Gugliani’s Rice Village

My husband and I really like this place! It’s BYOB and good Italian food!
I have had several pasta dishes, salads and pizzas. It’s always good. The service is great! The bread they start you off with is delicious, it’s hard to save room for your meal!

This is what used to be called Collina’s Café.
They don’t get much play or acclaim for their pizza, so I’m not gourmet expert, but this is and has always been my favorite comfort pizza in Houston. I’ve been here countless times in the last 6 – 7 years, and always get a cheese pizza. The pizza’s no feat of mastery perhaps, but I just love how much cheese they put on it and how stringy and moist the cheese is :(rather than dried and congealed). Again, my pick fo comfort-​style cheesy pizza.

After browsing around Rice Village looking for a new place to try, some friends and I decided to check out Gugliani’s — a small, Italian establishment tucked in the heart of Rice Village. They have tables both inside and outside but this particular day, we decided to sit inside next to a rather large party that was seated at the center.
Our waiter was very quick to get our drink order and allowed for ample time to decide on what to order. Gugliani’s is fairly small so service shouldn’t have really been a problem; not to mention, the place wasn’t exactly packed. Regardless, looking over the menu, I noticed they have a fair amount of pasta dishes and some various platters but my party decided to share a pizza. Which pizza was our next obstacle. After vigorously reading over the various selections they offer, and deciding not to go the way of create-​your-​own, we settled on the Pollo. A pizza made of chicken, cream sauce, basil and a «touch» of marinara. Note the touch is in quotes because the cream sauce was lacking and the marinara was overpowering, not exactly my definition of a «touch».
Our pizza came out relatively quickly, something to be cautious of is the rack that they place your pizza on doesn’t provide the greatest support. I nearly flung a slice across the restaurant when trying to cut myself a slice. It’s preferable to have a set of three hands helping you to avoid losing a slice. Note to Gugliani’s: cutting the slices a bit better may reduce this risk.
Overall, the food isn’t the best in the world but for the price, it’s about average. I wasn’t disappointed with the Pollo but I also wasn’t blown away. The waiter was very nice and the food arrived promptly. They use a «brick oven» to cook their pizzas; brick oven may possible be just a high powered oven in this case. I asked if it was a brick oven and the waiter did answer yes but I saw no brick oven in site. No problem, though. Decent food for a decent price. When looking for an affordable Italian restaurant in the village, Gugliani’s may be able to provide.

BEWARE OF THE PUTRID SEAFOOD PIZZA! I ordered the pizza served with crayfish, shrimp, and crab and it was ROTTEN. The worst thing was it took me two bites to realize I was eating rancid seafood. I didn’t believe such a nice looking restaurant could serve such a rotting dish. I ended up puking decaying seafood later that night.
It gets more stinky. We told the waitress and she gives us the bill, tells us to fill out a survey to talk to her manager. We told them about the decaying pizza situation and what do they do? Give us an automated email coupon for our next visit.

Im truly disappointed that they changed this place from a Collinas to a Guglianis. They have essentially the same menu, but are missing one of the key elements from the Collinas specialty: The wedge salad. Beyond that, its all relatively the same.
I’m a creature of habit so I usually always get the same thing and its obviously something I like. Its essentially a self fulfilling bias, I think the restaurant is good.
The Z-​Special is a mishmash of all the meats you could potentially put on a pizza joined with a ton of veggies. I really cant complain about it. Its probably some of the better tasting pizza ive had.
Additionally, I get the simple spaghetti and meatballs. Its pretty good. But then again, I guess it would be pretty difficult to mess up a S & M. It makes for a quick run at dinner if you are studying or generally busy. There are better places around there that you can visit. Just look around.

I really like Gugliani’s. I usually go to the one in Meyerland because it’s close to work. This was the first time I had ever been to this location.
It was a Friday night and it was really crowded. Luckily they were able to seat us quickly. The service was good, although our server seemed a little frazzled. He missed out on some opportunities to make more money — if he had offered me a side salad or an additional glass of wine, I would have said yes. But since he didn’t ask, I wasn’t as tempted.
The seating was a little cramped and they sat us next to the patio door. Every time the pizza delivery guy went in and out I got a burst of cold air. That wasn’t pleasant, but it’s not really the restaurant’s fault — they’re doing their best with a very small sized restaurant.
The food was delicious as always. I adore the complimentary bread. I had the manicotti and it was great. As was the red wine. Prices were right too.
I always leave Gugliani’s full and satisfied.

the lasagna was surprisingly light. good service. everything else seemed average.

Excellent customer service! A waiter saw us outside looking for another restaurant, when we couldn’t find it he convinced us to come in and it was very good. We tried to lunch special, house or cesar salad and personal pizza for $ 9. A very good value considering all the toppings, I’ve noticed too many pizza places that are getting skimpy on their toppings. The crust was delicious and the cheese and all topping were of high quality. Will definitely come back.

Nice staff, decent atmosphere, the food lacked some spark. I might give it another shot and try lasagna or spaghetti and meatballs which are my standard for any Italian place.

Gugliani’s gets good marks for service, everything came out quickly, the staff was very nice but the food is just so-​so. Don’t get me wrong, the abruzzo pizza was quite tasty and filling, exactly what I was looking for at the time. It was just good, but not great. Gugliani’s is a decent option if you’re looking for Italian while in the Rice Village area, but it’s not worth going out of your way for.

Terrible service and on a hot Houston evening they propped open the doors because they burnt something in the kitchen. Food quality was like they opened a can and then prices were just too high for all of this. Even the dessert was cheap and tasted like a refrigerator. Really like it was freezer burnt. Who would top a Tiramisu with Hershey’s syrup? The waitress didn’t even add the check up correctly, she just was not the sharpest crayon in the box. Needless to say I will not be going back, ever.

I arrived at Gugliani’s around 8:20PM this evening with my husband and another couple. We sat outside and received prompt service of bread, water, and glasses to supplement the two bottles of wine that we had brought. As a group, we ordered an appetizer, a salad, and four specialty pizzas. Three of these pizzas arrived, as ordered, but one that was requested without onions came with onions but lacking olives instead. The waiter apologized for the mistake (which is no doubt accounted for by the similarity in those two words) and offered to have the pizza re-​made the correct way. He explained that it would take 10 minutes to make the new pizza. Since I had ordered that particular pizza, I felt that the choice was mine, and declined the waiter’s offer. I did not want the others to wait 10 minutes to begin eating their dinner and knew that I would be able to sneak a few pieces from their pizzas. The waiter apologized again, asked me if I was sure, and upon receiving my confirmation, went back into the restaurant.
We enjoyed the three pizzas that had arrived and were not disturbed, in the least, by the simple misunderstanding that had taken place. The difficulty arose about 15 minutes later when the waiter returned outside and informed me that since we had ordered four pizzas, he would need to charge us for four pizzas, and, this time, offered to bring out the correct pizza that they had just made. Needless to say, I was surprised that a pizza had been made for me against my wishes and even more surprised that I was being asked to pay for the restaurant’s mistake. I explained to the waiter (not yet agitated) that he would need to take the fourth pizza off the check. He explained that he couldn’t do so and that he had already spoken with the manager. I requested to speak to a manager as well.
During the next 20 minutes, I watched the man I would later identify as Mr. Nieves speaking with our waiter, making large hand gestures, and holding his head in his hands. Our waiter returned to our table after this long exchange and explained that the manager was occupied with something in the back and would be out shortly. I’m sure I do not need to explain my surprise when Mr. Nieves finally emerged, 10 minutes later. Apparently Mr. Nieves was not aware that he was perfectly visible sitting at restaurant table while we waited for him to «handle something in the back.» I am also certain that waiting a total of 30 minutes to speak with a manager is not part of your service strategy.
When I was finally able to speak with Mr. Nieves, I began by (calmly still at this point) telling him that I did not understand the issue. He explained that we had to pay for four pizzas because we ordered four pizzas. When I explained that we were only eating three due to a mistake on the restaurant’s part, he insisted that we must pay for all four and offered to bring out the extra pizza. Perhaps it is useful to remind you that I asked the waiter not to order a corrected pizza and note that we had finished our dinner at this point. I went back and forth with Mr. Nieves multiple times and, though I cannot remember every word that was spoken, I can assure you that the only ones I was listening for were notably absent. Mr. Nieves did not apologize a single time and would not budge on insisting that we pay for the pizza which, for all I know, was never even made. I have no shame whatsoever in saying that I became very angry during this exchange and stated, bluntly, that there was no way I was paying for the absent pizza. When Mr. Nieves again refused to compromise, I explained that there were only two possible outcomes to this situation– either we would pay for what we had consumed, or we would pay for nothing. He, obviously bluffing, responded that he «would not like to involve the police.» Unfortunately for him, I was not deterred in any way by this threat and, in fact, would have gladly witnessed Mr. Nieves receiving a ticket from the West University Police Department for calling in such a ridiculous situation and, in turn, diminishing the resources available for real emergencies.
The police did not arrive but the check did, with all four pizzas charged.

My fiancé found this place on accident. We were roaming Rice Village, and wanted to eat at some place new and casual.
We tried the Marco Pollo (I think — it’s the chicken pizza) and the Mona Lisa. As far as I’m concerned, their pizzas are ***masterpieces****! Savory sauces, perfect crusts, melty cheeses, and delicious toppings! Yum, yum, yum!
The service is very friendly. The style of the restaurant is very welcoming and visually-​pleasing.
This place makes the best pizza I’ve ever had in my entire life. The house chianti ain’t bad either (perfect with the Mona Lisa).
Gugliani’s, where have you been my whole life???

I wasn’t impressed with Gugliani’s at all. I would have rather went to Collina’s for better food. First off, it was extremely loud and I wasn’t able to hear anyone at our table. I do admit that the restaurant is good for kids, since there were kids at almost every table including ours. I ordered the manicotti and It was basically a big block of mozzarella cheese. I am a cheese fanatic and I am now admit that some things (even italian) can definitely have too much cheese. I couldn’t even tell if there was pasta and really didn’t notice any ricotta cheese in it either. I definitely should have ordered pizza or a different pasta. I was really craving italian too!

I’ve always liked Gugliani’s (formerly known as Collina’s). We always come for their pizza and because they are BYOB with a corking fee. Their pizza is really tasty, and we have never had a bad pizza here. The bread they give you at dinner is amazing.
I will say that everything else on their menu has been disappointing. Granted, I haven’t had much else on their menu, but I remember the lasagna and ravioli were both too small, and bland.
Come with a big group, and get one of their giant pizzas, with a few bottles of wine for a good, and inexpensive time. Just don’t go venturing off the menu too far.

This is a really cute little Italian place. The service is pretty good. They are also very friendly. I have ordered the manacotti there twice. Once was in the restaurant the other was to go. It was very delicious there, but when I got the to go order the top was squished in and the sauce was everywhere. Prices are pretty good but this isn’t an amazing Italian place but I will still keep going since the prices are good and the location is also pretty good.

I can only speak for the delivery, but I was unimpressed.
Having been to Gugliani’s a while ago when it was Collina’s, I expected that ordering chicken parmigiana was a safe bet. It turns out, I was wrong. The chicken parmigiana was tough and chewy, the pasta was bland, and the spinach had an odd, bitter taste. Also, the house salad was okay, but the dressing had a strange flavor.
I wish I had gone to the grocery store and cooked dinner instead. I may try going to Gugliani’s, but I definitely won’t order delivery again.

Really enjoyed the pizza here. Came with a group. The food came out pretty quickly (it was a Tuesday night).
They were friendly about splitting the check 6 ways. I may go up or down a star depending on how good a non-​pizza meal is when I come back a second time.
Ditto the earlier posting that said the place looks pretty much like it just changed its name from Collina’s (and perhaps new management and some [very] minor tweaks to the menu).

Shoulda stuck with the pizza…
Gugliani’s looks exactly like the Collina’s it used to be, so I’m guessing it was just a management/​name change. I had only been twice before to Collina’s and remember the pizza being excellent. This time I went with my go-​to-​dish of meat lasagna, and boy was I disappointed. It came out kinda dry and bland, like overcooked ground hamburger meat in layers of cheese. Shoulda stuck with the pizza!
Service was nice, though a little slow (we had a large party). Casual atmosphere, but with the one large room it can get pretty loud inside. You pretty much had to shout to be heard across the table. They have a nice outdoor seating area which I’ve yet to try.
Bottom line: Good for when meeting friends on the weekend or when you need someplace to take the kids. Stick to the pizza. See reviews of Collina’s for details.