Sitting down and having a full breakfast on the weekends is something I enjoy doing. I'm a real creature of habit so it's probably either a waffle, pancakes, or egg sandwich for me. Rarely do I stray away and try other dishes no matter what restaurant we visit. But there is one black-owned restaurant where I will make an exception and break my routine and that's Mango Mangeaux in Hampton, VA. This is my Mango Mangeaux review.
If you have never eaten here before, I would highly recommend it. My wife and I have been their several times. You know a restaurant has good food when they have a waitlist. All the times my wife and I have eaten there, the wait times have been around 45 minutes to 1.5 hours, so make sure you add this time into your visit. Some of this wait time could be due to the fact that the restaurant is a little small. Hopefully they will get the opportunity to expand because they definitely have the customers to do it.
Mango Mangeaux has the look and feel of a local southern restaurant with style that's different than any other breakfast restaurant chain that I've been to before. When you decide to make a visit there, start off with a drink. They have a selection of different great tasting mimosas. To determine which mimosa you like best I suggest trying their Simply Panache Sampler which are four sample mimosas served as a flight. My favorite dish to get there is the Chesapeake Benedict which comes with two poached eggs, two fried green tomatoes, lump crab, and Cajun hollandaise sauce on top of a tasty biscuit with a side of fresh fruit. You can't go wrong here! Writing this makes me want to go and get a Chesapeake Benedict right now.
They don't have an overwhelming number of items on their breakfast or brunch menu, like some places do, which makes it easier for me to make a choice. Their smaller menu could also be another reason why their food is so flavorful. Because when you don't have a large number of breakfast choices, you can spend more time in making the ones you do have taste great. Mango Mangeaux also serves dinner. We've never eaten there for dinner before but if their dinner menu is as flavorful as their breakfast menu, then it's something I definitely need to add to my list to try.
In addition to having great tasting food and being a black-owned business, they are also hiring black people. When you walk into the restaurant, you will see that the hostess, servers, bartender, and cooks are either all or majority black. So when you support Mango Mangeaux by eating there, you are also supporting their employees, which is in turn supporting the black community. My wife and I started eating there long before I became inspired by Dr. Claude Anderson's Powernomics and Dr. Boyce Watkins to consciously support black-owned businesses, we just thought it was a good place to go to. But now that I am conscious, it means more to me every time we go there to eat.
My wife's friend and her husband recently came in town to visit us. As soon as they arrived at our house, they wanted to get something to eat. It was the weekend so of course I wanted to take them to a breakfast spot, and one of the first places I thought of was Mango Mangeaux. So that's where we decided to go. I wanted our guests to have a great experience at a unique local restaurant. The icing on the cake was knowing that we were all supporting a black-owned business. That's a great feeling. Our friends enjoyed the experience and the food the there, the same way we always do.
When my wife and I decide to go out, rarely do we make the drive across the Nansemond River to the Hampton and Newport News side of the 757. But they are both great cities to visit. Mango Mangeaux is located in what looks to be like an old historical downtown area of Hampton. We haven't really explored the area but I would like to now, after the weather gets warmer.
When you explore Mango's website, you will find that they have several sister companies, and It looks like a couple of them are located right across the street. In fact, I think all of their sister companies are black-owned, which intrigued me to do a little Google research as I write this review. The research lead me to the Simply Panache Groupe website, and now I'm blown away. Indeed, these 3 women, Lakesha Brown-Renfro, Nzinga Teule-Hekima, and Tanecia Willis, own several businesses, and they are all located in the Phoebus community in Hampton. This is nothing short of black excellence.
If you're visiting Hampton, VA I highly recommend visiting Mango Mangeaux, but remember to factor in your wait time. Now, after your meal you can treat yourself to a Nail Bar and Medi Spa or socialize at the NOIR Lounge. You have to be a member or be the guest of a member to access the Lounge. Finally, you can turn in for the evening at the Boutique Hotel. Great food, relaxation, socialization, and rest. The ladies of the Simply Panache Groupe have everything your need.