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I've had a number of lunches here, mostly waited on with Patricia. Armondo...she's gold. Don't you ever let her get away. For goodness sake, give her a raise just in case. Not only does she remember what we usually ordered for the last 8 months... but she's sweet, friendly, helpful.... I will surely miss her, as I am moving out of the area.
Pasta, as a general rule, is good. Red-sauce wise. Calzone...friends love it. But oh.... we made the mistake of ordering the Salmon Alfredo. It was more "soup" than anything, and little salmon enough to really qualify. I went through half mine, friend through less than half his. De-soup it...up the salmon content... winner winner, chicken dinner.
Now...Pat and I have discussed this...what's up with West Coast Italian and NO CANNELONI? You're killin me.
Oh, the Syrah/Shiraz you're featuring this month? OMG... killer. Adult grape juice. For those not in love with red wine... try this one... Black Ridge Syrah... ooooh...so good. TOooo good.
I had been leery to try this place after reading Yelp reviews, and what I got was what I expected: incredibly bland food, high prices for what you get, and mediocre service.
We went on a Wednesday night. It wasn't very crowded. We were seated immediately, but it took about ten minutes before the waitress came over and took our drink order (by that time we had decided on food as well). She brought out soup and bread, which were okay, and the drinks. The food seemed to take awhile. She brought out my girlfriend's spaghetti, but informed me that she had taken my raviolis to the wrong table and would be just a few more minutes until they were done. She could have just waited to bring both -- crappy server etiquette there.
My raviolis finally came. They were okay. Not much flavor. The meat sauce had a hint of something gross in it, but I was really hungry by that point. My girlfriend's spaghettia with marinara sauce and sausage was the least flavorful thing I had ever eaten. Normally when you eat sausage, you expect to get some spiciness -- the $3.95 sausage addition just added more flavorless matter to the bowl with a slightly different texture.
Waitress was slow to refill beverages, and put way too much ice in.
Not going to come back.
First timer here... and he likes it.
Food: The soup got the boot and the salad got the pick. And it wasn't even average I felt. 2 pieces o' salami, jal(?), great croutons, and some kind of honey-lime(?) viniagrette. Yummy. My eggplant parmesan had the perfect subtle crunch for light-breading; just really good despite its simplicity. My first dessert ever in long time was a niice choice: chocolate tartufo. The matte appearance of the cocoa powder coating around the gelato sphere and the inner goodness... my goodness that was nice.
Service: Well-done. Felt routinely average, but satisfying. All good.
Building: Very nice. Great, and not too-overly grabbing, design emphasis with "sandwich" colors (ceiling and floor darker than the "middle") and glass art works. Banquet room? Bar? think so & think so. Clean, sharp, and simple b-rooms and scent.
Despite the previous negative reviews, I like this place. Nothing extra special, but pretty decent, and I'm always appreciative of an independent, non-super chain restaurant. The service was great, the wine specials were delicious and the food was expected. Come as you are with the fam, or come for a cozy date. Desserts were fantastic!!
First time for me at Armondo's - definitely a family feel and probably recently remodeled. Comfortable and casual with excellent matching service. Our group from work had pizzas and adult draft beverages....a good selection of local brews and IPA's. All pizzas are custom ordered and charged by the ingredient - A-OK no complaints at all.
If you dine, I would bet they shine in the pasta department judging from the menu balance.
If in Renton, this is probably 1 of 3 best bets.
This was my first experience with "Old Renton".
Went into Armondos last night for a work dinner with my wife and colleagues.
Place seems nice enough inside, service was attentive, and the prices seem very reasonable. Restaurant was pretty empty.
Had beers ($4 each for the draughts- good selection of about 6 beers) and a salad to start. Then had a few pizzas for the table. 2 pizzas fed 4 guys and wifey with a couple of slices to spare.
Pizzas were pretty good- nothing to write home about though. There wasn't anything that really made them memorable (with that said- there was nothing about the pizzas that we didn't like). They were just A-OK.
Tables around us mostly ordered pastas- and the servings seemed gigantic.
I did see another table using a http://restaurant.com gift certificate- so that might be away to save some money.
Not sure what else is in the area- but I would go back and give this place another shot.
OMG this is the most pathetic Italian restaurant I have ever been to! It's almost a shame that they had the nerves to post Italiano at the end of their name! We came here for dinner after my little brother's graduation and it was a disaster! We ordered almost the whole entire menu after we arrived, waited 15 minutes for the bread, 20 minutes for the starter salad, then another 25 minutes for any entrees to come out! It took us almost an hour to get our entrees on a not too busy evening! Our water glasses were never once refilled but the waitress got us plenty of wine bottles. The lamb shank was bland and flavorless, seafood did not taste good at all, lasagna was too heavy on cheese, and their marinara sauce had a weird taste to it. Overall, horrible horrible experience. I would've been better off with a Marie Calendar TV dinner over this place!
A little light on the Italian...
The food here is decent, but not the most authentic Italian food.
For an independently owned restaurant it sure does taste very chain like. It reminds me of the olive garden.
The sauces are mild and the pastas are OK.
The pizzas are decent here. If you eat here, get a pizza, it will be a better experience than the so called Italian food.
This place is average at best.
Service is great though, and the wait staff are incredibly friendly.
the plan was to head to carmelita's for our wedding anniversary. then there was the traffic. dead stop on both I-90 and 520. so we turned around and headed back home. we ended up at armondo's because i remembered it had pretty good reviews here.
it was a bit pricey but the pasta is very good, the service pretty good and the fact that armondo himself came over at the end of dinner to introduce himself and welcome us was a nice treat. one thing to note - the dinner salad comes with 2 slices of pepperoni. wierd.
we'll probably be back...sometime. even if only to try the pizza people are raving about.
Hmmm....I've always been intrigued by the glass balls (balls? intrigued?) in the window of this place and the lovely smells wafting out of the building.
I'd been to Armondo's for wine (are you seeing a pattern here?), but we finally had dinner here - the bf had worked here in a past life - and we decided to bag cooking and go out to eat instead.
What a great decision! We had tasty tortellini and a chicken parm that was smashing, not to mention GIGANTIC. I had to take half of it home w/ me (I know, I know, what is this world coming to that *I* don't finish a meal?).
Service was prompt & friendly (helps that the staff knows the bf by name), food was good, space itself pleasant to have a meal in.
Next up: spinach ravioli & a glass of cab. Oh yes, you will be mine.
looking for italian in renton? there's not too many choices out there. this is one of the few. armondos offers wood fired pizzas, pastas, salads and desserts. the atmosphere is really nice, dim and contemporary. the colored glass is a nice touch. the bread is and bread dip is good. the pizzas are ok, not the best, but ok. the salads are good and their pastas? they can be hit or miss. chicken marsala is pretty good though, sweet and flavorful. the service is ok, but that can be hit or miss too, depends on when you go and who is your server. this place is always busy though and you may have to wait in line for awhile. there are parking lots and street parking all around, but since there are a lot of bars and restaurants, parking can be hard to find. you should definitely try it and find out for yourself if you like it or not.
Tried this for first time a couple weeks ago and will definitely not go back. The food was plain, bland even. Not quite the italian you're expecting. High prices too for nothing special. Not worth the disappointment, not with melrose grill across the street and cedar smokehouse right next door. We didnt finish our meal, took it home hoping we'd give it a 2nd chance. But knew better, and just threw it away.
Drool is dripping out of my mouth just thinking about Armondo's. Everything I've had here is amazing, and the new location is great! #1 blue cheese dressing eva. If you come in, you cannot go wrong with the chicken parmesan dinner... served w/ a side of angel hair pasta and yummy salad. The drinks here are good, too... wine, hard licks, even beer.
Good for the family, but also for the grown-ups. It has something for everyone.
Having never spent much time in Renton, I slightly chuckled when my vendor said we were going to lunch at a nice Italian place. Man, can I be a snob.
Armondo's was a delightful surprise. It's located in a quaint section of Renton -- I'm assuming it's downtown since the city hall is there. Anyway, the restaurant is in an old brick building and is decorated on the inside with dark wood, rich walls and brightly colored glass lamp pendants.
The menu is mostly chicken and pasta, with a pizza/calzone section on the back. I had pasta with shrimp and vegetables. I don't remember the name of my dish, but it was exactly what I was looking for. The sauce was very light and might have just been olive oil with some feta cheese thrown in. They didn't scimp on shrimp, and the vegetables were crisp and flavorful. I noticed everyone else at the table scarfed down their food, so I see that as a good sign.
Sorry, Renton, for being so judgmental. Can we still be friends?
Still a solid performer. Italian food with nice atmosphere. Reasonable prices and not a long wait for a table.
If I could give something between 4 and 5 stars, I would. But it is still worth a visit.
Service was…
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Armondo's pizza was described to me by a Renton shop owner as "gourmet" (we went there strictly for pizza this time) and while it is that, it tastes like PIZZA, you know? Which is a good thing. It's wood-fired, the crust is a nice, chewy middle ground between too thin and too thick, and all of our toppings were fresh and tasty.
Armondo's red sauce is almost, but not quite, more like finely chopped tomatoes than it is an actual sauce, but I liked it all the same. Both our pizzas happened to be veggie on this outing, and here's a tip: peperoncini, mushroom and fresh tomato topping is a spicy, spicy delight!
We did carry-out so I can't attest to the comfort of the booths, but I found the restaurant space to be a little character-less for my taste. I like the colorful glass lamps and the blown-glass orbs in the window wells, but the rest of the place just seemed to be decorated to be pleasant, but without soul. The colorful glass in the windows raised my expectations too high, I suppose.
We'll go back for the pizza, though.
Okay, so look, I'm Italian through and through. I was born in Italy and grew up eating pasta and polenta almost every night. So I have tried Armando's before their new venue and YUCK! The calamari was a steak fried and sliced, not those nice baby ones. The pizza, well mediocre to say the least and the service... I'm not going their.
So I said, I'll try it again when they moved. My friends insist they like it, I went. Never will I step foot in their again. Besides the beautiful hand blown glass in the Windows, the inside, kinda dusty and the food had not improved. Sorry guys, I hate to complain but no go for this girl.
i went for lunch on a monday morning, and there was still quite a few people there, unfortunately there was only one server, so the service was fairly slow, so it would have been perfect if i had a hot date, but in this case i had my mommy, and she really enjoyed her seafood fettuccine, while i slightly enjoyed my chicken armondo. the chicken was good, but the side pasta was just that, pasta, no sauce, with a little parmesan. i can definitely say for certain that i've had better. but to be honest, i would go back, i like the dark atmosphere and all the glass artwork in the place, it's a cozy place that's good for groups, and hopefully next time, a hot date
Another gem of Renton's growing Restaurant district. They switched locations about six months ago and I haven't been to the new digs - however it looks beautiful from the outside. Its been decorated largely with glass bulbs blown across the street at Uptown Glassworks.
Each entree comes with bread/olive oil, and a lovely salad with your choice of dressing. All is always fresh and has some light salami and pepper's. Yum.
Pizza and calzones come from a special-built brick oven for that amazing thin and delicious crust. Everything is made from scratch.
I particularly recommend the Eggplant Parmesan.
I know, one star is harsh, but I feel justified. The wood roasting oven is what attracted me here, and the place definitely smelled of it, which was an appealing factor. Then I looked at menu prices and considered turning on my heals and heading out. BUT then I used the rationale that it MUST be good if they are asking over $12 for a plate of spaghetti and marinara and my desire for a plate full of pasta hit me like a freight train. I obeyed and ordered. I had decided on the spaghetti. The bread before the meal was great. Rustic, chewy, hole filled tangy goodness which was complemented greatly by the olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Yum. I was excited for what would surely follow. Then the salad came and it was just mediocre. Nothing special but romaine leaves chopped with a little dressing drizzled over it, some good croutons and two random pepperonis on the side which I thought tasted rotten. The spaghetti was plain. It was very basic. My daughter found a few chunks of celery in hers. Even Olive Garden is better. It should have been great for that price on top of the claim that they are an "Italiano" restaurant. Seriously, popping open a jar of Prego at home is even better than this bland sauce.
I dined at Armondo's for the first time this week and i would defnitely say it is so-so. I had the Chicken Parmesan which was pretty good, but the pasta side dish was dry and blah.
The service was ok...but being that the booths were less than half full our food took longer than expected. Even getting the bill took a while. We were at the restaurant for about an hr which is too long for me when work awaits!
I'd recommend giving it a try, but make sure you have the time for a long lunch break :)
This place has decent size portions for the price. I haven't tried their pizza because I'm too busy getting lasagna or smoked salmon fettucine. Last time I tried the spinach feta ravioli and it was pretty darn tasty too.
Not my favorite place in the world, but the closest yummy italian place to my residence.
They get low stars because the wait staff is iffy and the hostesses have been very rude to me before. I am hard of hearing and was exiting the store, looking out the window at my boyfriend and his friends waiting for me. Evidently one of the hostesses tried to say something to me and I didn't hear her, so she turned to the other hostess and said, loudly, "what a B*TCH!" My boyfriend heard her say this and knew that I just hadn't heard anyone talking to me since I wasn't looking at them.
I complained to the store owner via e-mail. His response, "give me your phone number!" Which part of "hard of hearing" did you not understand? That makes it hard to TALK ON THE PHONE. *shakes head* No resolution. Probably not going back often.
Pizza is the way to go at Armondos. Not that the rest of the food isn't pretty fabulous, but the pizza? Amazing. The ceasar salads are pretty good too, and the interior is gorgeous, although a little formal. The only big complaint I have is that there isn't any "lobby" area to wait in when they are busy, and there's a distinct lack of parking on busy nights.
This place is really not very good at all. The food is greasy and the chicken parmesan was awful. The chicken was ok but the pasta that came with it was buttery and tasted like it had been sitting out for a long time. If you are in renton and thinking italian and it's between olive garden or Armondo's GO TO OLIVE GARDEN!
I'm a little surprised the reviews on here aren't more positive. I thought the old location was like a shoebox and the new one is great! The booths are very comfortable. Some things are a bit spendier than I think they should be, but I've never, ever had a bad meal here. The smoked salmon ravioli is AWESOME when it's on the menu. I love the smoked salmon fettucine, too. Ohhhh now I have a serious craving. Their pizza is great and the toppings are super fresh and high quality. One of my favorite local restaurants!!!
They should NEVER have moved from the old place only blocks away. The new digs have zero charm and even less character. The cheap, I mean CHEAP booths couldn't be less comfortable if they were apple boxes! The color scheme was borrowed from Denny's.
Now, the good news. The food remains excellent. The salmon ravioli, when on the menu, is to friggin die for! I have never been disappointed in the food - they make pasta right!
Now, the old place had folks standing on the street to get in. Haven't seen that in the new place - what's that tell you? Food? Great! Beers? Slightly tolerable. Location? The old building is still vacant... maybe it's not too late to move back! (Pullleazzze!)
Inexpensive ho hum fare. Just right for Renton. Guaranteed to never scare a Boeing engineer.
Renton, WA
Category: Barbeque
Renton, WA
Category: Steakhouses
Renton, WA
Category: Pizza
Renton, WA
Category: Thai
Renton, WA
Category: Restaurants
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