We always stop here on our road trip from Connecticut to Wisconsin...it never disappoints! The food is outstanding, which we did not expect the first time we stopped in. After all, we were in Youngstown Ohio, not Chicago or New York. What a gem! First of all, the wine. Here is where we learned about Pecorino wine...and we had thought it was just cheese. Delicious! As for appetizers, we always order the artichoke as it is stellar...and now we add the octopus to our list of must haves. Polpo was tender, perfectly cooked. Served with a garnish of potatoes and capers and a divine sauce, beautifully played. After all this, we split the eggplant Parmesan...light, full of flavor, perfect in every way. This restaurant is why we drive through Youngstown. We are excited to try their new spot in Austintown next time we come through. We understand they are moving there but also keeping this location as a more casual concept. We wish them luck. Amanda was a great server!!!! read more

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Loved spring at the bar and having conversation with bartender and manager. We meet some regulars with standing reservations every Friday night... definitely gives you the first impression of a great restaurant. read more

This is a fabulous place to enjoy a delicious Italian meal! It's a beautiful restaurant with great ambiance, friendly staff, and the food is excellent. I have been here twice as this is the halfway point for my parents and I to meet up, and I can confidently say we will be back and this is our official meet-up restaurant for the future. On our last trip there, we ordered the mussels appetizer and the insalata misticanza (mixed salad) which were both delicious. Our main courses were the Pappardelle al Ragu', Linguini Neri allo Scoglio and the Spaghetti alle Vongole - all three were spectacular. I absolutely devoured my Pappardelle and the Ragu was the best I have ever tasted! read more

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I'm not certain where these other reviewers ate, but I definitely had a different experience. I had the octopus appetizer that was almost an entree itself. My wife had the carbonara and it was delicious. A little side note about carbonara: many places and people make this incorrectly. My favorite celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, doesn't make it correctly. This place makes it the authentic Italian way with NO CREAM! And they use guanciale instead of bacon or pancetta. Yes, I am a bit of a food snob. I had the skirt steak for my entree and it was beautifully cooked and well seasoned with fingerling potatoes and broccolini. The green sauce was done well with the right amount of seasoning. We also had the artichokes. They were not overly salty as one reviewer posted Our server was very well informed and being from Eastern Europe, I was also impressed with his pronunciation of the Italian names of the dishes. It is a lovely and charming restaurant that is a great spot in downtown Youngstown. read more

Prima Cucina Italiana - Octopus - Italian Near Me - Youngstown, Ohio

Best dinner before the show in a lovely room with a nice bar. This family restaurant hand makes everything. And, yum. Everything tasted wonderfully. We started with wine and Caprese salad, Devils on Horseback dates, and Calamari. All were delicious. The Calamari was lightly fried and included two large shrimps. For entrees I had a fabulous grilled octopus starter called Polpo and some of the Calamari. Others had the Skirt steak that was large with a nice flavor, but was a lot of meat with a side of greens. The lamp chops were not on the menu, but my friend, who's a regular here, asked and received. She really liked the six chops. The evening's special was trout, and it was outstanding, said my husband who orders fish when we dine out. Next time we will try the handmade pasta. Having dessert was worth the extra time. We had lemon sorbet in a hollowed out lemon. The presentation in a martini glass was very creative with the cut lemon end used as the cap. Refreshing! read more

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In town for a night and needed some dinner. Fantastic authentic Italian food, good service, and a really fun crowd. Can't wait to come back!

amazing food, great portions, and comfy atmosphere. no other place beats prima's eggplant parmesan

1st time at Prima... -Atmosphere was wonderful. A small cozy intimate type of ambiance. Cool little bar with 15 or so seats. Maybe a dozen dining tables with white tablecloths. -Service was great as well. Seated on time, bartender knows how to make an excellent Manhattan!!! Waiter was attentive, knowledgeable, and very pleasant. -Food was scratch made, with plenty of choices that all sounded delicious. Calamari/Shrimp appetizer may be the best I've ever had. Main course was a pork sauce with pasta, wife had chicken Milanese, both were excellent. If you're looking for an intimate, romantic atmosphere with excellent cocktails, food and atmosphere, you should give this place a shake. All around, the best restaurant in our area read more

I am not a food critic, but I know good food. Spend a lot of time traveling and have experienced many different types of food around the world. My wife took me out to dinner, for my Birthday, before a concert at Covelli Center. We made a reservation for 5:30. Concert was at 7. We arrived early (5:15) and they sat us immediately. We ordered the peppers as an appetizer. They were good, but bland. It basically was a whole pepper with a lemon oil over top. Not much spice. They tasted fair. We ordered our entree around 5:40. Food came out 6:08. I ordered the pollo alla milanese. The description was "Breaded chicken cutlet, arugula, lemon, and Shaved parmigiano". In my mind, I thought it would have been some kind of lemon sauce with arugula incorporated into the sauce. It wasn't. Now I understand that it's not their fault that I didn't really understand what Pollo allá Milanese was. But I am allergic to uncooked fruits and vegetables. A condition called "Oral allergy syndrome". After the food was served I knew I could eat it. Waiter came and I told her the situation, also explained that we were going to the show a crossed the street for 7pm. I asked if I could order something else. She told me the best they could do was make me spaghetti to go....... Now they did have other tables and 2 party's of 6 but there where only about 35 people in the restaurant. Not to mention a table that came in 20 mins after us, was already finished eating and leaving..... after she took my food away, no one came to check on us. Not the manager, not the server, not the chef. If I was a chef, I would want to know why an untouched plate came back.... 2 things could have happen, he either wasn't aware or didn't care. At 6:40, I asked for the check, server walked away and I had to request the manager. Really? You just had a customer sit and watch his wife he her food and didn't think the manager should have came to check on us? The manager came over with our check, they did take off my meal and also insisted on giving us $25 gift card. She was very understanding and told me she should have been told earlier and they would have been able to make another meal to eat in, and not to go... My wife enjoyed her meal and I did have a bite. The food was good. She ordered the papperdale Al ragú. Here is my complaint. My wife and I went to dinner for an experience and my birthday. We each ordered 2 drinks, an appetizer, and 2 entrees. If they didn't take my entree off, we would have paid $130 with tip for this meal. $130 in Youngstown is the average daily pay for someone. And much above average for a dinner bill in Youngstown. So the experience/service better be above average. Again not a food critic, and what I ordered was not their fault. But the way it was handled was poor until I asked to speak with the manager. read more

Prima Cucina Italiana - Our bill - Italian Near Me - Youngstown, Ohio

Our first visit, last evening, my birthday. The place was cold (low 60s?); mid-December, blustery & snowing, and most diners were wearing their coats as they ate. Fortunately, the greeter at the door turned up the thermostat at my request. The ambience is lacking, like a banquet hall with tables. Our drinks (dirty martini and a cosmo); were excellent and reasonably priced. The waiter, a young man with short dreadlocks; excellent, friendly and informative. The food; we had the most expensive meal on the menu; a $100 tomahawk steak plus a $19 caprese salad and $7 devils on horseback. The devils were delicious; bacon wrapped stuffed dates with a tasty dipping sauce. The caprese salad was a disappointment; tasteless tomatoes and below average mozzarella (nowhere near worth $19). ...and the tomahawk steak; cold and small. a huge rib bone with maybe 10 oz of meat beside it. 10 ounces. My wife ate one small piece, I had three, and there was two small pieces remaining. Steak quality was very good but this was the smallest tomahawk we've ever seen; barely a meal for one. ...and it was COLD. (Cold steak is not good). It came with a small serving of potatoes and some broccoli rabe; both also tasty but again, cold. Our bill was $160, we left a $40 tip, and gave the girl at the door $5 for turning up the heat. We will return - for an Italian meal, but do not recommend the tomahawk. Not a bad place, probably better in the warmer months, but Aqua Pazzo is so much better. read more

I am hoping the restaurant has not taken a turn for the worse. I have eaten here since they opened in 2020. The food has always been exceptional. We arrived a few minutes early for our 5:30 reservation and were immediately seated. The waiter was very friendly and attentive but the wait time for dinner was ridiculous. We only ordered salads and entrees and the entrees did not come out until 7:00. I get it - things happen but an hour between salads and entrees is too long of a wait between courses. The biggest disappointment was the food which was very bland. The salad with white vinaigrette was tasteless. I ordered bucatini amatriciana and my wife ordered chicken parmigiana. My noodles were cooked perfectly but the sauce, which usually is flavorful and spicy was bland. I sampled my wife's chicken parm and it also lacked flavor. She ate, at most, half of it. I hope we just caught them on an off night. read more

Nice enough place with pretty white table cloths. Clean. They're trying to impress. Clean LARGE restroom. Waitress pleasant and attentive. BEWARE if you don't enjoy a lot of salt. Now that I've had time to think about it, I'm not sure I'd return unless I was with a group who desperately wanted to go. My husband and I made reservations on the website for 5 pm because we were celebrating our wedding anniversary and going to the theater afterwards. He mentioned the anniversary to the man who seated us. Meh. No one cares. We were the first customers in and got seated at one of only two tables for two. Of course they were back by the kitchen door and the heavy traffic of service and customers walking to the restroom. Always always we seem stuck by the flapping kitchen door. I get it, but I feel tables with an unappealing location should get a free appetizer or a discount somehow. I immediately was uninterested is dropping unnecessary dollars here. I also feel if you're seated as the very first customers you shouldn't be given the worst table. They should save that area as " overflow". Only use when necessary. I ordered the fried artichokes and they appeared lovely. There was a generous portion. Bit into them. SALT!!! whoa, man they were like potato chips. I ate because I was really hungry and we were on a time schedule, but I wouldn't get them again because of the overwhelming salt. First alarm bell in my head. Salt is tricky, I know, but if you hide behind it as a chef, I'm wary. My entree was 1/2 chicken with capers and Brussels Sprouts. This is totally my bad, because I should have changed my entree after that first bite of artichoke. Of course the capers had a salty snap, and it was unfortunate because my taste buds still burned from the artichokes. There were many many capers. To me, capers are a light accent, not a vegetable side. Totally all my fault. I ate instead of returning it. Again, hungry. No time. However, in my defense, I'm not really a food snob who routinely returns food to the kitchen. I also think something has to be really really bad for most people to return a dish. I'm not comfortable doing that, even though I am comfortable sharing my opinion on Yelp! Meanwhile I'll return to the disappointment of the table location. The restaurant got busy right after we were seated but there was never a time when there weren't better open table options for us at a four top. They turned us around in 1 hour 20 minutes, we were the first in, and did not delay our orders --we had appetizers and entrees. No drinks before- no time! Did not listen to the dessert menu because we didn't have time. All that said, we could have had a better, more appealing seating option with a view of the room instead of the kitchen, and they COULD have given us a different table. I know we can have a better experience somewhere else. read more

I'm not sure where some of the reviewers ate, but it couldn't have been here! Food was excellent, and our table of four ordered a lot! Mussels appetizer was excellent, as well as the warm olives and bread. The eggplant was delicious, the chicken was perfect and the special was superb. Save room for dessert because you'll want to try those, too. Overall, an excellent night out with good friends and excellent food. read more

We experienced Excellent food, drinks and atmosphere. Everything was very neat, clean and tidy. We Highly recommend.

The food was good and beautiful ambiance, the service was not that great. Our waiter was very kind, however we waited an hour and a half for our food to come out. Our party was sat at 7p, given we had appetizers. But we didn't get our food until 10:15p. I had to leave and put pressure on our waiter (not his fault) but I ended up leaving and having my food placed in a to-go container. I understand restaurants are under staffed nowadays but unfortunately having customers wait that long can force customers not to come back. I would hate if this was a consistent problem and causes customers to not eat there. Hopefully this does not happen to anyone else. Unfortunately due to the circumstances, I was not able to take pictures. 3.5 rate read more