il Bracco — Restaurant in Houston

EDIT: Not an hour after I posted my review below I received a call from the manager asking me to provide more context. While her intention may have been good, the delivery and her response felt like she was making excuses for the points I brought up. Clearly this is an establishment where they expect 5 stars and will call under the guise of “improvement” and “provide more context” to make the customer feel some type of way for not rating 5 stars. When I brought up the disjointed service point, the manager defended that this is the way for customers to be exposed to the whole server team. What good does that do when we’re ready to order and a new face comes to us asking if we need anything, we say we’re ready to order, and she walks off to find our main server? Could’ve done without that interaction. One server just to take drink orders. One server to pour water. One server to take our food orders, who also had to shout because of how loud it is. We don’t need to be asked multiple times if this is our first time in…it’s so repetitive and everything above drags out our service and doesn’t have a continuous flow. As for my loud point of contention, Manager says I could’ve requested a corner table or turn down the music, which I reminded her that I put that on my reservation that I would like a quiet, private table for my partner’s birthday. If y’all really cared about customer feedback and want to make improvements, maybe dedicate a portion of your restaurant to a more private ambiance to accommodate guests who are going out to what they thought was going to be a special, private dinner. Originally, we would still want to come back, get the delicious drinks here, and maybe try out their sandwiches and a different pasta now that we know what the atmosphere and vibe of the restaurant is like, but after this call, I definitely am going to think 5 times before I spend more $$ here.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

3.5 stars - Heard great things about this place and decided to try it out for my partner’s birthday. Overall, we had a good time. The drinks are pricey but tasty (the blanco daisy is the BEST) and all the food had great flavor, but nothing that made us think we needed to return for it. We thought the portion sizes were TINY for the price (we are so glad we got an extra pasta dish to split between us; otherwise we would’ve left hungry still). The service was always friendly, but disjointed. We expected to have the same one or two servers but had at least 5 different people serving us, which caused a lot of repetition. There’s also no privacy or quiet part of the restaurant. For such a limited restaurant interior, it seems like management squeezed the max amount of tables as possible and the downside is it’s always loud and slightly claustrophobic. I would absolutely return here for the yummy drinks and casual eating but would caution against coming here for a fancy or...

This was my husband’s and I first experience here at il Bracco on Wednesday night and while our meals were delicious the service unfortunately was very underwhelming. We waited awhile to be greeted by our server and upon them finally coming to our table we actually were unsure of who was serving us as there were two individuals - We presume one of them was in training but that was unclear with the lack of introductions. Majority of our dining experiences here in Houston have been exceptional mostly due to the 5 star customer service we receive. For example, it is standard for the server to ask if you’ve ever dined there before or if you are celebrating anything. Neither questions were asked and ironically it was our first time there and we were celebrating our anniversary. These questions are important because it establishes the type of service you should expect to receive. Needless to say , last night did not make our night feel special. I asked for two waters to start along with our cocktail orders - We never received our waters. Our drinks were well made although the orange peel left one of our cocktails tasting like soap, we still enjoyed them overall. When our food arrived by another employee - We didn’t receive any silverware so we were left there waiting while trying to get someone’s attention and unfortunately our food became room temperature and didn’t seem hot and fresh out the kitchen We were also still waiting on our waters at this point to which eventually we were asked if we wanted water (even though that was the first thing we asked for) We seldom saw or heard from either one of our servers the entire night. Specials were not discussed (if any) and an introduction to the restaurant or explanation of the menu was never discussed either. We noticed the table next to ours receiving much more attention from the servers and we couldn’t help but think we may have been judged due to us being younger and perhaps they didn’t want to provide that same level of service in fear we may not have tipped them graciously. We value our experiences as foodies but also considering my background in the food and hospitality industry, there is standard that is to be upheld. Altogether, we felt a bit rushed and not wanted there. If it weren’t for the meal (although it was not hot) we would not be returning. We are still willing to give another chance but I hope this message is received and is used as a learning experience that the little things do in fact matter. FYI - the FOH staff was exceptional ,the two young ladies at the host stand...

I want to preface with our waiter was amazing and so kind and helpful so this is not a rip on the wait staff or staff in general.

I have to say I am SHOCKED by how many positive reviews.

We had high expectations for this location because my sister always raves about the Dallas location. This place gives Hillstone vibes, but for starters, we made this reservation a month out for Valentine’s Day and they immediately attempted to seat us in the bar area— we told them we’d wait for a booth or table but in my opinion, it should have been understood that we would be sat in the main dining area from the get go. Again, staff was accommodating, just an odd thing for bar seating to not be clearly separate from dining area.

The booth situation is not great because the divider in between other booths is so short that you find yourself having awkward stares and can overhear conversations, it leaves little space for privacy. The design just feels off, I hate to keep mentioning Hillstone, but they do a great job of separating bar area from main dining and creating intimate space for dining (music is good, and atmosphere just feels super thoughtful). This space lacks thoughtfulness if anything. The music feels too loud and off, for some reason kids everywhere, and it just felt cheesy.

Everything else would have been forgiven if the food was what it was hyped up to be, but it was seriously not worth the money.

We ordered: fried artichokes and aioli spicy vodka pasta and the fried chicken on top mushroom pasta Caesar salad Decided to skip dessert because of how dinner tasted

The pastas were lackluster and seriously under seasoned (specifically the mushroom Marsala one just tasted like cream of mushroom soup). The vodka pasta was okay but presentation was ehh overall and it was as if the food was sitting in warmers ready to go because it quite literally came out less than 5 minutes after ordering.

I have to say I was ASTONISHED at how bland and unexciting the food was because the outside of the building and vibe they are going for with this place is very “chic, supper club-esque.” Again, its appearance preps the guests for the expectation the food will be like Hillstone, Nancy’s Hustle, Squabble, even the original Carrabba’s, is better.

I don’t know how to describe it other than, I felt overdressed even though you’d think this was a location to dress up for and I was craving something else to eat (didn’t even finish my meal). Instead of ordering dessert we were so over the meal we went down the street to Tiny Boxwoods for chocolate...