I also travel all over the US and last night's meal at Ruffino's was one of the best I have had. 72 hour short rib special was fall apart tender and flavorful. Sides were also excellent. And there is a delightful suprise at the end of the meal that I could not have seen coming but I don't want to give it away... Fantastic service too...just wish I could remember her name to give her kudos here! read more

I've gone 3 times . This was the worst. Ossco bocco was expensive and very blan.

Always love dining here. With friends or just a quiet dinner with my wife. The staff always make you feel welcome. Warm atmosphere. The Osso buco on Thursday evenings is always great. The rib cap steak as well. Gong simple is awesome. I rate my italian restaurants on something as simple as Veal Parmigiana. Ruffinos is definitely number 1 in Baton Rouge. read more

We went to Ruffino's Saturday Night. They were very crowded but this is not unusual. I love the atmosphere here. The English waitress was okay and food average. The best part of the meal and service is the Bread and Italian Butter(garlic, parmesan cheese), I had a Caesar Salad the was very dark green and not very good. How can an Italian Restaurant not make a good Caesar Salad? I had an appetizer of Eggplant that was very good however my friend's each had the Seafood Arancine which was a fried cheese ball. It came 2 to an order and they couldn't even finish 1. read more

I returned here after having had the steak at a work related function. I brought my wife to try out the Italian side of the menu. We were pretty disappointed. The pasta dishes were way overcooked. Pasta should have a little body to it, not just a soggy pile of noodles. The spaghetti sauce tasted like it had chili spices in it and the veal Palermo sauce was very salty. The locals seem to like it, but it is not close to traditional Italian. That's fine, but we were expecting Italian. I suggest you stay with the steaks and fish dishes, which have been very good. read more

I am not Italian, not even 1/32nd, so if you think there is some genetic component giving people with distant Italian decent an edge with judging this place, please pass on my review. I always find these type of Italian places over priced, and this is no exception. The marinara sauce is fantastic, as is every thing they use it on, except the "pizza". I know this isn't a pizza joint, but what my daughter was served should be embarrassing. We go every year because it's a tradition for my daughters birthday. Her mom is not Italian either. read more

Overpriced mediocrity. Filet overcooked and dry, cedar redfish was a huge disappointment for $30. Last 3 trips have not lived up to expectations. read more

Always a perfect experience. The staff and the food is always just amazing. It's my boyfriend and I's favorite restaurant for great Italian food. read more

Ruffino's is one of my most favorite places to eat in Baton Rouge. They start you off with a delicious, crusty bread and dipping sauce prepared fresh for you at the table. The specials menu is always on point and curated with the freshest local ingredients. The atmosphere is comfortable and not presumptuous. Ruffino's is also a great place to celebrate your birthday. They send out a beautifully decorated dessert with the birthday person's name emblazoned across the plate! read more

Came here with my family for a graduation dinner. The reservation was for 930pm which is a little late but we were prepared a. snacked on a few chips before our dinner. The restaurant was packed with LSU graduates and a few birthday dinners, I felt a little nervous that they wouldn't clear out, but we were seated 10 minutes prior to our scheduled dinner. The food was amazing and well portioned. Everyone ordered different entrees (we are a sharing NOLA bunch) and everything was delicious. Will be back! read more

Has to be one of the most pretentious, over priced restaurant in BR serving mediocre food at best. The best tasting part of the $200 meal was having a slice of my child's pizza. Baton Rouge has many better options for far less cost. When ruffinos was the only "nice" restaurant in highland area years ago I could understand how they stayed busy. Now with so many more better options in the area I just don't understand why people keep going. I guess habit. Not me. read more

Best redfish dishes in this restaurant town! They also do delicious veal dishes. We love coming here for special occasions with the family, especially on Sundays. They are also very nice to our preschooler twin grandsons as well, which we appreciate a lot. read more

I have been to Ruffino's a few times, and have always left satisfied with the experience. I've had the Cedar Baked Redfish, the Fish Katie, a sampling of appetizers and desserts and while each one was delicious, I'd have to say the most memorable was the Garlic Rosemary Roasted Chicken with the garlic rosemary roasted potatoes...the dish was absolutely succulent! It has been quite a while since my last visit, and I am only now writing to give a shoutout to the owners for taking the time to not only read these reviews, but to personally answer them, thank their patrons, and offer support for those who have been dissatisfied with their experience. This is not a requirement, but definitely lets you know that they value their clientele. Well done, Ruffino's! read more

Great consistent food and service. Great lunch menu. Fun to eat at the bar too! Let them know you're celebrating an event. They'll do a special dessert. read more

This place has all the trimmings of a top-notch restaurant but falls just short of its pomp. The menu is a little unfocused (pastas, steaks and seafood) but they have some nice items like the pork cheek app. I was going to get the filet but the server offered up a special: filet oscar. The filet was good, the crab tasted too strong ( I wish I would have gotten the filet off the menu). The vanilla crème brûlée was exactly what I hoped and expected it to be. But after seeing the chocolate sin cake (or whatever it was called), I was jealous. Maybe that's part of the sin part: envy. read more

I frequent Baton Rouge for business and get the opportunity to try new places fairly often. On my recent trip, I visited this restaurant after driving by a few times, decided to read the reviews which were decent, and was looking forward to a nice atmosphere and meal. What I got was quite the opposite. Upon entering, it smelled musty and damp, but it was late in the evening and not crowded so I thought maybe it was crowded earlier and that could have been from being busy. I was seated in the bar area, but got a table. I will say that it was nice to have a few different servers each with different functions. However, I ordered my meal and just as it was coming out of the kitchen, two servers decided to have a contest on who could set a table the fastest. It was bad enough to do that while there is a customer present, but one of them decided to use the table directly next to me and I moved out of the way because he was so close to me. The person that brought my food even tried to serve me on the opposite side of the table! So, they had their contest and went back to whatever it was they were doing, I then moved back to my original place and had my meal. It was average at best by the way, beef tips for $27, not worth that for sure. I also overheard who I presume was the manager, talking to the bartender about how he couldn't remember being in the Jack-In-The-Box drive thru line because he was too drunk. Not a good way to run a business in general, but especially one that claims to be upscale. Bottom line, I'll never return and many people I know won't either after hearing what happened. read more

food,service & attitude of all the servers, waiters & manager that visited our table! 7 read more

I have always had excellent meals at Ruffino's.. until last Friday. There was a rabbit dish on the specials that the waiter really pushed. Boy was it gross! Inedible . Also we ordered the $50 steak and it wasn't tender. Very surprised and disappointed. On the plus side the Fish Katie was outstanding, as was the cheesecake and flourless chocolate cake. read more

This is my go to Italian restaurant if I want food delivered. It's delivered through different applications versus the restaurant itself, but always on time and delicious. read more

Great food and very good service, although waiters and wait staff were a touch over-attentive

Excellent food, service and overall experience. They greeted us at door by name and gave us royal treatment throughout dinner.

Two Words: Don't Bother Went to eat there last night for my wife's birthday. It was the first time for both of us. Sat down, got some good bread and olive oil dip. After that, they poured my whiskey drink into my wife's sugar rimmed glass. I was offered a paper towel to wipe off the sugar. All the drinks are served in shakers which guaranteed underpours and drips all over the table. Got some great bbq shrimp and a mozzarella salad app. Not bad at all. Ordered a filet, it came out blue, like seared and raw blue. They fixed it, but my wife was done eating in all the time it took them to remake it. I had ordered a glass of wine after the apps. Never received it. Then was told after eating that they would "take it off the check." Well duh, I never got it. I'm not paying for wine I never got. They didn't even do anything for my wife's birthday. No cotton candy, no happy birthday on the dessert we ordered, nothing. Don't ask customers if you are celebrating something if you aren't going to recognize it. The ambiance was akin to tiger stadium, loud as all get out and full of drunks who could care less. If a 30 year old thinks it's loud, it's loud. Apparently everyone else got their wine and properly poured whiskey. I had always heard it was fine dining. The decor was a mix of TJ Ribs and Uncle Earl's. $180 for dinner for two with horrible service and people literally yelling 3 feet in all directions around you is not worth it. Check out 18 Steak, Ruth Chris, or even Louisiana Lagniappe. All have better food, better atmosphere, know how to respect customers, recognize a simple birthday, and cook a simple steak. Ruffino's: Italian for Overpriced and Overhyped read more

This has also been a special place for me and my husband to go on our anniversary the staff here is awesome I love the pasta and steaks

Wife's birthday. Had a wonderful time. Very friendly and knowledgeable wait staff. Food was delicious especially the squash blossoms and butter steak. This is my favorite cut of beef, but hard to find. Will return soon read more

We heard a lot of great things about Ruffinos. We were celebrating my finances 30th birthday and had awesome service, and that's where the wow factor stopped. Being that it was our first time here we went with pretty standard options: shrimp Alfredo and chicken parmigiana. I hate to say it but Olive Garden has better Alfredo... As for the chicken parm, dry and a small portion for the price. Crab cheese cake was good for an app but the rest of our food was weak. read more

This Restaurant is the staple of Baton Rouge. Excellent service and Awesome food. It can't get any better that this!

Very disappointing experience!! Would not consider this an Italian restaurant as it had very little Italian food on the menu and what it did have was basic and overpriced. Service was not good and when we got home with our leftovers that had been boxed for us they were not all there and boxes had sauce on the outsides. Will not be returning!! read more

We had not been to Ruffino's in a while. This is a restaurant we have loved in the past. Yesterday, the service was excellent, although a bit overblown, for a Sunday afternoon. In Baton Rouge, a city that seems to abound in chain restaurants, Ruffino's was a bright spot we loved and often recommended to others. We had had consistently excellent meals. Yesterday, we hope, is not the new standard at the restaurant. The menu has changed. Alas, the consistently excellent eggplant bisque is no longer on the menu. The Sunday lobster special was not available, which was a disappointment in itself. We ordered the grilled oyster appetizer, but there's seems to have been a shortage of seasoning, especially garlic, at the restaurant that day. Next, we ordered veal parmesan and chicken marsala, both of which seemed to be lacking in taste. We had had these dishes in the past and expected better than we received yesterday. That there was not an abundance of salt in the recipe is a good thing, but where was that marriage of flavors we expected? The bread recipe seems to have changed, too, and the olive oil has been removed from the table. The "garlic butter," which a server takes to the table was long on cheese, but short on olive oil, and again, lacking in garlic flavor. When we asked about the olive oil, a bottle was brought to the table. I think it will be a while before we try Ruffino's again. There are chain restaurants that offer better Italian food than what we were served yesterday! read more

My husband & I went last night and had a fantastic meal with excellent service. We had the crabmeat cheesecake appetizer which was great, as usual. We couldn't stop ourselves after one loaf of hot bread with Italian butter and had to have two! For our entrees, I got lasagna and my husband got the aged prime rib. They came out piping hot and delicious. I love the red gravy sauce on the lasagna. But his prime rib was EXCELLENT- tender, flavorful, cooked to a medium perfection, and served with an awesome au jus. For dessert, we tried the ricotta cheesecake and it was a bit too rich for us. I wish we would've gotten the tiramisu because we got it before, and it was the best. It was a wonderful date night and I highly recommend Ruffino's! read more

Premium food, high class ambiance, and impeccable service. You feel like family (functional family).

This place is a bit of a local attraction and is always busy. They offer huge portions on all of their dishes. I have always found the food to be average, but on my last visit it crossed the line to bad. I had a house salad that was wilted and virtually smothered in cheese. The chicken parmesan was a huge slab of under cooked and unpounded breast. The acompaning pasta was covered with their too sweet marinara sauce. If you love Italian food, there are better places. read more

Really good food and atmosphere. A place where you can feel the 'good vibe'. If it were centrally located, it would likely be impossible to get into. The owners and management love offering food and fun to the diners, Lots of choices almost always superbly prepared. Not just an Italian place, at all although it typically pops up in that genre. My 4 stars downgrade is because I think they sometimes get a little ambitious with their fancier offerings, but stay with your menu favorites (or the staff's recommendations) and you can't go wrong. I think a key to the success here is that they haven't gotten into over expanding and make sure they get, and keep, it right in their original location. read more

First time here and have to say all the wait staff are excellent. Unfortunately, can't say the same for the Lobster filet mignon. The texture was the consistency of a pudding. Wait staff and management was very responsive and did not question my dislike of dish. For dessert I ordered the bread pudding which was more egg then bread. Reminded me of a dish that may have been prepared for larges masses in a hospital or convention center, kind of blah. Have eaten at LeCreole across street- much better choice. read more

Visited Ruffino's again, however this time we dined there. We both had the cedar plank fish and it was wonderful. It has a balsamic vinegar taste that gives it a great pop of flavor. The service was exceptional, they have three servers attending to you. For some reason the cocktail server disappeared and we had to wait a while and flag down our food server to get us one. Ambience was inviting and pretty. read more

While the food was mostly above average, the service was below average, from a waiter who spoke too quickly to be understood, even AFTER being asked to slow down several times, to forgetting to bring the requested shredded cheese for the Italian dishes, to bringing the coffee out 5 -10 minutes after desserts were finished. The servers seemed to care less about our needs and more about hustling to their next station, despite the fact there were 3 staff assigned to each table. read more

Felt rushed through brunch.. They offered endless mimosas which seemed to be an issue when we asked for refills.. Seems like Jubans does it all right.. Food/drink combination.. Too many servers for brunch seems to be too much read more

One of our favorite all around restaurants generally! And I do recommend it, however, the three stars is because we hate hate that "group waiter" thing they do. Can I jut come in and have my waiter I like here and only deal with them please? We are people that bond with a waiter like Chris for example and I would like to come in and just deal with Chris, not 4 other people. They used to not do this and I would give them 4-5 stars every time if it wasn't for this! read more

Cedar plank redfish was amazing. Crabmeat cheesecake was delicious. Great date night for me and my husband. Staff was exceptional. We definitely will be back read more

Starting off, the restaurant is beautiful. I love the pictures all around the restaurant. Service was good but somewhat awkward, drinks were great, and atmosphere was lovely. The pizza was great; however, I was not a fan of their meatballs and spaghetti. Any Italian restaurant should have great meatballs and I found them to be somewhat bland and I would think angel hair pasta would be best for the dish. The pasta that they use is too thick. As for everything else it was a nice experience and we will be back. read more

I haven't been to Ruffino's in almost 9 years because it was never special (or even anything that resembled memorable). I took my boyfriend tonight for his birthday and was very hopeful it would be better. Never again. I just paid $200 for a meal I didn't eat (my servers didn't seem to notice that I only took one bite of my fish entree and didn't touch the rest) and that he ate his veal dish but wasn't at all excited about it. We just spent a long, 3 night weekend in New Orleans eating some outstanding meals and are admittedly a bit judgmental about food and craft beer/cocktails. That being said, there are several places in Baton Rouge that we enjoy. Ruffino's is not on that list. Service was very nice at our table, but it would be friendly to say the food was average. The cocktail list was poor and seemed like an after-thought. We arrived 30 minutes early for our 6:00 reservation and sat at the bar for a cocktail. The bartender didn't greet us for 10 minutes and didn't seem particularly welcoming. All in all, it was a wholly underwhelming experience. I could have easily taken that money and been at least averagely whelmed elsewhere in town. I have no idea what people enjoy about Ruffino's. It certainly can't be the food. read more