Renee's Tucson — Restaurant in Tucson

What an absolute gem of a place! My cousin and I are in town for a wedding weekend and have never been to Tucson. We were looking for a nice place to eat that wasn't too far from the hotel that was reasonably priced.

I think that this place had an amazing selection of food and choices for all diet types, specifically gluten free (even for an Italian place!) We got the apple, walnut, & goat cheese salad, the house made small batch hummus with bread, and the penne arrabbiata with the meatballs. we split each perfectly portioned course and it was truly lovely and super delicious.

The salad was perfectly balanced and the ingredients were all super fresh and inviting. I loved the honey poppyseed dressing! I am a huge fan of classic hummus and this really hit the mark with a drizzle of olive oil and a large house made bread portion for dipping! (Make sure you save a bit to dip into your pasta sauce!) The Arrabbiata sauce had the perfect touch of spice and the meatballs were filling but not too much.

We finished up with the flourless chocolate cake with house made cinnamon whipped cream alongside some freshly brewed decaf coffee from a local roaster. The cake was perfectly fudge-y and dense and the cinnamon whipped cream was also very well balanced

All of the ingredients were fresh, organic, and locally sourced if applicable and in season, it seemed. I look forward to that specifically when dining out so this was a huge plus for us.

Whitney, our server, was so delightful and informative about her favorite dishes and the most popular as well as the portion sizes that guided our decisions. She was attentive, polite, and even asked me if I wanted ice in my water which is not always common, but I appreciated the thoughtfulness. She even brewed us a fresh pot of decaf (SORRY for the late brew, I know how frustrating that can be at the end of the night, as a former server.) it was delicious and very much appreciated.

All in all, it was a beautiful dinner; from the ambience to the dishware & flatware as well as the menu itself. I loved their wine glasses and the water glasses, 10/10! (they had a great weight to them!)

The place is very small, and tucked sort of into a strip mall which may be off-putting to some, but it is so cozy and inviting - you'd be surely missing out if you skipped it. Make sure you catch a reservation and don't sleep on this great hidden gem!

Price was great for the quality and portion of food. For two of us, with two glasses of wine, a salad, an appetizer, an entree, dessert, two coffees, (one with Irish whiskey in it ;) ) our total bill came to ~$87 before tip. I was very impressed. May even take the rest of my family there before we leave on Sunday! (It's...

Great service, good beer list, above average food. Not bad by any means. Not super great though. I checked this place because I was in town for work and happened to see it on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. That said, this place is neither a diner, drive-in, not a dive. I’d call it a bistro, if anything. The service was great; the host and server were very friendly. I usually gravitate to places with a bar so I can sit there and not take up a whole table, they don’t have a bar here so I sat at a table, but there were several other people there by themselves so I guess it wasn’t weird. They have a good range of beers available (about a dozen), with a local ‘beer of the month’ (this month it was a local chocolate porter which was one of the best porters I’ve ever had). On his show, Fieri highlighted their pizza and calzones. I think the one thing that stood out to me was their lack of meat toppings for their pizza and calzones. For a regular price ($3 ea) they only had pepperoni and anchovies. For $6 each you could add chicken, beef meatballs, or sausage. There were a lot of veggie options and your typical cheese options. I had a red onion, artichoke hearts and spinach calzone. The calzones have a mix of mozzarella and ricotta cheeses, I think I would’ve preferred a little more mozzarella and less ricotta, but no biggie. They actually burnt my calzone, but I appreciate the server coming out and being straight with me and telling me it was going to be a little longer. All in all, I didn’t wait too long for my food, so it wasn’t a big thing. The one that I got was good. I really think it was lacking meat, but I didn’t want to pay the extra for the good meat (and I don’t like pepperoni). Anyway, this is getting super long and I can get back to my hotel until I finish because I can’t use google maps without losing this review. So I’ll wrap it up. Decent calzone, good beer, great service. Overall good experience, just a little less than I would’ve expected of a place...

My wife and I aren’t normally in this part of Tucson so we eat here when we happen to be in the area. It had been a while, and I knew I needed to make a reservation, and so glad we did. There are fewer table than pre-COVID and a totally different layout, and I think the whole redesign is absolutely fantastic! You get plenty of separation, lots of privacy, and great service! The dining room ambiance is excellent. Even the dividers are very tasteful IMO. With so few tables, you’re certainly more likely to get good service by default, but in our case, our server, Avril, was outstanding. She did such a great job with everything - timing, greeting and acknowledgement, checking on us, explaining which options are gluten-free - and has such a pleasant personality, it really helped us enjoy the dining experience that much more.

You’re informed upon making the reservation that cancellations in under 24 hours prior to the reservation time will incur at $10 per person charge. I have NO problem with that whatsoever. You should know (other than extreme circumstances) that you don’t plan to make your time a day in advance. Seems fair to me. And the adults-only in the main dining room policy is one I wish other restaurants would adopt, to be honest. I love it.

Food has always been excellent here and this experience was no exception. We had the gluten-free fettuccini Alfredo. It’s rich (but hello, it’s Alfredo) but tasty and excellent. The baguette you can order as an addition is excellent, particularly for gluten-free. Delicious meatballs and they’re GF! Plenty of selection on the menu, and we had TWO GF appetizers, the hummus tostada and the other tostada (can’t remember the type, I think maybe black bean). Pizzas are great here, we just didn’t happen to order one this time. Wine list has something for everyone at a reasonable price point. I am not gluten-free so I ordered the calzone to go, and it was fantastic. We’ll be...