Italian Cafe — Restaurant in Texas

Place was busy when we walked in. The Hostess seemed a little confused on getting people sat considering there were empty tables and we were still waiting but it quickly came together. I did not get our servers name but he did a great job. The food was great. The veal could have been a little bit better but my guess is they don't have many orders come in for it. Even the kids enjoyed their meals. Will definitely be visiting again. The restaurant looks great considering the shopping strip they're in. The atmosphere is quaint and the selection on the menu is good considering the size of the restaurant. We were very impressed on our first visit.

Edit 07/31/2018 Tonight is not going well in the least. Although the restaurant is busy it seems very understaffed. We walked in to an empty host stand. After a few minutes we were greeted by a man in cargo shorts, a t-shirt and a ball cap....??? After being sat and provided with menus we were left to our own devices for over 5 minutes. Seeming as we were not going to be addressed we flagged down a staff member and asked if they could find our server. Low and behold she was serving the table next to us and made no less than 4 passes by our table without so much as a "Hi, folks, we're really busy. I'll be with you shortly." 5+ minutes between taking our drink orders and food orders. The bread knots came to the table before we ordered our entrees. They were served fresh and hot so no complaints there. The "salad" that accompanied my meal is anything but: 1 slice of cucumber, 2 cherry tomatoes and a handful of romaine lettuce. The only reason why there are four cherry tomatoes in the picture is because my wife does not eat them and placed hers on my plate. I asked for vinaigrette but received vinegar and oil instead. No offers to refill the wine. Had to wave down the server again and request another glass. I really hope the food comes soon. We've been here 50 minutes already.... 55 minutes and we've finally received 3 of 4 orders. We were told the 4th order will be out shortly. Poor timing. The first 3 orders are hot and accurate. No complaints on the quality of the food on these 3. I even ordered off the menu with no issues. The 4th order finally came out and.... no. Just wrong. The gluten free pasta is an overcooked, lumpy mess. I'm not even sure how it got out of the kitchen like that. The marsala looks like brown gravy and... nope. After waiting an hour we're out of patience. Will be hitting a drive thru on the way home. My biggest complaint tonight is that the staff is well aware when they are short handed or running behind. It's very easy to make that clear before walking people to a table. It may not be in the best interest of bottom line for that night but I think being upfront would have gone a long way considering our previous visit went very well. Who knows? We might have stuck it out or we might have said "Thank you for your honesty. Well be back in the future". Instead we were very disappointed even though the 4th order was removed from the bill and we received an additional discount to the remaining orders. I don't want discounts and I don't want free food. I want good service, accurate orders and delicious food. All 3 fell short this visit. It's unlikely we will return...

So, Italian Cafe was one of our favorites up until just now. They’ve changed their menu pricing and now don’t offer side salads with entrees COMBINED with higher prices. One of our favorite things about Italian Cafe is that it’s a whole meal for one price. Good food, reasonable price, salad and garlic knots included. Well, I don’t know if it’s because of supply chain issues or inflation or both, but they’ve decided that now a side salad is an additional $4.50 instead of increasing their entire menu prices by a percentage to compensate for losses. Not only that, but as of right now, June 11, 2022, their website is under construction so that you can’t see the changes, the restaurant doesn’t even have printed menus with the new changes, the online ordering apps HAVE BEEN updated though with the new ‘salads not included’ pricing, as well as a super limited menu. Lasagna is NOT on the DoorDash menu, as well as any veal dishes and seafood except salmon. Who has an Italian restaurant and doesn’t offer lasagna or baked pasta like manicotti, stuffed shells, RAVIOLI for delivery? We had to call the restaurant to order what we typically do through the app, PLUS an extra $13.50 for side salads because they are no longer included (as a side note, on the DoorDash menu, you can choose to order your side Caesar for $4.50 or $5.50 depending on where you select it). We absolutely LOVE the food here, but I do not appreciating the handling of this business transition to recoup costs. We all understand having to change with the times, but keep your original business model in place and offer complete meals for a reasonable cost and your full menu for...

Great food! The Fra Diablo was spicier than I expected, but to my liking. The chicken marsala was "the butteriest, richest marsala" my boyfriend had ever had. I don't usually care for marsala too much, but I am definitely getting it next time. The chicken alone was plump and moist enough to envy, and I was enjoying my dish.

We split a bottle of cabernet, which we enjoyed, and we started the meal of with bruschetta, which was very good.

The service was decent, but it's no fine dining experience. The server forgot the garlic knots (BLASPHEMER!), and the wine service was amateur, but honestly, it wasn't at all bad. I've worked in fine dining, so I can be a little critical of the small things, but I'm also not about to take such small discretions out of the tip. The server was pleasant and helpful, and that was all I needed.

Overall, I'm sure we'll be back. The food is great, the price is worth it, the service is decent, and the atmosphere is all right.

The atmosphere is pretty basic for an Italian restaurant on the cheaper side. But on that note, the food quality is damn good for the price!

Edit: I'm back again! Tonight, the service was ok point! We ordered a bottle of wine after a couple of tastings and had the fried cheese appetizer. As you can see from the photos, the cheese is the good stuff! We ordered the chicken marsala again and were not disappointed. Taking a suggestion from another review, we tried the mixed beef and cheese ravioli alfredo. It was heavy, but divine!

Upped my review to five stars. I couldn't add another review. I guess I've never tried to on Google before. Idk if it allows more...