Vino’s Ristorante

Cute restaurant, bold flavors! First walking in, the lights are low and you are promptly greeted at the door. The décor is pretty romantic. Servers are quick to bring out drink orders and there is delicious garlic bread as a free starter. Appetizer selection is scrumptious, give the stuffed mushrooms a try– filled with seafood morsels! Menu is smaller but I have enjoyed each meal I’ve ordered. Spicy vodka penne is on par along with the filet mignon. Each entrée comes with a dinner salad! I was stoked about this. The servers even come by to grate cheese and grind pepper on your food which is special. Great quiet Italian date spot.

Great food and great ambiance.
I had an issue with my bill and emailed them with a question. They got back to me quickly and offered a refund for the amount in question. Honesty and trustworthiness goes a long way in my book and I will be back here again for just this reason.

Meatballs. All I can say that you must order is… meatballs!
Great place to have a date night or take a group of friends. The décor is pretty rad and when I visit, I always feel like I am in an episode of the Sopranos, eating at a secret Italian restaurant. Everything I have ordered has been impressive and made me want to come back for more. The staff is always top notch and knows their menu and wine list extensively.
Tony Soprano and his gang would approve, and so do I.

I heard this was the best Italian place in Cedar Rapids. Service was the bare minimum, no passion. Food was just so-​so. No interaction, no thank you for coming out on a night that is freezing. Honestly, my meatballs are better than the burnt ones that I was served. We won’t go back.

Amazing!!! Everything was perfect and our waitress was friendly and helpful. My son ate almost all of his spaghetti which is impressive. Best Chicken marsala I’ve ever had. This place puts all other Italian restaurants to shame.

2 for 2 on restaurants on this tour, that is unusual. Solid Italian food with an interesting atmosphere. The bar is in a book store, very library like. I highly recommend.

Love Italian Food, then this is the place to go in Cedar Rapids.
The menu is small, but packed with excellent food.
The dinner started off not very well because the waiter was having a bad evening and we wanted to get a bottle of wine. The wine list is extensive and we described what we were looking for, but he didn’t seam familiar with the list and became annoyed. We wanted a red, but he steered us to a white wine that nobody liked. Thanks to Google we tried «La Valentina Montepulciano D’ Abruzzo from Italy. The wine was excellent and we wound up getting two bottles.
I would recommend the Artichoke and Spinach Dip for an appetizer. The bread pieces were perfect with the dip and it had excellent flavor. I would definitely get it again.
I decided to try the «Italian Sausage Diavo» with only the spicy sausage. They are not kidding when they say it’s spicy so make sure you have a full glass of water. It was excellent, the sausage was perfect and it was an excellent dish. It definitely gets hotter as you eat more. The portions are perfect and I had to take some with me.
I almost forgot the salad, which was also fantastic. I loved the Italian dressing. Everything was fresh and crisp.
This place has a very romantic atmosphere and next door part of the restaurant has a bar, book cases with seating to hang out and enjoy some more wine.
The waiter became more friendly has the evening progressed. Everyone has a bad day and it was a Friday night, place was packed, so I am sure he was stressed, he probably should sample some red wine to relax more.
I would definitely come back if in the area, this place is fantastic.

Friendly and accommodating staff, great music, fabulous atmosphere, delicious food, comfortable and inviting lounge space. Definitely a diamond among the rough in Iowa.

I have eaten here once and the experience was very memorable. I took my boss here for a business dinner. We split an appetizer, each had an entrée and dessert. The food was very good. Service was good considering there was a work party going on that night as well.

This is easily my favorite Italian restaurant in town. I love the ambiance and also the bar area. They have a great wine selection too. Their seafood is always fresh. I’ve had the classic dishes like chicken or eggplant parm, and also their specials. No complaints. The staff is also really great.
On weekends, I would highly suggest that you make a reservation. Enjoy!

Vino’s/RG Books is one of our absolute favorite restaurants in Cedar Rapids! The food is always delicious and fresh, and the service is perfect — attentive but not annoying; relaxed but not slow. Try the baked mozzarella appetizer and do a wine flight!

This is easily the best Italian restaurant in Cedar Rapids. I’ve yet to have anything less than great food there.
A great option for an appetizer, entrée, and dessert was a flight of several different wines to go along perfectly with your meal.

LOVE this place. Came here twice, highly recommend the spicy Italian sausage meal. INCREDIBLE! also, the mozzarella and salami appetizer is to DIE for.

Not super impressed. Food was ok. Hostess hovered to take plates when fork was literally in my hand and food was still on the plate. Soda not refilled at all.

In the heart of the oldest and crappiest strip mall in town this is what real Italian cooking should be. It’s expensive but worth it. No mixes, no pre packaged food made by so called chefs that haven’t been to culinary school. Try the tiramisu!

Well this is the third year we made reservations on New Year’s Eve and were dismissed. First year we had to wait almost 1−½ hours for reservation. Party of 10 so we sorta understood milking us at the bar. Now the last 2 years we made reservations for 2 at 7:00 for a bar table and both times we were early and they had given our table away. They said they had sat them earlier and had been there a while But interesting both times the people sitting at our table still had menus and full drinks. We are not dumb or cheap, since we always get martinis and a bottle of wine our meal is far from inexpensive. Bottom line… We left and went up the street to one of our absolute favorite places «NAPOLIS» and had a 20 minute wait and a FABULOUS night. They were packed and the service and food was outstanding, not to mention we paid 75.00 less for our meal ;)

Very disappointing evening at Vino’s tonight. Party of four celebrating two birthdays. I made reservations 2 days ago, but upon arrival there wasn’t a reservation! Hostess made us feel like we were trying to put one over on her. Eventually she said that though there was no reservation, they would take care of us, the wait would be about 15 minutes and would we like to wait in the lounge/​bar. After 15 minutes we checked back and were told at least another 15 minute wait. Eventual wait was 45 minutes! Other people who arrived later than us were seated though. She didn’t any offer any explanation or compensation for their error.
Plenty of wait staff yet our waitress was inattentive at best. Our friend said it was inadequate service and we all agreed. Food was okay for the most part, but nothing wonderful. This place hasn’t changed in years and it shows. Very dated décor, service like they don’t care and rude hostess. Wish we had gone elsewhere. This was our last visit.

Friendly service, nice atmosphere and good food. Easy to miss since the restaurant’s sign is on the window.

Having a rare night out with some friends and sans kiddos, we made the trek up to CR to check out this spot that Unilocalers had raved about online. The locale, is hidden discretely in a strip mall and with a storefront that’s both nondescript (read: little signage) and looks like a bookstore (it’s also the entrance to the library themed bar), Going straight through the bookcase takes you to the bar and going to the right takes you into the restaurant.
We had a table for four at 7 pm and the place was pretty packed when the showed up… so much so that they ran out of menus. Not a huge issue, but something we haven’t come upon much, well ever. There were 3 menus for the table so we certainly managed (first world problems!). Our waitress was a very nice lady who told us she’s been there for quite some time, but was less familiar with the drink menu that she should have been. For drinks we had a smattering of beer, martini’s and a beer cocktail. She wasn’t familiar with the stout diplomat (stout beer w/​a shot of dark rum), but brought everything out and let me mix it up which worked fine. She brought the wrong beer to our guests twice and wasn’t super familiar with the beer list, but again, not a huge deal.
For appetizers we shared the Sausage and Polenta dish as well and the baked Mozarella. The Sausage/​Polenta was good, but not great. Decent flavor and a little kick. The Baked Mozarella on the other hand was phenomenal! Cheese wrapped in meat, wrapped in some romaine lettuce, topped with roma tomatoes and a balsamic reduction, sliced and ready to go. A must try for anyone here. Familiar enough for the less adventurous, but different enough for those wanting to try something new — surely worth checking out.
We sampled four main dishes and split portions among our group. The chicken marsala was pretty standard and well presented — a good safety dish for sure! The Italian Sausage Diavolo packed the promised punch implicit from the name and was solid, buy again, didn’t blow anyone away. My better half had the Roasted Pepper Italiano with Veal. It looked to be the most interesting thing on the menu, but unfortunately wasn’t overly flavorful. It seemed like everything was cooked separately and then combined. Rather than being able to enjoy each others company while sauteing, this was more akin to siblings being forced to sit next to each other and told to look as if they enjoy each others company. Finally, I had the pepper crusted Tuna with orzo mac ‘n cheese. I was really excited about the dish and was underwhelmed in the end. The tuna wasn’t flavorful or firm and the orzo was pretty bland. As with the other dishes, the presentation was nice, but the food was just middle of the road.
For dessert we all split some Tiramisu. It was very good and ended the night on a high note. The dessert selection included 6 or 7 pie/​cake varieties, most of which were made in house. Our waitress told us how one of the selections was «homemade», just not here at the restaurant — an odd case of TMI. Again, not a huge deal, but a bit off from what we’re normally used to.
In the end, Vino was a nice Italian spot, but was a tough sell at $ 50 per person for the night. The highlight of the meal was the baked mozarella and our entrée’s were all a little more bland than I’d expect for a place of this caliber. Combined with a waitress who was very helpful, but had enough little issues that they all became very noticeable by the end of the night and we’d found a nice place that we probably won’t be trekking 40 minutes for in the future.

Vino’s has always been a place I have enjoyed going both for the atmosphere and food.
We went the other night go dinner and I had the special which was sea bass and my wife had the Frutti de mare. As soon as I got my entrée I knew the fish was not bass. My wife asked me not to say anything at the time. When her entrée came out the fish that came was the exact same as what mine was. So I asked the waiter when he came back what the fish was on her dish and he indicated mahi mahi. I took another look at hers and no way was it that fish either.
Very disappointed to be purposely duped by the waiter, chef and restaurant.
I won’t be going back anytime soon.