mingo

one of the only places that gets it right with italian food, i am pleased

warm & friendley service. we own a restaurant in bethany area (bethany's table) so we thought we'd check out the competition on our night off. what a nice surprise. the staff was friendly, the space was well done and the food was great. worthy competition indeed.

service was good. waiter was attentive and got the order right. i rate the staff average to high

i ordered gnocchi. what i recieved was a pile of mashed potato croquettes. about the size of a scallop, and fried in both sides. in fact, others at my table thought these to be scallops. for what they were, they were tasty...but they were not gnocchi, as advertised.

maybe it's because this is beaverton and not italy...but gnocchi should not resemble tater tots covered in marinara.

#fail

wonderful patio and a great menu. had the risotto and it was excellent. also the limoncello is a great way to end the meal.

mingo gets two thumbs up!. i took my daughter and a good friend to mingo last monday. we sat outside since it was such a beautiful evening.
our server, john, was very efficient and knew the menu well. since my daughter and i went to italy last october, we were spoiled by real italian food. the food at mingo made us feel we were back in orvieto, italy. everything was perfect and we all agreed on two thumbs up or 5 stars. tom barrett, charbonneau, or.

mothra says... solid!. after inviting ms. moe to lunch for her birthday, i knew a great spot that she would enjoy.
we met recently for another two hour lunch. lou, craig, moe and i met and had a terrific time. we started by snacking on some sourdough bread with evoo, and a rather large bowl of assorted olives.
for lunch, i ordered the ravioli stuffed with pancetta in a luscious brown savory sauce. lou had the penne pasta, and craig and moe enjoyed the fresh fish of the day over white beans.
marcus was present but not underfoot. good service and the right amount of attention. this restaurant has a terrific menu and is a mainstay here in beaverton. of course, we were the last table to leave.
mothra says..... 3.70 of 5.0


-----08 jan, 2012-----

mothra says.....rocky start, great finish. k asked me where i wanted to dine for this special occasion last night. i had heard good things about the chef and how the menu changes frequently; two things important to a great restaurant. having 730p reservations, we arrived about 3 minutes early to a crowded restaurant in downtown beaver town. the hostess in the striped outfit greeted us and advised us that our table was not ready, but our wait was to be only 5 mins. no sweat, we'll just sit and people watch. the hostess asked if we would like to open our bottle of 06' argyle champagne while we waited. no, but how about your complimentary champagne? well, 5 mins turned to 15, then 25 min's. a great restaurant offers to lessen the wait pain by placing a complimentary glass in your hand…… (insert sound of crickets here). after 25 minutes i asked the hostess for two glasses on the house while we waited. i should not have had to ask. she had our waiter alexander bring them to our table as we were finally seated. maybe some additional training is needed here.
after being seated, we both took a deep breath and relaxed. alexander iced our argyle while we perused the menu. in short order, we decided on a couple of hors d oeuvres while alexander popped the champagne (sorry i refuse to call it sparkling, it just cheapens it). this is indeed a shorter compact menu which i really like. although two of the 12 or so entrees were sold out, this menu had a good variety to choose from. while sipping some bubbles, we decided on our entrees while our appetizers arrived: a rather large bowl of assorted italian olives in fresh herb & garlic infused olive oil and, spinach and ricotta dumplings in brown butter and sage. yes, it was as good as it sounds. in addition, a complimentary small plate of roasted eggplant with pesto on crostini arrived. well done and tasty. as we continued munching on olives throughout the evening, we were in absolutely no hurry to rush through dinner.
in anticipation of our dinner arriving, i asked alexander to open our bottle of 07' paso robles four vines 'sophisticate' zin. by the way, it is as good as that sounds (too bad four vines sold their zins last year to a competitor). as that was breathing, k's al ceppo pasta w lamb meatballs in a thin cream sauce with oregon mushrooms and butternut squash arrived. across the table, my rolled pork loin stuffed with spinach, onions, & sun dried tomatoes topped with pesto sauce along with roasted acorn squash stared up at me. as you know, your wine always tastes even better with a meal, and this zin did not disappoint. k's pasta dish with lamb meatballs, mushrooms and butternut squash in a thin cream sauce was excellent. my rolled stuffed pork was very good. both dishes were well made and delicious. i tore off some of the semolina bread (not my favorite… although not everything organic tastes good) and cleaned my plate. we rounded out dinner with a decaf cappuccino for k and a strong cup of coffee for mothra. despite two corkage fees totaling $30.00, this 2 1/2 hour dinner out the door with tip was $112.00 while leaving the restaurant, michael the owner met me, apologized for the wait earlier. i appreciate the fact that he acknowledged the rocky start to the evening. will i return? yes.
mingo did a good job in making up for the early snafu's. mothra says…..fine menu, great chef, very good service, very tasty cuisine, but additional training needed in the front of the restaurant. 3.80 of 5.0.

delicious rissotto and soup. great staff and ambience.

very good, but spendy. food was very good - nice portions. service was very good, too. a little on the high dollar side, but one of the better spots in beaverton without having to drive downtown to portland. will come back.

update: 6/2/14; last night's dinner was a bit of flat spot from previous meals. susan, our server, was very good and no problem there - but, the meal in itself was below par. the lamb chops were mostly bone and fat with very little meat. the halibut had no flavor. the pizzas were okay, but mostly dough around the edges and, again, seemed to lack some flavoring. could just have been an off night, but at around $50 per person, the expectations are little higher. will come back and hopefully mingo's will be back in the game with previous meals that were very good there.

elegant italian cuisine in beaverton. we had a lovely dinner for 4 at mingo west this weekend. from the mingo salad to the pork belly appetizer to the seafood and duck entrees, we enjoyed every bite. service was excellent. what a surprise to find a restaurant of this quality in beaverton. we live in a nearby portland neighborhood and wanted to find a nice place that would align with other saturday errands. hope they stay there!

quality, locally sourced italian food. i found mingo online and, being a lover of fine italian food, i thought that it would be worth a try. the restaurant was a delicate balance between formal and causal. the service was beyond exceptional, with the wait staff answering all of my questions in a timely and knowledge manner. staff were on top of keeping water and bread coming but were not overly present. the wine list was complete, but not exhaustive. the food was presented in a simple, straightforward manner. it was filling and well balanced. the freshness of the pasta was noticeable. my only complaint would be that the prices on the first and second courses (not wine and drinks) seemed very steep. i was willing to pay the price for the local ingredients and top notch staff.

delicious. the atmosphere is lovely and the menu is well priced. our entrees (pasta alle polpette - lamb meatballs with oregon mushrooms and butternut squash, and formaggi pizza) were outstanding and even the bread was wonderful in both texture and flavor. our server was knowledgeable about the wine and made an excellent by the glass recommendation. the only cons were the lack of parking (7 pm on a thursday) and the noise level was a bit loud.

hold the salt. nice place, wonderful service but my entree was way over-salted for my palate. if you're sensitive to salt (or have hypertension) request them to hold off on the salt.

another review after 18 months. we love this place. the use of fresh ingredients and a changing menu makes this a real go to place for us. service is consistently good with great recommendations on the specials. good place for a good dinner.


-----22 jun, 2009-----

great food. new menu on 19 jun. we will be back

good italian on the west side. i'll admit, my favorite italian in pdx is located downtown. piazza italia still holds my heart. however, mingo is nearly as good if you find yourself in beaverton. relaxed atmosphere, a great happy hour, and consistently good food. my favorite is the penne al sugo di carne. the use of espresso is an interesting twist, but it works. the salsiccia pizza is also grat. i have yet to try any of the more complex grilled plates, but i suppose that's just another reason to go back.

helps to get here a little early too. may as well catch the last bit of happy hour while you can!

business lunch red robin. whopee! i have found a place that might actually appease the traditionalists at my place of vocation. hard to believe but the red robin and olive gardeners would even go for mingo.

although all lunch plates were 11 and 12 bucks, and the menu had a sparce 7 items below the soup, i would think that in those 7, you have hit 80-90% satisfaction rate. although i see and appreciate some negative reviews, our experience (even with 3 desserts) left us all smiling. my sole was delightfully light and lemony, the chianti and espresso braised beef (on penne) had the earthiness of mushrooms without them and the gnocchi was well received by our gnocchi virgin. i wasn't overwhelmed by the rabbit sausage, but such as life, i didn't order it and she would did was quite pleased. the dessert menu i thought was a bit pricey for lunch ($7 for each item including gelato!) - they could have cut down dessert portions/prices. i quickly became fond of the chocolate dream torte on amaretto cookies (but then i only had half).
we will be back....