I don't normally love going out for Italian but I'm glad we came here - so delicious!…read more I ordered the carbonara which comes with a fried egg. Ive never heard of that before and am a big fan - I might even ask for a second next time! Great smokiness to the pasta, and it's not like others I've had where there isn't sufficient protein. I took leftovers home. Husband ordered the agnolotti with a side of two meatballs and he really enjoyed it, saying it reminded him of his childhood. The bread served upon sitting was soft and a great vessel for their olive oil and balsamic glaze mix which they add garlic to for a tangy taste. The golden beet salad was also delicious and tasted very fresh. I kind of wish it came prepared in a bowl, whereas this one seems a bit deconstructed, but that's a small thing. Dessert was a ricotta cheesecake with strawberry syrup that was also great. Good slice size, too. Service was good, environment was nice and very busy (saturday night) outdoor patios seem great for the cooler season but was still too hot during the summer evening.

The food never disappoints! The best Italian restaurant. From the appetizers to entrees and their…read morepastry chef desserts, the pope pillow yum !! It's better than 5 stars !

We went there last minute and decided to do a phone in order to go…read more They did not disappoint. I had the meatball sub and it was 5 stars hands down . It was hot and man was it tasty. I highly recommend it.

Fun place. Local chain I think. Easy parking and location…read more Extensive menu, HUGE portions so everything is shareable. Riley was our server. She was 5*. Everything else was 3*.

My son chose Vivace for his birthday dinner, and once again, this restaurant reminded us why it's…read moreone of our absolute favorites in Tucson. We like to switch up our appetizers every visit, so this time I tried something new, the escargot with artichokes. If you've never had escargot before, this is the perfect beginner dish. The escargot was buttery, tender, and packed with flavor. Paired with the artichokes and toasted bread, it was absolutely incredible. I almost ate the entire order by myself because I simply couldn't stop! We also ordered the shrimp and crab cakes, and wow, these were phenomenal. The outside had the perfect crispy crust while the inside was tender, flavorful, and full of seafood. The accompanying sauce tied everything together beautifully. For our entrées, we had the seared tenderloin over creamy polenta, cooked medium rare. It was perfection. The tenderloin was incredibly tender and flavorful, the wine sauce was rich without being overpowering, and the polenta was creamy and comforting. The portion was also very generous. We also shared the rigatoni with braised short rib, and I honestly can't stop thinking about it. The short rib was melt in your mouth tender, juicy, and so flavorful that I'd happily order a plate of just that! Combined with the perfectly cooked rigatoni, rich sauce, and a generous sprinkle of Parmesan, it was one of those dishes where every bite was better than the last. Our server was fantastic, attentive, friendly, and full of great recommendations without ever making us feel rushed. The restaurant itself is always beautiful and has such an elegant atmosphere. Since we were celebrating my son's birthday, I was hoping we'd get one of the tables with the city view, but honestly, the outstanding food and exceptional service more than made up for it. Vivace continues to be one of Tucson's best dining experiences. Every meal here reminds us why we keep coming back. Highly recommend!

When a dining experience is SO excellent in SO many ways, where every little thing goes well, it's…read morea rarity. Let alone a birthday dining experience where you go in with high expectations and can easily be let down when something goes wrong. This was one of the most memorable birthday dinners I've ever had.Vivace did so many things well. Let's start with the fact that not only did they seat us at noon when I'd made a 12:30 reservation (and the place was pretty busy, particularly for a routine Monday afternoon), but pleasantly and at a quiet, roomy 4 person table. And they acknowledged my birthday (not only at the host/hostess station but by the server AND with a delicious dessert)!Our server, Jemeella (I hope I spelled it correctly) was just phenomenal! Such a pleasant disposition, and she was so helpful with the menu, and she made sure to check on us to see how we were doing through the experience, and she was funny and just elevated the whole experience for us. I mean, the food alone stands on its own as among the finest, to me. And I'm not the easiest person in the world to please, either. The delicious bread with pesto (not long ago I thought "nobody serves pesto anymore!") and the mixed green salad alone had me hooked before we even got to the entrees! That salad is something we're still thinking about. How does a simple salad leave such a remarkably pleasant impression? The greens were just very fresh and tasty? The dressing was so citrusy vinegary delicious? The little fried potato sticks gave it a crunch (we initially assumed they were not gluten-free, but they were, just potato, so BONUS!). I don't know what it was about that salad but it was delicious!I usually go with chicken piccata generally as my first dish at an Italian restaurant I haven't tried yet (no, NOT parmesan, although in fairness, boy the chicken parmesan looked good too!). But the chicken Marsala looked pretty appetizing and it did not disappoint! In fact, it exceeded my expectations! The sauce was just perfect in both flavor and consistency, and the chicken itself was delicious - plump, tender, just the right thickness (I think it's redbird?) and the pieces of mushroom were great (not overwhelming but subtle). Admittedly, II didn't really know what the "vegetable pasta" that accompanies it is, I could guess it's some version of primavera. That pasta side was ALSO outstanding! I don't remember if they make their pasta in house, but it was like a fettuccine type of noodle, with small pieces of vegetables (squash, I think crunch green bean maybe, thinly sliced red pepper? Not sure) and the pasta soaks up that delicious sauce, so it was perfect. Jemeella said "you good with the vegetable pasta that comes with it" and I said "sure as if I knew what I was talking about. Just figured if that's what they do, let's go with it. Silky, delicious, fresh pasta side. Right on. My wife got the steak. Sunken gently in a mashed potato. With a delicious sauce again. With fresh spinach. Another total winner. It's so easy when the other person orders steak and it's not done to the desired temperature for that to ruin the timing of the meal if it has to be adjusted. But this was a perfect medium well, straight up. AND they didn't deliver the dish and run away so if you DID have an issue with doneness, it just sits there getting cold. NOPE. Perfectly done and delicious as delivered!Now, with service, you usually only pay attention to the server. But I have to say, the bus staff was also really great. They refilled water glasses, removed plates, and boxed up our leftovers for us (I know that doesn't seem like a big deal, but there are plenty of restaurants, even high end, that just give you a container and have you do it yourself. And get this - I felt a little sheepish about wanting to take the couple of remaining pieces of fresh bread home, and not only did the bus guy box it up, he gave me EXTRA pieces of bread! You think that's lost on me? I'm gonna remember that. Also it should be noted that the service was outstanding on a day that - despite being a routine Monday roughly noon - was pretty darn busy at this place! Which says a lot. They even comped my birthday dessert (crème brûlée) and it was yet another winner! Perfect consistency, smooth, not pasty, sweet but not too sweet, and the perfect thin caramelized sugar topping (without making a fuss with the blow torch at the table, which is fine by me, just serve it as it will be eaten). Wow. Wine list was REALLY reasonably priced. And my wife and I both ordered after dinner drinks, both of which were great. Not only was the wine just reasonably priced, but overall, when the bill arrived, I thought it was a great value. High quality food, superior service, great view, easy parking.I'm just upset it took us so long to get to Vivace. Don't wait for a special occasion to try this place. I know we're not gonna wait. We're going back soon!

Good food, reasonably priced Service was extremely slow: 12pm reservations, didn't leave till…read more2:05pm. One hour wait just to get the food. We had reservations!

Came for dinner while visiting from out of town. The atmosphere was old school classic family…read moreItalian vibes. Clean and cozy. Staff was friendly and helpful. Ordered the tortellini dish. I picked the pesto sauce from the available options and added shrimp. It. Was. Delicious!! Highly recommended. Our server suggested using bread for sopping and the extra sauce. That proved an excellent suggestion. Highly recommend this spot. I'll be back when passing through!

Dominick's is a cute hole in the wall. It's found in a strip mall, but once you walk in, the…read moreelegance of the restaurant makes you forget where you are. The hostess was so kind and sweet when she greeted us and showed us to our table. Our waiter JR popped up within seconds with water and greetings. We were given garlic knots to start. We ordered our drinks and garden salad to begin. Our salad arrived and it was beautiful and a good size for sharing. The drinks arrived and were delicious. Our entrees came after and were just as good. We were too stuffed to get dessert.

Dinner for 3 last night. Haven't updated my review in a decade, thought it was about time…read more.. As always the side/starter salads were wonderful. I had the Caesar and the romaine was nice and crispy, the croutons were crunchy and the dressing was not overdone. The free garlic knots are sinful! I had the pasta carbonara off the Specials menu. After a loooong wait for our entrees, my generous portion arrived (see photo). Lots of pancetta made it very filling and tasty, but I thought the sauce was a little dry. One of my companions had the shrimp scampi - he always orders this here and loves it. My wife ordered the pasta rustica which came with lots of black and green olives and a good amount of capers. She thought it could have used a little more flavor, maybe some more garlic? Overall we had a very pleasant evening, service was great. The decor here might be getting a little dated - the indoor seating is quite dark, especially when you come in from the blazing Arizona sun!

For whatever reason, I haven't been here in nearly ten years, and my dining companion had never…read morebeen. So we journeyed out on Memorial Day for a grill-free dinner. The space is lovely of course, with tons of courtyard view windows. We did run into a broken chair when we sat down, but that was easily remedied (hopefully it was permanently removed from the floor). Our server was also tending bar, so he was stretched a bit thin, but overall the service was solid. He happily went back to the kitchen in a couple of questions he couldn't answer, but was overall very knowledgeable. He recommended a white wine made by a relative of the restaurant owner and it was lovely. We started with the octopus. I didn't expect this starter to be cold, but the tender octopus, fingerling potatoes and olives were a great combo in the acidic sauce. Would most certainly order it again. My main was the short rib. Short rib is always a heavy dish, but the vegetable risotto and asparagus helped lighten it a bit and it was tender and delicious. I probably ate 1/3, but I'm not sad to have generous leftovers. My dining companion had the veal, which was also excellent. I finished my meal with the crème caramel, which was very traditional and exactly as expected (which is what I want in a dessert like that). I'm very happy to dine here more often than every ten years.

Great experience here today. I stopped in for a quick meal before I hit near by art galleries…read more Tavolino is located in a beautiful plaza with a lot of parking. The restaurant is clean and beautifully decorated. Today I ordered their caprese burrata. It was unbelievable, creamy and fresh. Service was a little slow but super friendly.

Craving for some grrrrreat food for my birthday. My go to place for Italian inspired food. Great…read moreservice and fast as usual. So glad they are open... wouldn't know where I would get my fix. Go try them out!!!!!

This was the perfect Italian bistro. Excellent fresh food, excellent ambiance, and servers who…read moreactually enjoyed working with customers.

My favorite pizza on the NW side. Hands down! The undercarriage is perfect, not soggy or floppy…read more It's not cheap but you can tell they use quality ingredients and the cooks know what they're doing. I would be remiss not to mention the house made rigatoni! I've only had it with vodka sauce, which is too delicious for me to risk venturing out to others. Front of house staff are welcoming and the ambiance is great as well.

We recently stopped by Fentonelli's and had a really good experience overall. I liked the counter…read moreservice style and the vibe of the dining room. We started with the ABG salad that surprised me because I'm usually not a big fan of Gorgonzola, but the combination of green apple, pecan brittle, and cheese worked really well together and made for a great balance of flavors. For the pizza, we ordered the mushroom pizza and added pepperoni. The sauce was excellent I believe was some sort of a garlic/oil white sauce the mushroom portion was generous which I absolutely love, and the crust was exactly what I look for crunchy on the outside while still soft and slightly sweet inside. My only minor complaint with the toppings is that the $4 pepperoni add on felt a bit light, we only had a 2 or 3 slices per piece. The reason I'm giving 4 stars instead of 5 is that our pizza was just slightly overcooked. The bottom was charred all the way around; wasn't burnt to the point of sending it back, but definitely left in the oven a minute or two longer than it needed to be. It wasn't busy when we visited, and it seemed like the employee rotating pizzas was a little more focused on chatting with FOH coworkers than keeping an eye on the oven. I've worked in pizza restaurants for nearly a decade, so I may be a bit more particular than most customers. Realistically, if our pizza had come out even a minute earlier, it would have been a 10/10 meal. That said, I enjoyed my visit and will definitely be back. The quality is there, and I'm looking forward to trying more of the menu in the future.