Bravo! Cucina Italiana

Yep I know it’s a chain restaurant but I really do enjoy going to Bravo. This my best friend and I favorite places to come and just have a really nice dinner with a little bit of ambiance. The food is always good. Last night I decided to have the salmon with asparagus, sweet potatoes and yellow peppers. It was decent sized portion and everything will season nicely. The waiter was also nice.

Slow, poor service, food mediocre. I only come here when I have to for work events. Manager came over as was less than apologetic or helpful. Wait staff had serious attitude. Had to get chairs for tables ourselves and up 4 times to ask for service. I know it’s busy with the holiday season but you should be more prepared.

I’m stuck between giving three and four stars. On one hand, this is the perfect place for a work lunch. Never a wait. Can always accommodate groups of a variety of sizes. There’s a food choice for everyone at a decent price. Service is always good. On the other hand, I would rarely go here for another type of occasion. Food is good but not extraordinary and ambiance is OK. Like I said, a good, solid lunch option but not my top pick for much else.

We frequent Bravo for many family, celebratory meals from birthdays to holidays. This particular visit was for Father’s Day and we were accompanied by my boyfriends parents and grandmother. They were incredibly busy this Sunday afternoon, I am sure with others out for the holiday as we all know pops love pasta but our service and food was just too bad especially compared to others around us. It looked like our server was new, inexperience or just all around overwhelmed with the crowd but our simple family dinner laster we’ll over 2.5 hours not because we enjoy each other’s company so much. Other tables sat after us had drinks, ordered and had their meals served much, much faster than us and we’re in and out as we found ourselves continually waiting and getting envious of the full glasses and fresh bread at our neighboring tables. There were several glasses left empty and drinks that never got delivered to our table. The coveted complementary bread came out barely cooked after multiple requests.
We made reservations as we knew they would be busy and we need a table that accommodates two wheelchairs. We always call in advance so they aren’t surprised by this request despite the fact all restaurants should be fully accessible… But I digress. This seemed to be a challenge for our hostess’ as they kept adding and removing chairs from our table and put us in a VERY difficult table to reach and maneuver to in a wheelchair. The table next to us was so very close the servers kept bumping grandma in her wheelchair which got old fast for the quick witted 96 year old.
I am sure we will venture here again for another family gathering at some point once everyone forgets about our most recent experience, as it has been traditional a family favorite in the celebratory rotation.

I am never disappointed when I eat here. The food is always delicious and the service is always impeccable. Stopped and had lunch there today and got the Lobster Ravioli with a side salad and it was amazingly good. I highly recommend this place to anyone.

I was looking for somewhere to have lunch. When I searched restaurants near me, Bravo came up. I used to go to the one in Greenwood (I think they closed), but hadn’t been there in years. I have often craved their lobster bisque, which was the only dish I remembered having, so I couldn’t wait to have a bowl of it. It didn’t disappoint. I’ve had lobster bisque at high end restaurants that aren’t as good as the lobster bisque at Bravo… and it’s less than $ 6.00. I had completely forgotten how good their bread and dipping oil was. I tried not to fill up on it, but as I sit here writing this review, I wish I’d eaten that last piece of bread. I didn’t know what to order for my main dish. The waiter suggested one of three dishes on the $ 7.95 lunch special list. I love a bargain, so I chose the Pasta Yandolino. I was surprised at the quantity for such a low price and ended up taking half of it home with me to eat later. I wouldn’t say it was a dish I won’t forget, but it was good enough and filling. I can’t complain.

My husband took myself and our kids here for lunch on Mother’s Day. It was my first visit. The bread and oil was DELICIOUS. I had the Pasta BRAVO and, YUM!!! My daughter, who is a picky eater, bogarted my Italian Wedding soup and finished it off. Can’t wait to go back!

This is my favorite Italian restaurant off all time. The food is never disappointing. Yummy brick oven pizzas and the kids get pizza dough to play with while you wait for your food. Load atmosphere. You can order half portions of the pasta dishes. They do not tell you that on the menu. Salads are really good too. Peach bellini’s are scrumptious!

I’m in a complicated relationship with Bravo.
I’ve gotten carry out from this particular Bravo before and enjoyed it. My faves are the pasta Bravo and the salmon.
BUT, when I went to the restaurant the other day, I did not like my salad or pasta that much — the house salad had far too much creamy dressing on it, as did my pasta.
The waiter was very friendly though! One of those gregarious waiters that you get every once in a while who presents the menu in an entertaining fashion and engages you in conversation beyond the food.
IMO, it’s a bit pricey for the quality of food. However, props to them for jazzing up the restaurant to feel fancy-​schmancy AND for changing up the menu to include healthier options. (See what I mean about this complicated relationship??)

I visited Bravo today for lunch and finally decided to write a review since I come here often for the Lobster Bisque. As usual, the Lobster Bisque did not disappoint. It was rich and creamy, and bursting with great flavor. Additionally, plenty of lobster was present. This, along with the herbed bread dipped in olive oil was just what the doctor ordered on a cold and rainy day. Jason, our server, was spectacular, which completed our outstanding dining experience. Bravo also serves a great brunch on Sundays.

The food was boring and average. The prices were high considering portion size. The beer selection was laughable. Peroni on draught. The other options are lame (Bud/​Coors/​Miller). When I inquired, the waitress proudly announced «And all of our beers are hand poured!» What does that even mean? Does hand pouring a Bud Light make it any more of a beer?
I ordered a cocktail instead. It was listed as strawberry basil, but they were clearly out of basil. Instead of coming back and asking me if I wanted something else, they just made it without. It was gross, but I didn’t complain.
I just won’t come back. Blech.

Went here tonight :) I had a craving for Italian and something where if there wasn’t a reservation we could still get in.
So the place was crowded but only had to wait 20min. While we were waiting there, the hostess was handing out samples of their Spinach, Chicken, Bacon Flatbread, which is what I should have gotten. It was really good, so I do suggest that! :)
I got the Chicken Milanese. which is Chicken Parm. I didn’t like it at all and that’s not even a tough dish to make so I was disappointed :(However, their Crème Brûlée was AMAZING!!! It came in the perfect size excuse it was only part of their ‘petite’ desserts.
The service was excellent and our waitress was very nice! There seemed to be a lot of people working the tables so they were always making sure you were doing ok. :)
If I go back, the flatbread and crème brûlée is all I need!

Had a great brunch experience. We ordered the calamari appetizer, which was very good. I enjoyed the horseradish sauce. Then the Bistecca brunch plate. Very, very good. Steak was cooked perfect, and my potatoes were seasoned just right, with a little kick. I know the hub enjoyed his margarita pizza, too.

Looking for a quick place to grab lunch with your coworkers? If the service is anything like my experience today, you might want to think twice before stopping here. Granted, it was a beautiful day outside and they have a wonderful outdoor patio that offers plenty of shade for a relaxing lunch, but the amount of time it took to get our food was way past the point of being reasonable.
The scoop: Four of us went to lunch and were seated at 12:00 on the dot. Our server, Brittany, came over and took our drink orders right away, and came back with our drinks within just a few minutes. While looking at the menu, we noticed that two of us got the lunch menu, and two of us got the dinner menu. We weren’t given new menus and had to share. Again, no harm there. After 5 or so minutes, she came back to take our order. Three of us got the half salad/​soup/​sandwich lunch combo and one got a pasta dish. 20 minutes later, our salads arrived (half of our lunch). We finished those and waited for the rest. And waited… and waited some more. 57 minutes from the time we sat down, the rest those of us who had the half and half order got out food along with the person who ordered pasta. While they weren’t busy, there were a few other tables with people who were seated, ordered, ate AND LEFT while we were there. The check came out soon after we finished eating, but we had to ask another server to find Brittany and bring the credit card back out. A table of my coworkers were seated a few tables away when we got there, and they got their food right after ours… and was still waiting on their check when we left.
In a nutshell, this was wildly uncalled for and not at all what one would expect at lunch. This place is off my lunch list for a while until they learn something more about time management; like how to respect mine.

If you are like me you are always on the look out for a great deal and great food. This place can have both.
So the great part — the bar happy hour menu. The prices are very good $ 5 martini’s and a bar menu that has enough to satisfy pretty much anyone. Try to different flat breads, very tasty. The $ 3 burger can’t be beat!
The rest of the menu is ok. There isn’t anything that jumps out as bold flavors. For free bread, it’s pretty tasty. I’ve had items from the good for your menu to the not so good for you menu. The salmon with asparagus was a bit overcooked and had way too much oil on the pasta — not thinking that dish was as good for you as it claimed!
The dinning room, it’s pretty corny. The décor wants you to think it’s from Rome — can probably take down the fake columns. The noise in the dinning room can get very loud.
The service wasn’t too bad my last visit. We did have a large group so I can overlook slower service. What was hard to overlook was the fact that we were crammed into a small space. There was very little room to move! I think when setting up for a group any establishment needs to remember these details.
Is it the best place, no. Is it worst please, no. Don’t go expecting fantastic and you won’t leave disappointed.

You know that feeling of satisfaction you get when you’ve eaten some amazing Italian food? That didn’t happen. I felt sick to my stomach a couple hours after this meal. There’s no way this place is anywhere near Italian. I’m just thankful Rob and I were alone when we ate here on Easter Sunday. Wouldn’t want to subject any family or friends to this place.
After Easter service, Rob and I found ourselves lacking nourishment due to skipping breakfast. Rob suggested Italian and wanted to try out this place for some time now. Looks swank inside, and promising. Black and white color scheme with an early 20^th century feel, but you wouldn’t think it was an Italian restaurant. Nothing screams Italian. Not even the mood music. Kitchen is visible to diners. Bar and table seating — no booths. We started with the calamari and the spinach artichoke formaggio. According to Rob, his calamari was all batter and no meat. Sent that back. My spinach artichoke appetizer came with pieces of toasted flatbread. Honestly, they tasted stale and old. The dip wasn’t that great either. I’ve bought better at the grocery store. We just started putting the dip on the starter bread because it was better than the pieces of cardboard that came with it.
For the main dishes, I ordered the pasta woozie and Rob had the sausage tortelloni. My pasta was ok, but Rob was thrown off by his dish. First, the name of the dish states ‘sausage’, but the inside of the tortelloni is cheese. Apparently, sausage is in the sauce. That’s incredibly deceiving. Rob said that the quality of his pasta and sauce was, I quote, «like Chef Boyardee pasta from a can».
Even with the calamari taken off the bill, it was still almost $ 40 for this ridiculous meal. I felt robbed. Even the mints at the door sucked — the disgusting York peppermint patty white crap with chocolate over it. My mouth was screaming, «Get us outta here!».

Blegh. I’m a fan of local restaurants in general, but when it comes to Italian food, more so. What they serve here is a sad corporate interpretation of Italian. Rustic it is not.
Service was also spotty at best. It seemed like it was our server’s first day on the job. He didn’t understand the menu and was overly enthusiastic (apparently he read that section of the training manual). He of course managed to screw up my party’s order not once but twice.
When the food came out we experienced what I have called «The Taco Bell Syndrome» (trademark pending). It’s when a restaurant has a finite number of ingredients in the pantry/​freezer/​fridge and whose menu has gone stale. So what do they do? They spin the ingredient wheel 3 or 4 times and create a «new item». In Bravo’s case, how many ways can you combine some kind of pasta, a cream sauce, a red sauce, 1 or 2 meats, and 2 or 3 cheeses? Predictably, everything tastes the same. And, unfortunately, «same» does not equal «good».
The one saving grace of the evening was when the manager came over (without us requesting), recognizing that our experience (food, service) was less than stellar and offered us a free entrée. Of course, considering the quality of the entrees here that’s more punishment than peace offering, so we got a slice of cheesecake instead (which was amazing).

Ugh, what a night. After having gestational diabetes for months, I was craving a huge tasty plate of pasta with some good bread. Sadly, I had neither.
From the start, our server was a knucklehead. When I asked for my Caesar salad with anchovies, he made a HUGE deal about how no one ever asked for anchovies and he was so glad I did, and aren’t they wonderful, and it’s so laughable that people say they don’t like anchovies when they were mixed into all Caesar dressing, and… ok, Sparky. That’s nice, now shut up and get mama her salad.
They brought the complimentary bread, which was room temperature and stale. I wondered if it was left over from lunch.
The entrees were equally a disaster. The menu description for the lasagna said that it had both alfredo and marinara sauces. I do not like alfredo sauce, so I asked knucklehead how much alfredo was included. He said just a touch, but they could leave it off if I wanted a different sauce. I said great, I want meat sauce, with extra sauce. When the entrees were delivered, he brought a bowl of meat sauce, then presented my lasagna — covered in alfredo with no marinara sauce. The entrees were pricy — the menu listed it at like $ 18, not including my salad, so I sent it back and reiterated that I do not like alfredo. Knucklehead seemed really confused, but gamely sent it back. I continued to eat my salad while my husband started on his entrée (they’d served our meals while I still had half a salad left). When the next lasagna came out, it was covered in meat sauce, but the pasta was overcooked to the point it was inedible. My wonderful husband offered to switch entrees, but when he found out how expensive the lasagna was, we sent it back again. We couldn’t bear to pay almost $ 20 for something so awful. At this point, I had killed so much time waiting on a tasty lasagna that I had filled up on stale bread. I was also still hormonal and feared that if a third bad lasagna was brought, I might burst into tears or throw my meal across the room, so I declined a replacement entrée.
Here’s where the experience finally turned around. Knucklehead sent over his manager, who was super nice and apologetic. She insisted on replacing the entrée with SOMETHING, even if I just took something home. I settled on cheesecake since it would be good even if I couldn’t finish it at the restaurant. It was delicious to the point it almost made the rest of the evening bearable. The downside — it is imported from New York. So the only food at all that liked was not made in the restaurant.
The food was a 1.5 stars and our server was a passable 2 stars. But the manager at this place was wonderful. Still that cannot be enough to give another star. And I was shocked to see on our bill that the lasagna price (which we did not have to pay) was $ 23 dollars. The prices on our bill were higher than those listed on the menu. Really inexcusable.

I was here for a holiday lunch with my department where everyone enjoyed the food and had a great time!
We had:
–Passed appetizers: tomato and mozzarella bruschetta, portobello and Boursin bruschetta, chicken bruschetta, spinach and artichoke bruschetta, calamari, toasted ravioli with two dipping sauces
–Chopped salad (loved the dressing)
–Choice of three entrees: lasagna, chicken Milanese, and a shrimp dish with a spicy tomato cream sauce. I had the shrimp. I loved it. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.
–Trio of desserts: I only had the brownie with the ice cream, but it hit the spot.
At the end of our lunch, everyone was given a $ 10 Bravo gift card! It has to be used by February 28^th. My birthday is before that so I told everyone to save their cards so we could do a fun bday lunch.
There was only one snafu, which was remedied. There were 25 of us, but the table space was not enough for 25 adults. Two tables were added, but it left a few people out of the big group.
Bravo, Bravo!

Bravo is always a solid option for chain-​type Italian. I like that they don’t smother everything in a blanket of cheese or serve platter sized portions! They introduced a lighter menu in the past year, and while I usually get something involving pasta, I ordered the salmon from the light menu this time. The salmon was somewhat salty, but was fine; I’m guessing it was the frozen kind that has salt added in the processing. I would have been pretty displeased, if this were a seafood restaurant, but it was fine given that the pasta dishes are really their specialties. The vegetables that accompanied it, however, were great! Grilled asparagus, diced sweet potatoes, etc. I always appreciate getting something other than broccoli or green beans as a vegetable at a chain restaurant.
On other visits, I’ve had a variety of the pasta dishes. The pasta definitely seems fresh rather than dried in many dishes (except for those that note they use Barilla plus multigrain… not sure why they can’t get afresh wheat or multigrain pasta) If you’re up for a splurge, the pasta Bravo is yummy — red pepper cream sauce!
I usually have a glass of wine, but opted for a peach sangria. It was end of summer and we were eating outside, so sounded like a fun change of pace. Well… it was served in a regular 8oz white wine glass that was packed with ice. There was maybe 4oz of beverage in there (wine plus juice); in other words, the final product was very watery. The description mentioned berries and other fruit… this consisted of a quarter strawberry and a bar-​garnish size piece of orange on a stick. Hmmmm… next time I will stick to the wine… this was not worth $ 7.
Bottom line — decent and consistent food and service overall, and good for an after work dinner.