Restaurant Building Auction Canceled Amid Annapolis Eatery's Uncertainty

Last updated Monday at 10:25 p.m.

ANNAPOLIS, MD — The building housing an oft-closed Annapolis restaurant will no longer be foreclosed upon. The auction to sell off the property was canceled less than 24 hours before its scheduled launch.

The property at 81 Main St., home of Mangia Italian Grill & Sports Bar, was slated for auction Tuesday morning in Anne Arundel County.

Auctioneers told Patch Monday evening, however, that the foreclosure and the associated auction had been called off. The auction house said it did not receive an explanation for the cancelation, leaving questions about Mangia's future up in the air.

Towson-based Alex Cooper Auctioneers was supposed to handle the proceeding, originally scheduled for 10 a.m. on the steps of the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County, located in Annapolis at 8 Church Circle. Auction participants would have needed a $50,000 deposit.

"We are selling the real estate, which includes obviously the building," auction agent Paul R. Cooper told Patch in a Monday interview before the auction was canceled. "We are not selling the business, strictly the real estate."

The auction was initially listed as a "Substitute Trustees' Sale." Cooper said that meant the property had been undergoing a foreclosure.

Maryland business filings say Doris Diana Melgar Centeno is the resident agent of both the building owner, Golden USA Properties LLC, and the restaurant owner, Golden Empire Corporation.

Golden USA Properties finalized its purchase of the 2,550-square-foot building for $1.6 million in July 2018, state property records show. City records suggest that Melgar Centeno had taken over Mangia's business proceedings even earlier, applying to transfer the eatery's liquor license to her name by April 2017.

Mangia closed during the pandemic and underwent renovations for over a year. City permits said the business updated its bar and constructed a front service counter. Tiles and appliances were also replaced.

The eatery reopened in February 2022. Photos of the remodeled late-night restaurant are available here.

The Capital said Mangia reopened without a liquor license, as its permit lapsed in October 2021 during construction. The city's alcohol board approved new liquor and sidewalk café licenses for Mangia in August 2023.

Mangia, however, is once again closed. The establishment hasn't posted on Facebook since February 2024.

Rumblings were underway of converting the space into a Mexican restaurant, but The Capital reported this April that the conversion was no longer happening.

When Patch visited the site in October 2024, the business was closed and had a permit posted for the installation of a new grease trap and sewer lines. By April 2025, the previously red building had been painted grayish white. It was still closed when we last visited in early June.

The future of Mangia is now unclear.

The phone number listed on Mangia's Facebook page was disconnected when Patch called on Monday.

The restaurant has not replied to Patch's emailed request for a comment. We will update this story if we get a response.

Alex Cooper Auctioneers thought the property would've been successful for a potential buyer.

"It's a tremendous area, certainly tremendous traffic and a lot of opportunities there," Cooper said before the auction's cancelation.

More information on the once-scheduled auction is posted here.

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