Avanzare Italian Restaurant Paragould — Restaurant in Paragould

It seems from the reviews that food and service are very hit and miss, but our experience was top notch on both fronts. UPDATE: Our third visit had abysmal service despite not being that busy.

The lady who seated us seemed to be very busy, but our server was so attentive it seemed as though she didn't have another table (although she was also taking care of a large group that had come in).

My wife ordered the Stromboli (highly recommended by our server). And it was good. The only drawback is that we didn't care for a few of the ingredients (I'm not much of a meat eater when it comes to pizza-like foods). And yet it was still good.

I ordered the Chicken Florentino and it was so good we split the plate and cleaned each side. It was light on cheese, and had an ever so slight lemon flavor that you could only taste at the end of each bite.

If you try nothing else, try the Chicken Florentino.

The meal came with a standard salad, and bread with dipping oil. I prefer my dipping oil with some freshly ground black pepper, but this was still good. The bread could have use some garlic salt, but the texture was wonderful.

We had a side of fries with our meal (some reviews mentioned they could be soggy). They were better than expected to say the least. Hot, crispy and flavorful without being salty. The ketchup they were served with needs an upgrade, but they don't make it in house, so I'll let that go.

As for the atmosphere, it didn't feel pretentious and I like that. A little big band music playing in the background made me long for Dean Martin but I didn't hear any.

The menus were a turn off. They didn't feel cheap, but they were so stiff you have to hold them open to an exact angle for viewing and letting go at all will make them snap back.

We'll definitely consider it for our next date night, although we may stop after splitting a Chicken Florentino since we were both too stuffed to eat more than that.

Update: We went back just 3 days later since our daughter was with us. She loved it.

I had the Chicken Florentino again. Consistently good.

My wife had Herb Grilled Salmon Alfredo. Delicious, but we both prefer the Chicken Florentino.

My daughter had a Ham Calzone. Over an inch of ham in the middle....

Update: A year later we returned to Avanzare’s on our annual trip up north. No changes were made to the service issues we had last year. As a matter of fact they were worse. Our server was there one week and totally out of her element. It was uncomfortable as she struggled with every part of getting our order done. Whew!!! The sadder part, to u, is how the quality of the food has deteriorated. We loved the food last year but this time the veal was partly uncooked snd tough while the pasta was overcooked and the chicken was bland. We won’t be going back next year.

gave this restaurant a three for the service. We were traveling through Arkansas and got some good reactions to this restaurant. So, we gave it a try. I was impressed with the food and how it was presented. You could tell that the chef takes pride in preparing his food. The garlic rolls were great along with the dipping sauce. The chicken with Al Fredo sauce was very good and the veal parm was excellent. The salad was fresh and the blue cheese dressing was of good quality. I would go back there for the food but not the service. They were not very organized and seemed to be totally untrained in how to wait a table. Our server was very nice but not attentive to very obvious things. Once she served us dinner she never returned to clean the table. Even after we ordered dessert she never thought to clean off the dirty dishes. We ate dessert with a table full of left over food. Then we didn’t see her again until we had to ask for the bill. I think the chef needs a good front manager to equal his food and how...

Avanzare managed to make what was supposed to be a surprise pick me up lunch for a friend into an almost comical nightmare. I placed an order for the meal a half hour to forty minutes prior to my arrival at the restaurant. Once there, I was greeted with a silent, unclean, and damp atmosphere. When the staff noticed my presence after the third time I called "hello" and my shoes had left foot prints in the oily veneer of the floor, I gave the name on the order to find out that it had been given to another customer. I sat on a sticky chair and thought about my friend, whose lunch hour was quickly coming to an end and immediately apologized to her via text. I stared at the stale gum balls and broken toy machines while my order was remade and was promised that the owner would be arriving soon. Moving my Converse (or were they gym shoes?) as best as I could against a crudely mopped floor, I waited. The owner made no appearance and after another apologetic text sent to my friend, I was required to pay full price for both meals. I sat there silently, tapping my card against the checkout desk, before deciding to pay in full. At that moment, I began to plan this review and how well I could explain my disappointment and begrudging acceptance to the cascading mistakes that had been made. My friend missed her lunch and had to eat a container of cold, greasy eggplant, while I poked around half melted cheese trying to find a noodle out of desperation. Despite it's subpar food, at least when you are at Olive Garden, you're family, while when you are at Anvanzare,...