VIVO Italian Kitchen™ — Restaurant in Orlando

We heard good things about Vivo and had been planning to try it on a visit to Universal. We made reservations and checked in on time, we waited a while for a table as it was a busy evening but we understand this is normal for City Walk. We saw several parties being seated before us, and finally it was our turn. Upon check in another guest was in a heated discussion with what I assume is one of the managers. They were very unhappy about something, and we waited a while to get the attention of the host. When we finally were checked in, the host brought us to a high top table literally next to the front door, actually in the way of the door. These looked like temporary bar seating for people waiting, not for actual diners who were going to be spending close to $100 per person with drinks and apps. Not to mention, this was on a very cold evening and with the door constantly opening for guests it was freezing there. I politely asked for a different table inside the restaurant. Not normally a problem at any restaurant, we don’t mind waiting for the next table to be available. But this is where everything went bad. Instead of a manager coming to assist, we got a different host - Logan. He was extremely rude, and told us that this is the only table they had and if we didn’t take it then they would put us at the end of the line for walk-in’s for another table. Knowing that it’s a busy cold night and we already had waited an extra half hour beyond our reservation this was unacceptable. I’m not one to cause a scene like the person who was in there before me, and my wife was hungry. So we begrudgingly accepted the lousy table. While sitting there freezing we got to watch the next 3 parties of two also get seated well inside the restaurant at regular tables. We were lucky to have a great waitress who was very helpful. We told her about the table issue and she apologized and was at least empathetic if not helpful. No manager ever came over to even offer his apologies or check on our meal. Because we were freezing we skipped drinks and dessert - lost revenue! Seems like the only way to get attention here is to cause a scene like the diner in front of us in line. I’ll know for next time. This incident, and Logan’s bad attitude, ruined what could have been a really enjoyable meal. The food was great, the bread they bring to the table is terrific, and the portions are very fairly sized for the price. As annual passholders we go to Universal about once a month or so. We always eat somewhere at City Walk. We usually go to The Chocolate Emporium but we didn’t plan enough in advance for the reservations this time and figured we would try Vivo. Now I know why this was available and the Chocolate Emporium is so hard to get reservations. Learned my lesson! Food here is great but comes with...

So every single time we visit Universal, we make it a point to visit Vivo as it quickly became our favorite Italian joint in the whole area. Reservations are highly recommended (either with the front host or online) as it can get busy. We rolled in about 10:55pm, and they were closing at midnight. The ambience inside is very nice, and I love the open kitchen with it's bar seating where you can watch the chefs in action. They have cool circular booths that form a kind of cage around your, although we haven't had a chance to sit in those yet. There are tables with cushioned leather seats, and then tables with metal seats - the latter are honestly uncomfortable on the colder days because your butt is just freezing throughout dinner.

During this last visit we celebrated my friend's birthday and had the chance to get 25% off with our premium passes. We ordered: 2 Stellas, 1 Peroni, a hot tea, a margherita pizza and calamari to start, chicken marsala, bucatini and meatballs, sausage ragu, and cacio e pepe. I was annoyed with the beer prices as you can get larger pours for the same prices at other venues in CityWalk. The complimentary bread is very good as it comes out warm and has that perfect balance of soft chew with crispy crust. Each table has a bottle of EVOO, but you can request balsamic vinegar to dip as well. The margherita pizza was phenomenal (usually we get the quattro formaggi, but the fresh basil really made the margherita sing to us). The fried calamari were wonderfully tender but perfectly fried, and accompanied with a grilled lemon and tiny pickled peppers. All the mains were cleaned off as we thought they were delicious. I personally got the cacio e pepe, which comes with large, well-cooked shrimp. I'm also that person who loves a mound of freshly grated parmesan coating my pasta (poor server just had to keep grinding away...). Next, we ordered the tiramisu and the cannoli for dessert. Tiramisu was amazing, and they added a candle and a "Happy Birthday" message in chocolate! The cannoli though....such a let down. It's not even because we are used to good cannolis in the North End of Boston. The cannoli shell were embarrassingly stale and way too thick. The ricotta filling was forgettable. The cherry on either end tasted quite off. Overall the whole thing was pretty cold, signifying that it was probably made way ahead of time and just refrigerated until served to us. They were also pretty small.

Our server was pretty great, friendly and witty (and also sang Happy Birthday with us). Overall, we will of course visit again as we do love their food. But dessert man, lost a star for ending the meal with...

I was very disappointment with my first experience at VIVO Italian kitchen. I want to reiterate that I am very big on customer service regardless of how good the food is and how "fancy" the establishment looks. I understand that with COVID the wait times are longer than usual, but to sit at a table for over an hour before having our order taken is a little outrageous. When the waiter finally arrived to get our order he was very blah with his attitude and dared to drill me about why I did not want ricotta cheese on the Calamari dish I had ordered for my fiancé as that is how it is usually prepared. She is allergic so I wanted to make sure the dish had none. Once I told him to not worry about it just to go ahead and stick with our main dishes he changed his tone and assured me the Calamari could be made without the ricotta cheese to which I agreed and proceeded to order. What is sad is that out of the total 2 hours we were there he came 3 times to ask how everything was. Our drinks had been sitting empty for most of the time. It was not until the end of our meal that he decided to ask if we wanted a refill. The bread served as a free appetizer had no taste not to mention the horrid plain olive oil that came with it. I will say however the breaded Calamari which came with 2 sauces (marinara & a white creamy lemon garlic aioli) was delicious as were the main dishes. My fiancé got the chicken fettuccine alfredo and I got the Cacio E Pepe. My brother and stepmother who happens to be Italian got the Squid Ink Seafood. At $20+ a dish the taste was not remotely close to the quality we were expecting. Honestly you can find better tasting dishes at an Olive Garden restaurant and I am not even a fan of Olive Garden. Quite sad to say that other waiters/waitresses that would pass by were more attentive than Mr. Vazid. I enjoyed my Cacio E. Pepe which was a shrimp pancetta with black peppers, pecorino, & bucatini. The Squid Ink Seafood came with shrimp, clams, mussels, calamari, white wine, basil, & black spaghetti. The Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo has grilled chicken, Parmesan cream sauce, pancetta with peas. All in all the dishes were good, but not great. I am glad we got an appetizer to get us through the hour and a half wait. I did not appreciate the waiters standoffish demeanor and his lack of attention to our table. Safe to say this is a restaurant we will avoid...