Il Vicino Wood Oven Pizza - West Side Albuquerque — Restaurant in Albuquerque

Been going to Il vicino since the start in 1992. In the last few years the QC has been really bad. Mostly with their salads which used to be the best. Tonight after a long shift at the hospital I decided to give the west side some business. Ordered two rustica's with chili and a large spinach salad. This time the leafs were rotten. There is no way they did not see this when preparing the order. I did leave a big tip which I don't regret. Workers here have to split tips and most have a hard time making a living wage. Even before the covid situation. But the quality has been slipping so badly now I no longer can recommend this restaurant. It was really good back in the day (1990's) at nob hill. The pizza toppings are so skimpy now and the salads are nothing like they used to be.

EDIT. Things are not any better at the westside location. QC is really hit or miss. I"ve had many salads since my innitial review with more stumps then leafs. One time I could not even eat it. Other times very good. The reason I will again complain is I ordered the Penne Arrabbiata and it was attrocious. First the pasta was overcooked. The pasta was literally mush. And the pasta was VERY cold. With some heated up sauce. But it gets worse. The sauce did not have the typical spicey flavor. No spice at all. Just bland. And after eating this I did not feel well. I mean I literally could not eat much of the pizza because it felt like I had just eaten a sponge. Like it was down there filling up with the water I drank. Just one of the worst meals I've ever had. I think for now on I will just eat the pizza and salad. I've decided if they give me a plate full of stumps I will just ask for my money back right their and then. I will not buy anything else on the menu. The pizza is about the only thing they seem to have any...

This is a cafe style restaurant. You order at the counter then they bring the food and drinks to you.

Food is always good here though the people that bring it to the table don't know what they are bringing so it adds to confusion if you have more than 2 people in your party. Be sure if you get the pizza you eat it fast or else since it is on a plate the moisture builds up under the pizza making the crust soggy. Other than that the food is really good.

But service is another thing all together. We have been multiple times both with just my wife and myself, other times with parties of 4 or 6 people. With just the 2 of us service is semi ok, we have to ask for things a lot. They don't know what they are bringing to the table, but with 2 people it's easy to figure it out.

However it gets much much worse when you have more than 2 in the party. The food gets so mixed up because they don't know what they are serving and so a lot of times they have to remake the food. Then when it comes to needing napkins, drinks, anything, you are ignored completely. We not only have to flag down someone but a lot of times we have to go to the counter to ask for help. Honestly it is very frustrating since if you use a credit card you pay when you order and that's when you leave the tip. I would recommend you bring cash for a tip and decide how much after you are finished.

I wouldn't recommend bringing more than 2 or 3 people to this restaurant. Small parties are better and much easier on the staff. Remember the food is...

I would like to start this off by saying, I have always loved Il Vicino. This is a regular staple in my house, and will continue to be. However, never at this rio rancho location again. The experience started off great, but fell quickly downhill. Our food was ordered at counter without a hitch, the woman was very friendly! However our server(s) did not share that quality. We ordered salads and pizzas. The pizza came first, which is very unusual as normally the salads are served fresh and first. We looked over at the counter to find our salads sitting there, despite waiting over 15 minutes for the food. The server disregarded our kind request about our salads and dropped them off without offering any of the signature cracked pepper, or freshly grated cheese. This may seem small, but Il Vicino has always excelled at the little touches going a long way. The lack of these simple, yet thoughtful actions really communicated a lack of care, and customer experience we’ve come to love and expect. Additionally, our drinks were never refilled, and once the food came out, our server did not check on us throughout the dinner. We politely asked the busser for refills and napkins, all things that should have been taken care of by a server. At the end of dinner I had to ask the front counter host for boxes and refills. Overall, the food was delicious. It always is. However, the customer service at this location is extremely poor. For the price you pay, service should be a priority, and it...