In the 10 years Mario and Laura Mangone have operated their restaurant on Main Street in Lawrenceville, they have made a substantial effort to develop Chambers Walk into a community center.
It starts with the simple gesture of saying hello to each guest and trying to learn their customers’ names. Then the Mangones mix in efforts like using local products whenever possible, displaying the artwork of local people and offering activities like team-building events and Monday evening cooking classes.
It’s all in the name of making Chambers Walk a place where people feel comfortable.
“We’ve made a connection to the customers,” Mario Mangone said. “That connection has a lot to do with the food [being] consistently good. There are familiar faces here. A few employees have been with us with quite some time. The food. The service. The consistency. I have to say both Laura and I get connected with the customers.”
The cafe offers new American cuisine, which allows the menu some flexibility. They are in the process of developing the summer menu now, but Mario Mangone said a party can go to Chambers Walk and easily find something for everyone. One highlight is the menu’s “bistro basics” page, which offers casual, kid friendly meals. An up-to-date menu can be found on the restaurant’s website, chamberswalk.com.
“The type of food that is served here for dinner makes it available to the entire family, an individual, a couple,” he said. “If you’re a family that wants to go out to eat, you’re thinking about Chambers Walk and you want a hamburger, you can do that. At the same time, you can get a duck breast.”
The lunch and dinner menus differ, and the restaurant’s style changes a bit with the meal, as well.
During lunch, Chambers Walk follows an express-service model designed to accommodate people on their lunch breaks. The customer places and pays for their order at the register upon entering the restaurant. A server then brings the meal to the diner’s table.
In the evening, Chambers Walk has table service, which allows diners to enjoy a more relaxed experience. The restaurant’s decor, with an interior brick facade, an open kitchen and artwork decorating the walls, sets the mood.
Through June, work from Lawrence photographer Bill Felder will be on display. Showings last for two months and already are booked through January 2014.
For those thinking of Chambers Walk for their next event, the restaurant also has a catering branch. The menu is more diverse when catering, and Chambers Walk can fit its client’s needs, whether an event is casual or black-tie formal. Chambers Walk has been catering since 1990, when the Mangones’ facility was located in Trenton. Chambers Walk started in 1986 as a Princeton cafe, before moving to Trenton and then Lawrence.
“When the economy is the way it is, you don’t want to open up an umbrella of businesses, but you do want to diversify what you do under one group,” Mario Mangone said. “That’s clearly what Chambers Walk is doing with regards to getting different types of markets into this building.”
While Chambers Walk attempts to appeal to a wide range of people, its owners have a clearly defined idea what their restaurant isn’t. And it’s that focus that has earned fans.
“I can tell you what it’s not,” Laura Mangone said. “It’s not stuffy, intimidating. Sometimes you can walk into a restaurant, and it’s standoffish. We’re none of those things. It’s very comfortable.”
Chambers Walk is located at 2667 Main Street in Lawrenceville. The restaurant serves lunch Monday-Friday 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and dinner Tuesday-Saturday 6 to 9 p.m. Cooking classes are offered Monday nights from 7-9 p.m. For more information, call (609) 896-5995 or go online to chamberswalk.com.
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