Editor,
I direct this letter to the commentary by Bruce Cordingley regarding the closing of the long-time Carmel restaurant, Mangia!. First of all, it sounded like a personal note to Lee Tyler, owner of Mangia!. Cordingley chose to focus on the parking. Because I am a complete outsider to this whole situation and I have not talked with either party, I can only address this issue with my personal experience and opinion as a regular Mangia! customer. My husband and I were quite fond of the restaurant for many reasons: food and drink were great, staff was friendly, service was superb, management was topnotch, ambience comfortable and classy and the great location – the old location. When we learned they were moving to the new Carmel City Center, we were disappointed because we loved the ease of the old location. We could hop out of our car, get out of the weather, and be in the door in ten seconds. Parking was never an issue, even on crowded nights. Because we loved the restaurant, we continued to dine there after the move to City Center, but it turned out that our visits were dwindling. Although Cordingley kept focusing on the availability and cost of the parking, our diminishing visits really boiled down to the ease of it all. No longer was it a cozy neighborhood restaurant experience. We were put off having to navigate the busy intersection and garage entrance, searching for a parking spot and fighting the weather for a lot more than a minute to get inside. Traffic, parking and ease of access are the same reasons we don’t drive into downtown Indianapolis for dinner. I feel horrible for Tyler and his staff. He had a great thing going for years, and, funny, when he changed locations, it just didn’t work. Any connection? I think so. I didn’t appreciate Cordingley’s tone regarding Tyler: “…I always noticed Lee’s (Tyler) car… was parked next to the restaurant…I could never figure out if parking was a problem why he did that…” Come on, he owned the restaurant and was in and out of it all times of day. Finally, Cordingley’s “gotcha” attitude didn’t rub me well when he ended his commentary saying “…at least three very successful restaurants have indicated interest…and I believe that it is likely that we will find a very good restaurant to occupy the former Mangia! space.” I’m certain he will, but it will have to overcome the same inconvenient location. Anyway, I sadly say “good bye” to a long-time great Carmel restaurant.
Beth Troxell, 46033