Marcoza Trattoria — Restaurant in The Woodlands

Though hardly a foodie, I do know a bit about Italian cuisine .. from the mom & pop pizzerias in New York, to the more "formal" establishments dotting New England. Avanti being a higher-end iteration, our expectations were somewhat elevated. Unfortunately, they didn't come close.

The restaurant itself is beautifully appointed, and there's an outdoor option on a large patio shared with an adjoining steak house. Having been cooped up for so long, we chose the latter. Before being approached by our waiter (and pretty much throughout our visit), we noticed the owner continually walking through the area, a dour expression on his face, not even engaging with the patrons, acting as if something was about to go wrong ... pretty unusual.

Of course, the bread was served first ... but this stuff was strange. The typical Italian version has a crunchy crust and soft innards. Not here. What we got was a small, dry circular loaf with no crust ... actually tasted stale.

I've never been one for those designer pizzas, but there was one on the menu that attracted my taste buds. It was a pretty decent size (six large slices) and loaded with toppings. But as I lifted the first piece, virtually everything slid off the soggy, limp crust. Any pizza lover will tell you that the crust is as important to the pie as bread is to a great sandwich. I ended up eating it using a knife and fork, something strictly forbidden in classic pizzerias. Too bad, though, as it had nice flavor. The following evening, I warmed up the leftover slices in a preheated and covered skillet (the only way to revive pizza) and it was fine ... the soggy crust was no more. So if I can do that at home in a frying pan ....

Conversely, my wife's eggplant parmigiana had all the appearance and taste of something you can buy frozen at Costco. I don't know whether their pasta and sauce are made from scratch, but they weren't much different from what we throw together at home with store-bought ingredients. We expected much more (in both quality and quantity) for $18.

Service was decent, but nothing outstanding. Our waiter did his job, but not much more ... didn't even check back with us after our food was served.

Granted, no establishment is on its A-Game 100% of the time, and we may well give the place another shot some day. We've done this a few times at other places and were pleasantly surprised on our return visits. But for the immediate future, we'll be...

Excellent Easter dinner with Gigi Olive Garaycochea Vaughn Tried out a new(to us) place called Avanti Italian kitchen and wine bar. Scratch kitchen, amazing food and excellent service highly recommend this place.

We had the Mediterranean Calamari appetizer,, cook perfect not to much breading and the Calamari was tender not chewy or tough. Lightly dusted and fried, pepperoncini peppers, cherry tomatoes, artichokes, capers, Italian olives, feta cheese and tossed in a lemon butter sauce.

Salads I had the Cesar's salad just enough dressing and the lettuce was crisp and fresh.

Wife had the Arugula salad Heirloom tomato, watermelon radish, toasted pine nuts, shaved Parmesan, house vinaigrette.

Main course for me was spaghetti and meatball. Spaghetti pasta, black angus chuck and pork meatball, Pomodoro, Parmesan, fresh basil. It was very good, the noodles were not mushy the sauce was delicious and the meatball was flavorful.

Wife had the Branzino , Grilled Mediterranean Sea bass, artichokes, oven roasted tomatoes, sautéed baby spinach, Italian olives, crispy sunchokes, lemon butter sauce. Also very good.

The table bread was soft and fresh.

I could not finish my spaghetti so had to take it home also took home a piece of Amaretto cake with scratch made frosting. Haven't tried it will update later.

10 ou of 10 would recommend. It's not cheap but it's also not ridiculous. For the atmosphere, quality and service it is...

Let me start by saying we love this restaurant less than a mile from our house and awesome food. Tyler our waiter was nothing but perfect and in my opinion from his professionalism should be considered to manage this place.

We had the smoked burrata with truffles, beautiful presentation and taste. My wife had the Branzino Mediterranean Sea bass which was excellent. I had the Avanti chicken normally my favorite but today the breading was falling off, lacked crispness, garlic and sauce. It is absolutely my favorite, but today it was lacking. I brought this up to Tyler who quickly jumped in it. But when it came to the manager she just kept saying it was her favorite and didn’t understand why I didn’t liked it. She seemed to not understand when I told her it was my favorite as well but it wasn’t right. When she came back to the table she informed me well all that according to her chef all stuff was on there. She acted as if I do not know what I talking about. She was the only part that was disappointing to the meal. I would have loved the chef to come to the table for me to explain because she did not get it. By the way I know how to cook and I know what was not right she did not. But I politely said it was ok.

I still love this place and it deserves a 5 stars one little hiccup does not deserve a bad overall rating. They do need to give this manager some coaching. 12/30...