We made the trip to Mezzo Mare for dinner recently, after having not gone for years. We were greeted quickly and told we could sit wherever we wanted. The waitress was nice and brought a high chair for our daughter right away. After seeing a table next to us with a lasagna I went for that and my husband the ravioli, both were excellent. The lasagna was enough for two meals and the sauce was very tasty. The restaurant itself was cozy with a beautiful wood fire going the entire time. I will say, the menus could use an update. My husband and I were both looking for another page because it was a little confusing as just one giant page. I wish there was a drink menu as well. They had beers/wines/seltzers listed but when we left I saw liquor at the bar and would have preferred a cocktail. Overall the food was very good and I would go back. read more

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Amazing old school Italian place. Menu and decor. Lasagna is out of this world. Try it.

We were sat at a table with a sticky top. We had not been to Mezzo Mare in 30 years and coincidentally it seems like that was when the table was cleaned last. Decor very dated (1950's?), but we were hungry and decided to stay. We literally waited at least one hour and 15 minutes, and never received our food! The waitress initially was pleasant and helpful. Although not the waitress' fault that the food never arrived, she wasn't overly concerned when we informed her that we could not wait any longer for our meals and requested the bill for our drinks. After our experience, I looked up reviews and noticed that other people had a similar problem. Plenty of amazing restaurants around, go to them instead of Mezzo Mare! read more

Cozy atmosphere, fireplace in the winter, very friendly staff. Portions are huge! Cocktails are good too.

A cute little Italian restaurant in Hull. I saw another review that mentioned that they had "crazy expensive prices". Yes, the prices are a little high but the portions are ridiculously huge and you get a very nice salad and fresh rolls with your entire. Honestly you could probably split a lot of their entrees. Very good food and staff was competent and friendly. read more

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Great home made food. Very friendly servers and Chef. All their food are cooked and served hot and delicious. read more

The food is very good, simple Southern Italian style. Large quantity very good quality and made to order. Service is simple 2 person operation in a small Hope in the wall, it appears dingy when you walk in and smells like a stable ( maybe an old horse stable from MDC police. ) So with ambiance being zero and prices extremely high, the food is the only saving Grace. I leave it to fellow restauranteurs to make the call. Bon jour ! read more

The food is fantastic. Amore Mezzo Mare for any day of the week. Staff are all friendly and inviting. GREAT Home made Italian right here in Hull, MA read more

It's a mystery to me how anyone would not rate this restaurant 5 stars. The only shortcoming is the parking. It's hard to figure out just how to enter the parking lot given the odd traffic pattern along Nantasket Beach. BUT, from the moment we stepped inside until the moment we left, the dining experience was everything we look for in a restaurant. The atmosphere in unpretentious yet artful. Eclectic. Although it is a small restaurant, there are nooks and crannies everywhere with table seating. There is a bar hidden to the side. The service was attentive from the get-go, unpretentious, friendly, impeccable. We were taken care of by two staff who worked seamlessly to be sure we were enjoying the meal/experience. The menu is so appetizing we struggled to pick what we wanted -- I went with penne served with meatballs and sausage with red sauce. I've never had better anywhere. Not in the North End, not in Italy, nowhere. My wife went with lasagna and again, she could not take a forkful without saying how good it was. We had mussels for an appetizer and they were as meaty as any we've had before -- and we order them pretty much every time we see them on the menu. Finally, The serving size of the entrees we got were so generous and the quality of the food so authentic that then true value of the meal belied the actual price. Their prices are not expensive -- $20-35 range for entrees. But what you get for the price is amazing! I don't remember the last time I couldn't come close to finishing my meal at a restaurant. I will finish it as leftovers for dinner tonight. It is not out of the question that I STILL might have leftovers. I would drive a long way just to eat in this restaurant. Luckily, we only live a town away. I already know what I'm going to order next time we go... read more

This spot is a great hidden gem in Hull. It's amazing Italian spot. We ordered take out for a covid meal on a Friday night. The portions were MASSIVE! My boyfriend who can finish any plate of food couldn't even make a dent in his spaghetti and meatballs. I had the caprese salad and Gorgonzola ravioli without chicken and both were massive and amazing. The food was all very high quality. read more

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Mezzo Mare is not easy for us to review. Kind of like visiting a Italian restaurant back in the 60's with tiffany lamps hanging from the ceiling, and antique tables through out. Lots of big smiles from Kathlein and Bonnie. Nice clean uniforms, and Huge amount of food. The menu has the top 10 best selling items, and their prices were up there with North end and ALma Nova in Hingham . Parking was not a problem, but no military discount . All in all we will return, and maybe try it again in the winter when their fireplace is on. Thanks again read more

Wonderful food, people, service. Old country warmth comes through, especially when Joe, the owner, comes out of the kitchen to say hello to his diners. read more

My family have been going here for about 10 years and have never been disappointed. The staff is always friendly and the Chef is a wonderful cook. We have had the pasta, meatballs, shrimp, veal and the chicken and each meal is always flavorful and there is enough to take home for another night. Disappointed that they are not open for lunch during the summer months. read more

This place is quite possibly up there in my top 3 favorite spots for dinner food is perfection people are so lovely and helpful massive portions the deserts are also really beautiful highly recommend the mussels in marinara and the toffee cake read more

Not sure what I just brought home. The chicken parm is the thinnest piece of chicken you can imagine with two inches of fried stuffing. Looked like parm from the outside but when I cut into it... honestly I couldn't even take a bite. I should have taken a picture but it went in the trash too quickly. We also tried the linguine and clams which had almost no flavor even though garlic and onions were piled on top. Place was empty and I'm not sure they even have a phone. Portions were massive so if you don't care about taste and quality this is a good choice for you. read more

I will say that the chicken pesto dish that my husband ordered was ample and tasty. It was ALMOST worth the price. The general dinner menu seems quite expensive for the ambience of the place. What I have issue with is their policy of sharing. I was not hungry, and my 84 year old MIL eats maybe 1/2 cup of anything at dinner. Our thought was to take a few bites of my husbands dinner, then order cheesecake to share. We were summarily told that we would be charged $5 EACH for sharing. For $10 extra we could take a few bites of something he would already be purchasing? Ridiculous. I will say, they brought out a salad (paltry) for the "sharers" in our party , but we didn't need that either. I did not eat mine as I had decided to only order cheesecake, which I had communicated to the waitress. I had thought they made their own, as I had seen some in the window while walking by that looked amazing. Alas, I was told they only had blueberry, (not what I had seen) and then it proved to be a frozen mass produced cake. It was still slightly icy at its center. Overall an underwhelming, disappointing experience. read more

It's like homemade Italian food. Very big portions, been going there for years. I have not had a bad meal yet.

As one might expect in late November, it was a cold and blustery night by the ocean in Hull. It felt good to walk into the warmth of Mezzo Mare with its brick fire place aglow and its unassuming home-style decor. And a perfect night for a hearty Italian meal of ravioli with sausage in red sauce -- or a perfectly cooked fresh haddock prepared by the chef/owner. The portions are generous to say the least. My dinner companion observed: "No one ever leaves here hungry!" I had not been to Mezzo Mare since it moved from its previous location just up the street. The new location, as noted, has a signature brick fireplace and similar decor of various antique found objects. (Beware that some of the online mapping programs still show the old location at 265 Nantasket Avenue. The current location is at 245 Nantasket Avenue.) Absolutely no complaints about the service. Molly, our waitress, was attentive and knowledgeable about the menu and the daily specials. She was able to answer questions about particular dishes and how they were prepared. Although Mezzo Mare is located in a busy part of the Nantasket Beach area, the traffic planners have done it no favors with a confusing collection of one-way and no-left-turn patterns at the intersection of Nantasket Avenue and Hull Shore Drive. The restaurant's small parking lot is best accessed by making left turn into the lot from the south-bound direction on George Washington Boulevard. However, there is also plenty of on-street parking and public parking lots in the area, so you may want to park where you can and just walk a few hundred feet. (See the aerial photo.) Mezzo Mare also operates Beach Food Market, a pizza-and-sub take-out business at the end of its building. read more

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This place is ok but a bit overpriced. The food was fresh and very tasty. I had pan fried fish and my husband had a rCk of lamb. Both excellent. But the grilled veggies that they were served with were undercooked and lacked flavor. One thing that makes me never want to return is the "NO FREE REFILLSS" policy on sofas that is announced on the menu. Really? We paid over 20 per entree and I can't have a little extra Diet Coke? That just seems like an insult. I'd rather pay more for my meal, which I did. But have a free refill. But this is just my own pet peeve. Otherwise it's a good family place. Lots of kids when we were there. It seems confused - the menu indicates more upscale clientele. They should go one way or the other instead of trying to please all. read more

Love this place....super old school Italian in Hull! We just love the linguine & clams (white sauce)....HUGE portions!

I have always loved dining at this tiny little rustic restaurant right on Nantasket Beach and the food has always been pretty delicious & can't say enough about the portions. There's always plenty to take home for another meal. The food is just good Italian family cooking. Anyway I just called & it's Saturday night at 8:39 pm. I live in the town right next door but was told that they stop serving at 8:30 on a Saturday night! I just got out of work like two hours ago & it's Saturday night! I could see if it was like Sunday night orWednesday night @ 830 I just I don't understand it. I'm very disappointed and the only reason I'm even putting this on Yelp is so that maybe other people will also agree with me and encourage them to stay open at least until 930 on a Saturday night what is the big deal? More people to enjoy your food. read more

My family and I used to patronize this restaurant almost monthly. We liked the kitschy interior decor, the bread and salad were always fresh, the waitstaff friendly, and the food plentiful and delicious. Their Chicken Gorgonzola was in particular a big fan favorite. We stopped going, however, for the simple reason that they didn't seem to put much care into prepping their chicken. I'm not a picky guy, but there's not much less appetizing to me then to be chewing my food and bite down on a gnarly piece of connective tissue. The first time this happened, I chalked it up to a slip of the preparer's knife, wrapped the half-chewed mouthful in my napkin, and thought little of it. But then it happened the next time we dined there, and inexplicably, the time after that as well. Once is a mistake. Twice is pushing it. Strike three, and your out. That was a year ago, so perhaps whatever their problem was, it's been resolved. I'm just not sure I'm willing to spend another $60 to $70 dollars to find out. Shame really, 'cause that Gorgonzola still calls to me sometime ;-) read more

This was easily the worst service I've ever encountered. It was so bad that it was actually funny. Fortunately, I was not in a hurry so I didn't just walk out. But to give a sense of the timeline, which was completely nuts -- we waited about 10 minutes to be noticed/seated. Tables everywhere were stacked with dirty plates that hadn't been cleared. They were obviously understaffed, despite it being a holiday weekend. So finally, we're seated. About 15 minutes later, we flag down a waitress and order. She's not even our official waitress, but she gamely takes our drink and food order. 5 minutes later, drinks arrive. The water we asked for does not arrive. Here's the amazing part -- 45 minutes pass. No water. No sightings of our waitress. It's not even busy. Then finally, salads arrive. We ask for water again. Nope. Entrees come about 20 minutes later. They are average, certainly not worth the wait. I make the mistake of ordering a 2nd glass of wine when the entrees arrive. It doesn't come until well after we are finished with the meal and wanting the check. It was a complete disaster. I am stunned this place is in business. read more

Fantastic meal and great experience all around. Went as a party of four, sat directly in front of the fireplace on a cold night, never did we feel like the smoke was an issue as some Yelpers mentioned. Waitress was attentive but gave us time to talk and catch up first without making us order right away. Mussels appetizer was delicious and the red sauce was a nice surprise from typical white wine presentation; it gave a 2nd purpose for the bread that was served. Chicken parm and the sausage/meatball parm were the entree choices at our table and portions were huge. This place was awesome, will definitely be back to enjoy the great Italian food and fun atmosphere. read more

Went last night with a large party. Read the previous reviews -good food, enormous plates, slow service. This is exactly how this place is. I would give this place 5 stars if the service was faster. That being said, onward: FOOD: Excellent! A+ First off, Mezzo Mare passed my litmus test for good Italian eats: everyone at our table reported their pasta was cooked perfectly al dente, firm and salted to perfection. Excellent! No fancy Euro eccentricity here, Nothing but rustic homey Italian favorites. Portions were enormous! How does this place make money? Our party had 3 different apps - Tom/Mozz/Basil - Poached Calamari - AntiPasto. All 3 were delicious - fresh and massive in size! Our table's entrees ran the gamut from the daily specials to regular menu items. SERVICE: C+ Would be a D except the servers were extremely pleasant and friendly and worked their asses off. There is just not enough staff. We sat for 15+ minutes with empty drink glasses/bottles on more than one instance=not good for the customer, not good for the owner. Also the food came out in waves - and was brought out by only one server {for a table or 12?}. One appetizer arrived 15 minutes after the rest did - blame is on the kitchen here. Entrees came out in waves - 3 different waves that took about 10 minutes before we all had our entrees. Desserts were all fresh and delicious - Cheese cakes/Ricotta Pie/Black Forest cake/others - excellent. Bottom line: great food & enormous portions more than offset the wait and gaps in service read more

Don't judge the restaurant by it's appearance. This place has good food consistently. By the way the the portions are enormous. Beware, of the bolognese, it is not a true dish. We just got thier version of it, as we all know it has cream and different meats. This was just a meat sauce, not a authentic bolognese. I did get the gnocchi pesto which was great and brought me back to get the bolognese. Oh well, live and learn. read more

I went in the winter when Nantasket Ave was slow and it was pretty cold inside, even next to the fireplace. As soon as I picked up the menu, which was small and refined, and looked at the high prices, I became nervous about whether it'd be worth it. It was noted on the menu that there is an additional charge if you are sharing with anyone, which I found to be truly bizarre and creepy - how is it enforced? Do they watch you eat? We placed our orders - I can't remember what he got but I want to say it was penne rosa, but I ended up choosing a pork dish stuffed with walnuts and cranberries with a side of veggies off of the special menu. Not too long later, we were presented with plain salads with balsamic vinaigrette, which I understand fits the theme of a traditional Italian dinner spread out through the evening. It tasted rather grungy and gross though, and I want to say it was the floppy lettuce. When the main entree arrived, I could understand why it was pricey - the portions are insanely huge, like, Chinese food restaurant huge. At the center of the plate was the pork in a round portion filled with fruits and nuts, and all around it was a bunch of textureless, soggy vegetables sitting in a puddle. If not for vision, I'd have no idea what vegetable I'm putting into my mouth because it all ended up feeling and tasting the same. I really did enjoy the pork though and felt that the fruit and nut center was delicious! My fiance, on the other hand, barely touched his dish. I think he had maybe five or six bites and couldn't muster anymore and didn't want to take it home. I don't feel that the quality warranted the prices, and they jack it up by providing high quantity. Only with a reduction in portion and price would I consider coming back, but as it stands, outright weird policies deter me, and the quality discrepancy even within your own one order is just astonishing... I never thought I'd have mush next to heaven on one plate. It's usually one way or the other anywhere else. Some serious quality control is in order. read more

Really just the best Italian food. Their chicken parm and meatballs are famous. I've never had anything bad off the menu. Reminds me of a real north end restaurant. read more

Had there pizza a few weeks ago and it was not cooked dough, very inconsistent eaten a few times over the years

Excellent muscles! Excellent veal parmigiana Excellent Braciole Excellent yummy dessert Thanks! read more

We have been there twice in the last year and both times were a disaster. I guess the owner is the Chef so any negative remarks are probably not going to change things. But both times we sat for over an hour to get served. This place is so slow with getting the food out. The wait staff is not to blame as they are use to customers complaining about the food being sent out. They sometimes will comp you a drink for the wait. The sad part is that all they serve is pasta with different toppings. So why does it take so long. Hire some additional prep people Joe . It's to bad as the portions are huge and everyone takes home a doggy bag. But if you don't mind waiting for 90 minutes for your food go ahead. I won't be going back here ever again that's for sure read more

I had driven by this place for years before ever really paying attention. But once you notice it and realize there's a restaurant in there, you don't really want to go in. The outside is so forlorn looking and ramshackle. However, a friend at work told me that she loved this place and would go whenever she was on the South Shore. So hubby and I bucked up and walked through the less than appealing door. The place is hard to describe. You first walk into the bar area which is usually buzzing with a crowd that seems always to be having a good time. You get the feeling everyone at the bar knows each other or they've had so many drinks they are now best buds with everyone. Then you walk into the first of two connected dining rooms. It is a strange experience but strange in an interesting, mostly good way. The decor looks like it's been stolen from someone's yard-sale inventory. There is an array of vintagy, kitschy stuff everywhere and you wonder how anything relates and you ponder how all of it ended up in an Italian restaurant of all places. Don't let yourself wonder when the last time might have been that anything was dusted. There is a big wood burning fireplace in the main room which is great to sit near on a cold winter night. This first area is where we generally like to sit. On a crowded Saturday night we were once relegated to the back dining area which we didn't like as much. This place is local and casual. The wait staff is friendly and efficient. The food is very good, well-priced and the portions are huge. I always have food to take home for delectable leftovers. My one complaint is that on a couple of occasions, I thought that some of food was a bit too oily. I find that a lot of places need to use a more restrained hand with the olive oil and trust me, I love olive oil. Listen, it's not fine dining, but it's tasty food in comfortable, unpretentious surroundings with friendly waitstaff. We love that it's a neighborhood place. We're glad to have it in our south shore backyard. If you're in the area, try it. Just get over your fear of what it looks like from the outside and walk right in. You'll have a good time. read more

I went to Mezzo Mare with my family of four tonight. This was by far the WORST dining experience we have ever had. We walked in at 6pm and were pleased to see there were not a lot of people there (in hopes of getting fast service since our boys are only 5 and 7). There was one table with a large group of 10 people, another table had 2 people and another table had 4 people. We could not see who was in the bar area or the other room. The waitress was very accommodating when I requested iced tea since they do not have it ready made - so she made it for me. When our drinks came out, the glasses that had juice for my boys were dirty. Seriously, it looked like they came out of a dishwasher that had not been run. She gladly returned them to the kitchen and we waited 10 minutes before we saw our drinks again. She took our order and I made a special request for my younger son to have the Veal Parm without sauce. She said she would check to see if that could be done. When she took our order, a party of 3 and a party of 4 had come in and were seated near us. She came back to say that they could not do that so I ordered him plain pasta with butter and she said they could put a sausage on the side, which he agreed to. We did not see our waitress again for 20 minutes. She brought us salads and some bread. After that we waited another hour for our meals to arrive. In the mean time, the large party, the party of three and the party of 4 that were seated after we placed our order all had their food. In fact as we got our food, the party of three left!!!! At that point our children were falling apart and I did not want to ruin dinner for the other customers so I asked for togo boxes and I packed up our meals and asked for the check. I complained to the hostess and all she said was, "oh I'm sorry". When I asked if one of our meals could be comped for the horrible inconvenience, I was told that they do not do that. We will never go there again and I will spread the news of this horrible experience to anyone looking for a place to eat in Hull. read more

Ordered subs for take out and they did not disappoint. One of the. Eat Italian subs I've ever had. My wife got a chicken parmigiana sub and she loved it. I've never eaten at the sit down restaurant so I can't speak to that but the subs are great! read more

Went here recently looking forward to the good food we've traditionally enjoyed in the old location. I can't offer any comment on the quality food because we never received it. Seated, no service. 15 minutes later, took drink orders, none delivered. 30 minutes later came again with wrong drinks, took food order. No food delivered. We left shaking our heads. The most frustrating aspect of this is no one at the restaurant really seems to care. Those who know the owner personally will be the first to tell you he scoffs at any notion of criticism, suggesting that if you don't like it go somewhere else. Well we did, and enjoyed it very much, and will now be going there vs. Mezzo Mare in the future. It really is a shame that arrogance and apathy can completely ruin what would be a terrific place to enjoy good food. read more

My boyfriend & I went there tonight. We sat at a table for almost 15 minutes and we were totally ignored by the waitress. We decided to leave and as we were walking out, the manager was at the door. When I told him what happened, he didn't care...only stated they were short-handed. HELLO....Customer Service!!!! If they only came to the table & explained they were short-handed, we would have been satisfied and waited, but to be totally ignored is not acceptable. read more

I've been here several time, many of which were for large family gatherings. Even with such a large group (20+ people on already busy nights) the service was absolutely superb, with quite amiable staff. The food, as in many Italian restaurants, is largely portioned and amazing, with a large chunk being some form of seafood dish. On top of the good service and food, the atmosphere inside is a nice mix of rustic Italian and colonial New England.It is definitely a really good spot to stop in for a sit down family meal every once in a while. read more

Such a bad meal, where to start...well with my dirty wine glass, would be good. Went out on a Friday night with my husband and parents, the place was very slow with many open tables. I had a feeling it was not going to be good when the waitress handed us her specials card to read herself...but she was very nice, so I'll let that go. My wine glass was very dirty and the bread was stale. We did have the option to have oil/garlic with our bread, which we opted to do...and received over a cup of olive oil in a bowl with fresh garlic, quite a waste and very unattractive to serve. And, everything we ordered, EVERYTHING, comes covered in parsley. Look at the pictures on here as evidence. We started with calamari, that was oven roasted...however, it had NO FLAVOR. I'm not sure how that is possible considering it was roasted in tomatoes, pepperocinis, etc. We left over half of it and that was with 4 people eating it and covering it in salt and Parmesan cheese. As for our meals, three of us were served and my husbands would be out in 'one minute.' Fast forward 10 minutes later, it arrived and they admitted they had to cook it again. We were almost done with our meal when his arrived. Each dish came over at least a half pound of pasta, what I would serve for 4 people, which is fine but to me, that just screams quantity over quality and I was right. There was no flavor in my marsala, the veal parm my mother and husband was bland and mushy and my fathers veal piccata was flavorless as well. Bottom line, when everything comes COVERED in fresh parsley, there is something wrong...just look at the pics on here. read more

Stopped at Mezzo Mare before 6:00 pm on Friday night. The hostess told us we would have to sit at a small table, very small table, because we were just a party of two. The place was virtually empty. The room was very smokey from the fireplace, so we left and went to Schooners. Good decision! We could smell the fireplace smoke on our clothing after we left. read more

I WAS a long term patron but will not be back. Since he lost his former wait taff the entire restaurant went don hill. Went twice after he lost his staff and each time was worse. Stupidly went one more time and it was a complete disaster. We waited over an hour just to get drinks. No one even took our order for food! I kept asking our waitress and then the hostess and we were ignored. I also noticed customers walking tinto the kitchen and another patron got up and helped herself to a bottle of wine from the wine rack. Both these patrons received impeccable service while others waited. I actually got the impression that the owner has either sold his interest and taken on new partners as these people who helped themselves seemed as if they had more of a financial interest in the place as well. It's too bad. I had been going to the restaurant since he was at his original location and I had always proudly brought other guests. After these last three tries I will not be back! read more