Riccardo's Ristorante — Restaurant in Lake Oswego

My partner made reservations for a birthday evening dinner, as this place has been on our list for awhile ever since we moved into the area.

The place is small and intimate, with an open shelf stuffed with wine bottles used as a partition to split the restaurant seating area into two areas, creating a nice atmosphere. The lighting is on the dimmer side, but not to the point where you are struggling to read your menu.

The food was fantastic--the scallops were cooked perfectly, the soup of the day (a kind of stew) was extremely flavorful and the pasta was thick and tender. The portions were good, which is always good to see. I can go on about the food, but the shining star is definitely the service.

Our waiter was Ryan, who is performing at the top of his game. This was our first time in this restaurant and he was a wealth of information and went above and beyond to make the evening an event instead of just a meal.

From the start he was there to help with the daunting wine list, though we ended up just ordering a few glasses as opposed to the bottle. The wine by the glass selection was great--not that many to choose from but what there was on there was great. It being out first time, Ryan went out of his way to let us do a small sampler of each side option (entree comes with a choice of soup, which there is two of, or salad) bringing out each one as it's own course. We also ordered the scallop appetizer (amazing) and Ryan brought out a fried and stuffed olive appetizer as well. Each item was timed perfectly, allowing my partner and I to sit, chat and drink our wine.

At the end of the night we ordered some decaf, and Ryan brought out some strawberry sorbet with a candle in it that was out of this world. I used to love strawberry ice cream as a child, and I don't know if you (dear reader) will be able to relate to this but it tasted how I remember strawberry ice cream tasted as a kid.

All in all we spent a little over 3 hours here, the staff making their rounds ensuring a water cup nor wine glass was ever empty if desired. The courses never overlapped, and the entire staff was excellent.

This place really separates itself from surrounding establishments, by being leagues ahead of the competition. Now I'm sure everyone who works here is fantastic, but Ryan was our server and I'm naming him server of the century.

If you're looking for a place for a special occasion or just want to put on something nice and go out with your family or partner, you'd be doing yourself a disservice by not going...

I coordinated a work event recently and had the pleasure of ordering catering with Riccardo's. It was PHENOMENAL. From what I understand, the restaurant doesn't normally do a ton of catering, but if you call and inquire, they are more than happy to accommodate. I partnered with Shane (the general manager), and he was so amazing and easy to work with. He even delivered all the food to the event location! I ordered dinner catering for a group of 16 guests, and the menu we selected together was perfect. 1 full-size tray of lasagna, 1/2 size tray of butternut squash ravioli, 1/2 size tray of meatballs + sauce, salad, and bread. It was the perfect amount of food, with enough leftovers to take home. All the guests were floored by how delicious the food was, especially the famous lasagna, and they all wanted to know where the restaurant is located so that they can go the next time they visit. The food was definitely the highlight of our work event, and I can't thank Shane and Riccardo's enough. The level of service and professionalism was impeccable. You can tell the team here genuinely cares about the quality of their food and the service to match it. 110% recommend! I would order catering from Riccardo's again for future...

This is a super cute spot with a great ambiance. The fountains outside remind me of being in italy. The servers aren’t perfect but are polite and attentive enough. I had high hopes for the food but was very disappointed. I had a Brunello to drink and it was excellent. The bread and olive oil, presented with the drinks, was also excellent. I had a good gazpacho as well. The pasta (I had the arabbiata) came from a boxed noodle most likely and was not cooked as well as I would have liked. I was really hoping an Italian restaurant with good reviews would be serving fresh pasta and that was sad. The sauce was too salty. I think they just added too much parmigiana Regianno and the used small ground pieces so they mixed into the sauce. That’s what I decided was the source of the saltiness. The meatballs were a bit bland. My partner had the lasagna and I tried it. I think it had some sort of shredded meat inside, and it was very wet. I was pretty disappointed as this is their Friday night chef. I would expect this is their current best food.

I was very hopeful as this place is close to home, and is super cute, but in the end it just reminded me why I usually eat in the city rather than the suburbs for...