Avellinos Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria — Restaurant in Blacksburg

I rarely write reviews, but I had to write one after eating at Avellinos. I was visiting Blacksburg and had just recovered my smell & taste after a bout with Covid. I was craving a nice Italian meal and was intrigued by the online reviews. Avellinos was about 15 minutes away from where I was staying, but something told me to make the trip and I'm really glad I did.

I ate lunch there at 2:00 on a Thursday afternoon. The restaurant is really cute and inviting inside and the person who seated me was very nice. I immediately felt welcome there. The first thing I noticed was that the restaurant was still at least half full at 2:00 in the afternoon. I sat near a table of people who spoke fluent Italian the entire meal and they were obviously enjoying their food and the atmosphere. There were lots of businesspeople wearing suits & ties in there as well as students and other people dressed casually like me. Music from Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Louis Prima was playing in the background.

My server, Krissy, was the best server I have had in a long time. She was very friendly and attentive and she made my experience there a real joy. She told me she had moved here from New Jersey and that she knows authentic Italian food. She told me that all of Avellinos' food and sauces are prepared in house and that they could accommodate dietary restrictions. She promised I would love the meal and said the food is so good that it sometimes gives her chills! I thought that was really funny but she was actually right.

She also told me that people tend to have long, relaxed meals there, especially on their patio during nice weather. I have never been to Italy, but I lived in France and it reminded me of cafes in Paris where people sit for a few hours enjoying a nice bottle of wine, excellent food, and good conversation.

The first thing Krissy brought me was this amazing bread that is hard to describe. It is nice, thickly sliced Italian bread. I can't do it justice, but it is really crispy on the outside and soft and warm in the middle. The bread is totally addictive and I feel sorry for anyone who is gluten free and can't eat it. I'm embarrassed to say that I ate the entire loaf very quickly and ordered some more.

I had a Capresa salad and a cup of homemade chicken soup as appetizers. Tomatoes were not even in season at the time, but the salad was delicious. Ditto for the soup, which was obviously homemade and a real treat.

My main course was simple cheese ravioli made in a vodka sauce and it was really, really good.

I finished my gigantic lunch off with a slice of limoncello cake, which was also quite memorable.

I literally enjoyed every bite of food I ate there. There's an old country expression I love when food is really good: you tell the cook that they "put their foot in it." Not sure the origin of that expression, but it is a big compliment when someone tells the cook that they put their foot in it. haha. So anyway, the chef at Avellino's clearly put their foot in my entire meal today!

I eat out a lot, and lunches can often be uninspiring or an afterthought for the staff. Not this one. Really well done in a friendly, casual, welcoming atmosphere.

A review I read on here called this restaurant a gem, and I wholeheartedly agree with that. Avellinos is my new favorite restaurant in Bburg and I definitely recommend it. Thank you to Krissy and the entire staff for making what was supposed to be a quick, simple lunch into a really wonderful, memorable...

Our dining experience started out on a high. We had just finished hiking McAfee's and called to see if they could seat 4 of us if we were still dressed in our hiking clothes. We spoke to a lovely person on the phone who said sure. Their COVID safety measures were solid. Their bread and herbed olive oil we're AMAZING. I could've eaten it the whole time. I also ordered the seasonal italian cider which was really great. For an app, my bf and I ordered the mussels to split. Right when they reached the table, the smell threw me off. I had to stop eating my salad because of the smell. But I still wanted to give them a try because I really love mussels. No bueno. Something was really not right with them. We sent them back and they apologized and removed them from our bill, so that was nice of them. For dinner I ordered the bolognese. It was ok. Takeaway: the bread and salad were the best food of the meal.

Now here's where the issues arose. At 7:15 we got our checks. Fast Forward: We didn't leave the restaurant until 8pm (45 minutes later.)

7:15 - Check dropped off 7:30 - Check and payment picked up 7:45 - Check and payment returned. Mine was fine but the other couple tried to pay with Discover and they don't take Discover. (No problem, I offered to pay for their meal with my card). We joked, "Oh good job guys now we're gonna have to wait another 15 minutes!" 7:55 - We're informed that there's an issue when you try to pay for two separate checks with the same card but the manager is figuring it out. It should only be "a few more minutes."

At this point we're really tired (we just hiked 8 miles) and frustrated since we got our checks a full 40 minutes ago. Another 5 minutes pass and still nothing. We got up and walked to the front to figure things out. The manager apologized and said he hoped we enjoyed our meal but I was honestly too frustrated to say anything back. 45 minutes is just way too long to settle up at a restaurant, even if there's a payment error. What started out as a strong dining experience became just an overall bummer by the end of it. I've worked in food service before so I of course still tipped well, but I don't think we're ever coming back. Our server was sweet, but we really got overlooked for an unacceptably long time when we were...

Treated myself to a work dinner here. I really wanted some good pasta and tirimusu. The host/manager appeared to get a bit frustrated because I didn't want to sit in the bar. I just needed room on a table to spread out. I came here because I was in the area and I figured, Italian restaurants in strip malls are all about the same. However, this is not true. I found it difficult to find anything on the menu that sounded palatable to me. I ended up ordering the white wine garlic shrimp linguini. I could smell it before the server placed it on the table. It wasn't an appealing smell. It also wasn't easy to eat. The 'sauce' was like water, so it didn't coat the noodles at all. Think, Ramen noodles...how it's just water and noodles. I had one fork full and picked at my salad until the server came back. I ordered tirimisu for dessert. It's my absolute favorite dessert. I make it at home, also. This, was not a normal tirimusu. It was served in a sundae glass. It didn't appear, visually, to have any espresso at all. It was mostly what looked to be cake, instead of ladyfingers. It was difficult to eat, as it was mostly full of a really thick, overly whipped, filling. I have never experienced a restaurant situation like this. I I gave it three stars because what they served, was what I ordered, as opposed to messing up an order. I spent over $30 for a meal and a dessert that I did not eat. $30 is a lot of money for one person's meal. I wasn't even asked if there was something wrong with my meal. So, fair warning, if you're looking for an Italian restaurant with spaghetti and fettuccine alfredo and other regulars, then this is probably not for you. **Please hit the 'LIKE ' button if my review has been...