab to soup… crazy. And this is NOT your local seafood restaurant crab soup… this is velvety Italian she crab, made with marsala instead of sherry. It comes cup or bowl, but I can’t even fathom finishing a whole bowl in one sitting, but if you’re not typically a victim to richness then please indulge in the bowl!
Theres a lot to be said about when you leave a review… only once have I stopped mid-​eating to write a review and Mannino’s, you’re #2.

The absolute best. Hands down. The crab soup is easily the best you will find in all of Hampton Roads. I’ve stopped ordering it elsewhere because I was constantly disappointed. The Fried Mozzarella and Zucchini is phenomenal — I mean, the mozzarella is like cutting into a one and a half inch steak, but my favorite dish is the Pollo Portofino. It is exceptional — Chicken Marsala stuffed with mozzarella, prosciutto, and spinach. I order the Marsala sauce and mushroom over the side of penne, tossed together. When I’m feeling I need to order something on the healthy side, I will get a shrimp dish with the house vegetable as opposed to pasta as the side. Side note. I’m a «Frog Fellowship» member, so was so excited to see Frog’s Leap now being offered on the wine list!
New to the restaurant are the monthly wine dinners. Our friends and us attended the last two sold out dinners, which have been fantastic! You arrive to a glass of sparkling wine and a 3 – 4 course dinner paired with wine from a specific region. All for $ 50. Can’t beat it!

We love this place but so sad we found out about it just months before we are due to transfer from the area. We went for our anniversary dinner and they brought out a little «Happy Anniversary» card signed by the staff. So sweet. The food is amazing, the sauce, pasta, anything you can think of is just superb. The dessert… oh my. Sooooo very good! Try this place out! You won’t be disappointed!

I missed this restaurant so much! I used to go to one on pleasure house and ocean front. They closed unfortunately.
I’m glad that I made a reservation. It was packed. You should use open table for a reservation.
Taste: I always order she crab soup and fresh mozzarella. They are always the best! Their bread and olive oil are delicious too. I tried veal and portabella mushroom. This dish is huge. Tasty.
Price: I did not drink wine this time. Only 1 soup, 1 cheese, 1 veal for about $ 50.
Interior: Italian casual. Not fancy at all. Pretty dark.
Staff: Waitresses are friendly and nice but hostesses are not really because they do not smile at all.
Parking lot: Free in front of the building.
Tip: I used to go on Mons. They have ½ priced bottles of wine.

I was skeptical about an Italian restaurant in a strip mall but we tried it out to celebrate our anniversary nonetheless. With prices what there were, I had high expectations. Let me tell you it was worth every penny. This is by far one of the top 2 or 3 Italian restaurants I’ve every been to. This lists includes Little Italy so you know it’s good. You must try the she crab soup, you will not be disappointed– the biggest chunks of crab meat I’ve ever had in a soup! I had the pollo con peperoni — very good. Just get over the price and try it!

One of the best Italian restaraunts in Hampton Roads. The Peasant Salad, and prosciutto & mozzarella app were great portions with fresh ingredients. My wife had the loaded veal parm, which was delicious. I had the shrimp francese. At least 10 jumbo shrimp cooked perfectly. The pasta sauce is a simple, but perfectly delicious red tomato sauce. The staff is courteous and attentive, too. Highly recommended!

She-​crab soup. Delicious flavor. Filling. I haven’t tried much she-​crab soup in my day but I danced to the taste of this. To me, it’s about the feeling you experience when you taste something. This made me want to make love.
I’m not super big into Italian meals, after all, I am brown/​yellow so it’s no surprise that rice is my thing so I ordered their fried oyster dinner. Amazing. Just amazing. The oysters were big and they seemed like the dish would never end. Even better were the sauces: a chili aioli, honey mustard aioli, and citrus cocktail. Bring your appetite for this meal.
One of my trusty, go-​to spots!

Mannino’s has one of the best she-​crab soups in the area! My other favorites are (I forgot their names) pasta with clams in white wine sauce, fish specials, fried oysters and the gelato. Mannino’s also has a good wine selection. My family and I love to share a bottle. Come early because they sometimes run out of their fresh specials posted on the chalkboard. The front of the restaurant has some windchill since it’s near the door. We prefer sitting in the back where it’s warmer, but a little crowded. Beware of large parties; a girl next to our table kept snorting every time she laughed. It’s also convenient making a reservation on OpenTable via Unilocal

If there is one dish you need to order from this place, it’s the She Crab Soup. Hands down! I don’t care what anybody says, this soup was amazing. It was creamy, silky, smooth, full of flavor, and delightful on my tastebuds. And I only had like 3 spoonfuls, because my husband was the one who ordered it. I won’t make that mistake again when we go back. I’m ordering a bowl for just myself. For my entrée, I had the lasagna bolognese and it was also amazing. So much cheese and the sauce was rich and complimented the dish so well. My husband had the chicken parmigiana, another fantastic dish. The chicken was cooked with a nice crispy breading so it had a nice texture with the melted cheese on top. He loved the spaghetti pomodoro that came as the side to the chicken parmigiana. The service was friendly, nothing spectacular, but it was a Friday night and kinda busy. With Mannino’s closed at Pleasure House, this will be our new favorite italian place!

Went to Mannino’s recently.
Upon entering the hostess did not greet me right away, they talked amongst themselves for a bit about seating arrangements while i stood there.
When i was acknowledged and greeted, i gave them my name for my reservation that i made here on Unilocal and they said they prefer a call to make reservations because the Unilocal reservations mess them up a bit.
i was quickly seated though.
(did notice that i did not, at anytime during my visit, even see a smile from any of the hostess, like they hated being there… kind a turn off to the place)
Me and my husband were seated in back area and were greeted promptly by our server. An older women with light blonde hair. She was very sweet and attentive!
Looking in their drink menu i didn’t see a wide variety of beers, i was looking for more craft beers or ciders, which bummed me out. So me and hubby stuck with waters.
I like the bread they served, little hard to chew but taste good with the oil to dip.
Our appetizer was very good. We got the sausage, peppers, onion marinara sauce thing lol i don’t remember the name exactly but it was quite good.
My dinner was a stuffed chicken Marsala, so so very tasty. My husband got something called «Steves special» He said this was very bland. but ate it because he was very hungry and didn’t want to wait for anything else. «Steves special» looked like a chicken noodle soup.
ceiling could use some work, i did notice that.
over all had a good experience and i would definitely return and bring a friend!

Had dinner here last night with friends and new people from HRFEN meetup group to make Valentine’s Day cards for the elderly.
The waitstaff were very accomodating of that, which was a nice touch.
I had the famous award-​winning She-​crab soup, which I was trying for the first time. I must say, it amazed! It was filled with lumps of real, crab meat (uhm, I had some from places before that fake you) and it was sooo good! So far, this soup now is running toe-​to-​toe with my fave She-​crab soup from Freemason Abbey resto in Norfolk…
I had the Pollo Picatta ($ 18.99) — sautéed chix breast and capers in lemon white butter sauce. It was OK. I was somewhat disappointed actually because I was expecting it to be great. This is Mannino’s after all. That same dish is epic at La Bella’s in Ghent. You ought to try it there so you’ll get my point of reference. The sauce just wasn’t lemony enough and bangin’. In short, the taste fell flat. So four (4) stars is being generous in my book.

Things didn’t start out well when I had a 7:30 reservation, was seated at a nice quiet booth, then sat for over 10 minutes while I was ignored by a couple of waitresses and no one made any eye contact or anything.
Finally, after flagging down the waitress for all of the tables around me, she went to get my waitress. Instead of her coming over apparently their policy is to immediately go get the manager who comes to apologize. She was very friendly and polite and offered a free appetizer from the menu. She got a drink order and I was promptly served some very delicious warm bread with oil and vinegar for dipping. The bread was soft and fresh and hot out of the oven. It was good because by this point I was very grumpy and hungry.
For a starter, on the house, I tried the sausage and peppers in a toasted bread/​tortilla/​pasta roll? The sausage was very good and the peppers and marinara were amazing. I was pleased with it.
The appetizer was accompanied by the apple salad (can’t remember the actual name from the menu). It consisted of a bed of greens, sliced apples, gorgonzola cheese, candied walnuts and this really delicious sweet/​tangy vinaigrette dressing. Mmmmmm, the salad was amazing. I may just get this as my meal next time in a full size it was so good.
The manager brought all of this out and made sure everything was going well at this point and then I met the actual waitress who apologized and said she was working the other side and had’t been informed she was sat in the back. She was very friendly and attentive after this so all was forgiven.
I ordered the cheese tortellinis with peas, mushrooms and prosciutto ham. Very good. A little too much of the runny cream sauce for me, it was more on the soupy side, but it was good. I also wanted to try the stuffed chicken which looked really good from some other Unilocal photos I saw so next time I may try that.
For dessert I was torn between the cannoli and the gelato so I tried a little of both. I’m jaded as far as cannolis go and I realize this, because the best I’ve ever had bar none were in Florence, Italy from a small shop last summer. The gelato was much the same though I was very happy they had chocolate hazelnut which is basically my favorite flavor from Italy: bacio. Still, not as good, had a bit of a freezer burnt tang to it and a little too much chocolate, no thanks.
All in all, good bread, good salad, decent entrees, good service after the beginning blip, I’d come back but it’s not my favorite.