We went to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. Incredible service and the food was delicious. We sat in the vault area. Very private and quiet. I'm fascinated about the history of the building and many years ago worked for a safe company. Mosler out of Hamilton, Ohio. The setting was magnificent. And we tried a new wine. read more

Riondo's Ristorante - The Diebold safe door in the vault area. - Italian Near Me - Galveston, Texas

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So disappointed!!! I've been coming to Riondo's since 2013. What was once a delightful Italian retreat with exceptional homemade seafood ravioli and attentive service has, unfortunately, lost much of the charm and value that kept me coming back for years. I was excited to introduce my sisters-in-law to one of my longtime favorites, but after spending nearly $400 for lunch for three adults and two children, I left disappointed. The service was average, the prices felt excessive for the quality, and several dishes were heavily oversalted. My $42 Diablo Cioppino was particularly disappointing. Not only was it nearly inedible due to the overwhelming heat and spice level, but it also contained surprisingly little seafood for a dish at that price point. The Gulf Shrimp Carbonara featured overcooked shrimp, and nearly every entrée suffered from excessive salt. While the homemade seafood ravioli remains a highlight, it wasn't enough to offset the overall experience. After more than a decade of loyal visits, this was the first time I questioned whether Riondo's still delivers the quality, consistency, and value that once made it a destination restaurant. read more

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If you like Spaghetti Warehouse but feel like you're not spending enough money there, then this is the place for you. Our server forgot our priced up appetizers and said they were sent to another table, and then barely touched our table for the rest of the evening. A $100 dinner for two needs a little more server interaction than what we received, and we will give this place a wide berth in the future. read more

The service, food, and environment is excellent. We love the seafood raviolis, the grilled octopus catch of the day appetizers was delicious, and the bread is always crispy, soft, and buttery. We love coming here every time we're in town! read more

Riondo's Ristorante - Italian Near Me - Galveston, Texas

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Katie the bartender was great! Makes a great cosmo. Food was excellent as always. We loved the appetizer platter and had pasta primavera which was wonderful. We've never had a bad meal here. It's always a place we visit when on the island. read more

We were seated in the second bar area and it was cute with a nice ambiance. Unfortunately, we were seated right in the direct line of the AC and even on a hot humid night in Galveston, our entire group of ladies were freezing! The food: They accidentally brought out a meatball appetizer that we didn't order. When they realized, they let us keep it, which was a kind gesture. Wish I could say we really enjoyed it, but they were kind of dry. It also seemed a bit much to charge $1 per person for table bread. I feel like most Italian restaurants serve bread without charge. We ordered the gnocchi, which was dense, creamy and rich. We also ordered a margherita pizza and the carbonara. We all enjoyed our meals and felt they were good quality from a scratch kitchen. Our server was nice and attentive. He was quick to refill waters and give suggestions. The first Merlot wine listed on the menu was delicious! read more

Riondo's Ristorante - Gnocchi di Spinachi a la Panna* - Italian Near Me - Galveston, Texas

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Enjoyed 2 special occasions & Riondo's went above and beyond our expectations. Baby shower upstairs was exceptional & the room was gorgeous. Special thanks to Don, Nevanka, Ralph, Gabby, Chloe, Richard & Chef Rico. Empanadas were out of this world!! read more

Amazing food and service! The best! When we come to Galveston we always make sure we come here

This is our must eat place while we are visiting Galveston. The food and customer service is always perfect. Make sure and make your reservations ahead of time. read more

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We had a hankering for Italian after a week of spring breaking and headed into Galveston to enjoy. We wanted nice and put on our clean jeans and shirts with buttons to "fancy up". Good thing. Riondo's oozes upscale and class but caters to a crowd fresh off the strand. The old building was charming and comfortably decorated and our waiter worked hard to make us feel special. We started with the prosciutto cheese bread which arrived at our table hot and fresh with oozing cheese and pieces of ham. It was good and enjoyable but at the end of the day a ham and cheese sandwich upgraded but not worth the price. My son had the shrimp scampi and it was resplendent with shrimp. I opted for the angry scallops and MK ordered lasagna. The angry scallops were beautiful on the plate. The sweetness of the scallops were countered by the chili and berry jam that topped them. The lasagna was traditional and well received. In all it was a fitting final dinner for our vacation. read more

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Beautiful restaurant with great food and ambiance! I had the snapper seafood special which was out of this world followed by the delicious tira misu. It was all fabulous and I would love to come back!!! read more

Great food, excellent service, awesome atmosphere. All around great vibe! Nevenka and Ian were super! Expresso Martini, with tequila, off the charts!!!!​ read more

Warning:::Do not go to Riondos on a Saturday and expect Brunch or even lunch for that matter!!! All they have is the dinner menu from 11am-3:00pm until Happy hour starts at 3pm. Such a disappointment that their fabulous Brunch is only on Sunday. At least offer some sort of lunch menu!! There are a number of excellent Saturday Brunch options on the island but sadly Riondo's is not one of them. read more

The food and wine list was AMAZING. We tried a little bit of everything and nothing disappointed. Sat in the bar by the windows and had some great people watching! read more

Riondo's Ristorante - Italian Near Me - Galveston, Texas

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Didn't even get bread and butter. Ordered the veal piccata and grilled eggplant. Neither one come with pasta and is a super small portion. The picatta sauce was awful and came with some weird potato thing that was gross. Not worth the money! Way overpriced!! Even the server said the dishes weren't that good. read more

First time there with a friend from out of town and my husband. We sat in the vault and it was a cool vibe. Service was amazing and our server was very attentive. We had the tuna ravioli, scallops and pork chop. Delicious! read more

Riondos Italian Restaurant is a true hidden gem tucked away in the Galveston Strand area. The service was outstanding, the food was exceptional, and the ambiance was warm, inviting, and classic without feeling stuffy. We were a party of eight and ordered individual entrées, then shared everything family-style...every single dish was phenomenal. The veal chop deserves special recognition; it's hands down the best I've ever had. Perfectly cooked, incredibly tender, and packed with flavor. This is the kind of place you don't expect to stumble upon, but once you do, you're already planning your return. I will absolutely be back and highly recommend giving Riondos a chance and adding it to your regular rotation. read more

Great service, very helpful wait staff, and the pasta primavera with pomadoro sauce vas quite good. Vegetables cooked just right. The waiter made excellent suggestions to accommodate my dairy sensitivities. My husband had excellent tarimasu for dessert. Still decorated for the holidays on New Years Ever, it was lovely! read more

I seem to forget about Rio do's but every time we go it's been great. The food is excellent, servers are very accommodating and knowledgeable about the menu. Good recommendations. It was such a pleasant experience for lunch yesterday, we made a brunch reservation before we left. read more

Phenomenal experience! Hands down the best dishes ever. Crisana was amazing and Don was the best. Thanks you Riondo's!!! read more

Riondo's Ristorante - The Vault - Italian Near Me - Galveston, Texas

Usually love this place but this particular visit was one for the books where their service is concerned. The server didn't seem to be on her best game during our visit. It was a slow Sunday. We were starving. The server finally came to take our order. We ordered a Insalata di Casa and the formagio pizza. She asked me to repeat each item several times which seemed odd since the order was simple. A few minutes later she took our silverware even though we hadn't used them and no explanation. She delivered our diet cokes which were flat so we just pushed them aside without saying anything. Eventually she arrives at the table and proceeds to put a meat pizza and the pizza we ordered on the table and we let her know that we didn't order a meat pizza. She insisted that we ordered two things. We agreed and said the other item was a salad (which should have come before the pizza). She said didn't hear that even though I repeated it several time at the time she took our order. She rushes out what looks to be a rush-ly made salad with salad dressing just plopped on top, meanwhile we have no forks at the table to eat it or our pizza. YES, we sometimes eat pizza with a knife and fork. The salad was not great but the pizza was delicious despite there being way to much cheese on it. When the bill came, we were charged a $5 split fee even though nothing was split. I ordered the salad and my friend ordered the pizza. We shared our meals with each other. We didn't ask the kitchen to split anything. In any case, that fee should have been omitted for the fact the waitress kept messing up. We may go back sometime again. read more

Great place, great food and even better happy hour menu! We come every visit to Galveston

Wow! What a nice place. It was our first time going despite being Galveston regulars. I love the interior of the restaurant itself. Our waiter, Ian was a real professional. Not hovering but very attentive and friendly. We had the swordfish special which was fantastic and also had the ravioli pillows. We also had a variety of cocktails, including a chocolate dessert martini that was delicious. All in all I'd say this was 11 out of 10! 5 Stars must go to kinda place! read more

Terrible service!! We ordered salads, pizza and a another entree and the salads came out right away, but after waiting plenty of time for the rest of our order, my mom looked around the restaurant to ask about our food and there was no one around! A man, who we found out was the owner, finally brought our food out after my mom had to go so far as to knock on the kitchen door. He didn't even apologize for having to wait so long for our food and we never saw our waiter until it was time to pay the bill. read more

My sister and I found this place quite by accident while looking for a parking space. Great atmosphere, upscale dining, and the food was amazing. Chris-Anna served us, and she allowed us to take our time (no hovering!) while making excellent suggestions from the menu. Definitely on our list to "come again"! read more

Overpriced, tried to make "fine" Italian food, just stick to good Italian food. Don't screw up a good thing. Service was great, waiter was very attentive and helpful. Ambiance ehhh, so so. I am sure the tourists like it. read more

Great food, great service, great drink. We sat in the Vault. The food was great, and reasonably priced considering the quality. Wife and I ate here for her birthday and will definitely be back. I think our server was Eric. He was BOI and had a great knowledge of the history of Galveston. He was incredibly personable and provided great service. read more

Riondo's Ristorante - Filet mignon - Italian Near Me - Galveston, Texas

Love this spot. I can't believe it's been around for less than 10 years. If you're going for brunch, I highly recommend the Grand Marnier French toast. read more

Riondo's Ristorante - Italian Near Me - Galveston, Texas

Clay was an amazing server! Clay was very attentive and made sure I enjoyed my meal. As for the food...wow...it was spectacular. It had so much flavor and it all tasted authentic. The bananas foster is flambéed table side. It was the perfect way to end my meal. read more

Riondo's Ristorante - Bananas Foster do Fuoco - Italian Near Me - Galveston, Texas

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Riondo's always hits right! They have a wonderful Happy Hour, and wine down Wednesdays. My absolute favorite is the gnocchi, so amazing. If they have red fish, get it. I don't even like fish and it's amazing to me! The service is always attentive and the atmosphere is cozy. read more

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Came here for a company-sponsored dinner and this ended up being a great choice! The food was IMMACULATE--beautifully plated, aromatic, and tasted amazing. I personally had the grilled octopus and their salad. I'm hoping they never take this off the menu because the sauce alone is a party in your mouth--it's acidic yet spiced and it complements the creamy rice that it comes with! The service was also great, we were helped out by one of their managers to set up our food. Also, they tucked us in a quiet area in the back so we would have a more private dinner. read more

Riondo's Ristorante - Grilled octopus - Italian Near Me - Galveston, Texas

Ended up stopping here for dinner with a medium-sized group before seeing the Christmas Carrol. The ambiance is very nice. It feels upscale without being pretentious. I especially liked the architecture, it makes you feel like you're having dinner in a place of historic significance and not just another restaurant. We ordered wine and a few appetizers, and I got the chicken cannelloni. The wine that the server recommended was perfect with the food that we ordered and I appreciated his recommendation. The apps were delicious and so was my entree. All the food tasted like very good, no-nonsense, high-quality Italian food and I believe the menu items were priced very fairly. It can be difficult to find good local food in Galveston, but my company along with myself cleaned our plates and even finished the remaining apps before leaving here. If you're looking for an upscale Italian spot in a beautiful historic Galveston building, definitely check out Riondo's Ristorante. read more

Riondo's Ristorante - Chicken Cannellonis - Italian Near Me - Galveston, Texas

Riondo's has been a great experience every time I've visited. They are extremely dog friendly and every dish I've tried has been fantastic. Their cocktails are very well crafted and their wine list is superb as well. In addition to the food and drink being great the service is always friendly and they give my dogs lots of attention as well which they love. Overall I highly recommend. read more

Riondo's Ristorante - Italian Near Me - Galveston, Texas

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January 6, 2021 Bradley (bartender @8p) only 3 others at bar; we made 5. I know it was an hour from closing but Bradley has the personality of a rock! We "had to" engage him at every point of conversation. He was accommodating and nice once engaged BUT, didn't engage with us once entire time we were there. We even told him we would talk to him, so don't be alarmed. (that strategy didn't work) However, we enjoyed ourselves anyway. We had a bottle of an Italiano vino, "Gran Passione" (Rosso) and started with a cup of clam chowder and fresh bread; delicious! We shared the following entrees: Homemade pasta Pappardelle & Duck ragu Veal Picatta Both soo good and flavorful. At 9 pm we met the manager on duty; he was talkative and funny. There's the personality we were looking for! read more

Riondo's Ristorante - Papparadelle & Duck Ragu Veal Picatta - Italian Near Me - Galveston, Texas

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Beautiful place. Got their specials, bone marrow with risotto and it was huge and delicious Friends got all these other dishes that were all delicious as well Beautiful plates and bowls read more

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Fantastic dinner! The staff were super accommodating and welcoming to my family and friends. The food and service were fantastic and simply cannot be matched anywhere in Galveston. 10 out of 10! read more

We really used to love this place. We have been coming to Riondo's for so many years and have enjoyed it. These past two experiences have made us question that. We went on the first night with no reservation. We sat at the bar that had a reserved seat that wasn't for over another hour. The bar tender did inform us of the future seating, but we only wanted one drink and promised to leave shortly after. He agreed and gave us some menus. We waited a little while before he came back and he seemed not very friendly. We thought he was mad about us taking the seats, so we opted to make reservations for the next day to hopefully have a better experience and also try some of the menu. We arrived at our time the next day, and we're seated very promptly. We were happy to have the same bar tender as the day before and right he would smile and greet us. He kept his face down and just seemed like he was swamped even though the restaurant wasn't very full. After a few minutes of waiting, he came over and tossed the menus at us. We ordered two drinks that were on special for the day. He made them, took our food order, and turned around but never put the food order in. We waited for twenty minutes before he came back to check on us. We did want another drink but were afraid it would be another hour before we got out of there. We asked for the check and still no food. You could tell he remembered as soon as we asked and ran back to the kitchen to request what food items he could. He arrived back after 5 or 6 minutes with one of the items we ordered and claimed the system, for some reason, didn't place the other item. We were so done with waiting around. The most important thing I have on vacation is time. I felt it was being wasted here. We paid the bill, no discount in the drinks that were on special. We will be back but not if that bar tender is working read more

I had dinner here last week for the first time in this elegant Italian restaurant that is on The Strand. Riondo's sits on the corner of the block and has a few tables out front for outdoor dining if you wish. As you enter the restaurant there is an attractive aquarium in the bar area which then leads into the main dining room with another alcove dining area for about 16 more people on the side. The walls have exposed brick and with the restaurants high ceiling give it an upscale look. I liked the decor. I ordered the Cioppino entree for $32. First to arrive was a bread basket and then about 15 minutes later the meal appeared. The Cioppino had mussels and clams (which are not always available) along with yellowfin tuna, scallops and shrimps combined with in a pomodoro stew on a bed of homemade fettuccine. The dish had plenty of seafood content and it along with the pasta was delicious. There was just enough broth at the bottom for dipping with the bread provided. The meal was both very good tasting and filling. I thought the yellowfin tuna was a little firm (almost like beef tips) but I would order this meal again. Also, the waiter provided professional table service. I like Riondo's and would be happy to return. It is one of your nicer dining options in Galveston and especially in the downtown area. read more

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It's my honest opinion that I would not recommend this place. I'm not sure why or how they're in business, especially with the varieties Galveston offers. I seriously cannot believe the fried mozzarella I was served tonight. That's all I can think about. We came for happy hour and ordered tons of food and drinks. The best bite I had was of the spinach and prosciutto gnocchi...not sure where the prosciutto was hiding, but the peas were a bright delight. I do like the actual building on the strand. It's in a great area, but the food and drinks served are far from special and the waiter seemed annoyed with us. Overall, it wasn't authentic and it was overpriced. read more

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On our vacation to Galveston (Texas), we had dinner at Riondo's Ristorante. The visit started with the problem of the wrong drink and inattentive service by our waiter Chance. When I ordered my meal, I explained that I wanted it to be prepared without garlic and the waiter agreed and said that he would inform the kitchen. When the food was delivered by another waiter, not only did the sauce smell like garlic but it was served with garlic bread. The sauce and bread were taken away but my comments to our waiter included that there was a communication problem. He turned away from me and did not explain or apologize. My special meal was a disaster both in service and taste. As frequent visitors to Galveston, we will not return to Riondo's. There are many other restaurants that honor their customers' food allergy requests and provide excellent customer service. This restaurant is not one of them. read more