Italian Spoon — Restaurant in Phoenix

This is a casual restaurant, which I love. Out of all the restaurants in this strip mall, this restaurant is the best one. I tried the restaurant a couple years back and liked it then as well. My break between visits was due to me sleeping on how good this restaurant is. I came in recently for a quick take out dinner. I tried a 5 piece shrimp and chips combination plate and an order of okra. My meal was delicious. The shrimp was butterflied and very crispy. The cocktail sauce was spicy, sweet, and flavorful. The fries were seasoned well. The okra was hot and crispy. The service was good as well. My food came out of the kitchen quickly. I plan to visit this restaurant more in the future to try these items as well as new items.

Update as of August 23, 2021: I like the food at this restaurant and the service, but just have a couple of suggestions. Could you please make sure to have someone come out to put in more lighting? The restaurant is a bit too dark. Also, I have noticed from my last visit and previous visits the drinks from the soda machine taste off. I am not sure if it is a machine malfunction or what. The Minute Maid Lemonade does not taste as sweet or as lemony as it should. Also, the Dr. Pepper tastes more like Vanilla Coke to me. This may be something to look into as I do not know how a fountain machine works. Anyway, it is great to see the restaurant is still operating after such a tough year and a half for businesses. I will visit again in the future.

Update as of May 30, 2022: I ordered (3) pasta entrees for the first time including Baked Ziti; a Chicken Parmagiana Hot Plate with spaghetti; and Cheese Ravioli. I just tried the Cheese Ravioli and a bit of the sauce from the Baked Ziti and Chicken cutlets. The sauce is delicious. The Baked Ziti was also delicious and filling. I have no doubt that my other entrees will also be good. The servings of pasta are enough for at least two servings per entree.

Update as of 07/29/2023: I ordered a hamburger; calamari; (2) orders of coleslaw; and a Mango Snapple on 07/28/2023. Most of my food was good. The calamari was overcooked. It was a dark brown color when I got it instead of golden brown. There was also a couple of pieces of another protein mixed in, which I think were either pieces of the chicken cutlet for the chicken parmesan or chicken nuggets. This was supposed to be one of my last times eating out at restaurants for a while and this one food item made the experience underwhelming.

Update as of 08/17/2023: Despite my last experience, I cannot give up on this place. They have great customer service and the food is good 9 out of 10 times. I believe the last visit was just a fluke. I will be back once it is in my budget!

Update: 02/02/2025: I ordered a 1/4lb cheeseburger. My burger was not that great this time. I like my burger well done but it seemed overcooked. The price probably due to inflation went up. My cheeseburger was $9.76 with tax included. It used to be $5.99 without tax. Good thing I didn't order two as I had originally planned because it would have been out of my little budget.

03/2025: I love the service of this place and the quality of the food most times. I think my last visit was just another fluke. I like this place too much to not give them another chance when my...

The meal I ordered thru Grubhub went to the wrong address. I went into the restaurant, explained what happened and they kindly offered to remake my order. While I waited I chatted with Grubhub and asked that they compensate the vendor and refund the delivery and tip. Grubhub did their thing. I left happy. Got home and got this message from the mgr: "Hello, this is the manager for the Italian Spoon. You had ordered a two-four-piece catfish for delivery, and you never got it. And that is Grubhub's fault. You have to reorder it. I know they gave you a credit, but you can't come in the restaurant yelling and screaming about your order. And next time, we'll call the police. We do know where you live. You do have your phone number through Grubhub. So do not come in and make a scene about your order. You order it from a third-party company, and if they messed up on your order or they took the order or they don't know where your address is, that's who you have to deal with. So do not come back again to the restaurant, for sure. Or we will call the police next time. Thank you very much." Nothing even remotely like this happened. I went back to the restaurant, let the same guy who served me hear it, and he doesn't know why she said it either... People who threaten customers like the Mafia shouldn't be...

It will be tough giving my thoughts on this place without getting mushy, so bear with me. I was surprised by how small it is, and there were only two guys working, but customers kept coming in for takeout, so they stayed busy. Not so busy though that they couldn't talk with us a little. It was fun learning the history and background details. But that was just the FUN stuff. The most important part, of course, is the food. The house salad is the best I've ever had in a restaurant! I even took a photo to show you! (So large, I brought half of mine home! TOO GOOD to waste!) The pasta dish we shared was perfect in every way ~ and we ended up wishing we had both ordered one. Since we didn't, we had room for wonderful desserts, and guess what! The cheesecake and the chocolate mousse cake portions were the same size as any restaurant, but only 2.99 instead of 6.99! Everything on the menu was very reasonable, and it's all homemade, made right there by their great chef! The menu is so varied, too; I can't wait to go back and try other meals: fish and chips, burgers, hand dipped and breaded onion rings. We have found our new favorite place, and will become...