Brio Italian Grille — Restaurant in Sarasota

Not recommended. Pictures are best case on a 8 inch plate. Sunday lunch. Real orders were half the amount of "sauce", as you might call it, than in the pictures. My party ordered one of each. I specifically asked the server to relay to the kitchen, that I wanted a lot of sauce the first time around. She informed me that "extra" sauce would be $4.50 extra, so I said "let's see what comes with the plate". In the meantime, bread and aioli was brought to the table and I opened my napkin which held the knife and forks. First unfold reveals a couple of hairs from eyelashes. Completely unfolding, the knife still has "baked-on"remnants of a previous meal. How hard is it to check the eating utensils are clean before enclosing? When the food arrived, I requested a new napkin and fork. I assume the food delivery young woman didn't comprehend, even though she nodded yes, since the napkin and knife didn't arrive. 15 mi minutes later, I politely mentioned to our waitress that I had asked earlier, but I still needed a napkin and knife. Snootily and with a sneer, she replied, "I'll get that for you". Regarding the food, the Bolognese arrrived with less than one small ladle cup of meat sauce. I'm from Boston where for a $19.00 Bolognese you get a 18 inch platter, nearly enough to share with a family. As a chef myself, I'm astounded and would be embarrassed to serve such a small portion, put it on a small plate so it looks deceptively larger and charge that much. It was definitely more pasta with a little sauce. What's that amount of Barilla linguini cost, $0.25? Plus labor plus rent plus meat ingredients.... The waitress was handling too many tables. Inside and outside. So we didn't see her until the end when she dropped the check. Never got a chance to address that there was not enough meat sauce. I wouldn't go back unless the restaurant provides something more like the pictured meal of Bolognese. Not a favorite. I welcome discourse with...

Being a regular and big Fan of Brio is probably why I am so disappointed with my recent experience. If I was a first time customer I would not return. Made reservations Christmas Eve for 8pm. When we arrived there was no hostess and waited a good five minutes to be greeted. Ordered our usual apps, took a while. The artichoke dip was fantastic as usual, however the calamari was warm at best, and over cooked rubber, spit out 2 pieces. We asked for the bread, which is a plus at Brio, and we were told, they are not making anymore bread tonight. I grumbled a bit and we were brought one bread. Ordered our meals, which took awhile. When the plates arrived, my wife's pasta entre was missing the chicken. Asked for more bread, as we have 3 pasta plates with sauce and sorry...no bread. Really a n Italian restaurant that has no bread?? The waitress although very nice, was slow and not attentive to our table, and it was not busy. We had to ask for beverage refills. Also asked for parmesan cheese, which took ten minutes to be brought out. To top the night off, the check came and I paid with cash, and did not say keep the change, which was $35. I had to ask another sever to find ours to inquire about my change. When the server arrived I asked about my change, and she said oh, we have a recommended tip on the bill. I politely explained, I would like my change, and that I would determine the tip. She was not happy with this and brought my change back with an attitude. She took it upon herself to get a 30% tip. Again , I am a regular at Brio, and chose it for our Christmas eve dinner expecting a top notch experience as usual. Definitely not the case. I will probably return, but will not top my...

The decor inside is amazing. It is definitely something that sets it apart from other restaurants. I dined at approximately 2pm on a Monday so naturally it was pretty slow but I wasn’t judging based on the time.

The food was horrible. I was fasting for 18 hours and was looking forward to break my fast with some good food. I had calamari as an appetizer. It was like rubber and lacked flavor. By far the worst I’ve had in my entire life.

I had the Sicilian spaghetti and shrimp. The sauce was like water. It was like someone mixed a small bit of tomato sauce with a gallon of water. There were no flavors inside the sauce other than the flavor from capers. The spaghetti was definitely not mixed in with the sauce until it was ready to leave the kitchen. It was clear that it was left after boiling and then poorly mixed, and not left to cook in the sauce before serving. The shrimp was undercooked. How do you undercook shrimp? Shrimp shouldn’t be gray and slimy.

My wife ordered the shrimp and lobster fettuccine. Her shrimp was at least cooked and white but the lobster was 2 tiny pieces.

It’s amazing that this place is still in business. 2 dishes and 1 appetizer came out to $98. The pricing isn’t terrible for the area but that food quality it should’ve been some Olive Garden special. The owner really needs to get involved in the kitchen and make some changes, and if he or she doesn’t think there is a problem, then they’re part of the problem. It’s amazing this place has so many great reviews, just goes to show how Floridians are clueless when it comes to...