Colao's Ristorante — Restaurant in Erie

Can you be in love with a restaurant? Because I am in love with Colao's. Many of the menu items are simply amazing. It's a small place and reservations are the way to go, though I've always had luck with a last minute reservation! It's something of a dress up atmosphere, so if you get a seat by the door, you get to see all the lovely ladies and gents walk in!

BEST MENU ITEMS:

Arincini - Wow! My family gets this every single time we go to this restaurant. Fried risotto balls with cheese topped with marinara. An instant hit. And not something you can get any other Italian restaurant.

Calamari - hands down my favorite calamari in Erie. And it's the sauce that truly makes it - white, not red, it's a left turn from the standard usual marinara - it's a rich, creamy, vibrant tart lemony decadence that is only enhanced with the addition of capers. Yum. Also, I love that this calamari includes both the large rings and the full-piece intact little squids. Delicious!!!

Short Ribs - if you are a meat-and-potatoes kind of person, this phenomenal meal is your dish! The short ribs are so buttery and tender you can eat the whole thing with a spoon, and the risotto is incredible and the carrots so soft and flavorful you'll be shocked a vegetable can be so good! It might sound and look like a rustic dish but the flavor is five star! But beware - it's a very large portion.

Caprese Salad (sometimes) - I am convinced two different people make the salad. I ordered it at least 10 times, and sometimes it is well worth the $9 for a side salad because the portion of mozzarella is so generous and balanced well with the vinaigrette and tomatoes, and sometimes I get a salad that isn't worth $4 where someone totally skimped on the viddles and I get a pile of overly acidulated spinach without the needed richness from the cheese to balance the acid from the dressing. It's literally a third the portion size of mozzarella from the usual. This menu item can be phenomenal but it needs much better quality control.

Lobster Ravioli - one of the absolute best sauces on any pasta dish I've ever had. Yet another sauce that Coleo's should bottle and sell. The ravioli itself has changed shape in the last few years; I think I prefer the original shape.

MENU ITEMS I DID NOT PREFER:

Salmon - maybe it was a fluke, but the one time I ordered the salmon, I asked for it more rare and received it way over-cooked (white and tacky texture) and they couldn't fire another one because it was the last one. Plus it tasted like it had been frozen and was an extremely thin piece for a restaurant-quality meal.

The desserts - over last three years I've tried nearly every single desert and I haven't liked a single one of them enough to order them twice. The cannoli is too hard and too sweet, the lemon cake is too spongy and tasteless, the tiramisu is too soggy and wet, the seasonal bread pudding was okay but not fantastic, and the chocolate cake is too thick, cloying and rich to enjoy without an acidic sauce or cooling ice cream. None of the deserts are balanced and most have a displeasing texture. It would also be nice if they added a tart option.

CONS: The menu contains some rather firm language to not request any substitutes or modifications to your meal. This may be convenient for quality control and ease of pricing but comes across as unaccommodating and unfriendly.

The hidden $5 charge if you share your entree. They portion it on two plates and charge you without asking. I even requested a separate plate once and said the entree was just for me and was totally disregarded as they split it and charged me anyway. Rude. I'd be fine with it if the menu mentioned it or the waitress informed you of the charge but nope, blindsighted.

IT WOULD BE NICE TO SEE:

Specials of the day. Menu never changes.

Fewer "traditional" menu items.

Maybe a green sauce like a pesto option for pasta.

Different pasta shapes and sizes like a tagliatelle for more delicate foods like seafood, and filled pastas besides ravioli like caramelli...

Horrible experience here last night. The manager was so rude and awful! No one told us that our reservation for 5:30 was only for 2 house and when we made reservations. 4/6 of our party came on time, two girls were running a bit behind on time but the rest of the party was approached by the manager and told that they had to be out by 7:30. Which is fine to have that policy but no one was informed about this. So they ordered right away, dinner was so rushed and we ordered another round of drinks but time was almost up so my friend went up to speak to the manager about staying a little longer to finish up our drinks because we had no idea about the time frame of our reservation and we were just trying to enjoy our moms night out. She was very nice and polite about asking and THE MANAGER told her she could go to the bar to finish it and that we have no etiquette or respect for other people coming in after us. He then proceeded to tap on her shoulder “playfully” but disrespectfully and telling her to leave and never come back. So I guess that’s that and we’ll never be coming back. We ended up going to Bayhouse Oyster Bar which is a way better and fancier place and they told us they’d never kick us out and we could stay as long as we wanted too. Mind you we just walked in on a Friday night too and it was busy and they still managed to seat us and be so kind. So I’d say take your business anywhere but Colaos. From what other people are saying, this is definitely a regular thing for the manager to be rude to people coming in. Don’t know his name but pretty sure he owns the place or his parents do so that’s very unfortunate.

*this is in response to the response below:

They are just trying to save themselves with this response. There is no excuse for that behavior. He could have easily told us in a nice way and we would have gone somewhere else as soon as we were done at 7:30 but he was so rude and that’s why we are leaving a true and honest review our experience. I understand for a restaurant to have certain policies. No one was informed of these policies!!! When I made the reservation I wasn’t told that my reservation from 5:30-7:30. All of the girls were there on time other than 2 that were late!! I came 20 mins late due to an emergency, when I got there all the girls already had put their orders in and I ordered as soon as I sat down! And we also did tip because it wasn’t the waitress’ fault, actually I tipped very generously because I felt bad for her. I’m not going to punish someone for someone else’s mistake. it was the management of this...

Easily one of the worst places I’ve ever been to. I wish I could give 0 stars for the lack of good service but the one star shall remain there as the food was okay and their pear martini was good. This restaurant needs to do a better job of informing those who book a table, are only allowed 2 hours max to sit enjoy, eat, and drink. None of us were informed of this earlier but instead were told at the BEGINNING of our time there that this table is reserved for another party in exactly 2 hours. Never have I been to a restaurant where we were basically asked to hurry up on our ordering and eating just to leave exactly at 7:30. We were rushed the whole evening and the dessert menu was not even offered to us but rather checks to get us out of there sooner. I went to find a manager to speak to and kindly ask if we can sit just a little bit longer as our “2 hours” wasn’t even up yet and to ask if we can at least have dessert but instead this manager(who was a dark haired man who I believe is named Nicholas based on their website on who helps run the place) spoke to me in such a rude manner. He spoke with such attitude and sass that had me absolutely baffled that he was even a manager of this place? I kindly was trying to explain our situation but instead he called our group inconsiderate and that we should stop caring about ourselves so much and think of other people. I couldn’t even continue the conversation as I was stunned by the remarks of this “so called manager”and he left our conversation by beating on my shoulder like a drummer and saying “please don’t come back here again”!! THE FACT THAT HE DARED TO EVEN TOUCH ME AND TELL ME SOMETHING LIKE THAT IS BEYOND OUTRAGEOUS. I indeed will never come back here and also leaving a review for those to be aware of such HORRIBLE service. The waitress was even apologizing for the behavior of the manager! HA! The worst I’ve ever seen. Worst service than any fast food and they call themselves a higher end restaurant?!

**in response to the owners reply, I personally DID tip an appropriate amount for the server! & I did not have 3 pear martinis. Those are lies. We weren’t able to finish our food or drinks anyways. Goes to show how an owner can respond this way to a customer instead of apologizing for the way they...