Zios Italian Kitchen

Lunch today. Food was excellent. Service was outstanding — very attentive without being a nuisance.

I gave Zio’s a second chance to impress me like the first time I came here almost 2 years ago. Sad to say that just did not happen. My waitress, Steph, seemed new. She brought me a Pellegrino sparkling water along with a lemon wedge. She also brought me my bread, olive oil and herbs and salad too which were good. The chicken parmigiana I had ordered was also good but seemed a tad burnt and didn’t seem to be enough along with the linguini. She seemed like she wanted me to eat, pay and get out as she brought me my tab. But I wasn’t ready to leave so I ordered an Italian wedding cake for dessert. The cake resembled a Twinkie in a layer cake form. It was good but nothing I’d order again. I was ready to pay so Steph brought me my check. Now here’s the weird part: as I had put the money into the check’s folder I had noticed Steph was nowhere to be found for at least several minutes and by the time she finally returned to collect the money she looked like she was just crying over something! I didn’t know what her problem was and I really didn’t care to know. Perhaps a case of the Mondays? (movie quote alert, anybody knows what film that’s from?)

Went last night for a dinner after a hard week of working the weekend. My fiancé and I ordered a salad, cheese stuffed meatballs appetizer, lasagna, and spicy chicken and pasta. The lasagna was served first, then the appetizer followed. The meatballs were not stuffed with the cheese, so we showed the server and she apologized and had the cooks redo the meatball appetizer. My entrée plate came out next. The salad was still being prepared so we cancelled that. Then, round two of the meatball appetizer and again, no cheese inside as shown in the picture. The food that we got was good, but for all the errors in order of food and accuracy, it was not a pleasant experience.

Been here 3 times just because everyplace else was busy I wouldn’t make it a point to stop here, food is mediocre staff is friendly menus has their take on Italian food most of the specialties are just various dishes with the same sauce, very poor door management/​hostess plenty of empty tables but you’ll still wait 5 min or longer to be seated. Takes forever to get your food. Edit I was writing this as I waited for my food finally couldn’t wait any longer, over 40 min so I left, I was the third table walk out.

Zio’s is just never going to be a 4 or 5 star experience at the rate they have gone in this location; maybe they just don’t take the Southside City Base area seriously as a business opportunity. Well, I do! And I don’t like spending my money at places with problems like this.
To start, we had a brand new waitress who actually said it was her very first day! That wasn’t actually the bad part. She was trying her darnedest and I could tell she wanted to make dining there positive, she even told us so after our meal!
My spaghetti and meatballs was pretty good; well, I actually ordered spaghetti and meat sauce but I guess she misheard. The meatballs were grayish so I didn’t eat them, but I liked the meat sauce anyways. My fiancé ordered the manicotti, but he said it was no good. My step-​son just ate some bread because he wasn’t hungry. That olive oil dip was probably the best part of the meal. We really just picked this spot because we needed a place dead enough and big enough to take in our baby’s traveling stroller since she had just fallen asleep.
My Unilocal rating system:
5 stars= Driving across town just for this!
4 stars= I would recommend visiting.
3 stars= Average, acceptable, positive.
2 stars= You might be able to drag me in.
1 star= I will definitely not be returning.

Justin is a phenomenal waiter. He explains the happy hour very well and makes sure you are completely happy with your meal.

For an Italian place the ambiance is too modern and bright inside. They were not too busy so all the waiters were standing around staring at people. Our first loaf of bread was a little hard. The second one we got was much softer. It was soft and had just enough seasoning on it. My sweet tea was way too sweet. I ordered the spinach artichoke pasta. It was served in a giant bowl and looked disgusting. Everything was mixed together and the spinach was brown. Not fresh at all. The noodles were overlooked. Then they through giant pieces of tomatoes in yet. The worst pasta dish I have ever had. My bf got a spinach calzone. Surprisingly his spinach was actually green. The calzone was cold and the cheese inside wasn’t even melted. I won’t be coming back here.

Service was great and waiter was very attentive. Had the grilled salmon and salad. One word… DELICIOUS!!!
I will definitely be back.

Did a take out order, got home to dried pasta. No flavor in my mama’s sample and fried cheese sticks where blah… never going there again. To expensive for no flavor food.

Hostesses looked like chickens with their heads cut off, and then we were served by a kid who looked like Jean-​Ralphio from Parks and Recreation who also forgot a couple of stuff from our order. Food was subpar too. Glad we are never in this part of town. No need to come back here.

Yummy place to eat! Food is hot. and delicious, wait staff is pleasant. Little slow at times with the check, maybe they want me to change my mine about desert.

Great food as always at Zios. One star deduction for a 20 minute wait on our appetizer. Our server was really nice, would definitely go back.

Not to bad. But very chain tasting food. Service was good. I had the chicken artichoke pizza. Crust looked and tasted store bought. Nothing exciting here, move along.

This is becoming a favorite place of mine. Love their food, and their bread is AMAZING!
Every server has been great so far but I wanted to acknowledge Kimberly and her above and beyond customer service. I left a very happy [and stuffed] customer and hopefully Kimberly knew how happy she made me by the tip i left, which was well beyond 20%.

Love the stuffed pizza. Appetizer trio was awesome. Service was great. The waitress Gloria was amazing. Always have a great experience at this place. Go out of my way to come here. Food is always great here.

I know this is a chain. And to be honest I’ve probably never had real italian food. Stouffers lasagna and spaghetti is about it. But hot fresh bread and olive oil is the way to my heart. The spinach artichoke pasta is delish. Baby daddy had shrimp in a lemon sauce and that was delicious too! We will definitely be back!

Personally, I have not acquired a taste for Zio’s. The only thing I tear up is the garlic bread, and crayons on the table. A lot of the flavors I expect to find on a dish (like the parmigiana or that one spicy dish with tortilla chips I can’t remember) were either not there or altered and had an odd, unexpected taste.
Don’t get me wrong, I know plenty of people who like the food, and the place is very nice.
However, my tactics on eating here are to stick to the staples (ex. spaghetti, lasagna) and not venture out.

The food was very good and reasonably priced but the service was very bad. We ordered an appetizer that never came. The food took a long time. We had to keep asking for things over and over again. We had to ask for a to go box four times. The manager however was super friendly and funny. I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope that it is a new waitress. I would try it again since the food and atmosphere were good.

Zios is an excellent italian restaurant. This was my first time eating at Zios, and it is my understanding that this is a recently-​opened location in San Antonio. The only difference seemed to be that the bread was different as remembered by the others in my party.
I will first say that I am 28 years old but still love paper tablecloths with crayons offered at the table. I was happily doodling the whole time and with virtually no shame.
I also love the bread offered with herbs mixed in olive oil. They offered a huge heap of herbs and spices, and thankfully have olive oil provided to add and keep the goodness going through many, many refills on bread.
We also ordered appetizers, since we are crazy (one could easily fill up on the bread!) and got the Zios sampler with fried mozzarella, calamari, and fried zucchini. All were excellent!
BUT! You need to keep room for the salad and main entrée. Although I did not opt for salad this time, it looked really good and I will have to try next time.
I ordered the Chicken tortellini… and it comes served on a bed of linguine?!? My pasta-​loving heart bestill! The alfredo sauce was so heavenly… beats the pants off Olive Garden.
Will definitely be coming back and trying the rest of their menu!

I must say I wasn’t sure today about my visit to this restaurant would pan out, Well to my surprise we had an excellent time. the food was great, the service was awesome. I can not say enough about Jackie our waitress, she excelled in her service. to the entire staff hats off to you guys. Thank you for wonderful time. I will pass on the good word
P.S thanks to Jackie and to the staff member for presenting us with a surprise dessert