While struggling businesses and empty storefronts continue to impact the Village of Great Neck, Mangia Bene La Bottega has remained a staple of the neighborhood since January 2003.
“It’s been tough and it’s been very, very rough to survive. But with our loyal customers and with our smiles and people tell us that they love seeing our smiling faces and they love our consistency with our food,” said Jack Idnani, a partner in Mangia Bene. “I think those few things were our recipe to survive.”
That, Idnani said, is why he and his partners decided to stay in the Village of Great Neck and move to 624 Middle Neck Road when their lease at 526 Middle Neck Road was coming to an end.
“We loved this neighborhood. We feel like part of the family over here and we wanted to be here. We have very, very committed customers who have been coming here for such a long time,” he said. “They would have been very upset if we had left. Almost everybody was telling us ‘please don’t leave us.’ They are very happy, and we are very happy to be a part of Great Neck.”
Idnani said business has been good since the Oct. 25 ribbon cutting for the new location, but on-street parking, which was not an issue at their previous location, now causes a problem for customers.
“They feel like over there they had the freedom of parking, but over here parking is a little issue,” he said. “That is the only drawback coming over here which we are facing.”
But, Idnani said, Village of Great Neck Mayor Pedram Bral told him he would try to help the neighborhood’s parking situation on Middle Neck Road.
Bral held his second “meeting with the mayor” event at Mangia Bene La Bottega, which Idnani said brought the restaurant a good turnout of customers.
“We didn’t know the new mayor at all, but we invited him and did the ribbon cutting and he asked us if they could use our space for a Wednesday meeting,” he said. “We were very excited to provide that for him and in fact, we were asking him to do a few more here.”
Idnani added that the restaurant had a good relationship with former Village of Great Neck Mayor Ralph Kreitzman, who would sometimes eat there “two to three times per week.”
Even after Bral defeated him to become mayor, Idnani said, Kreitzman continued to come to the restaurant and even attended the ribbon cutting to support the business.
“He was a very loyal customer and he still is,” he said.
With the large Jewish population in the neighborhood, Adam Echawadi, a partner in Mangia Bene, said the restaurant makes sure to make customers trust that they will keep kosher food items separate from non-kosher items.
“We understand the clients are mostly kosher so we respect that and we keep everything separated for them. We have knowledge of that so we like to cover that too,” he said. “It is a good thing for them. They enjoy it, they like it, and they feel comfortable coming here.”
Idnani said he came to Great Neck in 2003 after working as the regional vice president of Sbarro’s northeast division, when he was approached by Tony Scotto, the owner of Scotto’s — the previous tenant at 526 Middle Neck Road.
Scotto, he said, asked him if he would be interested in opening a restaurant in the location that Scotto’s was vacating after 40 years.
Idnani was joined by his younger brother, Dino, and Echawadi as partners of Mangia Bene La Bottega, which is part of the La Bottega franchise.
“I spoke with my brother, Dino, and he knew Adam so he spoke with him, and that’s how the family got together for this project,” Idnani said.
At first, Idnani said, it was difficult to establish Mangia Bene La Bottega’s name because Scotto’s had served the neighborhood for 40 years.
“When we opened someone came into the store and asked, ‘is this the new Scotto’s?’” Echawadi said.
Realizing they could not just abandon the good feelings Scotto’s had in the community, the trio decided to keep Scotto’s dishes on their menu in addition to their own recipes and dishes.
“A lot of people who moved on to different cities come for vacation and make sure they come eat here,” Idnani said. “So we still have old Scotto’s dishes that we still make. We even have it in the menu as Scotto’s specials.”
Mangia Bene La Bottega makes all of their food fresh at the restaurant, including homemade sauces and salads.
“We make everything from scratch. People love our sauce and people love our food,” Idnani said. “It brings them back over and over. We are very blessed.”
Their menu offers an almost unlimited selection of pizzas, salads, paninis, entrees, and pastas.
“We have the best eggplant parmigiana around,” Echawadi said.
Mangia Bene La Bottega is open 365 days of the year, which Idnani said probably makes them the only business in the neighborhood that remains open on holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.
“We sacrifice our lives to make sure customers are getting their food over here,” he said.
Idnani and Echawadi said their commitment to serve customers stems from the loyalty customers have shown them over the years and they hope to be able to continue serving customers for a long time.
“I had people come buy a Grandma’s Pizza and bring it back to North Carolina with them,” Echawadi said. “It’s nice to see that kind of thing.”
