‘Watts for Dinner’ the Takeout Edition: Variety is the spice of Mangoes

Just like last week’s entry, our next dining destination has a vast menu to satisfy all tastes, from seafood and sushi to dinner plates, burgers and tempting desserts.

Often a large menu in a restaurant will denote lesser quality than say a restaurant that specializes in certain dishes. I think it comes from that ol’ saying, jack of all trades, master of none quote stuck in people’s psyche. That’s just not the case here. We ordered a broad range of dishes to sample and I was impressed with each. But that doesn’t mean we still can’t be critical. Here we go!

We ordered several items from the “Sunset Starters” menu, including coconut shrimp, jumbo shrimp and one of the two new flatbreads being offered.  

The flatbreads come in caprese, featuring fresh Basil, cherry tomatoes, baked on flatbread and drizzled with a balsamic glaze, or the Hawaiian, flatbread topped with BBQ sauce, grilled chicken and fresh pineapple. The flatbreads are $10 each.

We got the caprese and we enjoyed it a lot. The bread was soft, for the most part, but with nice crunchy corners. There was a lot of cheese and the ingredients worked well together. And it’s the perfect size to eat alone as a meal or share as an appetizer.

The coconut shrimp ($12) featured five crispy fried shrimp, with an incredible coconut batter and is served with sweet chili sauce. Yum!

The jumbo shrimp cocktail ($14) features three monster shrimp served with cocktail sauce. The sauce was almost gelled. Not sure if that was intentional or not. But it works! The shrimp were fresh, light and delicious.

On next stop on the menu is the sushi bar. We ordered a mango tropical roll ($15) and a Philly roll ($12).

The mango roll features shrimp tempura, avocado, is topped with fresh mango, tempura flakes and a sweet soy sauce. Fortunately, the mango was just right (because the restaurant doesn’t have a lot of control over that). The roll was huge. But very fresh and soft.

The Philly roll featured smoked salmon, cream cheese and avocado. Going in I was a little leery of ordering sushi place somewhere besides a Thai restaurant. But who am I kidding, I get sushi from Publix.

All joking aside, this sushi was top notch.    

From the salads portion of the menu, I opted for a classic Cesar salad ($10) but my dining companion decided to partake a new offering, the “Quinoa Power Bowl” ($14) featuring fresh avocado, roasted peppers, Feta cheese, cherry tomatoes, red onion, cucumber, sweet roasted corn, fresh mango and micro greens and finished with a cilantro lime aioli. You can add grilled or blackened chicken or shrimp for $4 more.

First, what a fresh and amazing offering. Kudos to you, Mangoes. The ingredients work perfectly. Fresh! Tasty! And healthy!

For my main entrée, I selected the spinach basil pesto linguine ($22-$25, you can get blackened chicken, salmon of shrimp). The dish features fresh spinach, basil and parmesan cheese over linguine pasta. While I enjoyed this dish, I did not see or perceive the spinach in the flavor. It did have plenty of shrimp, which was a plus.

My partner in dine picked the caramelized pecan North Atlantic salmon ($25) features grilled salmon topped with caramelized pecans and mango Beurre blanc, served on a bed of baby greens with gorgonzola, fresh strawberries and red onion. Finished with Mangoes’ “Sweet n’ Sour” dressing.

The salmon was cooked to perfect and the greens were fresh and inventive. I highly recommend this dish.

For dessert, I opted for the “Chocolate Lovers Truffle Cake” ($8) featuring chocolate cake with a truffle filling and topped with whipped cream and our chocolate drizzle. My dining companion has the “Banana Foster Cheesecake” ($8) which was drizzled with chocolate sauce and finished with fresh whipped cream. Both were very sweet, hugely decadent and did not disappoint.

By the way, the super friendly wore mask and even though it was a full house, the tables are spaced far apart and there’s plenty of outside dining.

Mangoes proves you can do a lot and do it well.

More:‘Watts for Dinner’ the Takeout Edition: Doreen’s – the perfect place for a picky crowd

And:‘Watts for Dinner’ the Takeout Edition: Texas Roadhouse is big on flavor

Also:‘Watts for Dinner’ the Takeout Edition: Pinchers - Fresh and locally sourced

More:Hey Marco Island, looking for a place to eat?

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If you go

Mango's Dockside Bistro

• Located in Esplanade, 760 N Collier Blvd # 109, Marco Island
• 239-393-2433
• mangosdocksidebistro.com