San Diego Spotlight : Mangos Has Its Specialties, and Being Bland Is One

First there was Tomatos, now there’s Mangos--and, although two places don’t quite add up to a trend, it seems that, when it comes to naming eateries after produce, the local restaurant business is going bananas.

Actually, with the birth of Mangos Island Grill, a free-standing establishment at Grossmont Center and a replacement for a former Boathouse restaurant (who among us will shed tears for the passing of the Boathouse?), we may be witnessing the start of a chain that someday will span the country. The restaurant has been opened as the prototype of a new chain by the immensely successful Chart House, which has designed Mangos to attract a more price-conscious clientele than patronizes its flagship restaurants.

Mangos’ major strength is an important one, since it does very well with the basic meat and seafood items. The restaurant’s major weakness is equally important, because sauces and garnishes often bring dishes to life, and here, these range from timid to simply bland.

The era of the theme restaurant may have seemed dead, or at least moribund, but Mangos may bring it speedily back to life. There is much thematic cutesiness to the offerings, as evidenced by the “mango-ritas,” the aggressively pushed, slush-like cocktails served in soda glasses (with tiny paper parasols for decoration) that taste mostly of orange, and by the so-called “mango stuff” condiment that garnishes several items. Oddly enough, actual mangoes make themselves scarce; these have been described as the most paradisiacal of fruits, but Mangos prefers the name to the real thing, and you won’t find a mango salad or dish-specific mango sauce in the place. It’s a pity.

There are nice touches. The restaurant bakes a focaccia-like bread through the evening and serves squares of it as a complimentary snack, some plain and some brushed with minced scallions and a flavorful glaze. The casual South Seas islands decor seems engineered to be inviting, but not so inviting that you linger overly long and perhaps prevent a table from being turned over to another party. The soft colors delight, but the bright lights do not, and the open kitchen seems a cross between trendy modern design and roadside chain coffee shop.

You know from the name of the place that the menu will open with a listing for “pu-pus,” as it does; what is less certain is that these will be inviting, which they by and large are. The four varieties are offered separately or on an advantageously priced combination platter that feeds three or four quite handily. Best of the lot are the thinly sliced but marvelously meaty ribs, basted with a richly sweet sauce and delicious from first to last; the title for worst of show goes to the purportedly “Thai-style” spring rolls: greasy, mushy and devoid of flavor. The glazed chicken wings are meatier and more succulent than most, a comment that applies equally to the satay-like skewers of chicken and beef.

But make no mistake, Mangos religiously steers a middle course that aims to offend no one. If it also delights no one, so be it, apparently--which is to say that the dipping sauces are bland, bland, bland. These comprise supposedly spiced vinegar, supposedly spicy-hot Thai peanut sauce and the “mango stuff,” a supposedly spiced mango puree. These are to a one-alarm fire what grape juice is to grain alcohol.

The menu aims almost exclusively at crowd-pleasers and continues with Caesar salad (with or without grilled chicken), a cashew chicken salad and a grilled chicken breast salad with the ubiquitous but characterless “mango stuff.” Pastas follow the menu’s broadly painted Oriental theme and include chicken in a “creamy Thai sauce with udon noodles,” udon being delicious but distinctly Japanese, and a tomato-pepper-beef combo with soba noodles that is based on the psuedo-Polynesian cuisine introduced decades ago by the Don the Beachcomber restaurants. There are also a couple of Italian-style pastas.

There is prime rib, to be sure, but given an Asian touch by the substitution of creamed wasabi (a fiery Japanese condiment) for the more usual creamed horseradish; a couple of steaks emphasize the importance of basic beef to the fairly brief entree list. The “huli huli” chicken, cut generously from a rotisserie-roasted bird, is just about as succulent as could be desired, and, if some of the skin was burned to the carbonized stage (as it most certainly should not have been), the flesh was delicious.

The skewered tenderloin of pork comes off equally well--the meat nicely crusted, juicy and flavorful--and it seems that Mangos really does have a talent for giving a good finish to simple meat preparations. Exactly the same remark applies to the salmon, cut in an enormous portion and lightly glazed with a mild teriyaki sauce; this is fine fish. In an attempt to be nouvelle or different or whatever, Mangos sides the fish with a supposed aioli , or French garlic mayonnaise, that we may suppose to be a substitute for tartar sauce. This isn’t aioli , but neither it nor tartar sauce would complement a teriyaki-brushed fish. Like the “mango stuff,” this stuff is easily ignored.

The restaurant prepares the desserts on the premises and shines in this department. Creme brulee , an ultra-rich, caramel-glazed egg custard, can be either heavenly or vanilla pudding; in this case, it takes the side of the angels. The “Kona cloud cake” of liqueur-soaked lady fingers layered with a whipped Mascarpone cheese mixture comes off as a semi-Hawaiian tiramisu but is once again enjoyable to the last bite.

Mangos evidently has not the vaguest idea of what constitutes proper wine service or, worse, willfully ignores the basic rules. A bottle of decent Chardonnay arrived with the cork already pulled, which for a variety of good reasons is an absolute no-no. Just as horrifying, the server proceeded to pour this into straight-sided glasses of the variety that used to be known as highball glasses; when asked to bring genuine wine glasses, the server replied: “This is what we use. We’re trying to be casual, like in the islands.” Good taste and correct service should not be sacrificed to a theme, but Mangos is all about theme, a theme that probably will take it straight across the country.

MANGOS ISLAND GRILL 5500 Grossmont Center Drive, La Mesa 461-0833 Dinner nightly Entrees $8 to $13.50. Dinner for two, including a glass of wine each, tax and tip, about $30 to $50. Credit cards accepted