mondo

evening ruined by server. the food was wonderful. but our evening was a disaster -- absolutely ruined by the server. mondo treats the bread as if it's gold -- wanting to pick up the bread plates after one or two pieces. (we had to ask for a second piece of bread). we were never asked it we wanted refills of our tea, and the whole experience was not really a dining experience -- more like a high end fast food experience. it was obvious the staff is trained to turn the tables as quickly as possible. our waitress was insolent and disrespectful. when we go out to dine (as opposed to out to eat) we're looking for a nice experience. if you're used togoodservice, you are unlikely to find it at mondo. when we brought the service to the attention of management, they knew all the right words to say, but did absolutely nothing. if you want a nice dining experience, go anywhere else.

i prefer the bar atmosphere here as a pose to the main dining area. the small bites are wonderful and entrees are equally tasty. i'm a huge fan of asian inspired dishes, apparently so is susan spicer.
i usually don't care for happy hour... cheap drinks, crap food. against my better judgement i checked this happy hour out. i had a wonderful moscow mule (@full price) and settled for a warm gorgonzola app....bleh! there was nothinggoodabout this. like i said, i hate happy hour- unfortunately the regular menu isn't available until 5:30. for you happy hour lovers- from 3-6, 1/2 off house special drinks, house wine, & tap beers. as for me, i'll only be back during regular dining times.

fantastic food and for the price one of the best deals in town. no matter what the soup of the day is get it. open fire pizza oven just adds to an alreadygoodatmosphere. will be back as often as i can. i give it a 5 because that is as high as it goes.

lakeview girl here and have been going to mondo for years. love that lakeview has upscale and classy. my visit last week was asgoodas ever. pisco cocktail was great - the first time i've seen pisco outside of trips to nyc which is nice. my table had the special pasta, peppers, pate, burger, pear and teleme pizza among other things. all were delicious. the special pasta was an appetizer size but i had it as my main and the richness of the dish allowed for that. the pizza was perfect and something i could eat again and again with no complaints. will absolutely return.

disappointed. went to mondo with high hopes for another susan spicer restaurant. food wasgood- not great but that was ok. place is much more casual and comfortable. but service was horrible - far from the standards i expected from a susan spicer restaurant. hostess was busy setting tables and leaving guests to wait. wait staff inattentive - had to ask two waiters (neither of which was ours) to get a refill on coffee. don't know if slowness of drink and food service was kitchen/bar backup or wait staff problem, but really detracted from agoodmeal and night out.

when we went to mondo, it was a friday night and were told it would be a 15min wait, so we decided to go to the bar. i had a "mojito caliente," which was good, but extremely spicy even though the bartender made it mild. my guest had a "lawnmower" and thought it was verygoodsince he is a fan of whiskey. once we sat down it took 10 minutes for our server to greet us when. he was helpful, but was hard to even hear the specials as the restaurant is loud. i felt like my throat hurt by the end of the night bc i had to talk over the noise. we started our meal with ceviche which was verygoodand decided to get a second order. my guest and i both ordered the butter lettuce, bacon, and blue cheese salad which we both sent back as the lettuce tasted bad. for our main course i ordered the brazilian ribeye which i would recommend and he ordered the pizza which he thought was decent. for dessert we shared a lemon tart and german chocolate cake, which were both nothing special. i see how the restaurant is trying to be different with interesting international dishes, but it's not something i would recommend to a friend.

ate a late lunch so restaurant was not crowded and mood was very relaxed. there was not a single thing on the menu that didn't look like a yummy adventure but i finally settled on a cuban sandwich with a watermelon soup. it was asgoodas i hoped it would be. my wife had fish tacos which were served with an apple/carrot/onion/cilantro salad which were spectacular. my son had a pizza fired in their brick oven which definitely hit the spot. overall it was a great experience.

gone down hill. i have dined at mondo a few times prior and i have to say i was shocked with the difference. not in agoodway. one bartender totally overwhelmed behind the bar and we waited for our table parched. we eventually gave up on the bar altogether. once we were seated i ordered a sparkling lemonade with muddled mint. mint and lemons were visible behind the bar and we ordered a bottle of san pelligrino for the table. we were told that wasn't possible. really? with all of your exotic cocktails and extensive wine list they couldn't make a sparkling lemonade for a non-drinker?! ridiculous. they are more intent on jacking up your bill with booze than accommodating a repeat customer with something non-alcoholic. the service was totally overwhelmed. no bread was brought to the table until we complained and then we were given one piece. not that i need a full baguette, but is this a gulag or a bistro grade restaurant? savor that one piece of bread people! by that point we decided to cut our losses, only order burgers as our entree's, no appetizers, desserts, coffee, anything else. we wanted the bill and to dash asap. the waiter admitted there were problems when i brought up my complaints. he did the best job possible in a difficult environment. bravo and sympathy to him. as my partner and i left, we also noticed two other same sex couples seated in the same area up and off to the side. i took a second to take notice and one of the other same sex couples was noticing the very same thing. obviously, i can't confirm they are purposely seating same sex couples in that specific area, but every time i have dined at mondo with one other person of the same sex i have been seated in that area. when i took my sister to dinner with another friend, we were seated right in the middle of the dining room with all of the other straight patrons. when more than one table notices this, and we give each other "the eye of mutual understanding," it leaves a bad taste in your mouth to say the least. in short, don't waste your time unless you are on board for a large booze tab, have two hours for a simple meal, and feel like you are doing mondo a favor for dining in their less than stellar establishment. gone down hill people. i'm disappointed. i really enjoyed it the first couple times i dined with them.

tasty. great experience. mussels were excellent, burger, lamb.goodservice. all around enjoyable experience.

delish!. went here for dinner and i really enjoyed the pork shoulder with plantains and black beans. the piece of pork was generous so it would be agooddish to get if you go there with someone who likes to share different things. however the highlight was the dessert - sticky toffee pudding! words can't describe how perfect this dessert was. the white sangria was not special, it just tasted like pineapple juice. i'll try it again next time, maybe it was that particular batch. the presentation of everything was great. i would highly recommend mondo and can't wait to go for lunch.

eat at the bar. i've eaten here several times and have to say, i don't get the criticism. table service was quitegoodon my initial visit soon after the restaurant opened. since then i've eaten at the bar several times and things couldn't have been bettter. agoodcrowd, excellent food and a very friendly vibe. what's the problem?

been there 3 times. went there when first opened. place was so hot and noisy with wait of an hour for our food while the busboy doled out little slice of bread. food was average. second time was there for a luncheon and the food was terrible. the open faced roast beef sandwich was so fatty my friend couldn't eat it. the fish taco was cold. the waiter gave us one tiny cup of cream for our 8 cups of coffee. the third time our whole family went and the best food we had was the burger!!! thank goodness some other restaurants are opening back up in lakeview. would not go back to mondo unless there are no other options.


-----25 jul, 2010-----

mondo needs finetuning. four of us went to mondo's on a saturday night. the menu was eclectic, lots of interesting dishes, but nothing that was exceptional. our appetizers took 45 minutes to arrive. our entrees another 30 minutes. a waitperson comes by and lays down one small slice of french bread on our bread plate. we were so hungry we had to ask for more bread. as others have stated, the portions are small. the other problem is the noise is loud, making conversation difficult. i think the pizza oven makes the back area quite warm, especially when the restaurant is full. it's a place i would take my children on a weeknight, not out of town guests or for an evening of quiet dining. the burger was about asgoodas luke's. the creamy crabmeat on toast had soggy toast. lambchops were good, the roasted chicken was good. the desert with the baked berries from the wood oven was excellent.

verygoodand kid-friendly to boot!. we (seven of us including two small children) had dinner here for the first time this evening. we all loved the bread (they pass it out in small slices and we kept stalking the guy for more). my dad and i both had pizzas and we enjoyed them a lot, especially the crust. i asked the waiter and he said that susan spicer's bakery, wild flour breads, supplies the bread for the restaurant. i have seen this bread for sale at langenstein's; now i will be buying some! my husband had a pork shoulder dish with black beans and plaintains and he liked it a lot. my sister ordered a steak dish with fries and she liked it although she said the portion was quite small. my mom got the redfish and she also enjoyed it very much. the kids were happy too and the place was noisy enough (in agoodway) that we didn't have to worry about them being disruptive. one thing that particularly impressed me was that, although there were lots of people waiting for a table, the restaurant itself is not crammed full of tables. a couple more tables could have been squished in but that would have made things even louder and it would have made for a less comfortable dining experience. i appreciated having a comfortable distance between the tables....we'll be back!

i'd go back.. stopped into mondo for the first time on 1/17 for an impromptu dinner with my sweetheart. overall, a pretty positive experience but a few notes.

1. we were seated at the absolute worst table in the house. no big deal as we didn't have a reservation and being in the business myself, i understand what it means to have a bad table in a dining room-- you hate to seat it but sometimes you have to.

2. service was friendly although the waiter didn't exactly go out of her way to accommodate my vegan dining companion. i've heard that spicer's restaurants do a prettygoodjob of handling this but let's just say they didn't seemed overly enthusiastic about it. also, a note on service. i ordered the borscht soup--never received it. i guess the waiter just forgot.

3. the food. pretty solid. would have liked to have tried the beet soup---but that will have to wait. i had the mondo burger. cooked perfectly. the great hill blue that i chose for a topping was a little too salty/overpowering for the burger--but i enjoyed it anyway. should have chosen the fontina. my companions vegan dish was pretty solid, some sort of curried cauliflower with red kale. i'd say skip the crunchy fried hominy.

4. overall, i'll be back when it's convenient.

i just got back from mondo which i delious very nice service ot fills u up verygoodroasted chicken very loud though medium temperature i would of liked it colder but overall i recomend it for everyone