Orlando's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Lubbock

This place used to be good, now it is not. Upon entering I noticed the brass door handles were so nasty they looked like they had been polished with butter. We were greeted by the hostess, but could barely hear her over the blaring music. We were then seated at a greasy table with chairs so loose they felt like they were about to break apart. Our waiter came to the table, and set our silverware and napkins directly on top of the nasty menus that obviously had not been cleaned since last Christmas. We placed our drink order, and were told Orlando's does not carry bottled water. When the waiter brought beers, he set them on the table, and placed the coasters beside the drinks. Odd... After looking through the menu for several minutes, we asked the waiter about several of our potential choices. He had no clue about the menu items whatsoever, simply stating "I don't know," "I don't know," "I don't know." Out of desperation, we asked him to go find out. It was obvious he was annoyed, when he asked us, "You want me to go ask my MANAGER? Eventually we placed our order. We received our salads with the small container of dressing sitting inside the salad bowl, but spilling down the outside of the salad bowl. The salad consisted of brown and wilted lettuce, 2 old floppy baby carrots, and seemingly about 1 cup of cheese. It was basically a cheese and lettuce salad. Roughly 2 minutes later we received our entrees. I had the spaghetti & meatballs. The plate was much too small, and the spaghetti was hanging over the sides. The pasta seemed old, because it had a very "tan" and inconsistent look; like it had been sitting in a container before it was reheated. The sauce was much too salty, and coated the pasta with grease, while also flooding the bowl with water. It tasted like it came straight from a can. The meat balls were supposedly made "in house," but had the consistency of a hot dog. The garlic toast was overly greasy with too much garlic and salt. While we ate, we looked around the dining room. It was easy to notice the place had not been dusted in months. The bottles that decorate the walls were covered thick dust and cobwebs. I couldn't help but notice someone who seemed to be the manager standing in front of a computer flirting with 5-10 female staff members. It was pretty obvious no one cared about the place. It is also worth mentioning, the female staff seemed to be allowed to wear shorts that were inappropriately short. One of waitresses had on thin black plastic shorts that were so tight, her body seemed to consume them. While another very large waitress was disgustingly bursting out of her shorts. This Orlando's is more like a college bar, than a restaurant. it is dirty, greasy, loud, with bad furniture, poor service and awful...

We went for Valentines Day and it was a nice treat, we had never been. My boyfriend and I walked in and the atmosphere is just so awesome. All the decor to look at is so cool and perfectly placed. My boyfriend said it reminded him of true Italian restaurants in Chicago or New York. We were seated promptly and our waitress was Yvette.

We told Yvette we had never been and if she could provide some recommendations which she did. I ended up going with the Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo and my boyfriend went with the Italian Sausage casserole.

We did not order any appetizers, but our entrees came with salad and garlic bread. We both ordered Ceasar Salads which were very fresh and the dressing was very tasty. The Garlic bread was pretty great as well. Yvette did say that the minestrone soup is awesome which I will get next time to try instead of salad.

Our entrees arrived and they looked very delicious. My boyfriend doesnt like mushrooms and he forgot to tell the waitress to hold off in the mushrooms. I am so glad he forgot because I ate them and man oh man they were delicious! He really liked his meal.

Now to my meal I took my first bite and was a bit disappointed. I was happy that the sauce appeared to be homeade but it had a strong lemon taste to it. The chicken was super basic I wished there was an option for it to be blackened or cajun seasoned. I think next time I might try the mushroom and Italian sausage alfredo. Or the Spicy Shrimp pasta or the green Chile linguine which is said to be there most popular dish.

Over all we had a great experience. Yvette was very attentive and we would love to have her as our waitress again! We will definitely be back to try...

Everything here was stellar. From the waitress, to the adult beverage, to the AWESOME "Mafia queso" appetizer to the Cesar salad to the pallet-pleasing pizza. After also trying my wife's chicken spaghetti, I came away from this experience fully under the impression that you simply cannot go wrong with any dish here.

The waitress and bartender were both incredibly adept at their respective crafts and the ambiance even in the bar section was perfect for a date night. Not too loud, plenty of room so as not to feel claustrophobic.

I think I've made it clear in my reviews by now that after having lived in Italy, I'm a bit of a "pizza snob," as my wife calls me. This place takes the crown for the best pizza in Lubbock. The sauce, which I am very picky about, had a robust fresh taste to it and lacked that overly-acidic cheap "sour," taste that plagues many pizza sauces. The crust (I chose the white bread option but there is also a wheat option which is a nice touch) had a satisfying crunch and a sort of subtle sweetness that made it delicious. The layered cheese and pepperoni toppings on my "primo pepperoni," pie were also top notch.

In summation, I have really nothing bad to say about Orlando's. The prices are fair especially for the amount of QUALITY food you receive. My ONLY complaint, and this is really nitpicking here, is that while the pizza sauce was delicious, there was a little too much of it on the pie for my taste. Not enough to deem the pie soggy or bring it down in any way, just a personal preference of mine.

We will definitely be returning to this establishment and when we do, I am keen on trying the fried...