Vincenzo's — Restaurant in Louisville

Sadly this place is tired. We arrived early and sat at the bar to enjoy a drink. The Mixologist was great. Then all a sudden we heard someone shouting. It was the owner barking at one of the servers to bring him his dinner. Then we sat down for the Chefs "Champagne" dinner. The first bite was mind blowing. It was a simple steamed shrimp. It was so perfect. The rest of this antipasto course was a caprese salad and a beef carpacchio with parm and black truffle. Over all a good dish that could be vastly improved during tomato season. Pasta course was a black truffle risotto. The wait staff brought out a sterno cooking station and finished the risotto table side. This caused the risotto to be boiling hot. Could not taste the truffle. Also needed salt an was too wet. The fish course was then served. It was a beautiful piece of Macrarel. Unfortunately instead of honoring this ingredient with a simple preparation; it was fried with a breading that over powered the fish. It was served with over cooked broccoli and a gorganzola polenta. The polenta was good but better a complement to the beef course. Next was a palette cleanser. The beef course was supposed to be a prime strip steak. It was charred on the outside and the meat was dry flavorless and chewy. The green beans were well prepared but needed salt like the flavorless potato that was dry and chalky. For dessert the meal came with a poached pear stuffed with dried cherries and marscapone. We at the start of the meal preorded a chocolate souffle as a supplemental. The souffle was "finished" table side. It was completely raw inside. It looks like things are being done because it used to work years ago, and things are done just to be fancy. The perfect example is so many dishes are finished tableside. It looks cool but the dishes are not correct they either are over cooked or under. Let the wait staff worry about service and the cooks cook. We paired each course with wine. Only one course we had the wine before the food. The magic of pairing is taste the wine then the food then together. We were cheated of that because or waiter was cooking at other tables. This threw the pacing of the meal off. There are hints of creativity but the execution is...

My wife and I came to Vincenzo's for our two-year wedding anniversary. We were looking for a nice restaurant downtown to celebrate the occasion, and noticed that Vincenzo's was offering a $25 for $50 Groupon (more on that later), and was very well rated. So, we decided to take a chance, and are very thankful we did. When reserving online, I indicated that we were celebrating our anniversary, and when we arrived, they made sure to seat us at a very nice booth where we could sit more closely (a very nice gesture, because the booths were definitely designed for parties greater than four, but provided extra comfort and privacy).

The waitstaff was attentive, and extremely friendly. I've seen some people complain about the speed of service at this restaurant, but I think they have misunderstood some of the cultural differences between American cuisine and real Italian meals. We were thankful for the additional time to talk and digest between courses. All-in-all, it took us roughly two hours to eat Appetizer through Dessert -- which is fair for a pleasant sit-down restaurant with a nice atmosphere and good company.

Additionally, because we mentioned that it was our anniversary, we were surprised by two complimentary desserts. The tiramisu was seriously the best I've ever had. The plate was creatively garnished with chocolate, wishing us a happy second anniversary. This was a great touch. During the meal, Chef Agostino came by and made sure we were enjoying the food (which was delicious), and afterward, another co-owner came by and wished us a happy anniversary and many more. As for the Groupon, I feel like there is often a stigma at nicer restaurants against using these sort of deals, because "If you can't afford it, you shouldn't go there." After we gave ours to our waiter, he was keen to pick up on that, and was extremely thoughtful to mention that they run the Groupon on-and-off all year long (and are excited to have people eat there with them), and that his wife has often purchased them to come and eat there too.

All in all, my wife and I both felt that Vincenzo's was one of the best places for us to spend our anniversary, and we'll definitely look into adding it to our semi-regular date...

I dined at Vincenzo’s last evening using their in-house valet service to keep our car during a concert event. Unfortunately, our experience was nothing short of disappointing bordering on a crisis. After enjoying the concert we and 3 other couples who had valet parked discovered the restaurant closed and the valet service closed for the night. This left us and several other patrons stranded outside with no way to retrieve our vehicles. This included a couple from out of town who had even locked valuables (including house keys in the trunk).

The restaurant fully acknowledges this was their mistake with several sets of keys being misplaced by a valet creating the belief that all cars were claimed.

Upon bringing our issue to the attention of the restaurant via many phone calls, an instant message on social media (which was read during the time we were stranded), and a non-emergency call to police, we were met with indifference and a general lack of concern. Despite being aware of the problem, the manager made no attempt to contact us the following day and we retrieved our vehicles only by presenting ourselves at the establishment where we were flippantly handed keys.

After extensive conversation with the manager seeking an explanation, we were refunded the cost of our Uber and offered a gift certificate so nominal as to be an insult to the situation.

This lack of customer service and disregard for the well-being of their patrons is unacceptable. It is the responsibility of a restaurant to ensure that their guests have a safe and enjoyable dining experience from start to finish. By neglecting to address the issue of the closed valet service and leaving us stranded outside, they failed to meet this basic expectation.

In addition to the poor handling of the valet situation, the overall dining experience at Vincenzo’s was good but not exceptional. They create a lovely atmosphere with good service with the best feature being proximity to downtown venues for entertainment.

Overall, I would not recommend dining at Vincenzo’s based on my experience. The lack of customer care and disregard for the well-being of their patrons is...