Nicola's
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street, Garage, Valet
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: No
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Alcohol: Full Bar
8 Reviews for Nicola's
Maybe we hit Nicola's on a bad night, but the only redeeming qualities from our experience were the company, our friendly prompt waitress and the profiteroles. Everything else fell in the category of "it's okay." For an appetizer, we shared the Caprese salad. It was good but the tomatoes were not very ripe and lacked full flavor.
I had the seabass. While it was fresh and cooked well, I think they forgot to season it. The fresh spinach and tomatoes were fine, but again, no real flavor. My husband had the tenderloin and it was not good at all. It was rare (ordered medium rare) and had little flavor. Our home-cooked steaks are much better.
Catch the theme of Nicola's on Saturday night? Lacks flavor...and no, I am not talking about the cougars around every corner...just the food. Seriously, this was couger central on Sat. and Glenn, I am not dissing the older crowd, just the 45 year old women wearing no clothes looking for a little action.
Anyway, back to food...maybe we should have gone with the pastas. I would not mind coming back for the profiteroles and wine. So, if in the area around dessert and wine time, this might be an option. I hate it, because the service was really good and the manager was so nice...but the food lacked and there are too many options around there to feel unsatisfied.
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Nicola's was one of my favorite restaurants to visit when I lived in Richardson.
The best thing about it, I think, is the gorgeous interior. It really is beautiful, and the architecture is unique; there are many interesting places to sit, like the sexy booths set right into the wall (apparently I'm not the only one to use that term ;) ), that make the experience feel more individualized. It's not just a bunch of tables in the middle of a big room, and I like that a lot.
The food overall is very good. I wasn't as impressed with the Fazzoletto alla Genovese that I had during one of my visits. I'm a seafood person, and I was really excited about this one, and it just seemed bland and a little watered-down. I wanted more flavor. I've been happy with everything else I've had, though.
I do have two small beefs about the service: 1) I was hassled by a waiter when I still had my Tennessee driver's license. At one point he said, "This ID looks fake, but I guess it's ok." If he wasn't going to serve me alcohol, that's one thing, but to make that comment as if to say he didn't really believe me but he was doing me a favor just came off as rude. But that's just one guy, and I don't really take points off of the restaurant as a whole because of this. I think I remember the service that night being slow too, so it could have just been that guy again. 2) Regarding those booths I was talking about before, I had been fantasizing about having a hot date in one of them for years, so when the time was right, I called to make reservations and requested one of the booths. They said they couldn't guarantee it but that they would make a note of it on the reservation. When we got to the restaurant, they said they didn't have a booth open at that time. We were seated at a table, and not ten minutes later, another group was seated in one of the booths. I don't know what the situation was, but it bothered me that they hadn't offered that we could wait a few minutes for one of the booths that was going to open up. I'm still determined to make it happen one of these days!
Nicola's is upscale but on the casual end of fancy, and the food and service basically fit in with that. Depending on where you sit, it can be a great spot for either a romantic date or an outing with a larger group. You probably won't be blown away by the food, but you'll have a satisfying Italian meal in a beautiful location.
A note about parking, especially on the weekend: take advantage of the valet or leave yourself a few extra minutes to park your car. It can take a while to get to the garage and to find a spot when the shopping center is really packed.
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We used to visit Nicola's regularly when it was in the Galleria and we were huge fans. We recently dined at their new Plano location for our anniversary and were thoroughly disappointed.
First of all, the location and the atmosphere are great, first class. Our waiter was good, except that we had to remind him to bring us the wine we ordered.
We started with Nicola's focaccia and a Nicola's salad. Both were great. The focaccia was exactly as we remembered from the old Nicola's, olive oil, a little herbs and parmesan. The salad was good, mixed greens with pears and a balsamic vinaigrette.
My wife had the sea bass, she felt it was cooked well but it wasn't seasoned to her expectations and lacked flavor. Factoring in the price ($30+) she was not 'satisfied'. I had mascarpone ravioli with scallops. I liked the sauce, but the ravioli were dry, almost crunchy like they had been sitting out all day. The scallops were on the small side and could have been seasoned better also.
For dessert we had cappuccino and tiramisu. Both were good, my wife thought the tiramisu had too much whipped cream between the layers.
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I ate here on a business dinner in the "semi-formal" dining area upstairs.
The service was very good. The decor was nice and the Shops of Legacy was very nice - much cooler than I expected. We also spent a good amount of time in the downstairs bar area and had excellent service there. However the bar area is more geared towards having a drink while waiting on your table rather than actually hanging out at the bar. That said, the were more than accommodating to us and we were a large and fairly rowdy group.
Notice I've yet to mention the food. That's because it was pretty unremarkable.
We had an antipasta plate that was a very odd mix of things. I would describe them, but honestly I had no idea what half the plate was. It did include a few (2 or 3) slices of cheese, some bread with a cheese spread on it, a decent quiche-like thing, olives, sun-dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts. It wasnt bad, it just seemed too diverse.
I had the Caprese Salad to start. The mozzarella was good and served in nice sized slices, but I found the tomatoes to be a bit under ripe. I would have also liked a bit more basil.
I had the Bucatini alla Amatriciana for my entree (per the menu: This is the oldest known Roman recipe, featuring "hollow spaghetti" with roasted smoked pancetta, tomato sauce, a touch of cream and shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese). It wasnt bad, but was bland and didn't really do much for me. The spaghetti was very thick, but cooked to a good tenderness. I didn't see too many pieces of the pancetta and the addition of more would have made it a better dish. the sauce was also average. That said, $14 isnt very expensive, so it wasn't a disappointment.
The desert I did enjoy. I shared the Profiteroles alla Vaniglia (Cream puffs filled with vanilla bean gelato and covered in Belgian chocolate). Tasty, although the puff pastry was a bit dry.
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Very fine Italian restaurant in the Shops of Legacy. Bar is excellent though not that well suited to hanging out for long. Wait staff is friendly and proficient. We've eaten here many times, trying different dishes each time, and have not had a disappointment yet. I am especially fond of every seafood dish I've tried. The decor is very nice but, unless you get one of the few booths, I wouldn't call it romantic. Most folks wear something nice (which can mean designer jeans on up). Crowd is mostly over 30.
This review is for the Legacy location (they moved from the Galleria quite awhile ago).
N.B. I've lowered by rating on Nicola's. For awhile it was on our regular rotation for nice dinners. But the last couple of times the food as been 3 star and the specials lame (tilapia as the fish special???? come on...). Something has changed and not for the better. I'm going to try one more time soon and if it hasn't improved will drop to 2-3 stars (might do 2 because the price is high enough to demand pretty darn good food).
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I met my girlfriends here for our monthly dinner. We have been getting together for 14 years and have been to a lot of places. Nicola's would have to be in our top 10 of places to meet. I don't know if it's because of the yummy pinot noir we consumed or the Sicilian waiter, Giorgio or a combination of both.
The food was excellent. I had the pumpkin ravioli with pine nuts and cream sauce. It was like dessert for dinner. My friends had the tilapia special and it was really really good as well. One friend wanted to know if she could add spinach to her special and possibly pass on the pasta. The waiter brought out the chef to talk with her about it. He laughed out loud when she mentioned not having any pasta. You don't go to an Italian restaurant and pass on the pasta!
Now the 'chef' could have been a dressed up busboy and our waiter could have had a fake accent, but it all seemed sincere to us.
We also had one of only 4 sexy booths. You have to sit in the sexy booth if you go.
Great wine, great service, great food, great booth. We could have stayed there all night.
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Finally! Decent Italian food in Plano! I'm still new here and haven't tried every place, but we enjoyed our meal here.
Like most of the Legacy Shops restaurants, this one is trendy and sceney... lots of dates.
Service was a big slow... our waiter seemed overwhelmed but he was a nice guy.
We started with a Caesar Salad which was a good version. All the pasta is homemade, which is a big plus. Both of the dishes we ordered were flavorful and the sauce was not runny.
Dessert was a treat... the chocolate cake. Next time we want to try the tiramisu.
Overall we'll be back and i'm happy to know I have a place I can go to get my Italian fix now that I've left NY but I'm still looking for that great neighborhood type place. Prices were reasonable.
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Actually, meh.
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