Manoli Canoli

Amazing food with nice people and a good European vibe. I recommend the gyros and egg plant Parmesan.

I’ve only had their pizza, but damn! The veggie pizza is fantastic, and I love that they use kalamata olives!

What a find, great authentic food and friendly service. The pasta is fresh and made on premises. Their prices are excellent considering the quality. I only wish that this restaurant was closer to my house, I’d be a regular.

Met a relative here because it was quite a convenient location for her (about 15 min coming from Bethesda) and us (about 30 min from Ellicott City). The place is quite small, and I can imagine it gets very crowded on a weekend night– we were there on a Wednesday, and almost all tables were filled. First: the parking lot is in the back: turn near the Liberty gas station, then drive to the second entrance and park. You can walk in the back door so you don’t freeze trying to run around to the front :) Ambiance was nice but casual, the server (who had an authentic European accent) was very friendly, and the food was very good. I had shrimp aegean: a generous helping of spaghetti and about 5 – 6 shrimp with a tangy, delicious tomato sauce. Another member of our party had the gyro: a giant platter of pita-​wrapped beef and vegetable with a heap of very salty fries. By contrast, the lobster ravioli dish was very small; only about 4 ravioli! A quirky place with good food– would go again.

After seeing all the good reviews on Unilocal we felt like it was worth a shot and it was. My husband and I ordered the mushroom ravioli and the eggplant parmigiana. They were both delicious. I would definitely go back and recommend it

Excellent fresh food, great service and a nice casual experience. They even brought out a free sample dessert for the kids. I will definitely be returning.

My second time here this week because their gyros and pizza were just THAT good. We used Unilocal to find a restaurant close to the LDS Temple and this place looked good. Thankfully it was! Terrific homemade Heavenly pizza and the gyro was delicious. So, tonight, we stopped by again and got a very warm reception and was actually recognized from being here the other night.

With my husband being in the military we have traveled a lot and this is my favorite Italian place ever! They never do me wrong here. Love this place and the owners are very sweet. I’m going to be very sad when we leave Mayland because this restaurant has a piece of my heart.

I am very impressed by this restaurant. I had their beef gyro and it was amazing.
The server was prompt and friendly. I will definitely go back to this place.

Love this place, I often come here on my lunch break and have yet to find a better gyros or Pizza in Chevy Chase. The customer service also gets an A+

This is just a really good, classic Italian mom and pop type place. The food and service were incredible, I cannot stress this enough. The two servers who waited on us were incredible, we never went without a refill or whatever we needed. As we shared multiple courses, they brought us out fresh plates for each course, which wasn’t required but an extra little attention to detail. We split the calamari, small Caesar, and small white pizza. The calamari was very classic in preparation and was served with the juiciest lemon I have ever encountered. The Ceasar had a delish homemade dressing that tasted like a blend of Caesar and Italian. The portion was very big for a small side salad! Our pizza was a delicious blend of white cheese and the crust was PERFECT! I would go back if I were ever back in Chevy Chase.

Friendliest staff, fresh homemade food. Best calamari in the DC area. Olive oil from the family farm in Italy. Homemade mozzarella cheese. You can buy the cheese and olive oil, better than anything you’ll find at your grocery store. Full service bar.

The food tastes authentic Greek. Excellent food is only trumped by the service. I had take out– the food took 5 minutes and was hot and fresh, and I had 3 people check up on me. What was even more impressive, there was some kind of issue with money and neither the customer or sever knew who was to blame. The server told the customer not to worry about it, and was sure the money would come up. The customer was so appreciative that they threw in extra for the tip. It’s rare to find honesty like that now a days. The food won me over, but even if it had not, the workers will have me coming back as a regular.

Pretty good. The staff is SUPER friendly and provide just the right amount of service (unobtrusively omnipresent). The food is a little oily and expensive to my tastes, but I feel I have to try some more and get to know the place better. The service trumps the rather pedestrian grub of my first visit (I got the lamb chops) so I’ll keep coming back.

Ordered a 16″ pizza to go, cheese, prosciutto and mushrooms. I have to admit, I am a bit of a pizza snob, I grew up with New York Pizza and have gone to school and became a pizzaiolo. I feel like I know good pizza. So maybe it is unfair for me to talk about the pizza here. I will just say that I have had better, dough is 80% of your pizza taste, I thought the dough was heavy, and had a lack luster taste to it. Maybe handled to much, maybe did not raise long enough and it was missing an ingredient. Also the pizza was a bit on the soggy side. Maybe the oven deck was not hot enough or they forgot to move it to a hot spot to finish it. Panko would also help to make the crust more crispy. I feel bad, but that is my thought on the dough. The other issue is I felt that the pizza was greasy. That is usually caused from the cheese. I could go into that, but I won’t.

Stopped in for lunch and took advantage of the $ 5 gyro. Fries and a drink and the whole thing cost about $ 9.
The gyro was decent, the meat wasn’t seasoned but the tzatsiki was decent. The fries were seasoned with herbs and I really liked that.
Not amazing but for the price it was good enough.

I can’t believe it’s taken us this long to go here. For Chevy Chase, the prices were really good (I definitely plan on taking advantage of the weekday $ 5 carryout specials), the service was perfect, and the food tasted really good.
We ordered the Horiatiki salad which is made with the owners own olives and olive oil. The ingredients were fresh and it was a perfect pair with our pizza. We went with the Heavenly pizza (tomato Sauce, mozzarella, meatballs, pepperoni, and basil) and it was wonderful. The crust was perfect in terms of thickness and amount of time spent in the oven. We decided to splurge on a canoli for dessert. I wasn’t a fan of the raspberry syrup, but the canoli itself was great.
We’ll definitely be back!

I feel like this place used to be better. Or maybe I got the wrong thing? I haven’t been there in years, and when I came this time, it wasn’t as good as I remember. I got the chicken souvlaki pita with a salad on the side, and was underwhelmed. It wasn’t bad by any stretch, but it wasn’t memorable. The service is very good, though, and I know people love their pizzas. Maybe I’ll give it another shot and try the pizza.

On my treks out to Maryland, I always drove right by Manoli Canoli, snickering a bit at the name. I finally tried it on a whim one day and it’s now an upper Connecticut Ave. favorite.
The chicken parm is my go-​to dish — I always get the chicken parm sandwich rather than the pasta, since the noodles cost more but don’t taste as good as the bread (I prefer my pasta a bit more al dente and more heavily seasoned). Service is always friendly and comfortable, and I like the homey, neighborhood feel in the restaurant. I’ve never seen anyone order off the Greek menu, so I would definitely stick with the Italian classics.
Manoli Canoli also has a freezer full of prepped dishes that you can purchase to bake off at home. Manoli Canoli lasagna at home is sounding pretty good on this cold January night…

Just got back from this little local gem! My partner and I have seen this restaurant many times and finally decided to give it a try. At first glance I noticed how small the dining area was and was a little apprehensive. What it lacks in size, this place more than makes up for with service and food!
We got the tzatziki, olives and mozzarella, and spanakopita for appetizers. By far the best tzatziki we ever had; so creamy and sweet! We got the chicken parm and grilled veal entres. Typical Italian fare but full of flavor. Our waiter Nikos persuaded us to get the cannoli and the baklava for dessert. The cannoli was seriously one of the best we ever tasted, but the baklava was the most superior by far!
Overall I am very satisfied (and stuffed) from the expert service and cuisine! Every server was very friendly and Nikos was more than exceptional! We were so pleased, we asked for some tzatziki to go and took a carry out menu for next time we eat there!