Niki's Italian Bistro III — Restaurant in Murphy

I tried to like Niki's, I really have. But after tonight, I don't want to ever come back here. This is the third time I've ate at this place (cause I'm a firm believer that everyone deserves another chance and once you get 3 strikes, you're out) and the food is just mediocre at best... The first time I ate here, I had the chicken marsala; the "marsala" sauce literally tasted like they took a packet of mushroom gravy mix that you can buy at the grocery store and just reduced that down and threw giant chunks of mushrooms in it with no taste of the marsala. It was not an authentic marsala sauce, very disappointing. The second time I ate here, I had the chicken piccata; the chicken was not bad, but the pasta underneath it was WAAAAY too lemony and there was big chunks of uncooked garlic bits that gave the pasta a very unpleasant crunchy texture. Also very disappointing And the final time, I tried the veal parmigiana; it was terrible. The veal patty literally tasted like a frozen chicken fried steak patty that you could also buy from the grocery store. I'm 100% sure that it was frozen, it was not fresh meat at all. And the veal interior was gray and overcooked. Veal in veal parmigiana needs to have a light pink juicy interior, not a gray and white dry bland looking one. And not long afterwards, I got stomach issues. I really don't think anything is really homemade here. I'm pretty sure over half of the menu items are frozen and all of the sauces are made with canned sauce or sauce mix packets. If I wanted that kind of food, I would've stayed home. And I can cook better food at home and I never use frozen products. This place gets 2 stars though cause it is a pretty hole in the wall restaurant, the employees are very nice and attentive, and my folks love their calzones. So that's a plus I...

Zero stars. Total disappointment. I’m certain those that have left stellar reviews are limited in authentic palate. The “stuffed” portobello mushrooms were the size of a quarter. And I do not say this lightly, but I am convinced there was absolutely no crab or shrimp within said quarter sized stuffed portobello mushroom. When I tell you it was just like the ones that you can buy from Walmart, the four cheese ones, that’s what it was, but smothered in some god-awful raw garlic sauce. It literally tasted like they had spooned out raw minced garlic from the jar and sprinkled it in some kind of cream based sauce and poured it over Walmart stuffed mushrooms. It was not palatable. It tasted like a mistake. And let’s talk about chicken marsala. For those who don’t know, chicken marsala sauce is made from marsala wine, chicken stock and cream, it shouldn’t be red. It’s not a tomato-based sauce. So it was a bad sign when it came out and the damn thing was red. It was tomato-based. It was not the beautiful nutty, sweet-savory light sauce that I was expecting it to be, as it should be, instead it was a heavy thick red sauce. And it was disgusting. The noodles tasted literally pre-cooked and just reheated and served. Swollen. Mushy. Was not fresh. Nothing about it was fresh. I am so disappointed and had waited some time to go and have this experience after reading the reviews and thought wow we have an authentic place here. We don’t. And if I have to get up and walk to the drink service area to ask for a refill of a beverage, you have a problem with service. Sorry Murphy TX, if you think this is good Italian food, you don’t know good. And all the prices are more than what is stated on their website...significantly more. Paid $40 for one person. Do NOT...

My wife and I love Italian cuisine and Niki's was suggested to us by a friend in the area. As Covid is still a thing, we called ahead and ordered to go. My wife had tortellini alfredo and I had the chicken fettuccine alfredo. We also ordered garlic bread. Upon getting home and eating, everything just went straight to disappointing. I am uncertain, but I doubt they make their tortellini fresh as my wife said it tasted like it was either frozen, store bought or both. For my dish, the noodles and alfredo were good, but not amazing. The disappointing part for me was that the chicken tasted nothing like chicken. It tasted like tuna. The meat even tore apart like cooked tuna. Needless to say it was disgusting and the worst part of my meal. Lastly the garlic bread. Though it was definitely garlic bread, it too was disappointing. Crispy on the edge, soggy throughout the entire middle. The garlic knots on the other hand were delightful and those disappeared with a little bit of butter.

Needless to say we were not impressed by Niki's and will definitely...