In Defense of Manganaro’s Grosseria
Manganaro’s (along with its unaffiliated next door neighbor Manganaro’s Hero Boy) has been mentioned a few times on the site as a great place (on 9th Ave. btw 37+38th) to get an Italian sandwich. And even though it’s never been officially reviewed (it’s out of bounds, and a lot of things will cost you more than $10), I’ve always considered it an honorary Midtown Lunch. Which is why this post caught my eye on Fork New York, a long dormant blog run by Profiled Lunch’er “Andre Mika”. He resurrected his blog this week specifically to rant about the “bitches” who run the 100+ year old Manganaro’s Grosseria. The story is worth reading in its entirety, but is essentially summed up at the end with this:
“So I guess the moral of the story is, unless you love being abused and crapped on by people who you are trying to give your money to, stay away from Manganaro Grosseria Italiano.”
“Judging by the large, happy crowd next door, I would recommend the Manganaro HeroBoy place I passed on. Next time, I’ll follow the crowd, delicious smells and common sense….. and not my nostalgic instincts.”
Yes, it is true. The two ladies who run Manganaro’s could be considered… well… crazy. And I would use the B-word, but sure… they can bitch-like… but in the best possible way! That’s to say, much more enjoyable when you are watching somebody else get yelled at- than if you are on the receiving end of their wrath. Taken straight from an episode of Seinfeld, the two ladies are not unlike the Soup Nazi- although, if you follow their unwritten rules, and they deem you worthy, you get treated to a delicious lunch, served the two sweetest funniest ladies of all time.
The problems start when you do one of a few things and there is obviously no way for Andre to have known this…
1. You take pictures without asking. Actually, if you do anything without asking. They feel like Manganaro’s is not so much a public business, where the customer is always right- but more like their private home. And they think you should treat it as such (and pay for the privilege!)
2. You mention Manganaro’s Hero Boy (the restaurant next door.) You can read about the history of the two places, and the family rift that happened almost 50 years ago in this New York Times article. It’s a sore subject, and they have become especially weary of anybody who is looking to compare the two. I watched them go ballistic on a lady who had a Hero Boy bag in her hand when she entered the shop. The sisters didn’t even give her a chance to order, or ask a question or anything. They literally just started yelling at her, until the lady with the Hero Boy bag left. Then the sisters ranted for 30 minutes about how disrespectful that was.
3. You admit to them you’re a blogger! Of course this is related to the two above… but if they do catch you snapping photos, just apologize profusely-and with respect- as if they were cops that had just pulled you over for speeding. Oh, and you probably shouldn’t tell them you are there because of Anthony Bourdain. They loved the attention they got, but are much nicer to people they perceive as being longtime neighborhood customers, than fly by night TV watching, johnny-come latelies.
Lucky for me, the first time I visited Mangarnaro’s was with a good friend who warned me about all these things. I even got to see them in action, yelling at others… so it made subsequent visits a little easier. I took a few photos, but it was after we politely ordered and made small talk and were all having a good time. (Which is code for we happily listened to them complain about how crazy some of their customers are.) Was I scared they would turn on me? Every single minute of the lunch. Would I stop going there? Not if you paid me.
The thing is, Manganaro’s is far better than Hero Boy. (It’s not even comparable.) Sure it’s more expensive, the portions are smaller, and it’s far more intimidating… but the food is just plain better. And I wouldn’t blame Andre (or any other abused patron) for never returning. But, if you have the benefit of learning the rules first, eating there is like eating in somebody’s house. (Somebody who really knows how to cook.)
It’s easy to get mad, and call them bitches, and discuss why nobody who owns a business should act in that way. But it’s more rewarding to just suck it up, and follow their insane rules. I understand why Hero Boy is more crowded, but it’s not because it’s better. Don’t trust me? Go see for yourself. Just don’t tell the ladies of Manganaro’s what you’re up to…
For more about Manganaro’s, read this great piece on Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York
Manganaro’s, 488 9th Ave, 212-563-5331
Manganaro’s, Hero Boy, 492 9th Ave, 212-947-7325
Posted: 2:15 pm, August 12th, 2009 under Italian, Manganaro's, Out of Bounds.
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49 Comments
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DiFara…. Manganaro… Melampo… aren’t we all just a little tired of over-hyped Italian joints with “issues”? Have tried all 3 and none are worth the idiocy….all of them make me want to do a Christopher Walken in True Romance
But I happily go back to Melampo now since Walter took over and renamed it Alidoro though
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…in what foooookin way do i look funny……….cos im short?……i foooking funny cos im short ya prick?.
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I’ve been really excited to finally try this “institution” for awhile now. I just got placed on a project that for once has me closer to the westside restaurant mecca and midtown courts that i’ve dreamed of trying ever since Zach started this blog. I haven’t had a chance to go to Manganaro yet, and admittedly I am a bit intimidated from all i’m hearing… BUT a point of appreciation needs to be made. Once upon a time (like a whopping 15-20 years ago) NYC still was home to a certain styling that kept you hiding a few emergency bucks in your socks, constantly navigating a sea of hookers while also ducking spitting squeegy men, and attitude was the dialect spoken by the locals (go watch the original Pelham 123, Taxi Driver, or even the first Ghostbusters)… in that regards this Manganaro’s seems to be truly a historic landmark.. not only physically but in it’s embodiment of NYC gritty toughness from long ago. Equipped with a few hairs on my chest, I’m ready to brave this friggin’ challenge you god damn midtown lunchin’ A-holes :> So keep that in perspective… for as we all know on this site, Lunch isn’t simply about food, it’s about the experience (of getting the hell out of the office)
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There’s no excuse for rude service and over-priced food. Let this dinosaur go extinct.
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Jeff… you should go in there wearing a “Trieste Belongs To Slovenia” T-shirt… or maybe a Heil to the Pope shirt…
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On my first visit, the lovely duo were tearing into a couple of tourist douchebags right as I was walking in.
I just quietly ordered my food with a big smile and ate at a small table while listening to the ladies rant about how stupid some of their customers were.
It’s almost like paying for a show with your lunch…
Unfortunately, the food just didn’t live up to its hype. One of the oiliest subs I’ve ever had (with slightly stale bread)…but the entertainment from the staff is kind of enjoyable (unless it’s directed at you)…
and yeah, it’s pretty damn overpriced… -
@wayne – I actually get much more excited about Asian food than Italian food (as you all know), which makes me wonder if for people like me (and I’m assuming you as well) what great Italian place isn’t overhyped?
Is there any pizza that is worth traveling an hour for, and waiting on line for 2 hours? My guess is your answer is no. But if the pizza was free, and already sitting in front of you, I’m guessing DiFara’s is one of the best.
I wouldn’t travel miles, and spend a million bucks on Manganaro’s. And I”m not saying it’s the kind of food that is going to *blow you away*. But it’s good, honest, real Italian American food, that’s as close to homemade as you are going to get in a restaurant. Most of the Italian places in Midtown are pretty soulless.
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What did I miss here?
I thought that New Yawk City folks, most of whom exist on pizza, sandwiches, matzoh balls, and soup — could not thoroughly enjoy (or digest) their ‘meal’ without a healthy dose of insults, sarcasm, and other verbal abuse by the people ’serving’ them.
Does this post tend to indicate that ‘Manganaro’s Hero Boy’ is a “Chosen One” among the over-hyped Italian joints serving up frickin’ sandwiches with an attitude?
Inquiring minds want to know.
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The one time (so far) that I have been there was a Saturday afternoon, right when they looked to be closing up. Both ladies were very nice, I got my food and a beer, ate at a table. No hassles. I don’t know what other people are doing to piss these ladies off; they were fine with me.
The one downside was that my sausage-parm was not great (I think they rushed it since they were looking to close). On that note, does anyone know where to get a decent sausage parm? For meatball parm and chicken parm it is hard to beat Tuscany, but no sausage.
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Wow, I’ve never had a problem there, and didn’t even know the rules! There are some great places like that around, the International Spice store on 9th, run by a supposedly cranky greek man comes to mind. If you’re respectful and not a raging asshole(having thick skin doesn’t hurt) no issues.
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I think I’ll just pass on this place, thankyouverymuch.
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I rather enjoy any place that gives you some attitude.
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Oooh… I love the spice market on 9th Ave. And the owner is indeed very cranky.
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@Goats – I should have probably added a fourth rule:
“Just be more polite than you would ever be, and don’t ask any stupid questions.” As to what exactly “polite” means, and what constitutes a “stupid question”… well, that probably changes from customer to customer at their whim!
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where’s the outrage over this place? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo1LPf9mnyU
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@Wayne… i’m just looking for attitude, not a black eye… but thanks for the suggestions :>
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I live in the ‘hood, and I’ve never had a problem either here or at the spice market. Go in with a smile, be polite, and watch the show. That’s what it’s all about.
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I’ve been there twice and found the food to be a real disappointment. I can handle a little abuse or rude behavior if the food was good – for instance I love the Felafel and Fried Fish at Azuri Cafe on 50th and the owner is not Mr Congeniality – but Manganaro’s was expensive and bad. Not even Real American Italian Food bad, just poor quality. The decor is pretty great, though.
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Yeah, I’ve not had problems at the spice place(though they recognize me there, it helps), but I’ve witnessed others having issues. The most curmudgeonly Seabreeze fish store guy has been gone for a while now too. I was happy when I got him to smile and round down the price. Took 4 years.
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Never been here… BUT for all the smack talk people are doing, then hell, if the food sucks and they wouldn’t go there again then by all means MAN UP and get outta your chair, clear your table, walk up to the bitches and say, ladies this food fuckin sucks and its not worth your attitudes. PEACE!… Otherwise, they’re all cowards.
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I think there are places in Hoboken akin (or more likely, WAY better)to managanaro’s as far as quality of food. Thankfully, most of the places I know are very cool, even if you are a tourist idiot…I am thinking of one place on the corner of 8th and garden but the name escapes me…it’s been 5 or 6 yrs….
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Goats…you are right re: Hoboken… Vito’s deli in particular is v. good
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I’ve walked by this place a few times, too scared to go in.
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@Goats, you must be talking about Lisa’s Italian Deli on 9th & Park (one blocks west of Garden) or Vito’s Deli on 8th & Washington. Whole subs at both places run about $6-8, with fresh mozzarella, good quality cold cuts and dense italian rolls which end up making the ‘wich weigh close to a couple of pounds.
At Vitos, I had a hot roast beef sub with brown gravy and fresh mozzarella. Possibly my all time favorite sandwich, especially when the gravy melts the mozz, causing the roll to reach near failure trying keep the beef and melted cheese/gravy slurry all in one piece. Cardiac on a roll and absolutely delicious.
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Defonte’s.. yum. Zach start an Out-of-Bounds delivery service please (just try to refrain from taking a bite out of everyones’ meal ;P )
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@ Wayne+ El Dubya–yeah, Lisa’s! I got it confused with the corner liquor store. Lisa’s rules! I don’t think I ever hit Vito’s b/c Lisa’s was so close and so good. I lived on 6th and adams.
@ Jeff: Defontes is good, and I endorsed it before. But I must say, I think its luster wore off on me. I had it delivered a couple of weeks ago, and the Nicky’s Special (italian sub) was totally skimpy and small!) And the potato, cheese and egg sub, which I had heard was amazing, was bland as all hell…and I added ham. Maybe they are getting too commercial, and skimping a little, or maybe it was just a bad day, but the last ocuple of times, it hasn’t measured up to the first few times in terms of size or quality.
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“maybe it was just a bad day, but the last couple of times, it hasn’t measured up to the first few times in terms of size or quality”
Mamacita… is that you?
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@Goats–thanks for the heads-up. Perhaps the Defontes folks need a taste of some old school New Yawk friggin attitude to wake their asses up. They mess with one midtown lunchers lunch, they mess with our whole family!
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@ Wayne—I thought the same thing when I wrote it, but it’s true—small sandwich, not as good….uh—
Now I feel very—HETERO! Yes HETERO I remain!
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I’ve been to that place…once and then I ended up running out of their w/my co-worker at the time. It’s just ONE of them that’s pretty hardcore. I’ll never forget what she said “DON’T COME IN HERE IF YOU’RE JUST GOING TO GO TO HEROBOY ANYWAY!!!”
Unbeknownst to her, I had just stepped out of Heroboy b/c I don’t like places such as those and wanted to go to the smaller spot to support them. The prices were kinda high for me at the time, but I wanted to get something from the store itself, but I just ended up running scared like a punk.
Next time crazy Italian ladies. Next time…
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Wow, these stories folks are telling are great!! It’s like the scene from Goonies when they step into the closed-down restaurant cabin that the Fratellis gang is hiding out in… “All we serve here is tongue. You like tongue don’t you?” Are these ladies any bit like the Mama (also from “Throw Mama from The Train”??) I really have to check this out for myself.
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I’m going to go in and take pictures of them and ask “what happened between you guys and heroboy? I heard you guys are real bitches! Give me some meatballs”
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Say what you want about Heroboy, but at least the service has always been perfectly pleasant. There’s scores of places I can go in midtown where I can get decent food without a side of the owner’s attitude. If I want to eat at your place, just serve me my food and I will pay you and thank you and be on my way. I don’t want to have to worry about your stupid rules as well.
I thought the Grosseria was in danger of going out of business anyway?
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Zach… I now you needed to give those idiots props… but remember… you WORK for your money… and to give it to people who verbally abuse you, and could care less about you, well…that’s your choice. For me, I’d rather set it on fire. In NYC, there are just too many terrific places to let these two treat you like garbage, like its a privilege to eat one of the average sandwiches. C’mon… you are better than that… you earned it!
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But they’ve never verbally abused me! And I like their food…
Wait. Is that a hurricane you’re drinking in your profile photo? Damnit! How can I disagree with a man drinking a hurricane. I take it all back buddy! :-)
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The posts about Hoboken missed the best place….Fiore’s. Everything else is an also-ran.
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Ok you guys, I know that the ladies are a bit rude, but isn’t that kind of the charm of being in NYC? Like, downtown at the Cake Shop the guy in charge isn’t exactly the nicest guy and is sometimes down right rude, but he’s got some good stuff in his shop. Though he has other people working there who will help you. It’s all about the variety you get here. It’s about character if you will.
Anyways, maybe it’s my native NYC’er way of thinking, but I think that rude people are often times the nicest ones. People who smile in your face, are the ones you need to be most weary of. Those are the people you don’t trust.
I guess their attitudes would be more justified if the food was beyond excellent? Is it the rudeness factor that makes it taste not so great?
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Not only are they rude, but they aren’t that hygenic. I went in there was for a riceball and the “younger” of the two old ladies took the riceball and put it on a dirty styrofoam plate. It was caked with oil and dried mozzarella. They use ONE plate to microwave all their customers riceballs on! ICK! I pretended I was going upfront for something and quickly left…
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Hero Boy outshines Manganero’s in every way except for atmosphere. And who needs atmosphere when you’re just looking for a sandwich?
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@pigiron – What’s good at Hero Boy? Four of us did a side by side comparison of the Chicken Parm and Eggplant Parms from both places (one after another) and it was unanimous that both Hero Boy sandwiches were far less tasty. Not bad, but not nearly as flavorful…
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Reading these comments, I’m almost tempted to stop in there and start talking about how Hero Boy is so much better anyway. Just to liven things up a bit. Maybe the next time I’m hanging at Rudy’s…..
Seriously, the food doesn’t seem to be all that good to warrant the attitude they have.
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@ nowImhunry: Fiore’s was really good for bread, but I preferred Lisa’s sandwiches.
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Somebody’s gotta go in and get some vid to throw up on YouTube showing these ladies in action… it will probably become just has popular as bum fights and cats peeing vids.
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@Zach: My favorite sandwich at Hero Boy is the veal parm. Contrary to the rest of the world, it’s not pounded paper thin. The veal is prepared nearly as thick as most places serve chicken cutlets. Certainly not a typical way to serve breaded/fried veal, but I really like it.
I also think their eggplant parm is fantastic.
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@5DollarQueen – I feel like there’s a difference between the typical “NYC service” and downright rudeness. You do find friendly service, but the majority I’d say is just indifferent. I’m OK with that though – as a native myself I expect people to not go out of their way to be friendly. But, I rarely encounter places that are outright rude and unless they have STELLAR food that overshadows it, I won’t be back.
Plus, the fact that these women complain about customers in front of other customers just turns me off. It’s a huge customer service no-no.
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God, this review is so wrong. The one time I was there, the place was filthy. One of those two carved a new asshole into a Hispanic worker for not stirring the rice enough. Then complained to her sister about some ex employee who they fired for being a smack addict. My lasagne and sauce were reheated in a microwave. They are surly, and the lasagne at Hero Boy is much better (though that place lost its charm when they remodeled, going from a cool, rundown cafeteria look to that of a suburban fast food place).
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I went there last week for the first time after having a roast beef hero from Hero Boy (also first time). I wanted to get some antipasto for my staff for a mid-afternoon meeting. I made cardinal sins by (a) asking advice on the amount I should get, especially since I reduced it from the gargantuan platter they wanted to sell me, (b) not realizing it was cash only and having to use the ATM at front after getting the requisite eye rolls, (c) telling them to have a nice afternoon. Saying “thank you” will get you only “you’re welcome,” as though they have bestowed some magical power or even everlasting life on you.
The food was good, but I was not seizing up in ecstasy.
They could pull off the attitude if there was humor, of which there was none, or if they engaged you as a human. They obviously believe they sell to lesser species.
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Yesterday morning I was trying to google to see if Manganaro’s is open on Saturdays and came across this blog and the interesting comments (including the Hoboken suggestions I will keep in mind). The older lady does roar, it is like eating at your aunt’s house.
I am still a newbie, having first gone to HeroBoy, not knowing they were separate. Had nice meal at Heroboy, chicken with garlic sauteed spinach with small rigatoni and tomato sauce. I had seen the old store featured on Bourdain, my lunch companion was not enthusiastic about going into the old dingy looking place. So we chose HeroBoy, him getting prosciutto & cheese hero. We had our glasses of wine and relaxed.
Finished and dived in next door thinking that the two were connected. I looked around and was intrigued. I bought a couple of cheeses. As I was paying the elder sister my co-worker commented that they must be doing well since the tv show. She bristled, they’ve been doing well for a hundred years before the tv show. As I was handing her the money she out of the blue said something about the Mexicans and Thai are here for dollars dollars dollars. Upon returning to the office we shared our adventure with others. I was amazed to hear that the two businesses were separate. I googled enough to have some clue of the division. I decided to next try eating at the Grosseria. The younger sister served me. I got lasagna. Really really really good. A few days later I tried the lasagna at Heroboy. Bigger piece. About same price. Not near as good as at the Grosseria. If hadn’t had the Grosseria lasagna I would probably been satisfied with my “pretty good” big plate of lasagna. But since I had, when I went to Grosseria yesterday I made sure to get lasagna as well as to try something new by having a dining companion whose order of gnocchi was good too.
My advice, don’t speak of TV, speak of good food.
I’m still unclear what the rules are….other than no photos and hero boy talk…I am tempted to go just to see what happens….