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Arturo's Uptown Italiano
Category: Restaurants Italian Italian [Edit]
1180 Uptown Park BlvdHouston, TX 77056
Neighborhood: Galleria/Uptown
(713) 621-1180
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot, Valet
- Attire:
- Dressy
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Quiet
- Ambience:
- Romantic, Classy
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
About This Business:
We serve traditional Italian dishes using recipes that have been handed down for generations. Our acre wide organic garden supplies the seasonal… read more »
31 reviews for Arturo's Uptown Italiano
Review Highlights
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"...Cream of Yellow Bell Pepper soup was surprisingly delicious." In 3 reviews -
"Great atmosphere for date night." In 4 reviews
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"We used the valet service - all very friendly." In 3 reviews
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31 reviews in English
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Review from Jaison P.
Houston, TX
4/12/2012 1 Check-in Here
Arturo's Uptown Italiano is a great spot!
We went on a Thursday night around 9pm so it wasn't crowded at all...at first we thought ehh this place will probably be gross but boy did we misjudge! Our waiter was a funny little guy, first I was annoyed but after a while I warmed up and his humor made our dining experience that much more memorable...well done sir!
I will visit again and write a more detailed review but the food was great! I ordered the Veal after our waiter suggested it and it did not disappoint! I'm a stickler for how my asparagus is cooked and Arturo's got it perfect. Just came from Morton's the night before and it was terrible!
Overall a very good dining experience...conversation was easy because it wasn't too loud, the drinks were served in large glasses, and the food/service was excellent...great find! -
Review from Oswaldo R.
Spring, TX
4/23/2012
Went here for lunch with work colleagues. Had a private room, service was great, presentation was vey nice and the place was packed for lunch time.
The food was 50/50, had a cup of tomato basil soup that was bland and unimpressive, but had a grilled red snapper with arugula salad and crab meet that was awesome! For dessert I had the Pana cotta, which was beautifully presented but again was so so.
Overall, would probably go back and give this place a try. -
Review from Claire G.
8/2/2011 1 Check-in Here
My office went here for a lunch when some colleagues were in town. It is actually one of my bosses favorite places in the area. We made reservations, but when we arrived, it wasn't crowded. That changed soon enough. By 12:30 the place was packed!
The table service and presentation of everything is top notch! The garlic bread is some of the best I have ever had! Delicious. They have a great lunch menu with a variety of meat and veggie options. I had the whole wheat spaghetti. I was a tad disappointed. It didn't have much flavor even though it was tossed with olive oil, avocado, tomatoes, and spinach. Just kind of bland. The other dishes looked good though.
Parking isn't an issue. I would want to try this place again, but for the price and how my meal turned out, I wasn't totally convinced. -
Review from Judy S.
Houston, TX
8/19/2011
We I went here for restaurant weeks, so had a slightly different menu. My appetizer, Grilled Italian Sausage and Polenta, was okay but nothing worth praising. The Cream of Yellow Bell Pepper soup was surprisingly delicious! Usually places make out too creamy and cheesy, but the one I had was absolutely amazing with just the right amount of herbs and spice! My main entree was the Ravioli di Arturos/Sonia's Ravioli which had incredible reviews here that completely described how utterly awesome this dish was. I wish there were more :( The crab topping was ridiculously good! For dessert I had their tiramisu with a twist... Much less coffee flavor than what I'm used to. Different but not bad... You enjoy it more with every bite!
Great atmosphere for date night. All the waiters and staff were fabulous, no complaints! I went with a rather large group of friends on a Thursday night, so we were treated really well. The restaurant owner even dropped by!
I would probably come again. I do think it is more pricey that it should be, considering the quality. It was great for restaurant week -- about $45 including gratuity and tax. But at original price, this four-course meal is definitely too pricey. -
Review from Casie C.
10/11/2011
My love and I went here for our anniversary. We made sure we had a reservation because we heard that the place only takes reservation. The place wasn't crowded when we arrived and the atmosphere was cozy. The valet guy was very respectful and the staff were very friendly. Most of the servers there seems very professional and they seem to have well rounded experience into the restaurant industry. We ordered veil ravioli, a price of $12 during that time for 4 pieces. I'm not a red meat fan but my boyfriend enjoyed it. My meal was a chicken bowtie pasta and it was delicious. Portions were just right, and I wasn't too full nor still hungry but just right. I had a good time and it was the most quietest dinner we've ever had (maybe because there weren't that many people around). The location was good and the price is decent. I don't mind coming back to this place again.
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Review from Anthony H.
11/21/2008
This place has two faces but ignore the Blazer and Blue rinse crowd and make it your own. I am always in Jeans and a T shirt when I go here and have never felt overdressed.
If you need a quiet chat with someone then outside is best although the booths inside are dapper but it can get too loud when crowded.
I always get by sitting outside here in the early evening and sinking a glass or two of Pinot Grigio and dining Al Fresco on the Portobello & Goat Cheese salad or the Beef Carpaccio. These two dishes alone are worth the visit. Should you want something more substantial then the Milanese is amongst the best I have ever tasted.
The bar staff can be a bit snooty, just depends who you get serving you. There is one barperson here who has their head so far up their posterior that they can see the back of their incisors but that can happen in most restaurants of this genre. Just put your cool head on and go to the pavement patio if you can't be doing with it.
My usual rule about Minstrone and Zabaglione (per my review of Maggiano's, wot?! you never read it? ) has to be waived here, but there are always exceptions to the rule and, it's my rule so I can break it if I want OK?
Wine list is good but a bit pricey for the real stuff.
Parking is easy, lots of other good places close by. I like it. -
Review from Okwha B.
Houston, TX
11/3/2011 5 Check-ins Here
The food, service, and the ambiance ..........top notch!
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Review from donna o.
Houston, TX
6/26/2011
I have eaten at Arturo's a couple of time and been pleased with the food and service, unfortunately my last visit will be my last. I don't know if they have changed management or what but the level of service and quality of food has taken a very serious turn for the worse. I was in a large party where we ordered a wide variety of items including appetizers. The cold antipasto plate had lunch meat quality meats but I will say the calamari was great although we had to ask our waiter for it multiple times. The entrees were good but not of the quality that you would expect for the price. The rib-eye came smothered in what looked and tasted like Knorr brown gravy, not at all appetizing.
If you want to spend a chunk of money on ho hum food and mediocre service this is the place for you. -
Review from Joanne E.
Evanston, IL
8/26/2008
Mr. Boada, I so wanted to give your restaurant a five star rating, but ah, we were all so very very disappointed.
I've carried your business card around with me since my visit this past June tempted, in part, to just chalk it up to an off night, but somehow the card has stayed with me, along with my memory of a bad dining experience. Granted, I may not be the kind of crowd you want at your establishment. If so, fine, but I feel it my duty to let others know about my experience.
The location - a little chi chi, but we knew that going in. We used the valet service - all very friendly. I was with a group of colleagues. There were six of us in total. As we came right from the office, we were all decently dressed (mostly skirts, one tie, nary a jean to be seen), yet, from the moment we came through the door we were made to feel like a lower class of citizen. Okay, so we weren't dripping with jewels, nor did we drive up in a stretch limo. We did, however, have an unlimited expense account, yet the staff did not appear to take that into account (as it were).
It is hard to put a finger on what, exactly, went wrong, but it was more that nothing, really went right. We had reservations, so were less than pleased when we seemed to be seated in what felt like the middle of a corridor. Our waiter was either very very very hard of hearing, or he was just being a jerk. Some of us ordered drinks (wine, martini), but most opted for iced tea, little suspecting that refills were next to impossible to obtain. The food was okay, but really, the quality (and quantity) at Maggiano's just down the street seemed better to me, and I'm not even that big a fan of Maggiano's. It took so unbelievably long for us to have the dinner cleared that we all decided it was not worth our while to sample any desserts.
After we left, when we were in our vehicle heading back to our hotel I took a quick survey from everyone that was there, just to ensure that I was not being particularly fussy or nasty. I personally would probably have given three stars, but the group consensus was no more than two stars.
So, Mr. Boada, while we had been hoping for the best, our experience was the worst we had that week in Houston. Others, beware. Dress very very nicely, drive a nice car, and hope that your experience at Arturo's is better than ours was. -
Review from Brandy C.
7/29/2010
Yawn. Another trip with the lady's lunch club (me and the girls I drag in from the burbs to binge eat) and I had high hopes for this. I love Italian food and I was under the illusion that if I threw money at an Italian place, good food would come. Nah.
It was okay. The service was not great, the food was so-so. The artichoke appetizer is actually quite good and I thought the calamari and mushrooms were pretty standard. The Cream of Bell Pepper soup was actually a fun thing to try, I liked it and liked how it was something different. No one was wowed by the entrees; my Chicken Milanese was a snoozefest at $16.75 and my pal's Sonia's Ravioli was cold and gross. Such a bummer, I had higher hopes. Now I just have empty pockets.Their drinks get the money's worth - they may be pricey, but they don't go light on the liquor!
I will give them this - you don't have to valet if you don't want to. I have a weird aversion to valet parking and do everything I can to avoid it. I don't like creepsters driving my car and I feel stupid having someone park my car twenty feet away from where I got out. It's nice to have the choice. -
Review from Tuan L.
5/23/2010
Came here for dinner on Thursday night for a recruiting event. The best part of the meal was probably the appetizers. We ordered fried calamari with marinara sauce and Margarita pizza. With the price tag of $11.50, the Margarita pizza was on the small side. The calamari on the other hand was the star of the whole meal. My only complaint was the calamari was not partner with lemon, which is kind of odd because most places bring you lemon.
I also ordered the Mediterranean chicken breast and risotto. The chicken dish gets 3 stars and the risotto 1 star. I was very disappointed in the risotto because good risotto should be made to order, otherwise if it's pre-made, which it appeared to be the case, it tends to get hard as supposed to a creamy texture.
The service was a about 2 stars. I was expecting way better service given how nice the place was and price. When I discovered my knife was dirty, I asked one of the servers if I could get a replacement. After I handed the server my dirty knife, he never came back. I don't understand why he just didn't take a clean knife that was already available on the other empty table. I ended up reaching over to the other table and grabbing my own knife. When I ordered ice tea, the server didn't bring sugar, so I had to ask for sugar. These are just common things a server should already know.
Overall, the value was not in-line with the price of the food, which means I probably won't be back. -
Review from Cory O.
Houston, TX
11/8/2007
I just can't bring myself to give this place more stars, even though everyone else at the table enjoyed their meals immensely. My veal was just so bland. I tried a bit of everyone else's dishes and they just didn't wow me. The highlight of the meal was the beef carpaccio (it was actually beautifully done with wonderfully thing slices) and the dessert.
I do want to mention that the dress code is a bit nicer than what you'd imagine. I know this is Uptown Park area, but there were people decked out for the opera and our group happened to be the only one with any jeans (albeit, nice jeans). This is definitely a place with an older crowd and a place to be seen. I have a feeling that the lunch is a little less stodgy and may have a younger business feel, so I'll be back. Plus, I really want to check out the pizza (which was my natural instinct--note to self, go with what you've been recommended). -
Review from Daniel F.
Houston, TX
3/13/2009
I ate at Arturo's for lunch the other day and I have to say that this might be a top 10 in Houston for me when it comes to lunch (I have never had dinner there). Every time I had eaten here I would always get the Salmon Salad or Tuna Salad, two of my favorites and a nice light meal that doesn't put you in a coma when you go back to the office.
THIS TIME, however, I threw caution to the wind, looked down the barrel of the gun, and got the seafood chicken paella special. INCREDIBLE! Probably the best paella I have ever had outside of Spain. The dish included mussels, scallops, shrimp, crab and grilled chicken. Also, the saffron rice had some kind of sauce that just made dish perfect. One thing I noticed was that the chicken was de-boned, which was great, because my one complaint about paella from Spain is that the chicken always seemed to have bones in it.
The food was great, the service was outstanding, and the chef and owner even came by to make sure that we were enjoying our meal. I love this place! -
Review from Shell P.
10/29/2009
If you're into the glitz and glam, as well as meat and potatoes, this is the Italian place for you.
It looks like an old steakhouse, has large portions at larger prices, and seems like the place to go if eating at the Olive Garden is beneath you.
As an appetizer, there is a crab cake on the menu for $14.50. It is advertised as giant, but is no bigger than average, except in terms of the price. Come on! One crab cake for as much as a whole dinner at many other restaurants!
The food was tasty, but I'm not one who enjoys blowing my money unnecessarily. There are far better Italian restaurants in Houston for less than what you would pay here. -
Review from Larina C.
Los Angeles, CA
10/8/2007
It's an affluent crowd of diners that feast at Arturo's fine menu of choices. The location makes it easy for business lunches or a pre go out dinner.
The tuna tar tar is a good starter to pair with wine. The bar gets pretty busy for happy hour so get there early to grab a seat. I love the beautiful pastel paintings highlight the restaurant. The booths are roomy for big groups or making it a cozy night for two. -
Review from Vaughan P.
Houston, TX
4/13/2010
One of my favorites! The food is great, the chef is Arturo! Wonderfully clean beautiful restaurant. The most compelling feature of the restaurant however, is the professional staff. Real professional waiters and staff who know their business and enjoy it. No college kids with nose rings standing around tweeting on their cell phones. Arturo's is a fine restaurant with great food and terrific service all at a very fair price.
Great wine too. -
Review from Robert Y.
Houston, TX
11/16/2009
We had a great evening! The food was tremendous, especially the paella. I have not eaten one as good as this one since I was in Spain. The seafood was freash and plentiful.
The service was terrific and the wine list was excellent. I did not have any problem finding a good wine.
The combination of Italian and Spanish good is the best I have found in the city. -
Review from Miguel R.
6/10/2009
Great place - and the location is very up and coming. The new "uptown" is really, dare i say it, cute - and actually reminds me a little of california for some odd reason. Anywho I digress, this is suppose to be about Arturo's.
I was there with my S.O. and her uncle - and that's a completely different story! - and i really had a great time. It's been years since I've been here and I hope the next time I go back - isn't that long from now.
The food was great. The portions just right, and the price is what you expect. Great atmosphere, and the service was unmatched. -
Review from Khoi L.
4/1/2010
I've had lunch here a couple of times & really enjoyed my meals & good service. I even highly recommended it to others. However, I was disappointed on my most recent visit on Wednesday for lunch.
Uptown Pizza Margherita: 3/5 - I like margherita pizzas & the smell of the basil. This pizza was missing something, but I couldn't pinpoint it.
Frutti Di Mare: 3.5/5 - This is a seafood soup w/ mussels, clams, shrimp, calamari, & snapper. The seafood was very fresh, but the soup needs more of a kick.
Spaghetti: 3/5 - This was the special for the day.
Service: 2/5 - After my friend & I finished our pizza for our appetizer, it took a very long time for my friend to get her salad. A salad shouldn't take as long as it did. After she finished her salad, it took a very long time to get our entrees while tables that came after us were served before us. I understand the time it takes to prepare dishes vary. However, it took unusually long & we didn't get an explanation.
Ambience: 4/5
I wish I could write a more positive review because I really enjoyed my meals & service on previous visits. The food is typically rich & the ingredients are very fresh. -
Review from Dusty D.
Cypress, TX
12/31/2010 Seated via OpenTable 1 Check-in Here
Awesome restaurant! My wife and I were searching for a special place for Date Night and found this one by perusing the restaurants that participated in this past year's Houston Restaurant Week. It is a great place for a romantic date. The lighting and atmosphere provide the perfect setting. We started with the Bruschetta for an appetizer and were very pleased. Their mozzarella is delicious. We split the Grilled Chicken & Bowtie Pasta and again were pleased. The prosciutto is wonderful, as is their creamy white wine sauce. Lastly, we also thoroughly enjoyed the Pinot Grigio, "Velante". It is a great white wine and reasonably priced. All in all this was a wonderful experience and we will definitely be visiting this restaurant again whenever we need great Italian food and a great atmosphere for a Date Night!
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Review from Belle K.
Pearland, TX
8/2/2010
Not worth the fuss or drive in my part...we went here for dinner and had terrible service....dont u hate it when they bring out your salad and meal together...and by the time u get to the meal its cold...we had no silverware.. then the manager comes over to check on us and boy did we tell him.....soo not going back...pricy, overated!
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Review from Emily G.
Houston, TX
6/6/2010
I will never go back here. My boyfriend and I wanted to try Crave Cupcakes across the street for dessert so we just looked for a dinner spot in Uptown Park and decided to give Arturo's a try. We were not exactly dressed to the nines, which is why I believe we were treated like crap. I was in a sundress and my boyfriend was in jeans and a polo short and we were both wearing flips flops.
We were seated and it took our waiter a while to come come over. We ordered the tuna tartare appetizer. Literally 2-3 minutes after we ordered it, the appetizer arrived. Gee, they must have spent a lot of time preparing it. It was pile of raw tuna, which I like, sloshed with tons of wasabi mayonnaise, which I didn't like, and it was hard to eat around it. Would not order it again. Of course, before we were done with our appetizer our house salads came. The waiter just kind of stood there waiting for us to clear a spot for him to deposit the salads while we've still got forks in our mouths eating our appetizer. We moved our appetizer plates to the side and made room. The house salads were not good. I would have rather had the salad from Olive Garden. It was full of arugula, which is a very bitter green. And it was full of canned white beans. A very strange ingredient choice.
For entrees, I ordered the shrimp fettucine and my boyfriend ordered the $32 filet with mushroom sauce. My pasta was fine. Nothing special. My boyfriend made the comment about his filet that "it's almost too tender." "No such thing," I told him. I tried it. He was right. The meat had a very strange texture. We both agreed it was kind of "mushy." The sauce on his filet was wayyy oversalted.
Halfway through our entrees my boyfriend pointed at another table and said, "did you get cheese?" I looked over and saw a waiter at another table grating fresh parmesan on a plate of someone else who had gotten the same dish as me. I looked at him longingly and he came over and grated some parmesan on my fettucine. Then -- so weird -- one of the guys came over to our table and deposited a basket of bread and butter. We were mostly done with our entrees. We looked around and noticed that every other table in that restaurant had a bread basket, including a table who had just arrived, in our same section, with the same waiter. Um, we're done. Why would we want the bread now? Oh, and my favorite part -- about five minutes into our entrees, before the cheese and bread incidents, I was taking a breather from eating for a second and our waiter came over and asked if I was ready to have it boxed up. I have never felt so rushed. I have never been so pissed off. I will NEVER go back. Horrible service and mediocre food, at best. This is NOT fine dining. -
Review from David V.
Houston, TX
3/22/2011
I will never step foot inside this place again! I almost swallowed a ring -shaped piece of metal about two-thirds the size of penny that was in my pasta dish.
A friend decided to hold her birthday dinner here on a Thursday evening. It did not take long for us to be seated, and service was decent. For the price, the food could have been much better though. Everything on menu was very pricey. We started of with calamari, which was good. I had the Chicken Pesto, but it was very bland so I had to ask for Tabasco sauce to add some flavor and spice to my dish. I had eaten a little less than half my dish when bit into something hard that I thought was a bone since i had ordered a chicken dish. I was very surprised that it was a piece of metal when I took it out of my mouth. When I called the waiter over and showed him what I had found in my dish, he gave me the excuse that it was something that came from the dishwasher. He asked me what I wanted to do, but didn't apologize or offer to comp my meal. Another person had to come out, and tell me that they would take care of my meal. Later he came and told me that desert would be on the house, but when the bill came I was shocked to see I had been charged for it. The waiter's excuse was that the restaurant had already comped the main dish so they would comp the desert as well. Total lack of courtesy from a restaurant. You can get better service and food at a better price from Olive Garden. -
Review from Jolyn B.
8/31/2007 1 photo
Arturo's cuisine is Italian and light but flavorful and includes some Mediterranean dishes to spice it up. The crowd is fun- mostly 30+ professionals who live in the area. The pizza margherita, bell pepper soup and the Mela salad were all well received. If you would prefer an appetizer, try the roomy bar and the tempura fried rice or ravioli stuffed with chicken and topped with wine basil sauce and crab meat. hmmmm
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Review from Magan H.
Houston, TX
1/8/2009
Arturo's is one of my favorite places to dine. It's white tablecloth service all the way but it still has a comfy feel about it. If you want to go for cocktails post work hours this is a nice place and there is always a good crowd to mix in with conversation. This is where I go for wine when I don't want the stress of the high-traffic but wonderful Tasting Room across the street.
The staff is great and Arturo is always walking around the restuarant and talking with diners. He always makes it to our table and meets our friends. They really go out of their way to make your dining experience nice. In fact, when we got together with few of our friends and decided to go for a late night dinner we called ahead even though we knew we would be cutting it close to the kitchen's closing time. They kept the kitchen open just for us.
The wine list is great and they have some wonderful Chianti that is absolutely dreamy. There are some specialty cocktails worth noting also.
The patio is great when the weather is nice and it always draws a crowd in the Spring.
Post Hurricane Ike, Arturo's was one of the only restuarants open in the neighborhood. They had a generator running the kitchen and they made sure to accomodate as many people as possible. It was inspiring how the staff was so friendly and was actually there serving everyone when you knew they probably didn't have power at home either. All done with a smile! -
Review from Shazia C.
Washington, DC
3/14/2008
Loved the atmosphere , the food , the service !
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Review from Rebecca W.
Houston, TX
7/12/2010
I'm a fan of this place. Valet out front. The dining room is very nicely decorated with warm colors. I like the one sided booths for an intimate seating arrangement - a cute date night. I had the lump crab cake with the two sauces paired underneath the crab cake in the shape of a yin-yang. All very delicious. Sonia's ravioli is the star of this place, a little pricey but overall worth it. Very rich and creamy. Creme brulee for dessert not served traditionally in a ramekin but in each individualized spoons. Sweet and crisp on top, just what a creme brulee should be all about. I love this place but do not come here too often because it would break our bank. Wonderful place.
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Review from urban b.
Houston, TX
7/1/2011
Though located in the rear of uptown park, the restaurant takes a back seat to none. We decided on this place spontaneously after work, booked a reservation before we left the apartment, and was there within several minutes. There was no wait and the staff was very attentive. I had the calamari for an appetizer, the chicken bow tie pasta followed by the key lime pie. Excellent restaurant as far as first impressions go.
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Review from Chris S.
Houston, TX
3/14/2010
I keep forgetting what a great convieniant bar and restaurant Arturo's is, but no more. I have etched it into my mind and saved it into my iPhone as a place for date night with my wife or location for business lunches for the future. The food and service are worth remembering! Easy parking in Uptown Park. You owe it to your friends and clients to make a stop there soon!
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Review from Robert G.
Kingwood, Houston, TX
9/29/2009 1 Check-in Here
Had Arturo's for lunch last week and was thoroughly impressed. Restaurant ambiance and decor is top notch. Food was delicious and staff was professionally trained. This is on my short list for dinner! Got to back soon! I will reserve the fifth star for my dinner experience and I suspect I will be upgrading the rating.
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Review from Miguel C.
Houston, TX
1/23/2010
Great spot for a reasonably priced "upscale" lunch. The atmosphere and the service are good and the food is pretty solid. I had the insalate di manzo and a cup of soup and both were excellent.
