Mario e Mario – Beirut’s freshest Italian restaurant

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Mario e Mario, the latest Italian restaurant to hit Beirut, opened during the first week of February 2014. Yet it is not what most Lebanese are used to, as it offers delights of Italian cuisine beyond penne arabiatta and spaghetti bolognese. The restaurant is Mario Haddad Junior’s, the man behind such enduring concepts as Sushi Bar and Falamanki. It is an homage to his father, Mario Senior, head of the Italian Academy for Gastronomy in Lebanon, who has been decorated in recognition of his skill in Italian cuisine. “It has long been a dream of ours to have a restaurant that conveys both our loves for Italian home cooked food,” says Haddad. Located towards the end of Armenia Street in Mar Mikhael in a traditional home which formerly housed another Italian restaurant, Haddad invested a total of $300,000 to buy out the previous owners and their equipment, redesign the place