Brio Tuscan Grille

I was forced to come here as part of a team dinner for my work. It was a rough experience. Parking was hard to find on Monday night. Once we arrived, our party of six was seated in a small booth. The two of us who sat at the end of the benches were half way falling off. I found the food to be just OK. The ingredients must come from Costco or a large scale food distribution system. Prices are high but you can seemingly ask the waiter for any customization of your order and they’re OK with it.
The restaurant is huge and has a large echo to it. It was kind of empty when we arrived there and my ears were tired after a night there. I dread what it could be like when the place was full.
The place isn’t bad but it’s not great either. Sorry.

Nice experience. The food was good. Very reasonably priced. Lovely décor. Friendly staff.
One short fall, it was our 21^st anniversary, so we told the host and our waiter. Nothing special was offered, although a small thing, offering us a petite dessert would have been a big gesture.
Otherwise, the food and peach sangria were wonderful.

3.5 stars
This place has yummy food, but it’s more like Carrabba’s than authentic Tuscan food. I tried the Shrimp and Crab Fonduta and the Pasta Fra Diavlo with Shrimp, both of which was tasty but rich.
The service at this location was wonderful and there was ample parking space. However, I felt the food was a bit overpriced.

Hostess was friendly. Service was slow. Food was overpriced, but tasted just fine. They have a gluten-​free menu with pasta which is rare. Not sure I’d go back. For the price, I’m sure there’s better choices. Though, come to think of it there was plenty of good people watching (think airport good)…perhaps that was worth the price of admission.

This is a really great place to have a private party. The staff was so nice and accommodating. Usually, after a party ends, the server is nowhere to be found. Our server stuck around and helped carry out gifts! Such a gentleman! I will definitely consider this place again for a private party.

Reverse happy hour is where it’s at. My GF and I waited at Aka for 20 minutes, and decided to skip out on our table and check out Brio.
Their HH is in the bar area, where you can order from a menu of items with $ 4, $ 5, and $ 6 plates. And don’t forget the dessert and drink menu. Thursdays seem to have a special $ 5 wine menu, so check it.

Hesitant to give this place a 4 because I’m really just basing my rating off of drinks and their chocolate torte… so I’m giving it a 3.5 but here goes.
Came during happy hour and reverse happy hour and their drink and appetizer menu are pretty extensive. Lots to choose from and the drinks are actually really good. It lacked a bit in the alcohol department but I guess that’s because the drinks are so cheap. Had a few of the appetizers which were just meh… The chocolate torte though? heavenly.
I’ve also come during dinner and was just meh, it’s like a nicer olive garden without the breadsticks and salads. Server in the main dining area was just okay. the bartenders and servers at the bar are all really wonderful though.

My fiancée and I had narrowed tonight’s dinner down to Italian. We just weren’t sure where we wanted to eat — up for debate was Brio, Prego, and Coppa Osteria. Given that parking at Rice Village tends to be a hassle, I opted for Brio since we had a great experience at the City Centre location.
For a Saturday night and without a reservation, we lucked out and landed a table. Things seemed a little hectic since the party of 23 before us apparently didn’t get their reservation in and the staff were working to get them situated. We were seated and decided we should probably order our dinner before the rush of the huge party before us set in.
Another waiter took our order — I think the one assigned to our table was busy with the commotion? Unfortunately, our order must have gotten rehashed to the real waitress by the guy who took our order and some of the order got lost in the game of telephone. The order for our app didn’t get placed so our entrees had arrived and we decided we could just do without the calamari since the real food was already here. I had order the Veal Milanese since it was so awesome the last time I came, but it looked a little different this time around… I was a little concerned, but thought maybe there was a different spin on it since we were at the River Oaks location instead of the City Centre one. I tried the protein and it tasted a little more like chicken than veal. At that moment in time, a gentleman approached our table (later to find out that he was the manager) and asked how everything was going. I mentioned that it looked a little different than the last time I got the veal and he quickly told me that it was chicken and the order had been incorrectly placed. He was very apologetic and told me that he’d have it corrected (I was VERY grateful with the excellent service). He returned with the corrected entrée and mentioned that he had heard about the app mishap. He again apologized and mentioned that he’d comp my entrée as well as cover dessert! The rest of the night went on without a hitch and I was extremely pleased with the way the entire situation was handled.
There have been times when I’ve gone to restaurants and there have been more egregious errors made and instead of working to fix the problem, I’ve simply gotten a dumb look. This entire experience at Brio (even with the hiccups) deserves a 5 star from me. Mistakes are made everyday, but it’s how they are handled that is a true measure of customer service. The manager invited us back to give Brio River Oaks a second chance. It’s a no brainer that I’ll be back to this location. Hats off to you Brio River Oaks!

Hey Brio, just FYI, I like my servers attentive, friendly, and professional, kthx. Which is pretty much the opposite of what I experienced at your bar last night.
Me: «Excuse me.»
Server: «Yeah, w’sup, w’sup?»
Me: «Two questions. To go boxes?‘
Server: «Nope! …haha, just kidding.»
Me: «Um, okay… and dessert menu?»
Server: «HELLLLL no! …nah, I gotchu.»
Friend: «I’d like to order the Aperol Spritz cocktail, please.»
Server: «Ooh no no no, shit’s nasty. Go with the Sangria Rosa.»
(I appreciate the honestly; I don’t appreciate the rather obscene delivery.)
Don’t get me wrong — their HH is pretty sweet. With $ 3.95 tasters and $ 5 drinks, Brio’s HH is one of the better food + drink HH deals in the H. From our most favorite dish of the night to our least favorite, we tried the Spicy Shrimp w/​Eggplant (we ended up ordering 2!), Beef Carpaccio, Tomato & Mozzarella Capri, Crispy Shrimp Piccante, Ravioli Caprese, and Shrimptini. Portion-​wise and taste-​wise, you get what you pay for — the plates are small and, aside from the Spicy Shrimp w/​Eggplant, there’s nothing too spectacular about them. My White Peach Sangria basically tasted like slightly sweet water because it was so overloaded with ice, so my happy hour ended up not being as «happy» as I wanted… :(Oh, and don’t forget dessert! Aside from chocolate cake, bread pudding, cheesecake, and crème brulee, Brio also has a bunch of different individual parfaits that are perfectly portioned for one. The Milk Chocolate Caramel one is chocolate heaven!
So, in conclusion, awesome HH deal. Okay food. Yummy desserts. Bar area has plenty of seating. And service? Hah! Is this a Brio Tuscan Grille establishment or a Chili’s? I seriously can’t even tell the difference.

My husband and I went for lunch today for the first time I had the salmon with angel hair pasta. My husband had the Shrimp Mediterranean. It was delicious. It had a nice atmosphere without being snooty. The waiter was very attentive. We will definitely go again.

This review is solely for the Kirby location, as I’ve dined at the City Centre on multiple occasions and never had any problems there. The food would have been good if it hadn’t been overly salty, but this review isn’t about that. This is about their (lack of) customer service both times I dealt with them. I don’t know if it’s just because I had coupons to use both times or what, but they made me feel like I was interrupting some very important mission or my money isn’t good enough.
The first time the hostess incorrectly told me that my «buy one, get one» coupon meant I had to buy 2 entrees to receive one free. Her answer was obviously incorrect, and her attitude was so awful that I just decided to contact their corporate office to clarify the coupon’s terms instead of arguing with her.
The second time, today, both the hostess and manager on duty were rudely impatient. To the manager’s credit, he did help me get the 20% discount when my coupon wouldn’t work for the online order, but had not an ounce of friendliness in his voice the whole time. The hostess was cold from the moment I stepped in the door to pick up my order, like it was such an inconvenience for her to reach behind her and grab my food. Because, you know, there were so many people waiting for a table. (there wasn’t even one) When I left, all she could say was I didn’t write the total down (I don’t tip for takeout, so this should’ve been obvious), and didn’t bother to thank me.
I don’t know if they feel like they can get away with this behavior because of the location, but 1.) they’re not nearly upscale enough to warrant it, and 2.) I’m sticking to the City Centre location from now on, even though I live closer to this one.

I haven’t tried their happy hour but I know it’s a great place for brunch. My husband and I came here for brunch after church service. Great food and staff.

For the price go elsewhere! Decent food but TERRIBLE customer service!
When booking the reservation the hostess asked my girlfriend if we were dining for anything important and told them it was my 30^th birthday. The hostess said she wanted to know so she could make a note of it.
After arriving and being seated we immediately began a receiving sub par experience. It was rather empty that night (probably due to the national championship on TV that night and the fact it was a Monday) so sitting without water or bread after ordering our drinks for at least 5 – 10 minutes is not what I’d expect. If I didn’t get up and tell another waiter we wanted water and bread I don’t doubt it would have taken longer if we would have gotten it at all (our waiter was nowhere in sight for most of the night).
The service was what I had an issue with the entire night. I felt like the waiter was never in sight when we wanted anything to the point that I wouldn’t doubt he was watching the football game in the bar area. After clearing our plates he didn’t give the option for desert, didn’t ask if we wanted to see the desert menu and simply brought the check before we even asked. Being my 30^th and that my girlfriend had mentioned it was my birthday I was highly disappointed! I’m not usually one to complain but this was a big deal to me and this is why I’m posting this
All of this leaves a bad taste I’m my mouth.
With all the other great options Houston has to offer I have to say I will never be dining here again.

5 stars based on happy hour. $ 3.95 + reverse happy hour, you can’t beat that! I was super excited there was a River Oaks location so I met up with a girlfriend.
+ Sangria Rosa — was very nice and sweet, but not too sweet
+ Strawberry Mojito — ehhh, get the Sangria Rosa!
+ Spicy Shrimp w/​eggplant — Ultimate fav and must-​have, OMG that sauce is AMAZING. If I were at home I would be licking that plate up, the sauce is so good you don’t want it to go to waste. I usually order the Brio Burger and dip my burger in that yummy goodness.
+ Spinach Artichoke dip — just perfect with those crispy parm flatbreads
+ Crispy Shrimp — pretty scrumptious, especially with the spicy aioli drizzle
+ Margarita Flatbread — light and delicious
Conclusion, we were both very happy for the hour.

Reverse happy hour, loving the shrimp picante while sipping on pomegranate martini.

I went to Brio last night (12÷13÷12) for my office’s Christmas party. So we had reservations.
Since this was reserved for an event, I can only write about my experience. I know a lot of people have complained on things like bad service/​etc.
I arrived at 6pm and was prompted shown to the room where our party was being held at. Every time a new guest arrived; they asked if they needed a drink. So the pre-​meal service was good. When everyone got there, we were seated and our orders were placed. Since this was reserved. we had to order from a simplified menu (soup or salad and a choice of 1 entrée from a selection of 3).
The appetizer was this pizza looking dried flatbread which was pretty tasty. Also they had bread. My Italian Wedding soup came out and I dipped the French bread into the soup. The Italian Wedding soup was actually really good. I would give it a ⁴⁄₅.
I ordered the Lasagna Bolognese Al Forno as my entrée. The Lasagna came out, and they served a pretty big portion. It was big enough for me, and I typically eat a lot. I think there was a little too much cheese on the Lasagna, but never the less it was actually pretty good… the flavor was there. I give the Lasagna a ⁴⁄₅.
The ambient/​atmosphere of Brio was pleasant. Service was good and so was the food. Again I might have had a different experience if I did not have it reserved/​catered.

Oh wow. So I’ve been here a few times but overall I must say I’m pretty disappointed. The last time I went to Brio was about two weeks ago, and I’ve waited two weeks to write this review in hopes that my anger would recede. Happy hour. The happy hour menu is pretty good. It would be even BETTER if you got your food within a reasonable amount of time and the servers didn’t give you attitude. Let’s start at the beginning…
My coworkers and I had been to Brio before for happy hour and we thought it was okay. Nothing outstanding, but it wasn’t super crowded and the burgers were cheap. We mosey in around 6pm and order some drinks. And the problems begin:
COMPLAINT 1: BAD SERVICE PART 1
Our server was in and out dropping things off without even looking or asking to see if we needed anything else. This caused him to be busier because he had to come back to our table 15 times instead of figuring out everything we needed and doing it all in one trip (e.g., one person asks for a water, and two more of us are asking for waters but he is starting to walk off and does not turn back. As a result, he has to go get two more waters 5 seconds later instead of just pausing and doing it all in one trip. Listening makes life much more efficient.)
COMPLAINT 2: SLOW SERVICE
Around 6:30pm we place our orders (a mix of dine-​in and to-​go because some were just there for drinks). Slowly the food starts coming out, NOT all together. One burger here, a flatbread there, 2 more burgers. By 7:10pm, none of the to-​go orders placed had been brought out and we were missing one very simple spinach and artichoke dip (give me break, how long does spinach dip take to heat up??). At this point we’ve asked our waiter a few times about the food and he says it’ll be out shortly, his excuse being that the kitchen is backed up. We look around, pretty sure I only counted maybe 10 tables in the entire restaurant. I used to be a server, please don’t blame the kitchen if it’s on you. There is NO way the kitchen is so backed up that it take over 40 minutes to get spinach dip out.
COMPLAINT 3: FOOD DELIVERY
Food should be brought out all together. It is so weird when half the people have their food and half don’t. Do you eat? Do you not eat? If you don’t eat then your food will be cold. Just don’t do it. TOGETHER.
COMPLAINT 4: BAD SERVICE PART 2
After we asked the server several times about our food, I got up to look for a manager. Just as I did, our server was coming back and I asked him if the food was ready yet and he said, very rudely, «I can only do one thing at a time.» ARE YOU KIDDING? You are in the service industry. So rude, that in itself did it for me.
CONCLUSION
When we finally got the checks everything was wrong. Extra drinks on one tab, extra appetizers on others. It was just all so frustrating.
Around 7:30pm, the manager came by later to see how things were because he knew something was wrong. We told him everything that happened and he was very apologetic. He said the to-​go orders would be out soon and about 15 minutes later they were! Yay (sarcasm), an hour and 15 minutes later, we all left together, even the people that placed the to-​go orders and meant to leave by 7pm.
The server only apologized after one of the guys called him out on being rude. The manager really was very nice and comped one guys’ meal. But all in all it was a completely frustrating experience and we will NOT be back.

SALT! SALT! AND MORE SALT!!!
Wow. Up until recently I only had their appetizers, which are acceptable, but I finally had a full dinner here. I started out with the lobster bisque, which is topped with shrimp, quite tasty but somewhat salty. I balanced it out with their bread. As far as my main entrée I had the chicken and butternut squash risotto. When it came out it looked delicious, but after my first bite I was struck with ALL of the salt. I finished the dish but I had to down 3 glasses of water to balance it out.
I must say the SERVICE here was top notch though. If it wasn’t for the saving service this place would be a total 1 star. For 30 bucks I’m expecting more, Olive Garden blows them away.

I recently went to happy hour at Brio’s and was pleasantly surprised by what I found. The restaurant is in the old Pesce building, which if I remember correctly used to be borders (not 100% sure though). It is decorated pretty upscale. The bar area has some great windows that open to let breeze in (on those few days we actually have a breeze!)
Happy hour drinks were $ 5 and the appetizers were about $ 3.95, pretty good value if you ask me! Happy hour ran until 7pm. Our waiter was a little slow but gave us free appetizer cards for the next time, so we forgave him! lol. Definitely recommend this happy hour. The margherita flat bread and shrimp cocktail were great and so was the white sangria! I tasted my friend’s spinach dip and it was also pretty tasty. Next time I should get the burger, which was highly recommended by a few people.

Food
–Delicious. Wide range of assortment.
–Man had steak, was one of best steaks I had in Houston, served med rare
–I ordered the creamy goodness. Vodka Pasta with add on of chicken. Was delicious.
–We got there at happy hour and ordered happy hour appetizer, crab and spin dip. Was good, but didnt blow me away, would still get again though.
Drinks
–Had wine. Was great.
–Man had raspberry cosmo, also on happy hour for only $ 5, was delicious.
–Man also had pomegranite cosmo, was good.
Atmosphere
–Sat at bar, romantic, upscale atmosphere
–Cool vibe, they open the windows and its very elegant
Service
–Great bartender, was on top of it.
–Manager was very nice
Overall
–Will return w my man, by myself, or with my boos anyday.
–Great happy hour twice a day.
–Great location in middle of town and action.