Vincenzo’s Italian Grill and Bar

Place is closed down, also it changed hands and became another flop of a restaurant, which is now also defunct. The new name was Cal-Vino’s; which just had no flavor even in the name. The ONE time i tried to eat their they didn’t have the 3 items i wanted! Not even the ingredients to make a Caprese Salad at what it suppose to be Italian!
This is what happens when businesses don’t know how to chart in these dangerous Houston waters…

Oh my gosh. This place is wonderful.
So let me start out by saying that the place underwent a régime change of sorts; completely new management, and completely new staff. The name is currently Vincenzo’s but the menus say «Calvino’s» and all the staff tells me it will change soon.
My Experience:
I was treated to an incredibly chipper host who also acted as our waiter. It was a Tuesday evening and my group and I were the only patrons in the entire building (most certainly a lack of attention since the makeover). The space inside the building is absolutely gorgeous with eclectic décor and comfortable seating. I easily could have sat there all evening and dabbled in the delightful menu.
Between the four of us in the group we each had something different, from Manicotti to Chicken Alfredo to Blackened Salmon. I myself had the manicotti and dare I say this on the internet where my mother can find it, it was the best I’ve ever had. Perfectly cooked, with each ingredient playing an important role in the dish, with none being over cooked or under cooked. Whoever that chef is ROCKS. My group members also sang the praises of their dishes as well. We had the Calamari to start and it was finely delivered with an awesome sauce (something like the creamy jalapeño dip from Chuy’s?).
We stayed for desert, sharing the tiramisu with a friend and the cheesecake with the other two. Both were delicious, though the tiramisu was a little moist where I expect the center layer of cake to be a little more firm. The cheesecake was rightfully creamy and the strawberries were fresh and delicious.
The waiter was a constant help, never letting my glass empty and the manager too, checking in on occasion to ensure a great experience. Though we were the only patrons we were certainly taken care of.
Next trip I make to Houston i’ll be stopping by this amazing little spot. It seems from previous reviews that the building seems to be doomed to all who set up shop there. But the manager seems to be doing a great job of entertaining the space nicely. It isn’t too brightly lit and on Fridays they apparently have salsa dancers and live bands on the stage near the bar. It seems like a nicely operated place and well worth your dime and time.

We went for lunch on a Saturday & were the only people there. That should’ve been our first clue. One of the chefs was sitting at a table in the restaurant with a tv on the table. They offered buffet that day. It looked totally dried out & disgusting. Waiter was nice, but very awkward. Couldn’t seem to carry more than one thing at a time. Also, seemingly had to settle an argument with the chef by checking with my husband what kind of chicken he wanted with his meal.
We had salads to start. The veggies were fresh, but the ranch & blue cheese were disgusting. After waiting for what seemed like forever, they finally brought out our $ 10 calamari. It was a tiny plate with a dozen or so mushy microwaved calamari rings on it. We decided it was too risky to gamble on the main course, so we left before our entrees came. My husband paid for what we had & left the waiter a tip. I felt like we were being Punk’d or on Kitchen Nightmares.

OMG!!! Worst food and worst restaurant I have been to. I travel for work throughout US and have eaten at so many different places but have never found a place like this.
I am trying to figure if Unilocal would allow me to give them negative 5 stars. The place is near gunspoint (greenspoint) mall so we were not expecting a high end place.
We walked in at 6:30 PM and there were no one in at the restaurant except us. We said table for three and the guy at the front asks us for what? It seemed to me there main business is something other than food (of course it’s right next to gunspoint mall).
Finally, we sat at the table. Our order was taken and food arrived after 45 mins. Mind you, there was no one in the restaurant so we thought the food had to be good as it took a while. It was the worst italian food I have ever tested. That was the same case with other two folks who were with me. BTW, all the entries were cold as if they were taken out of freezer and microwaved.
We ended up leaving in 10 mins. We finally got pizza delivered at the hotel.
DO NOT EVER GO THERE.

The delivery took about a hour and a half if not more. The person who took my order was decent. The delivery guy was sweet. The food was horrible. The 8oz steak tasted like rubber and truly was a sad excuse for a steak. The sautéed vegetables were unidentifiable. The mash potatoes was basically water mixed with flour, not good. Overall I would never waste a dime here and I’m pretty upset that I already wasted more than that. I tasted the food and ended up throwing it out. Got Pizza Hut instead…

The only reason I am giving Vincenzo’s 2 stars is because the person who took my order was polite and delivery was fast. As for the food however, it was a complete let down. I ordered the Chicken Piccata which shouldn’t even be called that. It seem like they just grilled a couple of frozen chicken strips, pored a Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup (without the mushrooms) over top and put it on a big pile of spaghetti. I tasted no lemon and there were about three capers on the entire plate. To make things worse, the chicken was under cooked. It makes me wonder how places like this can stay in business. In any case, the bill came out to be $ 16 and some change which if you ask me is too over priced for what it is. Save your pocket book and Italian craving and try somewhere else.

OMG!!! I’m still laughing at how atrocious and ridiculous this place is! I went to a dance graduation that picked this location as the venue. As you may have read from the other reviews this place has an awkward configuration with the dance floor in the middle of the place and the hideously aged décor. It needs an extreme makeover! However, the tiks for the meal and show were only $ 10 so before I knew where this thing was taking place, I had already told myself why not?
Now I know why not! The food was cold.. .there was not enough silverware to supply the patrons. Seeing people clean forks so other people can eat just isn’t professional and probably not sanitary. I guess for $ 10 they should have made it a BYOU (Bring your own utensils)?
The meal included chicken fettuccine which was cold and not very saucy, a «salad» that had no tomatoes not carrots, cheese, onions.. .yeah so it was basically lettuce. I guess I looked like a rabbit that evening.
Buttered bread and a napkin was available, but lo and behold we noticed that we were actually supposed to get fish with our meal as nuggets arrived at the end of the table and zoomed past me and the other person I was talking to. We looked at each other and wondered if they just passed us up, but people that know me KNOW I don’t mind asking a question. I politely told one of the servers that we didn’t get any fish. Will get some fish now since we’re at the end of the line?
You won’t BEEEELIEVE the response we received – they shrugged their shoulders!!! What DA WHAT!!! Me and the other young lady in line looked at each other again. I followed up with another question: Can WE GO get the fish?
How about they said yes oh sure you can get back in line and get it. Now, my mama taught me a long time ago to never t cut people in line – especially hungry people, so I asked if that would be a problem. They said it wouldn’t but I was ready to defend myself just in case.
Once i had my food on my plate, I did a long prayer over the entire cold entrée and digged in, but never in my life have I tasted fried fish without a speck of salt. I know people are health consciuos and cannot have too much salt on their food, but if it’s that serious – don’t eat fried foods! DOOOOOOOOOOY!!!
Everything about this place is just wring to the 10^th power, so let the force be with you to drive somewhere else away from this area to find decent food and atmosphere in the future!

Unfortunately, I can’t recommend this place. There don’t seem to be a lot of restaurants in the immediate area, but if I knew what I was in for, i’d have gone to Whattaburger. When I looked at the menu, I was shocked at the prices of what I knew was going to be very mediocre food. I should have checked Unilocal first, because I never would have gone in there! We had «homemade» mushroom soup and fettucini alfredo. Both were bland. $ 8 for a mixed green salad out of the bag? No. The best thing I can say was … the server was friendly. Skip this place.

Went for lunch. The empty parking lot and the absence of a host/​hostess should have been enough of an indicator, but I had heard decent things from people in the area. Had the spaghetti and meatballs. The pasta was cooked perfectly, but the sauce and meatballs had an odd flavor as far as the spices in them.
The place was nearly empty at 12:30 p.m. on a weekday. There were perhaps three other tables with customers in the entire place. The décor is dark wood. The place is outdated, musty, and dreary.
The waiter provided decent and friendly service. Another waiter made some unintelligible comment about dessert. The owner/​manager came by my table to give me a flyer about «Karaōke and Bikers» minus the Bikers now. Guess they used to have Karaōke for Bikers?
This placed was weird to say the least. It was certainly nothing to write home about. It’s very easy to miss the entrance to this restaurant, which wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. In the future, I will probably just go to Sbarro inside Greenspoint Mall.

This place was… odd. I went there with one other person for Thursday happy hour but we were literally the only 2 people in the restaurant. To make things worse when i walked in, somebody greeted me and said «Can I help you?» which, to me, is kind of an odd question to ask someone walking in to a restaurant. I said «I’m here for dinner» to which they responded «Oh, you’re here to eat?» …um, yes, what else would I be doing?
Anyway food was not good, I had the eggplant parm and the eggplant was impossible to cut through. Not sure if it was under ripe or what. My fiancé had the chicken lasagna which was disappointing as well. The waitress was quick, but super awkward.
Not sure what else to say except that it was a pretty big let down and we wont be going back.

We went at lunch and only one person was working the entire dinning room. We waited to be seated. When the waiter left he never asked for our drinks. He finally dropped three waters and took off again. We waited another 5 minutes until we gave up and left. The menu was very limited. Will never go back.

So, I’m chilling at the Hyatt Place with an early morning flight the next morning… and it’s dinner time so I Unilocaled the neighborhood (Greenspoint?) and found Vicenzo’s. In a mood for Italian… off I went. As previously described, they still don’t have a big sign and I drove past the place… making a sharp right turn after I passed it and parking in the empty lot.
There was a car with the alarm going off in the lot (an omen???) and from the outside, the place looked empty, but I was committed and in I went. The hostess was very pleasant and looked positively thrilled that a customer had walked in. I perused the joint and sure enough, I was the ONLY customer. This was 7:15pm on a Friday night mind you! They walked me to a table and sat me down. Pet peeve #1. I am in an empty restaurant. I am the only customer. There are a LOT of empty tables. And they put me at a table for two. Jeez… I got to spend the next 90 minutes looking at the empty booths near me.
While I was the only customer, there was a team of octogenarians tuning up instruments… a sax, harmonica and electric piano. Evidently, they have live big band music several nights a week.
My server literally ran over to me and I ordered a jack and diet… then looked for the menu. I thought that she had handed me a list of specials… but it was the menu. Limited selection (3 apps), no salads listed, about seven entrees and a bunch of pizzas. I ordered the fried calamari and asked if the lasagna was any good. My waitress made a weird face and told me that she thought they didn’t have meat lasagna, but did have chicken lasagna. She said she’d check and off she went. First, she asked me if I wanted a salad which I ordered with thousand island dressing. She came back with the salad in about 30 seconds and told me they did have the lasagna.
By this time Jerry and Mary (the performers) were beginning to sing and lo and behold, in came some customers. Soon there were about ten couples in, all seated near the band (nowhere near me) and they all got up and danced. One thing about the crowd… I’m in my 50’s and I was the youngest person there by twenty years.
My calamari came (it was pretty good) and the lasagna was tasty as well. Clearly homemade, but nothing to rave about but serviceable. Oh yeah, they feature free garlic bread (a long roll slathered with the stuff).
One disturbing thing that kept happening (twice) was that there was feedback from trucker CB radios over the audio system and it was LOUD. Almost painfully loud.
I polished off my food, then waited 15 minutes for my check as they had to battle the credit card machine. The owner gave me his card and made me promise to call him if I got double billed. Yikes.
Dinner was about $ 33 for two drinks, app, salad and lasagna. Not overly expensive and they charged me less for the pasta than the price on the menu.
My final verdict on this place? I first thought it was eminently forgettable, then the music started and it become pretty charming. I don’t know if they are gonna make it. Even with the music, there wasn’t much of a crowd… don’t know how they will survive if that is the norm. Oh yeah, i got to witness an animated argument between the chef and a waiter. I thought they would come to blows, but they instead came to their senses. Dunno what the were arguing about. I travel a lot and eat in a lot of restaurants. This was one of the more surreal experiences I have ever had.

So this place is huge… and we were the only people there, around 4:45 on a Saturday. Nice décor, I guess. The menu is simple, very very simple. We had a tea and diet coke, which was turned to a pepsi and other various things throughout two refils in our ‘wine glasses’, I felt very 15 years old and as though I was pretending to be grown up here… The iced tea, holly crap this stuff is potent, they say its starbucks tea? Good, VERY, crazy strong. Our waiter was very polite and eager to please, we had to cheese sticks appetizer, the marinara was yummy, cheese sticks of the frozen variety but I expected that. The 7inch pizza, now this is where I get very dissapointed, we had pep and onion, the pizza was literally 4 inches across, I downloaded an app on my phone and measured! I didnt say anything but I wouldnt return, it was a definate rip for 6 bucks and 4 inches. The 16″ is 13 dollars, hopefully you would get a 10 inch pizza out of that…
Then as we are waiting on the pizza to come out the limo comes up with the high school pre dance kids, finalizing my ‘I’m so cool here is my tea in a wine glass theory“
I asked about a salad too, I was told thats a week day thing for lunch? Right, Also the ranch was yucky. If you want some tea that will keep you up till 3AM and cheese sticks check it out! Seriously though the pizza from the 4 inches was good, but really, where were my other 3 inches?
The owner i would assume did come over and tell us they have live music a few nights a week etc…

I guess if you buy a haunted restaurant, it makes sense to open it near Halloween. Moo-​ha-​ha! Does anyone remember «Maggies» restaurant, and the two or three failures before it? The jinxed building lay vacant for nearly a decade, according to carbon-​dating studies, and now Vincenzo will give it a ghoul (pronounced ‘go’ for you early-​morning readers).
Just north of Greens Rd on I-​45 look for the ghostly-​white, droopy cloth sign, near the temporary one for the new Knight’s Inn behind the restaurant. (There must be a backlog at the sign-​making company.)
Lunchtime and it’s sparse of customers (at 3 tables), with ‘gob’lins of empty of tables. The owner kept much of the old Maggies décor, like the stained glass, but it looks like he bought fire-​sale wood paneling and brass railings from the bulldozed TGIF at Greenspoint. It’s woody floors and walls, and wood furniture (white tablecloth with wine glasses) give it a feel of a dinner-​oriented place, but somehow still has the feel of an empty Bennigan’s or Fridays. More tables and a dance floor are on a raised floor, at a perfect height for shoe-​watching by the tables on the main floor. Stairs lead to a future private dining room, where the waitress happily tells me she will have her wedding reception. Or, maybe the stairs lead to where long ago they kidnapped Maggie (?).
The music is easy-​listening, with nice relaxing Italian songs. This is good for deciding what to order for lunch from the simple one-​page paper menu (the chef is focused on a few classics, which could be a good sign). Hmmm. Either I order dinners in the above $ 12 range, or a personal 7″ pizza or small calzone for $ 6. Pizza it is (2 toppings, but I add green pepper for 50c).
I am writing much of this review while waiting for my food. So, if you assume 10 wpm on my Blackberry, then you can estimate how long I waited for my food (…ok, it was 20 minutes or so).
Wait a minute, now they are playing «Hit the Road, Jack». Is that a hint? I hope not.
Waiter is eager to please, and brought me two pieces of soft French-​roll garlic bread, which are butter-​garlicy excellent. Hmmm… that wards-​off vampires, right?
Wait a minute, now they are playing an Italian opera song!
The pizza is delivered very hot by the well-​dressed waiter in black pants, white ironed shirt, black bow-​tie … for some unknown reason reminiscent of Vincent Price. This is all the food I get. No salad bar, like Pizza Hut/​Inn/​Barn/​Teepee. They don’t even offer a side salad on the menu, even though the entrees include one.
But the pizza is excellent (Pepperoni, Italian sausage, green peppers on a nice crispy-​bottom crust). I taste fresh herbs. It must be the home-​made marinara sauce.
The two guys at the table near me also like their entrees, and want to order a dessert and espresso. The waitress sadly tells them there is no espresso machine yet.
As I leave, the music is Tony Bennett singing «The Best is Yet to Come». Hey, at least they didn’t play «Monster Mash»!
All I had was a delicious small pizza and garlic bread; so my review is shaky. But the food was very good, and the staff seems eager to make it work. The too-​many tables in an out-​of-​convenient-​sight location may doom this place, though. So, go now while the chef is eager to impress. Who knows? It might be your next haunt.