Girl Dinner At Mia Ragazza In Manayunk, Philadelphia

The Lowdown
What: Mia Ragazza
Where: Manayunk, Philadelphia
Food: Central Italian menu; starring handmade pasta, Roman style pizza, unique appetizers, with an extensive cocktail and wine list
Ambiance: outdoor bistro tables, charming candlelight indoors, different levels and indoor rooms including an upstairs solarium!
Good to know: They serve dinner 7 days a week, brunch on Saturdays and Sundays, Lunch on Fridays, and happy hour Mon-Fri
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I would describe Mia Ragazza as an elevated pizza, pasta, and wine bar. The space is located conveniently on Main Street in Manayunk, a few minutes-walk from the train station. My friend and I met around 7:00 in mid-August, so perfect to catch golden hour. There were cute bistro tables outside and we had a high top that was partially in, partially out, with the open-air concept near the downstairs bar. The bathrooms are on the second level, so we got to take a sneak peak of a couple other upstairs rooms for seating, including a solarium with a ton of skylights! The place had a warm ambiance with dim lighting and would be a great date spot too!

They brought out a couple complimentary thick slices of a pillowy focaccia with what seemed to be olive oil with possibly lemon zest. It was tasty. We both started off with a refreshing spritz with elderflower, prosecco, and mint. It was a hefty pour and perfect for a summer evening.

For dinner, we decided to share three items: the house salad, the short rib pizza with fig and Gorgonzola, and the lemon ricotta filled ravioli. Everything we ordered was good. My friend was a big fan of the ravioli, the dough was thin and light, the sauce was silky, the ricotta was so fluffy and creamy.

I loved the house salad. It was a perfect: fresh spring greens, variety on the plate in color, texture, and taste with pickled onions, olives, cucumber, and tomatoes.

I enjoyed the pizza very much, and we had about half to take home as leftovers. I was expecting to see chunks of fig on top of the pie, as that is usually what I receive when I order pizza with fig, but this looked more like fig jam was used underneath the cheese. Everything was delicious. My only, super tiny critique, and this is more of a personal preference, because I know I am in the minority here…. was that I could have done with a slightly less amount of cheese. But again, I am a 2:1 sauce to cheese ratio girl, so I think most people will be just fine with the amount, unless you also like more sauce than cheese!

Their menu is a nice mix of rustic and simple with some elevated finesse to it. You will find items from the Peach & Prosciutto pizza, octopus carpaccio with apricot romesco, and roasted beet salad with mango, and preserved lemon, to the eggplant rollatini, chicken Parmesan, and lasagna with a ragu bechamel sauce.

I am interested to try them out for brunch. I think their burnt pepperoni pizza with a sparkling rosé would be a good combo. I also really love that they have solid sides, too—mushroom risotto, fettuccini al burro for kids (or anyone who wants that nostalgic, simple butter and cheese taste), and one of my all-time favorites, broccoli rabe!