Riondo's Ristorante — Restaurant in Galveston

We set up an anniversary dinner for my parents while they were on vacation, and this is what they had to say about it:

I know I’ve said it before in a Vox, but I wanted to revisit the topic, your wonderful anniversary gift. The restaurant is called Riondo’s. As you enter the restaurant, you see that it is dark in a very comfortable way with colorful accent lighting. I told the hostess that our children had bought us dinner. She brightened immediately and indicated that we were to follow her into the dining room. She headed in the direction of a table where there was a lighted candle and an iced champagne bucket. Right away, this went up a big notch. Once we were seated, the owner came to us introduced himself, his name is Don, and explained that our Don and he had conferred on how this dinner was to happen. He said that by virtue of Don’s instructions, he would make sure that we were dialed in and taken care of this evening. As he opened two small bottles of champagne, we saw that there was an envelope on the table. Inside was a handwritten card with wishes for a happy anniversary. Don filled our champagne glasses and then showed us the special menu for the evening and explained carefully all of the choices thereon. Then he left us in the very capable hands of our waitress. First she brought some wonderful, fresh bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Next came the first course, Evie’s beautiful salad and my shrimp bisque, tasty. The second course for Evie was chicken Florentine with pesto risotto and for me the chef’s fresh catch, snapper, and handmade linguine with a wonderful sauce. These were wonderful. Between the first and second course, the chef came out to see that our meal was good and to wish us a happy anniversary. Desert, the third course, was tiramisu with fresh lady fingers, kahlua and espresso sauce. Over the course of the evening, everyone who worked there came by to wish us a happy anniversary including the Chef, and this was offered a final time as the doorman opened the door on our way out. This evening was a knock-out. We have never had such royal treatment. It was so much...

I've been coming to Riondo's for years, and often bring guests to enjoy it as a Sunday option. This last week will be my last Sunday for the foreseeable future given the service I received.

I brought a group of 5, and ordered a Mimosa Tower, originally for 4 of us, one decided not to drink that morning and the other forgot their ID. No big issue, but I thought nothing more on it until just standard mimosas were brought. This isn't the issue, the issue came later when I asked about it when in the course of the meal, when drinks were refilled I was ignored entirely, and a member of the party had to get the waiters attention for me. When asked about a second mimosa, and commenting originally we had requested a tower - the waiter then proceeded to explain in a very rude and condescending tone how that wasn't going to happen, that it is illegal for him to serve two people, if I've been coming here I should know this and know better. My comment: That's fine, next time, let us know. We then ordered our second mimosas and they finally arrived as the group finished our meal - so there was no real point in having them.

The meal? Typically, I love Riondo's for dinner or brunch, but not this time. Others in the party had great plates, I ordered just a simple Basic Plate - three eggs. I asked for over medium. (Runny yokes, cooked whites) and got extremely over-cooked eggs that certainly were not that. No point sending it back, everyone else was fine, and the waiter wasn't sticking around or coming back at all to check on how the food was anyways. So just eat and be quiet was the vibe I got.

Simply put - as long as this seemingly new staff is at Riondo's, I will not be returning. It was hands down the worst customer service and dining experience in a long time. To say this was disappointing is an understatement. In the course of our meal - we were able to order drinks, order our meal, get water and a refill as we finished eating, and then pay. That was all we saw of our server in the entire visit. No check in's, no real option for dessert, just eat and get out - and god help you for not knowing...

We had a group for dinner. The atmosphere was nice, they are going for upscale dining. The selection was good, we had the stuffed mushrooms and calamari appetizers. Both were really good. They also give you bread with oil and vinegar, but this is the only place that charges you for bread refills. The waiter said that the chef has to come in each morning and make the bread, that's why they charge extra for it. It was good bread, but not 3 dollars good. that one star for me. Bread is a cheap easy way to keep people happy. And we had a table of 7 people, so it went quick. We had salads, the salads were really fresh and tasty. I ordered fettuccine with blackened chicken(extra 6 bucks). It was very tasty, homemade pasta was noticeable, the sauce was awesome. But there was barely a full chicken breast, and the bowl( I thought) was smaller in quantity than it should have been. My wife and 3 of her friends ordered the Brodetto Di Crabmeat, it was very bland. It was soupy, and no flavor. My wife didn't like it, so she took my fettuccine and I ate her meal. We dont really like sending things back, so that's on us. But the other girls mentioned to the waiter that the plate was flavorless and soupy, and they sent the chef to us. He tried to explain that it was based on broth and that's why it was soupy and didn't have flavor. We weren't trying to get anything for free, but merely let them know that the plate wasn't that good. They sent us a free dessert, which was a nice gesture. Others ordered pizza, and parmigiana, both said their meals were good. Overall bang for the buck, I probably wouldn't go back here with all the restaurants...