Di Lisio's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Winston-Salem

We've decided to investigate family-owned Italian restaurants in the area and DiLisio's was first on the list.

They're tucked back in a tiny downtown building with a parking lot that's shared with at least one other business, so depending on the time of day, parking could present a challenge.

The restaurant is very tiny and very dark. It was even difficult to read the menu, but our server did adjust the lights for us. A small bar at the entrance accommodated only about a half-dozen patrons and the room itself about 50 (+/-).

They take no reservations and on this Friday night as we dined, I saw where a few couples arrived, one couple opted to eat at the bar, some waited a while, but many turned to leave.

Helen, our server was great. She told us about the evening specials, took our drink orders and promptly returned with a small container of thinly sliced bread and a dish of very tasty pesto/olive oil dipping sauce.

While taking our orders, we asked if we could swap their spring green mix with romaine for our salads, which our server gladly did. The salads, which are not included in the price of dinners, were generous, crisp, cold, and contained a great assortment of carrots, radishes, cucumber, Italian green olives and tomato. Their homemade Italian dressing was especially good.

Rigatoni pasta is not offered on the menu, so my dining partner ordered the penne pasta with Italian sausage and mushrooms in a rich tomato sauce while I chose the fettuccini Alfredo. The penne dish was good. The Alfredo pasta was very delicate, more like egg noodles than actual fettuccini pasta, and I found the Alfredo sauce so mild it was lacking in flavor.

Their menu was overflowing with specials, entrees, baked and house dishes, with seven ravioli selections alone. I'm sure we will be back to try some.

Being a Friday night, every table was filled, as was the tiny bar. If you're looking for a charming, intimate atmosphere with romantic Italian music playing, this isn't your place. But if you're hungry, bring your appetite, because the portions...

I don't know of any Italian restaurant in the Triad that does old school red sauce dishes any better than what we tried here at lunch. This relatively small, on the edge of upscale, place was opened 4 months ago by Tony Di Liso, a native of Naples, and his wife Maria. Both had been connected with the Cicciones restaurants in Forsyth County previously, with Tony as a chef, so there is some solid Italian cooking experience here. They offer a nice variety of pasta dishes, with sandwiches, salads, and daily lunch specials.

We started with an order of Garlic Bread ($2.95) which comes with the housemade Marinara Sauce. Both the bread and the sauce were simply outstanding, with the Marinara Sauce being the very best I've ever tasted. It is a thick, rustic version, with small chunks of tomato and garlic throughout, and plenty of basil. The taste is crisp and sharp, not at all overly sweet like much of this sauce you encounter.

The small house salads were well sized, loaded with greens, tomatoes, olives, and cucumber - and the Blue Cheese Dressing was great as well - plenty of cheese chunks, and a little sour hook at the end. The Spaghetti with Meat Sauce ($8.95) was also very, very nice - a nice portion of noodles, generously topped with a thick, rich meat and tomato sauce.

The Veal Parmigiana ($14.95) with a side of Spaghetti, Salad, and bread was pretty good, the sauce especially was outstanding. This dish provided the only misstep of the meal - the veal was somewhat overcooked, and though it had some nice flavor, it was a touch dry and chewy. This is a touch pricey, but the portion size is nice.

The service was excellent, though dishes were a tad slow out of the kitchen. As I said before, the sauces here are excellent, as good as it gets. We'll be back to get...

This was my second time dining here. The first time was 2 1/2 years ago on a busy Friday evening. By the time our entrees came we had to box them up and leave. I wrote that off as it being busy and that was that.

This evening was completely different. The food was good the first time, even reheated in the microwave so I wanted to give it another try. We went in at 5pm on a Wednesday. There was one other table in the restaurant already eating their meal and 5-6 servers working. Our appetizer came out in a fair amount of time, then we proceeded to wait 45 minutes and hadn’t even received our salads. We watched numerous tables be seated after us, eat and go before our waiter returned and boxed the remains of our appetizer. At that point I believe he realized he had never put in our entree order. We waited several more minutes for salads and another 15-20 minutes for our food. I was dismayed that my meal consisted of 3 ravioli, a slim lobster tail, couple shrimp and around a pound of cherry tomatoes. We were never offered more bread, an explanation or apology for the extended wait. I really wanted to enjoy my meal and the establishment this visit but even good food cannot make up for negligent service. I also understand mistakes happen but the lack of acknowledgment or attempt to make it right was enough to make this...