Garozzo's Downtown — Restaurant in Kansas City

I was in town with some friends and was so excited to try Garozzos's. The menu had so many delicious looking options. Sadly I found nearly everything disappointing. I was most excited to try the Sicilian stuffed artichoke; shrimp, prosciutto, garlic, butter, melted provolone, breadcrumbs. How could you go wrong, right? By overshadowing all the delicious ingredients with over half the stuffing being soggy breadcrumbs. Every bite was like salty cream of wheat. I don't understand, there was no need for all that filler and it just ruined the dish for me.

For my entrée I had the chicken spiedini Samantha. Sadly, I had a similar issue as the appetizer. The spiedini is described as "Marinated Chicken Breast Rolled in Italian Bread Crumbs, Skewered and Grilled." I guess I misunderstood what they meant by "rolled" in breadcrumbs. I was expecting chunks of chicken lightly breaded, instead it was several thin slices of chicken rolled up with more of the soggy breadcrumbs. If the breadcrumbs had just been on the outside, and I hadn't already been overwhelmed with them on the appetizer, I don't think it would have been a problem. But with the breadcrumbs rolled up inside the slices of chicken they didn't get crispy but again were the texture of cream of wheat. I didn't think the alfredo sauce was anything special and there was only 3-4 artichoke hearts.

Several of my friends and I ordered glasses of the house Cabernet Sauvignon. This was the highlight of the meal. I don't usually order house wine because I don't expect it to be very good. But this was so good I ordered a second glass. For an end of meal cocktail, I ordered the espresso martini. It wasn't the best I've ever had but it was quite good. Just a little heavy on the cream for my taste.

For dessert several of us ordered the limoncello cake to go. It was good but we were disappointed it didn't come with the raspberry sauce listed on the menu. We all thought it would have been better with the sauce.

One of the reasons we chose Garozzos's was due to dietary restrictions. Their menu very clearly marks vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options. My friend said her gluten free pasta dish was really good. *This is why I rated a second star.

Another friend ordered the Pasta con Broccoli alla Balano (broccoli and mushroom pasta with a tomato cream sauce). She enjoyed it and the bite I tried was good although oddly sweet, perhaps again too much cream for my taste.

A couple of things to note, the portions are huge and they do offer half portions. I wish I'd taken advantage of that. Also, be aware that a side salad is not included. My side caesar salad cost an extra $6.50.

I'm not usually this picky but, after tax and tip, I spent over $100 for my meal alone. For me that's a splurge and I had higher...

Might be a lengthy review but bear with me.

Garozzo’s has always been one of my favorites. During restaurant week this year I got my girlfriend and I reservations for when they opened on a Saturday. We get seated just behind a couple of groups ahead of us. We sat for about 10 minutes looking over the menu and waiting to order a couple of glasses of wine and had not been greeted or anything. I finally flagged down a random server to ask if we could get a couple of glasses of wine. She said she wasn’t our server but would get the wine. She brought them over and left. After waiting another 10-15 minutes we decided we should probably leave and find somewhere else to go but we wanted to pay for our glasses of wine. I asked the hostess if she could get our check for the wine so we could leave. Shortly after, Chris the manager come over and apologized and insisted we stayed and he would take care of us. At this point we had made up our mind to go somewhere else so I told him I appreciated the gesture and it wasn’t necessary (I’ve worked in restaurants my entire career and have managed and I know mistakes happen, no harm no foul). Like I said, it’s always been my favorite, it was just an off day for them and we had just made up our mind to go somewhere else. I ensured him we would be back and not to worry. Before we left he promised he would take care of us on our next visit.

Fast forward to 6 months later to August. My girlfriend and I were getting ready to celebrate our anniversary and I thought “what better place to go to than Garozzo’s?” I booked our reservations. I chuckled because I didn’t tell my girlfriend where we were going and thought it would be kind of funny based off our last experience. I also thought in the back of my mind “I wonder if Chris’ offer was still available?” It had been quite some time. I didn’t say anything and just booked the reservations. When we were seated we were greeted with 2 glasses of champagne. I was confused…then Chris came to our table…”welcome back! You thought I would forget?” I was shocked. I didn’t, nor was I wanting to ask, or even expect Chris to remember! He also got us a round of Arancini. My girlfriend even asked “did you tell him we were coming?!?” I was like “no! I just booked the reservations online” truly blown away.

Sorry for the novel. I just wanted to share my experience and express my gratitude to Chris for going above and beyond. Working in restaurants can be tough because sometimes the bad outweighs the good. Customer service can be a huge difference. Chris and the staff are top tier. The food was amazing as always. Thank you Chris for making a memorable night that much...

An evening out to the Nutcracker just isn’t complete without a good dinner beforehand. My company for the evening chose our location: a beautiful restaurant near the city market called Garozzo’s. I’d never been before, but I trusted that she knew where to find good food.

We were greeted and seated quickly as we arrived for our reservation. The lights in the dining room were like crystalline stars over the gathered assortment of people who—like us—were ready to enjoy a beautiful late-December evening. Despite being nearly in the center of the room, we settled into a sense of intimacy under the delicate stars. Enough that we existed in another space, comfortably far from the troubles and worries that we face outside.

And all before the food even arrived.

Good company certainly makes a dinner special, but when your food causes a silence to fall between the two of you as you take your first bites and savor the marriage of aroma and taste… now that’s what makes a dinner memorable.

I’ve had my share of salmon fillets throughout my life, but the Salmon alla Spinaci con Pesto that I had that evening was among the very best. Even now, months later, I can still recall the tenderness, the thin caramelization, the gentle balance between the pesto and pine nuts on top and the tender spinach below which gradually took in sweetness from the freshly cooked salmon. The cavatelli in tomato cream sauce and clams spread like late evening sunshine around the salmon, and tasted as warm and rich as one might feel basking in sunshine, only with the additional blessing of a satisfied stomach. This is the kind of food that humankind should be eating. Why have taste buds if you’re not providing them with such a full experience of flavor like this? The chefs of Garozzo’s understand.

Half a year later, I still think about it.

You can build your expectations for an Italian restaurant on the initial taste of their house-made bread, but those expectations are always to be exceeded by the quality of taste of the food. Especially...