ItalX — Restaurant in Lexington

ItalX

Having a love of Italian food meant that a trip to ItalX in the new City Center complex in downtown Lexington was a must. We had hoped to get there much sooner, but was it ever worth the wait…

The space has great ambiance. Light, airy, tastefully understated, yet very inviting. We were fairly early diners and were glad to see the space very active, yet reasonably quiet. If you dine in Lexington you know how some spaces resonate so much noise it can be distracting… ambiance and attention to detail mean something, and ItalX hit both. By the end of our meal the space was filled - so happy to see!

There are many Italian restaurants in Lexington that have huge menus and execute them well. The offerings at ItalX are fewer than some, but the diversity is there for all tastes. I’m not a chef, but i have travelled to Italy, and can say that the menu reflects a more authentic crafting than many in town. Kudos Chef Lundy! And their selection of wines are very good, and also a focal point of their ambiance… a very nice touch.

We selected a Chianti, Capineto, that was very reasonably priced, and was very light, slightly smokey, and paired well with our selections as it turned out…

And is that menu ever executed well… we started with the Proscuitto di Parma (which was a popular choice for many tables - yes, I look!) that includes burrata, tomatoes, fresh basil, and toasted focaccia. The shaved prosciutto was a delicious, melt in your mouth cut, and the burrata another one of those regional selections in my view. Lovely - not overpowering. The combinations you could compose on the properly toasted focaccia were a wonderful. The tomatoes and fresh basil could be interwoven with the meat and cheese, but were delicious samplings on their own. A great start, opening the palate nicely.

I chose the Marsala di Vitello, and Amy the Halibut Scottate, bypassing the salad and pasta selections simply because we are very light eaters (and love our deserts - room!). And we chose wisely…

The seared sea halibut comes with with artichoke risotto, toasted pine nuts, and Pecorino Romano. It was wonderfully seasoned and executed, and very tasty. The bed of risotto was creamy, interesting in flavor, and very good. A wonderful entree!!

The veal - I love marsala sauce, and the entire dish is very well composed. The sautéed veal scallopini, mushrooms, cipolline onions, marsala wine sauce, and spaghetti was a delight. The veal was proper, and the marsala sauce one of the best I’ve had anywhere- a nice surprise :) the mushrooms & onion were great texture and prepared and paired very well for the sauce and spaghetti, which was Al dente… a great entree :)

For desert we had the Ricotta Zeppole that had a honey dipping sauce with touches of pistachio, lemon, and was a nice finish. Again harkening to “regional” tones in my view.

We ended the night with ItalX coffee and sambuca , because, yes…

The staff was exceptional, with attention to our table well met, for a great dining experience. We will be back, and loved our night out at ItalX - highly...

My friends and I went here for the first time for our friends birthday tonight and can say we will not be returning after this experience. The service was fine and the food was good, though by the end of the night we had felt blatantly harassed and felt that the environment had become hostile and uncomfortable whilst receiving little to no help or empathy from the staff. Just after we were seated a woman followed me into the bathroom and proceeded to tell me about her friend who had expressed that he found me attractive and wanted to approach me. I didn’t think anything of this, and simply explained that that was nice to here, though I was not interested. After some time had passed he approached our table and continued to intrude on our table throughout the night. The first time we politely accepted the compliments and thanked him. He proceeded to come to our table 4 more times throughout the night to tell us we were hot and ask for our instagrams after we expressed politely that we wanted to be left alone. He continued to come over after this and began to feel very uncomfortable and unsettled. I noticed him and his friends were causing conflict at the bar with other customers as well, though nothing seemed to be done because the bartender was friends with them. We notified a manager of our situation and expressed that we began to feel uncomfortable. My friend who approached her said she seemed very understanding, though all that happened was that we had one of our appetizers comped. Even after notifying the staff, this man continued to harass us and became very sour by the end of the night. It escalated to him yelling at us on our way out. We are all young and felt uncomfortable throughout our entire experience here and received an underwhelming amount of support and empathy from the staff. The man expressed that he was a regular at Italx and this is a large reason why we will not be returning. This man was clearly older than us and we all left feeling very anxious and startled by the whole experience. We all agreed that we were very disappointed by the staff’s tolerance for this kind of harassment in their restaurant from someone who identifies as a regular there. Like I said, food and service was fine but we all left the restaurant appalled at the lack of action from the staff. I hope this review encourages them to consider establishing a new standard for their tolerance of harassment in their...

On a cold snowy evening Fat Man Reviews found its way to ItalX in Lexington, KY. ItalX is an elegant Italian restaurant that serves elevated contemporary Italian food. They offer a large wine list and are located in the City Center, downtown.

We started with Calamari. This was prepared with fresh squid, pickled peppers and a lemon-basil aioli. The breading was light and fried perfectly. The squid was tender and slightly chewy, while the peppers added a bright vinegar kick that was very pleasing to the tongue. The aioli was slightly sweet and acidic, offering a great balance to the dish

We also tried Arancini. This is a fried fontina and risotto ball, served with basil-pistachio pesto and marinara. The crispiness of the fontina on the outside was perfect. The risotto was flavorful, and the marinara was fresh. The pesto was good but chunky, different and enjoyable.

My fiancé tried the Butternut Squash Gnocchi. This dish consists of Pecorino butter, kale, mushrooms and cipollini. The gnocchi was light and fluffy but slightly doughy. The vegetables were all cooked well. The butter sauce was excellent and flavored well.

I tried the Tuscan Farro soup. The soup had white beans, onions, celery, carrots and roasted peppers. The soup had a good earthy flavor, the vegetables were cooked well, as was the Farro. The beans were inconsistent. Half were fully cooked, and the other half were a little under. It was a tatsy soup though.

For my entrée I had the Marsala di Vitello. The meal was composed of sautéed veal scallopini, mushrooms, cipollini, Marsala wine and spaghetti. The wine, vegetables and spaghetti were all cooked well and had a great taste. The mushrooms were the star of the show. They were sweet, meaty and almost fruity. I could have just ate them. The veal fell short, as it was a little tough and chewy, but flavor wise it was good.

ItalX offers several salads, appetizers, entrées and desserts. The have a full bar and offer several after dinner drinks such as coffee and port. The server that we had was top-notch, knowledgeable and answered all of our questions. The Fat Man says that ItalX is Fat...