Travinia Italian Kitchen & Wine Bar

Great food and the service was outstanding! I had a very strong «Calm Before The Storm» cocktail that was delicious. We also had zucchini frittes, chicken masala, Sinatra chicken, crème brûlée, and tiramisu. The food was great and the server (James) went above and beyond to tell us about the delicious menu.

Went for lunch on a weekend and had a great experience! Excellent service. Ordered the lunch special and the food was pretty good and not too pricey. Would definitely recommend it for lunch since it wasn’t so crowded!

Travinia Italian Kitchen & Wine Bar — Lexington, KY
Our travels brought us to Central Kentucky where we came across Travinia Italian Kitchen & Wine Bar, a small chain in Southeast United States. we visited their Lexington KY location in Fayette Mall.
We were greeted by 2 young women working the greeting desk. Both were welcoming and offered good recommendations as we studied the menu to determine if we wanted to dine here. Very pleasant staff.
After being seated, our server Patience greeted us, offering up great recommendation for both beverage and food. What I enjoyed about Patience was her extensive knowledge of the menu, preparation and flavor profiles. She stood out above many of today’s servers as she understood the food served at Travinia and guided our excursion of their menu with care. Her advice was spot on and greatly appreciated. Overall Patience should be proud of her service and her managers should know she is a gem.
Our food selection included Warm delicious bread and the Beet Pear Salad that offered a nice balance of flavors. We enjoyed the sweet crispness of the pear slices, bitterness of the beet well balanced by the vinegar based dressing perfectly applied to the greens. The Pork Belly appetizer added a savory balance as a starter. The Prosciutto/​Fig Flatbread offered a pleasant surprise with a nice balance of cheese, fig, prosciutto, on a Chicago style bread and sauce that is different from many common flatbreads. Our side selection included Brussel Sprouts prepared in a crispy and delicious manner (a true treat). We capped our meal with a delicious slice of Tiramisu that takes hours of preparation.
Overall our visit to Travinia was pleasing and well worth the money. If traveling to Lexington this is a great place to dine. If you like spot on advice and excellent service, ask for Patience!

After paying a baby sitter and arranging time for a date night, you want to go somewhere that won’t let you down. This IS THAT PLACE! I don’t even really care for Italian. Their seating is comfortable enough to make you buy a whole bottle of wine and sip. The lighting is amazing. The service is great. The food is to die for. Seriously though. Go here.

We visited today for my husbands birthday. The waiter was very nice and helpful. I would recommend the meatballs and crab cakes. We won’t likely be returning. They were out of Parmesan cheese! Save yourself some money and go to Fazoli’s.

Where to start. First I’d say just go to Favoli’s and save a ton. There very over priced. The food isn’t great at all. I had $ 175 check for 5 people and none of us was very impressed with the food. I had what the server said was there best dish as it was my birthday lol. Anyway got the filet for $ 31 and it was completely tasteless. The finger potatoes are also bland as can be. Honestly I could go on and on. Save your money and don’t bother. I was told a manager was going to come see us but that never happened. Our server was very nice, but still took forever to get anything. Just overall not worth going if it was $ 5 but it wasn’t.
I certainly won’t be back.

I never thought I’d have to give an actual 1-​star review to a restaurant, especially one that looks so fancy, yet here we are.
My mother happened to be in town and we decided to go out for a late lunch (around 3 PM on a Monday) and I had never been to Travinia, so we decided to stop in since it seemed nice enough for lunch.
Since it’s attached to the mall and the hours clearly stated that it was open (on Mon-​Fri from 11AM-​10PM), we were shocked to see that it looked closed– not because of lighting or locked doors, because it looked completely empty– especially compared to the Cheesecake Factory next to it, which was packed. It didn’t seem that weird at first because of the time we got there, but it honestly should’ve been the first warning sign.
We went in and found that it looked very nice and upscale on the inside. There was a bar area, two patio areas that opened to the rest of the restaurant, and a very fancy seating area. It was a very pretty setting, but that’s about where it ends.
It took a while for us to be approached about being sat, which wouldn’t be too much of a problem because the hostess also seemed to be the bartender for the afternoon, but she had spent most of the time carrying on a conversation right in front of us before even coming over once.
After we were sat– and we realized that we were the only customers actually in the restaurant (aside from the bar) — our server came over. He started to tell us about the specials and what their menu meant, but he eventually started talking in a subtly condescending way towards us. We don’t need to be told that the menu «contains things we may not have seen before» if the fanciest thing is a crab cake and we don’t need someone to explain what crostinis are.
It didn’t take long for our appetizer of mussels to come out, and the entrees followed soon after.
My mother had ordered the pan-​seared chicken dish and I got a bowtie pasta dish with chicken. She had also ordered an extra side of the corn risotto so I could try it for the first time, while she has had it multiple times.
The only thing that had flavor in my dish was the parmesan cheese that the server topped it off with. My mother’s dish was just as bland, and she had said that the only thing she liked was the side of vegetables– and that’s only because they were the lesser of two evils.
When we finally got to the risotto, I tried it first. I’ve never had it before, as I’ve said, and the first thing I thought was «bland». It tasted like pure corn, and not even salt was used to season it. My mother thought the same thing when she had it, saying it’s the worst risotto she’s ever tasted.
The worst part of our meal was when my mother pulled out something strangely shaped and bright white from the risotto– there was a piece of paper buried in the dish. At this point we were livid, and we called the server over to tell him that we no long wanted the risotto because it was awful and there was paper in it.
The kitchen had an open face to the restaurant, so we could see a fight brewing among the servers/​chefs/​managers. After that, we weren’t approached again until the server came back with our check and some to-​go boxes. The risotto was thankfully taken off without us having to make a deal about it. So, we paid for our food, packed up, and left.
No, a manager never came over to apologize for the mistake or to point out that they would be taking it off our bill, which both of us thought was highly unprofessional. In fact, the managers we saw wandering around the back seemed to completely disappear into thin air after our risotto was taken back.
Usually, I’m all about giving places a second or even a third chance if I don’t have a good experience, especially if the business is so young, but we both agreed that we do not want to go back again.

What is wrong with this place. We sat at the bar last night and the heat pouring out of the ductwork was crazy warm. I was here two weeks ago and they had the same problem the manager said they where working on it. Speaking of bartenders, your job is to be at the bar not siting with a group of coworkers at a table, I don’t get it I see this at a lot of Lexington places .Pf Changs, Logan, very strange and unprofessional. Oh the food bland, cold, nothing to brag about. I have been to another location its nothing like this, won’t be back

I always have a good meal here! I love stopping in for lunch but recently I had dinner there and the quality of food was perfect. They have great service and are accommodating to those with food allergies. Once inside, it’s easy to forget that you are anywhere near the mall. To top it off, their wine choices are fantastic!

There was a group of 4 of us ladies. Tuesday night 25% off bottles of wine — awesome! We ordered the Italian Nachos and they were absolutely delicious. If you go, ask for James. He was very well versed on the menu. He gave recommendations, stressed the fact that orders can be adjusted to your liking. I had the surf and turf. The steak was a perfect medium! James told me the crab cake is 95% Maryland blue crab with season but little breading. I have only ever had crab cakes on the Eastern shore. This crab cake was absolutely delicious!!! The fingerling potatoes are tasty too. They have a good wine selection.
Very thorough and attentive. We were visiting and there for a few hours. It was the perfect level of service. Not rushing us, but never left us alone too long either.
Bravo!

This was my second visit and I enjoyed it as much as my first trip. Great selection and not a traditional tomato based Italian restaurant menu. Good was fresh and prepares in a timely manner. My server was very nice and accommodating. My only real complaint was the lack of wine list knowledge my server had. I wasn’t familiar with the by the glass options and she wasn’t much help.

Good food. I like that they have dinner specials. Would love to see a discount wine evening. We got to sit on the patio (back in October) which we loved, except they couldn’t get the patio hearth to ignite. Service was also a little slower than desired. We probably will wait until summer to return so that we can try to sit on the patio again.

I’ve eaten here 3 times now and the waiter now remembers me. I feel like they get lunch spill over from Cheesecake Factory when the wait is too long. Let’s be honest, the mall crowd is at cheese with kids in tow cause they serve everything from italian to chinese to tex-​mex and every little picky eater can find something if the menu is 25 pages long.
Travina next door is for italian and good italian at that. The Pernod mussels are good and you need to know Pernod has that fennel or licorice flavor but it’s very subtle. I’ve had other apps and salads here and they are all good.
Don’t be afraid to sub a different noodle in for your fave dish especially if you like it al dente but their cappellini is definitely a thicker noodle so don’t worry about them cooking it to mush like other places who use a thin angel hair or finer capellini noodle.
I’ll be back and it sure beats the other italian on offer by the mall.

Atmosphere is great! Drinks are great! Calamari is great! Food is just ok. We celebrated my friend’s 50^th birthday here. I LOVE the décor and the background music was Great!!! We had a party of 8. I really liked that they seated us at a round table because it was easier for us all to talk. When waiter brought out our food, the seats were mixed up and I was given something that I didn’t order. I told her that was’t my entrée and she said the meal was assigned to my seat and sat it in front of me anyway. It actually belonged two seats over. I ordered the sausage and peppers and mac and cheese. The entrée was ok but the mac and cheese was HORRIBLE!!! Because I didn’t like it the waiter didn’t charge me for it which I appreciated. I would probably give it a second try.

I’ve been here twice for lunch and both experiences were the same… negative. This place has been open since April 2015. It is directly beside the Cheesecake Factory, both places attached to the Fayette Mall.
The first time that I ordered the half salad and half sandwich. When it came out, it was full portion of the sandwich. The waitress took the blame and said that she didn’t usually work at lunch time… fair enough. The shrimp on the salad didn’t seem Cajun at all. They were practically tasteless, steamed shrimp.
The next time I started with the calamari appetizer and that one dish is one reason I’m bumping it to a two star review. Then I ordered the half pizza and half salad. My husband ordered a salad. Our main dish didn’t come out for an hour! My husband who didn’t touch the appetizer and was in a bit of a hurry, was upset about the wait. The waitress explained that she’s instructed not to put the main order in until the appetizer arrives. If that’s true, that’s bad management.

Total disappointment. We went on Saturday night around 7:30. We saw open tables outside, so we decided to sit on one of the couches. After about 5 minutes, we were finally greeted by a server who seemed to be too busy to wait on us. He took our drink order and another server brought us our drinks.
After sitting outside for 20 minutes or so, we were told that no, the heaters could not be turned on. Of course that information would have been helpful to start with, so we had to find a place to sit where we wouldn’t be cold.
We did, in fact, find three seats at the bar which were still half outside. We were told by our second server that he would be keeping us and taking care of us for dinner.
The bartenders never once acknowledged us. I realize they weren’t waiting on us, but bartenders should be friendly to all guests regardless of the situation.
We ordered the flash-​fried zucchini, and it was actually pretty incredible. Unfortunately, though, that’s where the positives end.
Each of us ordered a salad before dinner. My two friends ordered the Caesar salad, and I had the spinach salad. The Caesar salads tasted like they came straight from the ocean, as the dressing was incredibly overwhelming and only tasted like anchovies. My friends couldn’t even finish them. My spinach salad was supposed to have goat cheese «medallions», but there was only one and it wasn’t crisp and warm as it should have been. It was definitely not worth the $ 10 it cost.
Dinner was just as abysmal. We all ordered the flatbreads as our meal, but mine was the only one that was remotely good. Again, I ordered the prosciutto and fig flatbread, but it had little if any prosciutto and only a few little dollops of fig jam. My friends ordered the Uncle Tony’s and Margherita flatbreads, which were totally underwhelming.
The wine and atmosphere were great, but everything else was a total flop. I will say that all of us are in the restaurant business, so our standards may be high, but I was totally disappointed in the experience for how much money was spent. We won’t be going back.

Very decent food, the place and seating is perfect for a date. The service one of the best I have ever had in Lexington.
the food is far from Italian food, even though they have some good plates.
I loved the drag soup which made my day because I love soups

We had a lovely dinner last night, great atmosphere, very attentive service and excellent food. Price is comparable to other Italian restaurants in Lexington.
I had the beef medallions and the were cooked to perfection, the potatoes were excellent also. My husband enjoyed his shrimp dish, but agreed mine was better. The ceasar salad dressing is strong but very tasty and goes well with the fresh baked bread. The Italian Margarita was also quite yummy.
This was our first visit to the restaurant, and we were impressed with the décor, the space between tables (don’t want to hear stranger’s conversations) and the overall atmosphere. The background music added to the ambiance without drowning out conversation at the table. Staff was very friendly and our server was quick to clear empty plates or bring a soda refill. I often think you can tell a lot about a restaurant by how clean their rest rooms are, and this one passes with flying colors.
We plan to return. Remember to tip your server accordingly.

This is a pretty cool place! Clean and modern looking and a great environment. The music choice was odd, Think a Sinatra and top 40’s playlists together. The service was too notch, everything from the hostess that went out of her way to open the door to our great server. My wife ordered water and the server uphold her on Aquapana bottled water, not really what she wanted but she was happy with it, and might be ordering bottled water more in the future.
Unfortunately the food wasn’t good. I’m not going to say it was bad, because it wasn’t. The bread wasn’t anything special, which is fine. The oil had black pepper as its spice; it didn’t work for me. I had an Alfredo dish and it was comparable to a fast food Alfredo dish, only twice the price. Again, not bad but not good either. The blackened shrimp that came with it was really good, although it was more Cajun than blackened. Nothing wrong with Cajun spice, just not with Italian food. Although I still did like the shrimp.
If I was hungry at the mall and didn’t want to eat at the food court and didn’t mind an expensive meal, I’d go back. I think I might even go out of my way for their happy hour. Otherwise there are better Italian restaurants close by.

The service is slow here. We had salad, braised pork and chicken parm. The food could have been better. The manager was very nice and helped us resolve things.

Really nice atmosphere great food good service
Chocolate cake great. Second time here and will come back
Nice addition to Lexington
They said it is one of 12 in the chain. I would look for others if on vacation.

Service was great. The food was pretty good. This reminds me of an overpriced Johnny Carino’s with slightly better ambiance. The Italian nachos (just like Johnny Carino’s) were yummy. The spinach and goat cheese salad was good but nothing spectacular. The chicken and artichoke dish was bland.

I went to Travinia today for lunch.
Service was painfully slow, but I was more time-​conscious than usual today and probably would not have cared had I not been trying to get back to this little thing called a J-​O-​B.
Upon entering the restaurant, I probably stood at the hostess stand for five minutes waiting for someone (hello … hello? … is anyone here?) to greet me and take me to a table. I would have asked the bartender for help in this department, but he, too, was MIA. I was finally seated and waited another ten minutes for my waiter to make his way to my table. When he finally showed up, he apologized for the delay and explained that there had been a crisis in the kitchen. I asked if the crisis had been resolved. I had already spent 15 minutes with these folks and if there was a fire in the kitchen or something, I felt I should know so I could plan an escape and more importantly, where I would then go for lunch. He assured me that all was well and things did, in fact, improve from here …
I had the lunch special: a cup of creamy tomato basil soup and half of a roasted chicken flatbread. Both were excellent and were served reasonably quickly. The bread was served piping hot and was delicious.
Aside from the painfully slow start, service was fairly efficient and my waiter was really nice and professional, so I’m going to chalk the slow start up as a fluke. However, they really need to be careful because a lot of people would have given up and left after 15 minutes of being ignored.
I’ll go back to Travinia, but may avoid it for lunch since I’m usually in a hurry.

The worst food.
Horrible service
Very bad do not even try.
Pitiful
3 hours and 3 out of 5 orders wrong.
Hairs in pasta. Chips of shell in sea food dish.
Olive Garden generic Italian 100% better.
Negative-​1.

The first experience was very nice. The atmosphere is very relaxing along with two patios to enjoy the nice days and nights. We enjoyed the food and the serving size is good. I really like the bar area and the openness with the large doors open to the outside.

Very nice place only about a month old. The menu is not extensive but not small either. The drinking glasses make you think you should be on an island somewhere and the outside seating is great with couches and fire pit type tables and both side of the restaurant. There was no waiting tonight unlike their neighbors the Cheesecake Factory. Check it out!

As stated by another Unilocaler, they’ve only been open a couple of weeks so the kinks are still being worked out. Food wise, it was quite delightful. The chefs just need to work on their timing. I recommend the pan roasted chicken and sausage and peppers rustic dish. They also have an extensive wine selection to choose from. We will definitely be coming back in the future.

I’m not usually one to try a restaurant on it’s opening day, but my friends were able to get a reservation tonight so we decided to come in and give it a try. I am kind of torn between 3 and 4 stars, but I am going to stick with 3 because it seemed tonight that they still have some kinks to work out.
Upon walking in, you definitely get the feeling that this is a fancy restaurant. It is nicely decorated and there are several people waiting right at the door to greet you. In fact, too many. There were about 6 employees standing right inside the door waiting for customers.
Our waitress was very nice and very helpful. She offered suggestions and tips about the menu, asked the manager a couple of questions for us, and was prompt about bringing our food, filling up water, bringing the check, etc. Several other employees and someone who could have been an owner or manager came over to thank us for dining there tonight, and to ask how our meal was.
They seemed a bit rushed about everything. I always hate having to wait a long time to get the check or have plates taken away, but 3 different people tried to take our appetizer plate before we had finished the food. And as soon as we were about half way through our dinners, someone else came over to ask if we wanted dessert. I was dining with 2 of my girlfriends and we all agreed that we seemed to be rushed.
Now for the food, I ordered the pan roasted chicken. The side items I chose were brussels sprouts and gouda mac and cheese. The gouda mac was kinda disappointing, it was dry, I was expecting some really good creamy mac and cheese. It was definitely not that. The brussels were just okay. They were pan fried and drizzled with balsamic. I didn’t like the taste, but two of the waitresses raved about them. And I do love brussels sprouts. They chicken was tasty, and a big portion. It was two white meat chicken quarters.
In general I think the food is very overpriced. My friend ordered a $ 17 pasta dish that was just noodles and a few slices of sausage. I’m glad I didn’t order pasta. I would have been really disappointed. The chicken that I ordered was the cheapest entrée on the menu at $ 14.
Which brings up another point that contributed to my 3-​star review instead of 4-​star. When my bill came, my entrée rang up at $ 15.95. I had substituted one of my side dishes, but I clarified with the waitress that it would be an extra $ 1. So either she made a mistake about the $ 1 charge, or it just rang up in the system wrong. I would beware and look carefully at your receipt before paying.
I would come back, but not often. I think it’s a nice option to have at the mall but it’s too pricey for me. They do have a few specials on drinks certain days of the week. Maybe they will start a happy hour with some food specials and that may make me come back sooner.