First elite event for 2016 for me! I was sooo looking forward to this event but I have to admit I made some assumptions and that's my fault. The venue when I walked in was just beautiful. I walked around a bit and admired the decor. I assumed it was a sit down type event and so I found a seat at the long table in the back and waited for the event to start. When I realized it was more of a mix and mingle I got up and wandered around to catch up with people I hadn't seen in awhile. My 2nd mistake was assuming that "brunch" meant a full on meal. As Johnson pointed out... It started at 1 which should have been my clue that it wouldn't have been an event to fill up. However I did not clue in and showed up relatively hungry. Although seated at a table for the majority of the event I can't say I was privileged to try all the samples that came out. There just wasn't enough and they were devoured the instant the plate touched the table. I was finally fortunate to try a slice of pizza which was nice. At one point I just sat and watched as each plate that was delivered was devoured like a pack of hungry animals had gotten to it. I was thoroughly impressed when I saw someone managed to upload albeit blurry photo of a pizza to the event page. How did that happen?
I don't know if I was able to get a sense for what the restaurant has to offer by the samples that i did taste. I thought the decor was stunning and I would want to come back to enjoy dining at Mangia & Bevi, but honestly can't say that I know the food is good as I didn't really get a good taste of what it is they offer.
My only suggestion for a future event like this is to advise us to eat in advance. There is always one slow person like me that didn't clue in to the sample sizes.
Thank you Chantal for organizing and Kris for back up. I hope you managed to try some samples yourself.