Zio’s Italian Kitchen

I’m partial to Olive Garden and this place is almost as good. We stumbled upon this restaurant because couldn’t find the Mexican place we were looking for. The prices are very reasonable!!! Much more affordable than Carrabbas, and better menu selection. I got the classic calzone and couldn’t finish it– huge. I do wish they’d give you a bigger side of marinara with it. Good service too.

Came here as a group from work for dinner and both service and food quality was uneven throughout the evening. I think my food omens started when the olive oil was described as with a touch of canola oil. I took a photo of this, and then turned to the back of the bottle to see the canola oil % — and guess what? That info wasnt listed! So what exactly is a touch? I mean could it go as high as 20% or more? I didnt like that duplicity — made me feel like the restaurant was trying to pull a fast one.
I also thought the breadsticks served as part of the amuse bouche tasted really really white-​breadish and so soft, you could tell the wheat the use was over-​refined kind. Also the amount of herb-​mix on the plate to mix the olive-​canola oil was massive! Worse the herb-​mix tasted stale and so after a bite where i forced myself to swallow what was in my mouth, I left the rest of this stuff alone.
After this initial experience, I knew I wanted to avoid any menu items where I couldnt see my food clearly, so I ended up getting the Grilled Salmon which was listed on the menu as served with angel hair pasta tossed with garlic butter and fresh seasonal vegetables. When my plate came out — no pasta. The Salmon was unevenly cooked (too overdone in certain places). I could actually taste a bitterness in the vegetables, always a sure indication that either the oil they used was old, or of low quality. I did switch out the garlic butter for tomato pasta sauce and this was decent, but absolutely tasted like it was out of a can.
Food really wasnt that great and so I really dont plan to ever come back again.
Note: #101 of Unilocal 100 challenge for 2016

I had the chicken Marsala and an Arnold Palmer and if you know me a place is only good as the drinks. The Arnold Palmer isn’t difficult to get right but most people fail because they think an Arnold Palmer is a half and half. I asked josh our waiter to make one and he was extremely nice each one he made for me and on the last one he made me what I consider the perfect drink.

Food is pretty good. Atmosphere is nice. Great family restaurant. HOWEVER, last two times I was there (three months apart), there are two lights out in the parking lot that is VERY unsafe. Should probably spend a few bucks to get that fixed.

The place itself is nice with a cool atmosphere. I enjoyed the decorations and the seating arrangements.
The staff seemed fairly disorganized when it came to ordering for large groups. It took a significant amount of time for them to figure out who ordered what, even though they took the orders in a straight line down the table.
The food is pretty, and the calzone I had the first time I came here was great. The second time, however, the pasta dish was so heavily salted that I wasn’t sure I could eat it. Could have just been a one-​time mistake though.
In the end, I wouldn’t avoid the place, but I also probably won’t go out of my way to go back.

My husband and I went into Zios this evening and sat in the bar area. Paulo was our sever. Paulo was fantastic ! He was courteous and prompt. We had an error on one of our dishes, we brought it to managements attention. Sara promptly and professionally handled the problem, and made it right. I was very impressed with both Her and our server regarding this mishap. It was handled exactly as it should have been. We will definitely be back. Our food was good, service was excellent! Thank you both for a great experience!

when place is half empty hostess took 2 minutes to hand off party to ?, should be quicker,
soup was too salty, bread over cooked, pasta with marinara was bit spicy as if other dish sauce had violated it, baked ziti was good, waitress was quick, no silverware/​napkins on table, spaghetti feast was good, so count them up and its average score.
when Zios started everyone liked prices, now $ 12 for spaghetti meatless and salad is too much
I do remember once — appetizers were good but then is too much food.

I love Zio’s because it reminds me of being on vacation. I think we end up being so busy while visiting the Springs that by the time dinner comes around we are exhausted. I know this sounds crazy but I’ve only eaten take-​out from this restaurant! They have the best Fetuccini Alfredo and Spaghetti and meatballs for the kids. It’s an easy quick meal to eat in your jammies while at home. MMM doesn’t that sound good?
I’m so glad I have a Zio’s here in Houston, i may have to get some take-​out!

This is one of my go to places for lunch. I always get the shrimp limone, it is delicious. Love their bread too. My favorite waiter is Sam, he always takes gear care of us.

We came in for dinner a few days ago.
There was an hour wait for our party of 8 and when we told the hostess we would be willing to split up into two tables of four (not even needing to be close by) she said it would be ten minutes. It took 40 minutes.
They forgot about us.
Oh well. It was okay… We were sat at two tables near each other at the bar area and the server was pretty much the only thing we liked.
I’ve been to Zio’s in the past, but it has been quite some time. It really seems like it has gone down hill. None of the food tasted very good and most of us didn’t feel great after eating. The drinks were ok albeit expensive… I really don’t think I’ll be back. :/

Zio’s recently had a change in management and we can tell. After coming here off and on for the last 6 years be won’t be coming back. Their service is horrible and they seemed to have went cheap on their food they are purchasing so everything we got was either under cooked or out of a can.
What a shame.

I like Zio’s. It’s all the way across town, but I call ahead and it cuts all of my drive time off the wait time. I love the crayons. I love the bread. My hubby and I both love the Chicken & Cheese Tortellini Alfredo. I love their alfredo sauce (and that there is quite a lot of it). I love the bowl of pre-​shredded parmesan cheese. Gert was a great waiter. The guy behind the bar whose name has just escaped me (Sorry!) is always awesome.

My husband and I went here on a Wednesday night while he was home for a little while. It was actually between Zio’s and some other Italian restaurant up in Manitou Sprigs but I figured since I always drive by Zio’s driving south bound I-​25 that id check it out. So we went around 6 pm for dinner and the atmosphere was not too friendly I might say. There were a lot of high-​nosed people and the server actually (I felt like) kinda didn’t even want to serve us.
Anyway, on to the food.
It was great! But I wouldn’t say it was the best italian food I’ve had. I like their bread and the dip they made for it. I’m sure it was Italian herbs and olive oil. We had wine as well and the server didn’t even know what the wine tastes like or what kind of wine was sweet.
I don’t think I’ll be coming back. It’s too expensive and I don’t think it’s worth it. I’ll go to Olive Garden before I come back here again.

It’s okay, really. Not horrible by any stretch, but not fine Italian cuisine. You’ll note the 5 star reviews are from tourists. Anyway against my better judgement due to the poor reviews, we went with a large group. We had called ahead and were seated promptly. No issues with the service. Typical chain food, nothing special, nothing awful. Reasonably priced for what you got. I will agree it was much better in years past.

I don’t know how this place got such a bad wrap. We went in were greeted warmly by a really great staff. We got the appatizer sampler which came out quickly and was really good. There was a group of us and we got a Calzone, Pepperoni Pizza, Spaghetti and Meatballs, and Baked Chicken Cannelloni. They were all really good (we shared everything) and the price was really fair. When I get down in the area I’d go here for sure!

So. we went to Zios for dinner… they used to have items that were gluten free. pizza and certain pasta’s. Today, the snippy girl at the podium, told us they no longer had a gluten free menu or any gluten free foods, so we left and went to Carrabas for dinner, where the menu points out gluten free options

There were several things which we could comment on that were less than stellar about our visit tonight. Like the fact that we had to ask for waters for our table. Oh and for menus.
However, here’s the reason for this review. Each table has a bottle of «Extra Virgin Olive Oil» on the table to be used with spices as a dipping oil with the bread. My husband (who happens to be Italian) looked at the bottle and the ingredients said «extra virgin olive oil with canola oil.» Is it too much for this «Italian» restaurant to spring for some real olive oil?! Obviously they don’t value quality ingredients and it makes one assume they cheat you on other things as well.

This used to be my favorite restaurant. We went today and…
Wait time — 5 stars! Waited 5 minutes.
Cleanliness — 5 stars
Food — 2 stars. I’m not all that savvy at Italian food in the kitchen but would have done a way better job. It was cold and my husbands Ziti was awful and a total waste of $$. My seafood Alfredo was just ok, Olive Garden is stars above on food even.
Service was 3 stars.
So sad to write this.: (

Lunch was so disappointing! For the price and the portions, come on. I spent $ 20 for just myself. I got the chicken Marsala with roasted reds and an order of calamari. It literally came with 4 little chunks of potatoes. This is usually my go to place for Italian style calamari but today they over cooked the crap out of them. They weren’t even rubbery, they were like, hard. Sad ;-(

Finally, Finally, FINALLY I got to taste the heaven that is Zios. My boyfriend, his parents and I ventured out one cold winter night and I found myself falling in love with this little gem. Why you ask? Well…
Z= zesty, hearty and so much food! the portions are massive and cooked to perfection. the fresh bread dipped in oil and oregano was the perfect way to start our meal and a great addition to my order of chicken milianse — full of mushrooms, tomatoes, all in a fresh lemon sauce! mmmm! my guests had chicken parm, chicken picatta and the ever-​so-​favorite lagazna :)
I= intimate setting, yet roomy and homey inside which creates an authentic and nice atmosphere, perfect for a small or large group!
O= outstanding food. i can’t get enough!
‘
S= service lacked quite a bit, due to our server. I think he was new or something as he couldn’t answer half of our questions, dumped our bread on the table, asked for assistance in opening the wine bottle we ordered and failed to refill our waters. I understand being new, so no points were knocked off as a result, but the experience could have been better.
4 reasons = 4 stars! I can’t wait to return! :)