Tito's Italian Grill & Wine Shop — Restaurant in Coeur d'Alene

My family decided we were going to eat here for our Christmas dinner, going against usual tradition, which was where our mistake began.

Apon arriving at Titos we noticed the main sign in the front of the building was not illuminated properly and appeared broken which was our first sign that we should maybe reconsider.

Once we were seated with our party of 10 (half adults half children) it took our server about 20minutes to take our orders from the limited holiday menu which consisted of 1 appetizer, choice of soup or salad, 4 entrees (lasagna, ham, prime rib and turkey), plus 2 deserts.

When the appetizers came out it was easy to see that the apple slices it came with were starting to brown, deviled eggs dried out, crackers stale and the rest of the plate visibly appeared to have sat out too long.

Once the soups and salads came out 40minutes after first being seated everyone who ordered the salad realized there was no dressing on the ceasar salad. Only dry lettuce, croutons and parmesan cheese on the ceasar salad. The soup and dinner rolls were the only edible portion of the dinner so far.

After over an hour of waiting for our entrees (remember there was only 4 to choose from) our food began to arrive, but only for half of our table. While the rest of us waited for our food for the next 20minutes we watched the three tables around us get served there dinners even tho they had arrive much later then we had.

By the time a couple more plates arrived (still not everyone's entrees) we had enough and let the manager know we were not paying for this meal/service and proceeded to leave.

Out of the entrees served not one of them was as advertised or up to par for what should have been expected for this restaurant. The Lasagna was served at best warm. The Prime rib was well done, covered in a brown gravy and lacked the Au ju and horse raddish as advertised. The Turkey came out in small shredded pieces covered in some sort of gravy. I can't speak for the Ham entee since nobody at our table ordered it, but I can imagine it was of the same quality as the rest of the TV dinners we were being served.

I understand that it was Christmas, the servers likely didn't want to be there and it was a limited menu at an Italian restaurant, but this entire experience was horrible if not the worse service and food I have ever had. My family and I won't be coming back and will be telling everyone to avoid this place for holiday meals and be wary of the normal menu...

Located in the Sherman Avenue tourist district of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, Tito’s Grill and Wine Shop is a great choice whether you’re interested in a quick bite or a full meal. Tito’s offers many options.

Close to the resort, with outdoor tables during warm weather, it’s unlike many other restaurants in the area: it doesn’t have a sports bar feel, which in my book is a plus. It looks and feels like a better restaurant, rather than just a bar that serves food.

Tito’s offers a wide variety of choices, from pizza and traditional bar food to full-fledged entrées. On one recent visit my wife order the marguerita pizza, which was well-above average when compared to pizza available in CDA. The ingredients were fresh and well-proportioned (some places will use either too much sauce or too much cheese). The thin-style crust was also above average.

I ordered the seafood with pasta. The amount of pasta was appropriate and served al dente, which can be quite a feat in any restaurant. And somewhat surprisingly, there was no skimping on the clams, scallops, and shrimp that were included. Many places would go heavy on the pasta and light on the seafood: This was not the case. The shrimp in particular were excellent and seemed right off the boat. Also, as a former restaurant worker I know that scallops in particular can be a challenge: they are often overcooked. These were perfect.

As is to be expected but too often not the case in many restaurants, the waiter brought bread, which had a hint of garlic, without being overwhelming. He also left Parmesan on the table. These were both pluses in my book: in some places one must ask for either of these items.

For the salad, I opted for the Caesar. The house-made dressing was very good and the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese seemed freshly grated. Unlike the Caesar salads in many restaurants, the Romaine lettuce was crisp and fresh: limp, wilted lettuce is always a risk with a Caesar salad.

Although I’m not always a big fan of dessert, the Colossal Chocolate Cake looked tempting. I was not disappointed. Served with vanilla ice cream, it was great, without being overwhelming.

Throughout the meal the server, Joey, was a pro all the way, checking back with us without being intrusive.

I’d highly...

About a week before Christmas I made reservations to eat at Tito‘s. The reservation was made thinking (of course) that we would order from the regular menu— In fact, we were planning on having pizza which is what we normally get at Tito‘s. There was no mention of any holiday menu. We arrived at Tito‘s on Christmas day, was given the regular menu, and began to order when we were told that the only thing they were serving that day was a special Christmas Day menu. We were immediately given appetizers-unbeknownst to any of us that this was part of the menu, and never being told what was going on about the Christmas Day menu at that point. After Perusing the menu we were then told that there was only one offering for the meal that day and it was then I saw that the price was $42.50 per person! At this point because we were given the appetizers we felt obligated so went ahead and ordered. The food was at best marginal, a thin cut piece of prime rib, a dollop of potatoes and some green beans. The green beans were only mildly warm, and the prime rib was obviously part of a assembly line in which they were just pushing food out as fast as they could. The service was ok, and that’s about the only good thing I can say about this. For $42.50 per plate one would expect much better quality and quantity of food. I might add that I emailed Tito’s asking them to contact me about this and never heard a word from them. I feel as though this was an overpriced meal that I would’ve never paid even half that money for.Moreover, the way it was marketed almost seems as though it was not being completely upfront. And, I note again that there was Nothing said to us at the time we made reservations about the special menu. Would I have known ahead of time about the price of the menu I would’ve never came.

Update: January 2, 2025. I was contacted by Michelle from Tito’s today and she was very understanding of the situation and worked hard with me to resolve the issue. After speaking with Michelle I was very pleased with the outcome and want to say that my dealing with her made the whole experience much more livable. I will continue to patronize Tito’s as I have for the past 20 years. Thank you Michelle for...