Marlene Mangia Bene

Great place went there a week ago food was great. Have to love woodbury. Servers were great and a pleasure to speak with. This place is byob so if you have some fine wines bring them to add to your meal.

Went last night and didn’t even know that it was «Farm to Fork week». Everything was GREAT! Food was fresh and delicious! I left stuffed! They even bring you a complimentary shot of homemade shot of watermelon-​cello and it was SOOO good!
The owner came over and told us how he makes it and gave us another one!
Food was delicious and we will be back! Great job!

Second time eating here. New chef, have to say not as good as the last time we were here. The menu seemed to be more limited. However, the food was good, just not great. Our waiter seemed a bit bothered by us in the beginning but he warmed up to us.

Party of six, excellent service from Chris, everyone loved MMB.
We happened to go last night which was during Restaurant Week (we didn’t know), which meant fixed price four course menu. There were at least four choice in every course, which is fairly closely taken from the regular menu (
). This was basically the $ 9 – 10 appetizers, the $ 8 – 8.50 salads or a delicious tomato soup, five or six of the $ 17 – 26 entrees (plus some pricier options with a surcharge), and four desserts, the best of which was the flourless chocolate tart. Everyone liked or loved every dish. That would normally cost between $ 42 — $ 50 for just $ 35.
We thought the regular menu was fairly priced or under-​priced, but the four courses together is a real bargain, if you were inclined to eating four courses, which we were. However, if you only wanted an entrée and only one other course, you couldn’t do that during this promotion, and most times, restaurants allow the choice between the regular menu and the restaurant week menu, but we could understand MMB not doing that in this case in order to offer this outstanding value and to keep the kitchen sane.
But to be clear, we all can’t wait to go back and order from the fairly priced regular menu and try either the same dishes or some that weren’t on the fixed price menu.
I would add that the fresh, crusty bread is also excellent, as was the complementary home made Chocolatetello. As a BYO, it is hard to see how MMB does it.
Although MMB was packed (a good sign), service was efficient, meaning not too fast or too slow, which is not easy to do with a party of six.
I am surprised by some of the other reviews that mention this place is pricey. I don’t get that — apps for $ 10 or less, fancy salads for $ 8.50, pastas for the high teens, chicken, fish, shrimp and steak entrees mostly in the $ 20s. Unless you are comparing this to a pizza-​pasta place, that’s average or below average for the quality of the ingredients and the intricacy of the preparation.
One reviewer mentioned the bread was too hard to eat. S/​he apparently is not used to eating rustic crusty bread, which most fine diners love, and is becoming harder to get even in upper end restaurants. Those people are better off eating in pizza-​pasta restaurants where the prices are lower, the bread is softer and the preparations are simple and uninspired, but can still be very good. This place is not for them.

In a nutshell: aesthetically pleasing, excellent service, but extremely overpriced, and none of the food stood out to us. Bread not fresh. We walked out feeling like we overpaid.
We also like to support local busineses, and were so thrilled that an upscale restaurant opened in a somewhat run-​down area of Woodbury. We’re excited about what Woodbury can be in the future, and Marlene Mangia Bene is a step in the right direction.
Positive: The décor is lovely – dark floors and classy lighting. The restaurant was sufficiently staffed, and service very friendly and professional. Great presentation of the appetizers and desserts. The after dinner drink was appreciated as well.
Negative: the high ala carte prices for everything! If you wanted a salad with your meal, It’s $ 8 extra! I have rarely been to a restaurant that charges around $ 20 and up for pasta, but doesn’t offer a side salad with the meal, or at least for a few dollars extra. Here, a salad and pasta dish will cost you anywhere from $ 25 to $ 30 combined.
Our bread was not warm, and the crust, I could barely eat because I couldn’t chew it. I actually strained my jaw trying. I could not imagine the bread being fresh. It tasted like it had been frozen or refrigerated for a while beforehand. The accompaniment, a type of hummus, was OK, but I actually tasted their refrigerator more than I tasted the hummus. The whole bread basket just didn’t seem fresh to us.
The quality of the fresh pasta was great. Very enjoyable, but I didn’t walk out raving about it. Portion was appropriate.
Bread pudding was another $ 8. It was good, but not $ 8 good.
We were about to order tiramisu, but our server said «Oh, actualIy, we may not have any left.» It was 5:30 by this point (a half hour after they had opened), so it was obvious that the tiramisu, like the bread and hummus, was not made fresh the same day.
One appetizer, two pastas, NO SALAD, and one dessert=$ 76.
They charge Collingswood/​Cherry Hill prices, (a little more, actually) but just didn’t deliver the same quality we are used to.
I will always compare any Italian restaurant to my favorite restaurant in Collingswood, which is also upscale, but offers much more for the price and freshness of the food. I still haven’t found a restaurant that can beat it. We are happy that Marlene Mangia Bene opened where it did, and we hope they continue improving their establishment and ultimately contribute to making this part of Woodbury better.

We went on a Friday night. This restaurant’s atmosphere could be right out of South Philly. We thought it was a BYOB, but they now have a license with a winery, and you would order by the bottle. We ordered a reasonably-​priced bottle of white, but it was served room temperature. The sun-​dried tomato pesto we were served with our bread was really tasty. My husband had the little meatballs appetizer and the gnocchi entrée, and although it all tasted fine there, later that night he got the runs. I had the Inslata Tri Color and really enjoyed it. I had a special on the menu that night, Jersey swordfish. It was too salty but properly cooked. They finished the meal with a free digestif, a strawberry & crème concoction that was a nice gesture, but artificial tasting and sweet. Not sure if we’ll try it again…

Another great meal at Marlene Mangia Bene! What a gem in Woodbury and SJ. The staff is friendly, the food creative, fresh, and well prepared, and the setting intimate and pleasing. Make sure you make a reservation!

Just ok all around. It was a cold winter night and every time some opened the front door there was a cold blast to the tables near the front. Might need some kinda of wall to block the cold air. Waiter was nice, but somewhat in attentive. The wait staff appears to be more «kids» than «pros». Another waiter took an opportunity to mutter some expletives as he walked by our table… odd. Portions are small, wouldn’t mind if they weren’t on the expensive side. It’s a BYO and our bill for two was $ 100. We did order some desserts, but wish we hadn’t. The cannoli looked like it came from the Acme and the apple tart was equally unimpressive. The menu has some interesting dishes, so we might give it another try.

Fantastic food! My partner and I have been regulars since they opened. I’m so happy to have good food so close to home, since I would usually drive to Philly for a good meal. They have a great atmosphere and everyone is welcoming. I highly recommend.

We checked this place out during restaurant week. Nice little neighborhood gem. BYOB. Food was very fresh & nicely prepared. Bread and sun dried tomato pesto dipping sauce were amazing. Best tiramisu I’ve ever had!

Hands Down AMAZING! I was completely caught off guard by this cute quaint Italian spot in Woodbury. The décor is extremely warm, welcoming, by yet Modern at the same time. Our server was extremely prompt and friendly. We shared the Italian chicken wings,. and mussels in white sauce appetizer were both delightful and tasty. For the our main entrée we shared the grilled chicken Gorgonzola salad and the Capellini. Both were SPECTACULAR. At the end of our meal the owner stopped by our table to check and see how our experience was and I really appreciate and invested owner. Wonderful place PLEASE check it out, you won’t be disappointed!

We ate here for the first time last night, we had a really good experience. Everything I tasted was good, and the atmosphere was excellent. The calamari appetizer was excellent, as well as the pork entrée. Service was good as well. My only compliant would be it is a little on the pricey side but with that being said, I would definitely go back. It is nice having something so good in Woodbury.

We went to this little restaurant because as small business owners ourselves, we make it a point to ‘go small’ as much as possible, especially in a small, struggling town like Woodbury. When we entered the restaurant, I was very pleasantly surprised. It was quite nice in there. We were greeted immediately and lead to our seats. There were quite a few people in there already enjoying their lunches. I was so happy to see that. I took a look at the menu and was immediately interested in the «Meatball Medley’. I LOVE homemade meatballs. I was NOT disappointed either. They were delicious! If we were alone in the restaurant, I would have licked the bowl. For my main meal, I ordered the Tortellini. They were very good as well. My friend ordered a cheeseburger, which is odd for two reasons. One, she hardly ever orders anything with beef and second, we were at an Italian restaurant lol. I questioned her about it after she placed her order and the server walked away, and she said that she was expecting a really good burger from a place that appeared to have a ‘chef’ in the kitchen versus just a line cook. I understood that logic. Even though the meatballs and the tortellini were very good, my friends burger was not. It looked and tasted like a pre-​formed patty that was nothing special at all. It certainly didn’t have that gourmet cheffy look or taste to it at all. I noticed on their menu, there is no burger offered any longer. Not sure if they removed it because of complaints, or if they just thought it didn’t go along with their Italian theme. Whatever the case, it’s gone. Overall, I’m happy with the restaurant and I’ll definitely go back. I think my friend might go back too.

wow. this place is SO opposite of what i’ve experienced in south jersey. mommom and i had planned on checking out the woodbury station café, but when we arrived we found they closed at 230 (this was a saturday, so perhaps that’s their weekend hours.) so mommom said she saw a new spot around the corner she wanted to check out. the street had some weird parking restriction so we had to park around back (honestly, it felt a bit sketchy back there) and i walked on ahead to see if they were open, they didn’t open until 4 but let us come in early (like 350-​ish.)
there weren’t any veg entrée options, BUT our waitress (who is one of the owners daughters, Chris I think his name was) who is also veg explained that certain dishes can be veg by swapping the eggplant in for the meat or just pulling seafood out of certain dishes. They had pick three menu, salad, dinner and desert for $ 25, which was perfect. Mommom got a soup and salad, which was totaled to $ 25 so you know, get the deal!
food:
Sunday Salad — great salad, some greens with cranberries, apples, cheese a few other things and the dressing was sooooooo good.
Eggplant Parmesan — was a pretty decent eggplant parm, not greasy, perfect amount of sauce, and a generous portion that i took back was packed up for me (unfortunately I left it in jersey tho, bummer)
Tiramisu — another generous serving, mom and i almost didn’t finish it. it was decent, i mean it was no Edo’s tiramisu, but it was not bad.
mommom ordered the lobster bisque and she LOVED it. She said it was the best lobster bisque she’s ever had. However, everything is «the best» when you’re talking to south jersey folks about things they like. She also had the roasted romaine salad with the lump crab meat and LOVED that too. I don’t think she was a fan of the roasted romaine (which looked delish) but she certainly loved the crab and the dressing.
it’s certainly a gem in a place where i feel like we either go to diners or one of the library locations. The décor is nice, family photos on the walls make you feel right at home, it’s an intimate space, if i lived in jersey i’d def rent it out for a party or rehearsal dinner. i also appreciated the music selection.
i hear they do sammy’s for lunch, so perhaps i’ll have a chance to take mommom there again soon! that woman loves a good sammy.

My favorite new restaurant in the Woodbury/​West Deptford area! The cuisine is delicious, and the prices are more than reasonable. I’ve been recommending this place to relatives and friends for the past several months (in addition to dining there myself on numerous occasions), and I have yet to be disappointed. :-)

Been here three times and food is outstanding. I will be back.

My family and I went here last night for the first time. The Woodbury/​West Deptford area is in desperate need of new restaurants. My mom found this one and we figured we’d give it a shot.
Broad St. in Woodbury is mostly a ghost town and a far cry from the restaurant haven that is Collingswood’s Haddon Ave. The exterior and interior modern décor made you feel as if you were leaving the drab and desolate Woodbury streets. I really liked the clean look on the inside with hardwoods and family photos on the walls. We met Frank (one of the owners) who is a very nice guy and shared a little info about the place. It’s always nice to meet the people behind the scenes in the restaurant world. For me, it makes for a more personal experience.
On to the food. For the table we got the meatball medley and shrimp limoncello appetizers. I’m always hesitant to try meatballs out because I make them at home, my mom makes them, my dad’s mom made them and that recipe (for me at least) can’t be beat. Too many places pass off 100% beef as meatballs with little pork or veal and they just have a rubbery consistency. That was not the case here. These were great meatballs with a good mix of meat and buttery soft consistency. The sauce was also very, very good. Sauce, gravy, whatever you want to call it is more often than not so bland. Their sauce has a nice body to it with what appeared to be a crushed tomato base. I really wish I went for a pasta entrée just so I could have more of the sauce. The dab of ricotta cheese to mix in was a nice touch too. I’m rambling on about these meatballs but the shrimp limoncello were great too. What a great idea and one I have never seen before. The crostini was soaked in the limoncello/​scampi-​like sauce. The shrimp were nice and tender as well.
For my main entrée I went with the veal margherita. I was in the mood to test this restaurant to the max. Meatballs and the veal in the same night. I’ve had better veal. I definitely have. That’s not to say this veal was bad though. There were just a few rough spots but the pieces that were tender were great. The sauce was what really helped the dish out. It was a red wine almost brown gravy type of sauce. I enjoyed it because you hardly ever see anything like it. I’m also an avid sundried tomato hater. These sundried tomatoes however were of a sweeter taste and they were great.
For dessert the table went with almost all salted caramel crunch cakes. I had some of that and it really was great. Again, a dessert I’ve never come across before and a good retreat from the standard italian dessert fare. I ordered the fried cheesecake. It was incredible. It was like a churro but better and the cheese was not too overpowering with its sweetness.
They need to get these desserts listed on the site! They are outstanding and a few of them are really outside the box.
We were treated to some complimentary limoncello with dessert as well. They even had limoncellos I never heard of. In addition to regular limoncello they had watermelon and blood orange. I tasted the watermelon, it tasted good but I didn’t really taste any alcohol. But again, they pushed new boundaries.
I hope this place thrives, lord knows that Woodbury needs another good italian place because the only other game in town is Gia Nina. These guys are innovative in their menu options and it is refreshing to see. If they get that veal down there is no stopping them from attaining 5-​star status in my book.

Ambiance: A semi-​small, newi’sh restaurant with a clean/​modern interior. The lighting was not too dark or too bright. The tables were spaced-​out, we had elbow room. (private tables, not communal). I’d say a pair of khaki’s/dressy jeans with a polo top/​button down will do yah fine as for as the dress code. (from a male perspective). This is a BYOB spot. The bathroom was clean.
Food: Overall, we thought the food was good. The complimentary bread came w/​a side of sun dried tomato pesto spread that I could not stop eating. For an appetizer, we shared the Calamari w/​hot cherry pepper & tomato dressing, it was good. The breading was a light coating/​crispy. The calamari included the tentacles (my favorite). For my entrée I had the chicken Margherita. The sautéed cutlet was pounded out nice’n’thin, it was very tasty! However, I felt the red wine sauce was very bland (needed seasoning)… I tried to doctor it up a little w/​some Parmesan cheese but even that didn’t help. Kate had the Surf and turf. (beef/​crab cake). She ordered the beef medium rare but the steak arrived at a medium (was dry). She was too hungry to request a re-​do. The accompaniments of Gorgonzola mashed potato and the spinach was VERY good. (the spinach had the prefect touch of garlic/​olive oil). They offered us a complimentary after diner drink, we had the limoncello (it was a very nice touch, Thank You). We finished off the meal with a key lime pie.
Service: EXCELLENT. Our server (Amy) was fantastic. She was young (I overheard her say she was 23 yrs old) but had a refreshing maturity about her. She was professional & attentive. When describing the specials, she spoke clearly/​slowly. She gave us a good mix of attention and space. Our water glasses were refreshed in a timely matter. The bus person cleared our plates on-​time.
Pricing: Overall, I thought the pricing was reasonable/​competitive for the South Jersey/​Philadelphia market. My only sticker shock was the surf-​n-​turf entrée. That came in at $ 42.00? (as a comparison, even Union Trust and Butcher & Singer had surf-​n-​turf at the $ 36/​$ 38 range). Some restaurants/​servers will tell the customer up-​front what the cost of the specials are after describing them. I will say that I have read that the cost of beef in 2012 has risen sharply. Sidenote: they offer a special 3 course pre fixe dinner every Wednesday through Saturday (see details on the website).
At the moment, reservations are done by call-​in or by e-​mailing them. Generally, I prefer to make my reservations on-​line (it’s just easier and more fullproof). I hope they utilize OpenTable soon.
All in all, we liked the MMB. We are glad to see this restaurant in this neighborhood. We will be back. We are looking forward to trying their meatballs, bolognese, short ribs, etc. Their lunch menu also looks promising. I’d say a solid 3.5 stars for food (on this visit) and 5 stars for service.
Until next time…

Their dinner special is hard to beat. For $ 25 per person… You get a very filling three course dinner. I was able to sample taste almost everything from every course selections.
The dishes that stood out were Frank’s Italian Wings on the first course. The wings are by far the best wings I’ve had. And that’s coming from a person who orders wings at almost every happy hour or on every restaurant’s menu.
On the second course. I just had the Veal Parmesan.
Saving the best for last… The third course was for dessert. They should open their own bakery because both the Canoli and Tiramisu had just the right amount of cream and sweetness to it. The texture for both were on point too.
I shared portions but the ones above is what stood out to me. You will get A LOT of food on each selection.
The service is super. You may not get any restaurant to service you better. The waiter was very attentive and knowledgable on the right wine selection. Our win was complimentary but this restaurant is a BYOB. The owners greet all of their customers and create a warm welcome to every single customer to make them feel right at home.
Since one of the owner is my mother’s boss. No ratings will be given since it may be biased lol. However… The service was great. Everyone had smiles and were treated the same since I took a look around as well.
Also worth mention was their décor… It was modern contemporary. I love it since that’s my style. They have control on dimming the lights and when they do… It can be intimate.
Food: N/​A
Service: ¹⁰⁄₁₀

On the spur of the moment, we decided to check out MMB on a Thursday evening and were glad we did. We’re Woodbury residents, and we try to support local restaurants whenever possible. Things got off to a bit of a slow start as we sat without any acknowledgment by the wait staff for a few minutes, but things soon improved.
We were served bread and dried herbs for us to add oil from a small jug on the table — not a bad start, but not a great one either. We shared the fried calamari appetizer, which was nicely deep fried and quite tender (not an easy task). It came with a tomato/​sauteed pepper topping that complemented it very nicely. We also shared the pear, gorgonzola and walnut salad, which is a wonderful combination that MMB executed very nicely. It was large and the dressing was homemade. At this point I was full, but we still had entrees to come!
My husband had had the crab cakes, which he ordered on the strength of the recommendation of our server. (He had asked for her suggestions, and she had opinions to offer — a very good thing!) Two decent-​sized crabcakes (I would guess they were cooked on a flat top grill in butter) were served with a fresh tomato topping and on top of another sauce drizzled artfully on the plate. I had a couple of tastes and can say that it was a very good entrée. It would have been excellent with just a bit more of the delicious drizzled sauce and with a small side of some sort served with them — maybe a few sweet potato fries or some greens. It was a pricey entrée that deserved a bit more punch. Overall, though it was quite nice.
I ordered the pappardelle entrée which came in a nice portion and was quite delicious. I thoroughly enjoyed the meaty homemade tomato sauce, which included finely diced fresh vegetables. None of the flavors were overpowering, but they all worked together with the wide strips of pasta to make a memorable dish. I would have had enough left over to make two more modest meals, but my husband was obviously looking for a bit more to finish out his meal, so there went one of those meals. :-) However, I am looking forward to having the last portion for lunch today!
The décor felt upscale with a large touch of the family that the owner wants to invoke through the name of the restaurant (It’s named after her late mother, Marlene.) and the use of many artfully arranged black and white family photos. All-​in-​all the staff and management of MMB is doing a good job, especially considering the restaurant has been open only a scant month. I really want this place to survive and thrive. Woodbury seriously needs this kind of business, although I think calling it «a savior» is excessive. I would also like to see it make a success of itself for me; I would like to eat here a few times a year for some time to come. Well done and welcome to the neighborhood, Marlene Mangia Bene.