Manzavino's & the Drift Space...mmmmm manzavino

[robbie_b]

Hi Everyone,

Here's the update - Manzavino's - yes - the Nanaimo icon for late night dining, great pizza, and a terribly out-of-date dining room is moving into the Drift space later this month!

We are going to keep Manzavino's great pizzas, and its broad delivery menu. We are going to focus in the dining room on Italian dishes to compliment the pizza..

Price points will continue to be very reasonable. Appies in the $5-$9 range for big portions, and entrees in the $10 - $16 range.

We will be adding a whole bunch of great wines that retail at the BC LDB for between $10 and $17. We will have some cool wines that feature Italian grapes but that are not necessarily grown in Italy... but we won't go all fancy!

We are spicing up the space at 77 Skinner St! Warming it up a bit and complementing the great job the Drift people did on the layout, patio, and feel of the room.

We will be open for lunch with a value priced lunch menu that features our house-made focaccia, great pizzas, house-made sauces, house specialty pasta fagioli soup, and fresh pasta.

We will keep the late night hours - we will be open until 3 AM Thurs-Sat, and 1 AM Sun-Wed...

So - let's hear it! All your comments and ideas please!

Salute,

robbie_b

[riverrat]

YES! I am pleased that ANY place will be open so late downtown, and I think Manzavino's has always known how to make yummy, fattening food. Easily some of the best pizza in town.

That location works better for me now, too.

I take it the jukebox'll be nixed? Can't picture it next to the ole Drift wine rack.

[Smokey©]

I am looking forward to an improved Lasagna (we ate at Manzavino's twice since Thomas sold out and were disappointed both times) and hope there are a few items on the menu for those that like a beef or pork meal instead of pastas or pizzas.

[foxhall]

Bring on the pizza! I will be back for a bit around mid-April, and back for a long haul around October. Do post your opening dates so I can plan accordingly. Cheers!

[Buongustaia]

I would like to emphasize my hope that the food at your restaurant will be authentic (no baked spaghetti, please), fresh tasting, and good. We do really need a real Italian restaurant in Nanaimo. The biggest problem that I see in many so-called Italian restaurants is that, because they use over powering amount of sauce, everything is “swimming” in the sauce (therefore, you taste only sauce).

Also, I hope your chef will be flexible enough to cook pasta “fresh” if customers request. Many people may not be aware, but almost all restaurants parboil their pasta (particularly, if they use dry pasta) to save cooking time. This practice makes it impossible fo anyone to get any pasta properly "al dente". Decent restaurants are willing to comply with our request to have pasta cooked fresh, but we fairly often get the reply as “But, it is fresh. We just cooked them this morning!” Nothing worse than mushy, overcooked pasta…

As for pizza, I do hope that you decided to make “Italian” pizza, or something similar to that, rather than “North American” pizza, but I have to wait and see…

[riverrat]

I don't mind if it ain't authentic Italian (I sure like the thought of fresh pasta, though). I didn't like the pizza in Italy nearly as much as our fatted New World kind.

[Jingles]

This is really great news for downtown diners =) I think the move is a great opportunity to improve your decor and appeal to a broader audience! It is also a great chance to change and improve the menu to fit a downtown location! Fresh pasta would be beautiful!
Narrow the menu and broaden the flavor - knock us out with your new style =)

[cueball]

This is me... skeptical.

[cueball]

I guess I should be constructive:

In my humble opinion, it would be difficult for any place who's goal and clientel includes the late nite 3am crowd to expend any amount of energy and effort on sourcing fresh, local ingredients, and provide quality fare through it's long hours.

These are two different restaurants all together... would the chef run the kitchen from morning to morning thursday to saturday?

I think any restaurant could throw together a pizza, but a good authentic pizza would require fresh ingredients, original sauces and breads.

[wino]

wow....I am somewhat dissappointed...another pizza joint?....and Manzavino's?...never been a fan and would never go there again.....and as for warming up the dining room?...the Drift was a gorgeous room and I am scred as to what you might do to complement the room....I am with Cueball....skeptical
your late night clientele will be the bar crowd and they won't care about good food etc so you might do ok but I will be mourning the loss of a potential space for a serious food lover's restaurant which a pizza joint will not be....I work downtown and was really hoping for a cool new restaurant...fingers still crossed for the Globe space though

sorry to be a downer...hopefully I am wrong...