A great Italian restaurant in downtown Boise. Quiet and well appointed. Fine selection of wines and their wine buyer always stops by to chat and make sure we are happy with our wine choice. Food is always prepared perfectly and served by friendly wait staff. read more

We had an early Valentine's dinner date here over the weekend and felt it was a big miss, given the hype. Beautiful decoration and ambiance. We walked in through the hotel and interior door was opened for us with a greeter to show us the way. That was over-the-top fancy! We were sat next to the floor-to-ceiling windows and, on a 30-degree night, that chill came inside and by end of meal, I was left wishing I had kept my coat, rather than take hostess up on her offer to hang in closet. Wine selection good. As another Yelper reviewed, we had the Gorgonzola-stuffed figs and it was all bacon. Didn't even taste Gorgonzola in the first one... the bacon overwhelmed everything. Hubs ordered tomato basil soup and that was good. Most soups are served piping hot, but this wasn't and ready to enjoy right away. I ordered a butter leaf salad with chick peas, but the name should've been reversed... I had 200 crunchy chickpeas on my plate, again, overwhelming other ingredients. My entree was the sea bass, cooked beautifully, high could've benefited from a sauce. Served atop a cauliflower purée and arugula. Hubs had quail. The bird was cooked to perfection, but the plate experience was odd... very large cold pickled chili peppers atop a warm meat with bulky potato fingerlings. With this much hype, you expect some pop and the pairings and balance of ingredients was off for us. Hazelnut pot de creme was amazing so we finished on a high note. I'd go back for that, as a post-movie dessert. Service was a bit slow, considering the restaurant wasn't full. We were waiting awhile to order to the point another server noticed and asked us to confirm we were being attended to. And, it took 3 trips to serve coffee, one each for brew, then cream and sugar, and a few minutes later, a spoon finally arrived to stir it together. So a few kinks to work out there. Glad we gave it a go, but not in a rush to return. read more

Richards is undoubtedly the best restaurant in Boise! We were in town for four day and ate there 3 times. The food was exceptional, the service was very prompt and such a warm and comfortable atmosphere!! Andrew was a great waiter-offered suggestions, but was not pushy. Very pleasant and helpful. Katie, the sommelier was extremely knowledgeable and suggested wine pairing that were incredible. Brunch was delicious and dinner was extraordinary! All the staff from the hostess, the bartender, the wait staff and the GM were all so cordial, accommodating and professional. I would highly recommend this beautiful restaurant for any meal or just drinks before or after a night out. read more

We had a great breakfast last Sunday. Decided that since we stayed at Inn at 500 we'd eat here rather than drive somewhere else. What a fantastic decision to do this. After perusing the menu came to the conclusion from their description of the choices that the chef was very creative and couldn't wait to try something. My husband ordered the eggs Benedict and I had grilled cheese sandwich which had slices of apples, ham and I'm not sure of everything but it was not your normal grilled cheese. Every bite was a delight and taste buds were going crazy. Everything was of the highest quality as you could tell from the taste of the dish. My husband loves eggs Benedict and said the ham was delicious and not just a thin slice you ordinarily get in restaurants. He ate everything! I thought the service from Amy was fantastic. She was so attentive. My coffee cup never went down more than half full. She made the whole experience enjoyable. Eat here, itsfantastic ! read more

Everything was excellent. We had the Bucatini pesto; the rigatoni with chicken meatballs; and clam linguini. All were super tasty with the bucatini just edging out the chic meatballs. The linguini had too much chorizo for me. We also had Caesar salads. The dressing was fabulous but the whole sardines were the stars! It's served as a romaine head quartered so you had to use a knife and fork on it. It was kind of annoying--would have preferred just the typical chopped version. Our waitress was spot on. The decor was so cool. I'm totally ripping off the wine barrel stave ceiling. Loved this place and will be back often. read more

We won a Facebook giveaway for a night stay at The Inn At 500 Capitol and a $50 gift certificate to use at Richards. Once we got into our hotel room, I called down to make reservations at Richards. The hostess let me know that they didn't have any openings until around 8:30 that evening...which makes sense since I was calling at 6 pm on a Saturday night...very last minute! I made the reservations for 2 at 8:30 but asked her if the bar/lounge area was open seating and she confirmed that it was. We ended up going down around 7 for dinner and found a nice, small table in the bar area right off the bat! Impressive menu. I ordered a dirty vodka martini that was delicious! And my girlfriend ordered a vodka soda. It was strong and when I asked our waitress if she wouldn't mind bringing us some extra slices of lemon or lime to squeeze in, she offered to take the drink and muddle the fruit in and re-shake...which is exactly how we like to have them made but don't often ask for bartenders to do it, since it can be a little high maintenance. I got a side salad with the Blood Orange Vin and the Clam Linguini. My girlfriend got the Cannelloni. Prices were definitely reasonable and the food was completely worth every penny. I don't remember our waitresses name...but she was the only one working the cocktail area in the lounge. She was really friendly and took great care of us. We will be back! read more

Four of us had lunch (made reservations) on Friday, 4/21. Servers were friendly and welcoming, but definitely need more training. Our server was so meek we repeatedly asked the same questions because we could not hear her. We ordered cocktails. They came out 2 at a time and carried by hand. What ever happened to serving trays? We then ordered appetizers, salads, and entrees. It took over 90 minutes to receive our food. The place was not very crowded or busy. One member at our table said he grew a full beard just waiting for the entree. The server took the silverware and cleared the salads and appetizers before I was finished. I kept my salad, but had no utensils and after a couple of attempts to flag her down, I simply helped myself to the adjacent table's utensils. We ordered wine with entrees. Again, one wine was delivered by hand and one was not. Again trying to flag down our missing server took another 5 minutes. We also did not receive utensils for our entrees and The food was very good. I had a lovely caeser and delicious salmon patties. Other orders were beet salad, scallop appetizer, halibut, pasta and sage and brown butter ravioli. These dishes were really good enjoyed by all. We asked the waitress what A.Q. meant on the dessert menu. She said she had no idea. We asked her to find and. Several minutes later she came back and said 'no one knows, we think it is a typo.' We skipped dessert and ordered 3 coffees and cream. We received 1 spoon. We asked for 2 more spoons and received 1 more. Never received the 3rd spoon. I was disappointed in the decor/ambiance of the restaurant. I so loved Cafe Vincino's. Upon entering Vincino's one was transported to another country. Upon entering the new Richard's I felt like it akin to a coffee shop. I like table cloths and appreciate knowledgeable and timely service. I guess I expected more. In summary, Richard's food is way above average, but the service is desperately in need of a major overhaul. If Richard invests as much time and attention to training his wait staff as he does his cuisine, I will be back. If not, I will dine elsewhere. read more

I loved the old location and was excited to try to the new one. The brunch burger was the worst burger I may have ever had. Truly disgusting. My friend who had one too felt the same. read more

I like it here. There are better restaurants downtown but Richards is definitely worth a visit. The ribeye and sea bass are Must Haves! And just order every dessert because they are all delicious. Great service and good ambiance. I will be back. read more

This is the place to go for an elegant meal. Richard has been refining his dishes for twenty five years. He's a James Beard finalist with creative twists to an Italian inspired menu. We have enjoyed the bar in the new venue. You can eat dinner at the bar, too. Joel, a waiter who has been with Richard for years, is very skilled, the best in Boise. WS read more

We went for happy hour, expecting wonderfulness. What we got was ONE drink (bartenders choice) and one that I detest, expensive, stupid "small plates", one of which was ONE scallop in a cream sauce. Why bother. We won't be returning any time soon read more

The dinner option were a little spendy so we opted to try Sunday brunch and it was amazing! I had the special, which was some kind of breakfast sandwich that was just full of flavors! They also had free valet, which is nice, and rare in Boise. Service was great (also rare in Boise) and so was the food. There's a reason Richard's is legendary in Boise. read more

Excellent drinks! The food... perfectly prepared. Attentive wait staff.. we dine all over the country. Highly recommended!

We had the board room that was very nice. They didn't have wine for the entire dinner. Had to change. Service was excellent! Food was disappointing from appetizers to main courses. Prices were reasonable. Not Cafe Vicino. Terrible drop off in quality. 3 stars is being charitable read more

We were lucky enough to come here on a Sunday afternoon, after the movies, when things were pretty quiet. We were also lucky enough to have Steven as our bar tender, who was interesting, friendly, and an experienced cocktail mixer. In fact, this is the main difference between Richard's as it is now, and as it was as Cafe Vicino (our former favorite Bose restaurant): cocktails and not just beer and wine. The bar bites were just right. It was too early for a main dinner. I particularly recommend the shrimp with the polenta cakes. read more

We tried this place for the first time on my husband's birthday. I had heard good things, and holy cow! We skipped appetizers, but each got salads and bread. My husband ordered the rib eye and I got the prosciutto wrapped chicken. He is a steak guy, and he said it was really good, and the green sauce (can't remember what it was) was really good. The chicken was amazing, not dry at all, and the prosciutto was nice and crispy. The chicken also comes with polenta cakes that were great- crispy on the outside but nice and polenta-y on the inside. But I saved the best for last, literally. I got the chocolate caramel torte for desert, and it was slap-yo-mama good! Seriously. The top was crispy, the chocolate inside was thick and amazing, and the crust was crumbly and awesome. I can't recommend this place enough. The ONLY drawback was the noise level, it was pretty noisy, but it was busy, and I'm good at talking loud! Will definitely be back. read more

My husband and I ate at Richard's tonight for the second -- and last -- time. We ordered from the Boise Restaurant Week prix fixe menu. Our server was incredibly inattentive. We were there an hour and 45 minutes, and she visited our table mayyybe 5 times, which includes taking our drink order and food order. My husband was never asked if he wanted a second drink, his Diet Coke was refilled only by the assistants when asked (the assistants/busboys were actually very attentive, no complaints there, I think it just didn't occur to them that no one had bothered to refill his drink), and we didn't see her from when she dropped off the entree until after we were finished with dessert. Also, our courses came out very slowly, which wouldn't have been a problem (we weren't expecting to be in and out in 20 minutes), except that it wasn't the kitchen that was slow. It was the service that was slow, so our hot courses (pasta and entree) were lukewarm by the time we got them. When the dessert course came, my dessert was wrong. I told the lady (not our server) that our server hadn't been to our table in a while, that my husband needed a refill of Diet Coke, and that no one had even bothered to ask if we wanted coffee with our desserts. She said she would talk to someone about it and that she would get me the correct dessert. She did bring me the correct dessert, and she evidently did tell our server what I said because when the server brought the check she said she took care of my wine because of the mix-up with the dessert (which I honestly didn't even care about, everyone makes mistakes), but my husband never did get another Diet Coke. To make matters worse, we could see all the other tables in her section, which she was visiting much more frequently and whose courses came out much faster. Not sure why. Do we look poor? Was it because we were the only people under 40 in sight? No idea. For $130 (before tip, and I'll be honest, I didn't leave one because of how poorly we were treated), I expect much better. Food was really good (would have been better at the proper temperature), so it's kind of a shame, but we will never go back. read more

The cannelloni was so delicious, beautiful space, impeccable service. Can't wait to go back.

The service was the best we've had in the Boise area, right up there with Barbacoa and Chandler's, but price wise way more competitive with out skimping on selection, quality or quantity. Our waiter David was excellent, a Manhattan transplant, he was smooth and efficient without hovering. Most of the time, we barely knew he was there, but everything was perfect. We were pleased to find a good selection of vegetarian options, since two in our party were so inclined, that didn't comprise of only pasta or lettuce. Being the carnivore, I ordered the prosciutto wrapped chicken with polenta and broccolini and it was excellent. My girlfriend had the fettuccini with marinara which was very good and a salad which came with the house dressing that was fabulous! Friends of ours ordered the linguini with clam sauce and the grilled portabella mushroom respectively. I didn't try the mushroom, but the clams were very good, not over done, not under done, as is so common in restaurants here in Boise. The real surprise was the roasted beet salad, I highly recommend trying that! The wine selection was adequate and well priced. Our overall experience was first rate and we can't wait to eat there again! read more