Avvio Ristorante — Restaurant in Cranston

Avvio Ristorante is a restaurant focusing on fresh and authentic southern Italian cuisine, priding itself in the Neapolitan pizzas that emerge from its imported wood-fired pizza grill. Avvio’s interior is a sleek and modern space, having been given the polished “Newport Restaurant Group” treatment by its ownership. But unlike similar “restaurant group” places that have had to inflate their menu prices to recoup their build-out costs, Avvio is reasonable, with its average dinner entrée or pizza in the $14-$18 range, and all soups and salads priced to sell at less than $10.

My favorite thing I ate here was not in fact their much-heralded pizza, but rather the “Lobster Agnolotti.” I’ve had variations of lobster ravioli all over Rhode Island since I’ve returned to the Ocean State for business over the past year, but none as fully-realized and tasty as Avvio’s. The agnolotti (i.e., ravioli filled with meat) contains nothing but seasoned lean lobster, but that doesn’t mean this dish isn’t one of the richest lobster ravioli preparations you’ll find. The limoncello cream sauce really makes this dish special, and it’s not at all the sweet sauce you think it is, but instead a refined creamy coating with a nice touch of fennel that complements the thick, fresh pasta while letting the natural sweetness of the lobster meat shine through.

As alluded to earlier, Avvio is one of three restaurants local to Providence that has been certified through Italy’s AVPN (Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, aka Association of ‘True’ Neapolitan Pizza) for their compliance to a pizza-making process and recipe that originated in Naples more than 300 years ago. Among many other things, certification requires a 900-degree oven, precise measurements of the pizza’s size and shape, a prescribed ratio of flour to water to salt to yeast, and tomatoes and other toppings must only be sourced from the Campania regions of Italy. One could reasonably argue that AVPN is a marketing tool and not a quality measurement, though it usually is a promising sign: I have yet to have a bad pizza from a certified pizzeria, which is not to say I haven’t had excellent pizzas from non-certified pizzerias.

I ordered the “Margherita Pizza,” which was solid but perhaps unspectacular. With only hand-crushed San Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzarella di bufala, extra virgin olive oil, and basil, this is the “classic” and original Italian pizza. It is undeniably authentic, though on the “very floppy” side of Neapolitan pies, even if the taste was good. I’m nit-picking perhaps, but I believe either the heat wasn’t high enough in the area of the oven my pizza went in, or the pizza should have been in a few seconds longer. In terms of satisfying a day-long pizza craving, I’d probably first take my business to fellow AVPN-certified “Pasquale's 'A Pizza Napulitana” in South Kingstown, downtown Providence’s “Al Forno” for their grilled pizzas, or even Cranston’s own “Uncle Tony’s” for one of their home-style “pizzas of the people,” with a cup of extra sauce on the side of course. But that’s because the Providence metro area has such an abundance of great pizza options. In any other city, Avvio’s could be the best pizza you could be served, but here I find it to be merely a good appetizer.

I had previously dined at this restaurant when it was known as “Papa Razzi Trattoria” before I moved to California several years ago. Avvio, seemingly a different restaurant entirely, is a clear upgrade. The open kitchen is a nice touch, as it is rare that you will witness the thrilling organized chaos of a kitchen as busy as this one. During my most recent visit, I sat at the bar and received friendly and exceedingly knowledgeable service from bartender Chris, a true asset to...

Dinner with friends, had reservations for a party of 5. The overall atmosphere here is fun and clean, a little higher than casual but nothing formal, no dress code.

The food:

Grilled Octopus - delicious, well seasoned, grilled nice and tender, however SCANT. For $18, we barely got one small tentacle. *Caution: if you’re wary of raisins, the raisin mostarda is overwhelmingly the main component of the dish, and not in a good way. This particular pairing is a bit wonky and it does not compliment the dish.

Mussels - tasty and tender, nice amount for the price, sauce very flavorful.

Calamari - standard as in any other Italian restaurant in the area. Good, but unremarkable.

New England Clam Chowder - special of the night, this was a wonderful highlight. Fresh, with a healthy portion of clams within, the chopped bacon sprinkled on top gave the chowder a nice smoky finishing touch, rich but not overly heavy. This was perfect!

Oven Roasted Duck - I had high expectations for this dish, but unfortunately the experience was a letdown. Although it was seasoned beautifully, the fat was not rendered at all, leaving the piece unenjoyable. Being the most expensive dish on the menu, it just left much to be desired. The portion of duck given to us was criminally insufficient. Beluga lentils were nice, firm, and flavorful. A unique addition.

Winter Squash Risotto - Cooked nice and tender with a slightly firm grain, creamy, well flavored. Great essence of squash throughout without having it overpower the other components of the dish. Nice texture, no mealiness. Paired ours with salmon on top, which was grilled with crispy skin. Upscale “comfort food” vibes.

Chicken Parmesan - great traditional Italian staple done well. Sauce was nice and fresh, chicken came crispy, healthy amount of pasta. Can’t go wrong with the basics.

Penne con Pollo - Tasty, light dish, flavorful grilled chicken and shiitakes, garlic white wine sauce is nice and fragrant yet delicate. Everything works well together. Great for someone looking to try something new but safe.

Tiramisu - Awful!! A block of stale whipped cream with a lady finger thrown in somewhere in the middle, if you can find it. The sponge on the bottom was half gone by the time it came to the table, and instead of being soaked in espresso it was drizzled in some sort of coffee creamed concoction that was also slightly drizzled over the top. We gave this back immediately, would not recommend.

Gelato - rich, creamy, delicious!!! Tried all the flavors.

Bottom line: nice Italian traditional dishes, slightly more upscale than a typical causal restaurant. Great highlights include the chowder and the risotto. Higher end dishes lack their required execution, and are definitely either overpriced or under portioned, depending on which way you look at it. Avoid...

Strongly agree with previous reviewer about their employee David Rivoli. Not only is he a well known rampant misogynist in terms of his downright abusive, blatantly aggressive and excessive language and behavior on his allegedly “professional” social media account, but I would never consiously be able to support any business who condones his downright hostile and borderline unhinged behaviors.

Along with that, I have never seen someone so blatant in his unearned arrogance with how he constantly makes videos insulting YOUR GUESTS. Any restaurant he works at, he is making videos and posting negative and insulting running commentary about the people who patronize your businesses. Imagine being a paying guest at Avvio and enjoying a nice meal, to come home and find out one of the cooks went online to personally insult each and every request, choice of meal, or interaction you had with staff while dining. From insulting patrons ways of preferring how they would like their pizza cooked, how they would like their pasta prepared, asking for pizza dough for their child to play with, and being dressed down and called “insane” about that request, to how their pizza is cut improperly, just yesterday, where was David not doing his job correctly, being lazy, then gaslighting the customer about how THEY are the lazy ones for not just doing it themselves (!!!) It’s a nonstop barrage of insults on YOUR guests, all so David can have “content.” Immature and inappropriate behavior that reflects extremely poorly on your establishment (currently) and any establishment that employs him now, or in the future. Guests should never fear “retribution” via the internet for simply dining out and making reasonable requests. We need to stop condoning this type of behavior, and not encouraging employees to feel comfortable harassing guests after they’ve dined with you. His downright bragging of how educated and knowledgeable he is vs your “stupid” and “uneducated,” “ignorant” guests are, just in his time working at Avvio, has put me off ever taking the chance that I’ll fall prey to his vindictive fueled behaviors, and potentially have my food tampered with, or be attacked online. It’s is just not worth it. Unprofessional across the board, at minimum.

Edited to add that if you need any further proof of this person’s violent harassment and actual threats of real, physical harm,...