Mangiamo lies right along the strip, South Main Street, in downtown Statesboro and is one of the privately owned eateries in the old-town area. While Mangiamo serves up such traditional Italian fare as eggplant parmesan and an assortment of pastas doused in red sauce, it's also clear that the restaurant caters to the college crowd, with an ample portion of its menu devoted to vegetarian and vegan customers. The restaurant has even made it possible to order online directly from its Facebook page. While Mangiamo is closed on Sundays and Mondays, the eatery is open for both lunch and dinner the rest of the week.
As one of the most successful chains of Italian sit-down restaurants in America, the Olive Garden has established itself in many towns across the country. The Statesboro Olive Garden, on the southeast side of town just off the highway, provides roughly the same menu as most other locations, with an assortment of soups and salads, along with both lunch and dinner entrees that include cuts of pork, chicken and veal, and various seafood. The Olive Garden, in general, is geared toward families, with group specials and an extensive children's menu.
It would be hard to consider Statesboro a real college town if it didn't have a pizza joint -- more specifically, a non-chain pizza joint -- somewhere convenient to campus. Just outside the southern tip of the Georgia Southern campus is Don Corleone's Diner & Pizza. Don Corleone's is open late and features, according to restaurant's website, the only brick pizza oven in town. Aside from Italian fare, Don Corleone's also serves up diner favorites, such as chicken wings and burgers.
The Mellow Mushroom is another Italian eatery that could be considered a college town-produced establishment. Although the restaurant is technically part of a chain, with a number of other locations throughout the South, it features a modern approach to Italian-inspired eats, including such items as hummus and tortillas, as well as more traditional Italian ingredients, such as tomatoes and basil. An assortment of creatively topped pizzas, with names like "Mega Veggie" and "Kosmic Karma," dominate the menu. Another big draw at the Mellow Mushroom would have to be the full bar, which features an array of microbrewed beers served on tap.
