Arcodoro Ristorante Italiano
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MY REVIEW: We should have known not to stay when the "host" was so busy arguing with another employee that he couldn't even acknowledge us! It was restaurant week, and the menu looked good, so we decided to try it. Food was so-so, ambiance was noisy and crowded, but the service... the place must be owned by the Mafia! We will never go back! We also visited P*esce, F*lemings and R*uth's Chris for Restaurant Week - all were superb!
NAME: wordsmith
SUBMITTED: 8/21/2008 LAST VISIT WAS: 08/08
FREQUENCY: Visited once
MY REVIEW: We visited Arcodoro on a Saturday night during restaurant week. I was thoroughly disappointed and would never go back. My husband had taken me to dinner there years ago, and I had been underwhelmed by food service and ambiance. But after seeing reviews in Houston magazine about its chef, I decided to give it another chance. The menu seemed inspired enough, and the descriptions were tantalizing.
I arrived early and sat down at the bar. There were two bartenders, a man and woman. The bar was not that busy, yet, it took a good 5-10 minutes for me to even be acknowlegded. Neither bartender gave a hoot that I sat down, they took their time, they made no eye contact. I looked at them, but they avoided my gaze. Strange. I almost just got up and left. Finally the female bartender turned to me and said "what will you have?" I ordered a frozen bellini, nothing special.
The maitre-d and hostess were friendly but the positive review ends there.
We were a party of 6, and were ushered to a corner of their main dining room. When we arrived at the table, it was missing a chair as well as a place setting. My friend stood there for several minutes before a chair appeared. I asked the server for a recommendation and he gave me no guidance; simply stated that everything was wonderful on the Restaurant week menu. But it was not. We all ordered different things and so I got to taste everything.
First Course:
-Soup with rock shrimp. The soup was good, the rock shrimp looked like frozen shrimp, but overall the taste was good. Nothing spectacular.
-Fried ravioli stuffed with wild boar. There were 4 in the serving. My friend had one and gave the other three away. It tasted like a frozen ravioli that had been fried. Tasteless, didn't taste fresh.
-Sardinian meat plate. This was the best of the bunch but not something that I would crave or come back for. Just cured meats. You could buy something similar at Central Market.
Entree:
-Ravioli stuffed with crab, with cream sauce. The ravioli was good, but this was obviously NOT an entree portion. There were three- 3 inch ravioli on the plate. More like an appetizer portion.
-Fettucini with wild boar ragu. Portion was average, but after tasting it, the joke around the table was Hamburger Helper!
-Veal with wild mushrooms. Veal was dry and overcooked. extremely underwhelming.
Desserts:
-Parfait. Just ok
-Tiramisu. Just ok
Our bill including drinks. We had sparkling water and a bottle of wine - suggested by the waiter for $81, was $63/per person. Everyone left hungry and there was not a single positive comment. I felt so bad since I had organized the dinner. Compared with other Restaurant Week menus, the experience was sub-par, you got the feeling that they chintzed on everything. Service was extremely poor, ambiance left a lot to be desired. If I were to give it a rating on a scale of 1-5, it would be 1 for service, 1 for food, and 1 for ambience.
There are plenty of other excellent restaurants in Houston, so why patronize a restaurant that is both expensive and so low in quality everything? For restaurant week this year, I particularly enjoyed P*esce and V*oice at the Hotel Icon. Other friends of mine who went said that B*rennan's on the Bayou was a great experience as well.
NAME: HappyHoustonFoodie
SUBMITTED: 8/17/2008 LAST VISIT WAS: 08/08
FREQUENCY: Visited once
MY REVIEW: I went to Arcodoro for a quick lunch away from work because of the article I had read in 002 magazine. I sat at the bar as I was by myself and also looking for a quick bite. I was underwhelmed by the service as the bartender acted more like I was a nuisance than a paying customer, but the food was pretty good. Not great, but good and fairly reasonably priced for the Galleria area. I had the primavera pasta and while the tomato sauce was piping hot and adorned with vegetables, it was also a little bland. Not a bad lunch stop, but not all it was cracked up to be in 002.
NAME: kmacoog04
SUBMITTED: 4/7/2008 LAST VISIT WAS: April 2008
FREQUENCY: Visited once
MY REVIEW: I was sat promptly and had to ask my server whom wanted to take my drink order for a wine list, He was not briefed on the wines and had no suggestions. As we reviewed our menu I ordered the tomato and mozzarella appetizer, our server still insisted and brought over the appetizer special that was plated for my approval. He did not get it, I wanted the tomato and mozzarella appetizer not the special. Perhaps I should have gotten his hint? The tomato mozzarella appetizer cam with 4 thin tomato slices and a small Buffalo ball cut in half for 14.95. Appetizer came promptly as well as are dinner that was outstanding, but after the dinner was served our served disappeared for nearly 30 minutes then after asking if we carried for dessert disappeared for nearly 45 min. I don’t mine a pricy menu when the chef has created extraordinary dishes but the appetizer was not there and the manager? Did they have one? He never made a presents in the dining room. There are to many great restaurants in that area to try this restaurant a second time.
NAME: Jim Ginger
SUBMITTED: 4/4/2008 LAST VISIT WAS: 4/3/08
FREQUENCY: Visited once
MY REVIEW: My husband and I visited to celebrate our anniversary. What we encountered was less than romantic. The hostess couldnt find our reservation which was made 2 hours prior to our visit. She said we probably made a mistake and called M*ortons Steakhouse next door. How is that? After much fuss she finally seated us. Our appetizers were delightful (foie gras and antipasto platter). You have to give credit were credit is due. However. my salt crusted fish was mushy and overcooked. My husbands filet Fiorerntina TOO RARE. After 2 bites I notified the waiter that I could not eat the fish. He took it away. My husband said nothing of his steak. I ordered a salad instead.
Then dessert, also good. At the end of the meal the waiter said he didn't think he could do anything about the fish on our bill. My husband proceded to pay and I, upset about paying for a $50 fish I could not eat and did not eat, went to the manager and explained the situation. The manager, Mr. Joe Ramos went back and forth with the waiter and my bill. He accused me of ordering the salt fish after I had already placed another fish order that was already at my table! How preposterous. He finally dismissed me by saying that he didn't know how to handle the situation. He gave me his card and asked me to call him on Monday. I did. I left a message. He never called me back. A word to the wise; with so many fine dining establishments in the Galleria area and Houston that truly value their patrons, why waste your precious time and money were you will not be valued and service is not a priority.
NAME: Liza Montoya
SUBMITTED: 2/12/2008 LAST VISIT WAS: 2/8/2008
FREQUENCY: Visited once
MY REVIEW: We had our family Christmas Eve celebration in one of the banquet rooms. The service was outstanding and the food was excellent. The kids made their own pizza at the pizza oven bar which they loved. This is a great place and we intend to return!
NAME: Dag
SUBMITTED: 12/26/2007 LAST VISIT WAS: 12/24/2007
FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times
MY REVIEW: Our group had lunch in one of the private rooms. Service was as best as it could be due to the Christmas rush. My chicken with goat cheese was overpowered by the rosemary. Steaks were grisly and red raw. Everyone who ordered a steak did not finish it. Desserts were par. I had the chocolate torta and it was just ok. How can you go wrong with chocolate? I do not plan to return to this restaurant.
NAME: Supergmaw
SUBMITTED: 12/17/2007 LAST VISIT WAS: 12/2007
FREQUENCY: Visited once
MY REVIEW: Not terribly impressed. Slow service - whole meal took 2 hours mainly because of slow service. No-one asked us for drinks all night, so we just drunk water.
I would describe the food as "art" as opposed to filling; my salad had 3 scallops. 4 meals, 1 starter, 2 desserts (no drinks)= well over $100. If you want a good Italian, I'd suggest any of the big chains are superior.
NAME: LoveGoodFood
SUBMITTED: 11/13/2007 LAST VISIT WAS: November 2007
FREQUENCY: Visited once
MY REVIEW: My boss and I made reservations to eat at Arcodoro, on Friday, Oct. 12 as a part of the Houston Restaurant Week. Unfortunately, we did not end up eating at the restaurant. Upon arrival at the restaurant we requested a table out on the patio and were told there were no tables available on the patio. We were seated in the dining room which we decided was too dark and requested a seat out by the bar. We sat at the bar and had a drink. The bartenders were great. While sitting at the bar, what appeared to be a regular client, walked in and requested a table on the patio, when the host asked if he had a reservation, the gentlemen replied no. The gentleman was then greeted by the manager and was promptly seated on the patio. I objected over the fact that the gentlemen did not have a reservation,, yet was seated on the patio after we had requested a table on the patio with reservations. I was treated very rudely by the host and the manager. My boss and I finished our drink and left. Would not recommend this place to anyone.
NAME: Very dissappointed
SUBMITTED: 10/18/2007 LAST VISIT WAS: 10/07
FREQUENCY: Visited once
MY REVIEW: The hosttess sat us at a very small table on the side and said that all other tables were reserved. The table was very tiny and somewhat uncomfortable.. about 10 larger tables were empty. So we asked the waiter if all of the tables were reserved and he said that almost all of them were available, so we moved to a larger table.
The waiter was very nice and uttentive. Wine was good, but food there is seriosly overpriced. My husband ordered fish and I ordered pasta. fish was terrible, pasta was OK.. we paid $85.00. the same quality dinner (if not better) you can get for $30 - $35 st M*acaroni Grill.
We definatly are not coming back !
NAME: IceCream Lover
SUBMITTED: 8/4/2007 LAST VISIT WAS: August/2007
FREQUENCY: Visited once
MY REVIEW: the atmosphere is nice, bar service is great so you are much better off eating there, the service elsewhere has gotten worse every time i've been there. the and overpriced pizza is very good, but the other dishes are not worth mentioning.
NAME: foodie
SUBMITTED: 6/30/2007 LAST VISIT WAS: 06/2007
FREQUENCY: Everybody here knows my name...
MY REVIEW: My husband and I went on a Friday night for dinner and drinks. We had a reservation for 8 p.m. but arrived early and sat at the bar. The cocktails were good and the service at the bar was great. That's where the greatness ended. We were seated in the front area. We waited quite awhile for the waiter to come by. He seemed like he was afraid of us for some reason. Don't know why we are pretty ordinary folks. We seemed to be harried. We had to flag him down to tell him we were ready to order. My husband and I like to split stuff so we get a variety. We had an appetizer and split the Arcodoro salad which was tasty. We also ordered the Osso Bucco. The Osso Bucco arrived with the marrow side down. It is usually served with the marrow opening up with a marrow fork so that a diner can get at the deliciousnesss inside. It was adequate but not spectacular. It was served with too small portion of parmesan rissotto. I had to flag down the waiter again to get the wine list. I asked for the wines by the glass list and he simply said there were two on the wine list, then he scurried off. I had to flag him down again to order dessert. No explanations or recommendations. We tipped him the usual 15 percent. I guess unless we speak up, the managment will never know that they need to improve. But how to tactfully do it without getting the nervous waiter fired? This is not a come back to place.
NAME: AJ
SUBMITTED: 6/19/2007 LAST VISIT WAS: June 2007
FREQUENCY: Visited once
MY REVIEW: We had reservations for four at 8pm, New Years Eve. The decore was very nice, the rooms where filled with black and white balloons. The waiter was nice and the service was decent. Now on to the food...
The women had the same dish; the gnocchi with calamari. I ordered the pasta with scallops and porchini mushrooms while my friend ordered a steak. Both women complained that their dishes where "fishy" tasting. My opinion of it was a stronger than expected fishy taste and blandness for the rest of the dish. My dish was bland as well. The scallops where tender and cooked just right, but the dish overall was extremely bland. It tasted like nothing more than noodles, mushrooms, and scallops. Very unimpressive, I could have done better without even trying. The verdict on the steak was also mediocre.
Now, the price for the New Years event. 4 dishes, no desert, 3 glasses of wine, $205.xx. This was supposed to be a menu of the best specials of 2006, it was really the menu of mediocre, overpriced dissapointment. I should have done a steak house like I originally wanted.
NAME: Mike F.
SUBMITTED: 1/1/2007 LAST VISIT WAS: 12/2006
FREQUENCY: Visited once
MY REVIEW: I was worried when I called late Friday afternoon during the holidays that there wouldn't be room. I was told "We're just waiting for you.", which I found charming. Was given the choice of the casual bistro or formal banquet room. Except for the t.v.'s, a turn-off for me, the decor was fine. We were seated promptly and welcomed by name, by the manager. Nice touch. The calamari was insipid, but my pate was inspired. For $24, I expected greatness. Osso buco was hardy and homey, gnocchi in wild boar ragu was so-so. Chose the chocolate mousse and it was killer, spouse's gelato and fresh fruit was polished off, so I assume it was good. Waiters seemed to chat more with each other than patrons. Maybe that's why my coffee was lukewarm... I thought the menu was ambitious and unique.
NAME: Janet
SUBMITTED: 12/30/2006 LAST VISIT WAS: December/2006
FREQUENCY: Visited once
MY REVIEW: My company made reservations at Arcodoro for our yearly Christmas party and after looking over the menu and the wine list, we were all pretty excited about the evening. To give you an idea about my philosophies regarding parties at restaurants, I do not believe it is acceptable to give a restaurant a pass simply because the nature of the event was 40+ people. Thousands of dollars ended up being spent on food that I would be ashamed of serving to last minute guests at my own home.
That being said, I'll describe our evening and let you be the judge on whether or not to dine at Arcodoro. The best part of the meal was sitting on the table when we walked in the room at the beginning of the night...a charcuterie and cheese plate with olives and bread. Sadly though, the kitchen had nothing to do with curing the meat or making the cheese. Our first course then arrived. It was a bowl of pasta with a fresh tomato sauce and sliced, grilled chicken. I had two problems with this dish. One being that good money was paid for it. Who hasn't grilled some chicken, sliced it and thrown it in a pot with some tomato sauce before? At our house, that is a last minute I-don't-have-time-to-put-together-a-real-meal dish, not something that I would ever order at a NICE Italian restaurant. My second problem was that it was underseasoned. I'm talking about salt and pepper here. It is almost as if the cooks didn't even taste the food to see if it was acceptable before it left the kitchen. Properly seasoning food is a skill that I would expect from a restaurant like this.
The second course was salad. It was mesclun greens with a balsamic vinaigrette. I won't even go into how unimaginative and underwhelming those two combinations are...not to mention it was WAY too acididic. No one at our table even touched it.
On to the 3rd course. We had the option of a chicken dish, a fish dish, or a beef dish. My wife and I chose the beef tenderloin. An occasional steak that has been killed by leaving it over the heat too long...that is understandable, but almost every piece of beef that came out was WAY past medium rare. I spoke to one person at our party that had it and thought it was cooked well. My opinion is if they tell you that it is going to be medium rare, it should be. Obviously in a party that size, it is hard to get them all right...how about this then? Don't offer a dish that you cannot prepare well to a party of 40 people! If I was eating at a cheap restaurant , I wouldn't expect quality...but this wasn't Golden Corral. If they were going to kill half of the steaks that they were cooking, maybe they could have said ahead of time, "Since we're probably not going to cook all of the beef properly, we'll go ahead and give you a discount up front." Right...
Dessert was another underwhelming course. Choice of Chocolate Tiramisu or a duo of Creme Brulee (one vanilla and one pistachio). In my opinion, which is worth zero, Tiramisu can be either incredible or blah. I would say if you have it on your menu and you run an Italian food restaurant, it should be incredible. If you really enjoy Tiramisu, pass on Arcodoro's. The creme brulee was a different story. The duo was one cup of vanilla and one cup of pistachio. The vanilla was actually tasty. It had perfect creme brulee texture. Even though it was great, it was still creme brulee though...not a very imaginative dessert. The pistachio creme brulee on the other hand was unnaturally, neon green...the taste kind of had that food coloring finish.
The service was impeccable and the atmosphere was great. My feeling was that they bill themselves as a high-end restaurant, but don't deliver on it regarding the food. I won't be going back, and from the sound of it, most of my co-workers won't be either.
I love that Houston diners actually have a voice and a way to give each other feedback in order to not get ripped off. If diners expected more, we would force the restaurants to put out a better product.
NAME: Anonymous
SUBMITTED: 12/19/2006 LAST VISIT WAS: 12/06
FREQUENCY: Visited once
MY REVIEW: As the saying goes, to each his own. Each one has his own taste and no two persons will agree on one thing. I am Italian and very much enjoy the food at Arcodoro. Of the Italian restaurants in Houston, I find it is the most authentic. At each of our visits, we have been attended to with great care. My only critique is that the biscotti (served with vin santo) did not appear to be homemade. Sadly, since biscotti are a simple thing.
NAME: Sono italiano
SUBMITTED: 10/3/2006 LAST VISIT WAS: 09/2006
FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times
MY REVIEW: The restaurant is nicely decorated. The calamari was GREAT! The stuffed chicken was bland, but very juicy. Our server was nice, but unattentive. I had to pour my own wine several times. With so many great restaurants in Houston, I would probably not pick this place again. Unimpressive.
NAME: ALR
SUBMITTED: 9/22/2006 LAST VISIT WAS: 09/2006
FREQUENCY: Visited once
MY REVIEW: Horrible, horrible service. We were seated in the back of the restaurant (near the banquet room). We were promptly forgotten about. Waiter brought initial round of drinks, bread, oil, and left... for 20 minutes. We were very hungry and obviously ready to order (menus down, empty glasses, etc.) He was standing on the wall talking to another server. Finally he came over - we paid for our drinks and left. This was at approx 7pm on a Friday night.
NAME: john
SUBMITTED: 9/21/2006 LAST VISIT WAS: 9/2006
FREQUENCY: Visited once
MY REVIEW: I ate here once on a date, thought the location was lovely but didn't really have any impression of the food, and have eaten here twice recently on planned group luncheons where the service was so poor and that fault so easily avoided that I had to write for this website of discerning eaters.
The room to the right of the entrance is where both my group luncheons have been served. The room is attractive - no criticisms there, but the kitchen, without a separating door, is just off this room, with the washing area just within, and this noise impeded both meals.
Let me lay out the recent luncheon for specific examples of where service management could have made some obviously different decisions.
45-50 women arrived around 11:30 and sat down at set but empty tables. Close to noon, bread baskets were set out, followed, after a while, by oil and balsamic vinegar. Since the bread was cold, I'm not sure why these items weren't already on the table. After the meeting started at noon, a cold salad of tomatoes and mozzarella cheese was served. Again, since cold, I'm not sure why this wasn't on the table, since serving it was a distraction during the speech. A full twenty minutes after the salads were removed, the entree (pre-set- no choices) was served: salmon, and a couscous salad with diced vegetables, and two cauliflower sections. I'm sure it would have been tasty - it was well prepared, but it was stone cold, and surely that was not intended, since cold it tended toward oily. Why on earth would this lapse of time and temperature occur for a pre-planned menu? Even if more people showed up (I don't know) surely the 11:30 attendance would have been a clue, and surely this menu was not so divorced from the luncheon foods served that day that the kitchen didn't have hot couscous or hot salmon. Then the entree was removed and we waited again. This was not due to a shortage of waitstaff. At various times, 4-6 waiters were standing at the rear of the room waiting for something to do. Finally, an officious looking person had waiters bring dessert plates out to the periphery of our room to dry them, a somewhat noisy affair, and then put them on our tables. We waited again, for dessert or coffee. The meeting's presentation was, by this time, over. Some attendees who had other commitments were leaving. Finally, a platter of attractive dessert bites (cannolies, truffles, mousses, cookies) was placed in the middle of the table (what on earth were we waiting for?) after which waiters circulated around the tables, asking each of us if we would like coffee, and then, apparently surprised, disappearing to secure coffee cups filled with that rare liquid.
At a prior business luncheon, with no set menu (people ordered at noon from the menu), the entrees were not served before one and at least two clients had to leave, after requesting from the kitchen that their lunches be served in to-go boxes. Mortifying!
On neither occasion, I should say, did the restaurant appear at all busy at 11:30 when I arrived, or extraordinarily busy when I left, between 1 - 2.
NAME: A woman's point of view
SUBMITTED: 9/8/2006 LAST VISIT WAS: 09/2006
FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times
MY REVIEW: I went on a date with a friend of mine who recommended this restaurant. I thought the ambiance was great... like I was really in Italy. The waiter was hard to understand because of his accent but he was polite. The food was excellent.. I had the fish cooked on the rock salt. It was tender and a unique experience. My date had the steak and of course he loved it because he had already recommended it. The wine selection was excellent and the service was prompt. The only thing I didn't like was that the restaurant was so small. I felt like the table were to close to each other but because the food and service were so great I will go back!!
NAME: Crystal
SUBMITTED: 4/27/2006 LAST VISIT WAS: April 2006
FREQUENCY: Visited once
MY REVIEW: Cant tell much on one visit, but wife like her lunch special (cod) and the roast veal was tender and flavorful, bartender doubled as waiter, but service was still good as there was a light crowd.... drinks were good... so I would say nothing fabulous but nothing negative either.
NAME: Face of Downtown
SUBMITTED: 3/13/2006 LAST VISIT WAS: 3/06
FREQUENCY: Visited once
MY REVIEW: We went to try the Sardinian food. As a former Bostonian, I have had fabulous Italian food in many forms. This was just plain poor. The service was indifferent at best. The table we were at was fine until the smokers from the party in the larger room next door kept opening the porch door to go out to smoke, thereby creating a huge draft multiple times. The salad was dull and uninteresting. The gnocchi with wild boar and the gemelli with ragu were both depressingly heavy and pedestrian - the sauce with the boar was not much better than ragu, the gnocchi were very heavy and the ragu was bland and forgettable. As someone who considers himself an Italian food officiando, I can truly say this was a very disappointing experience all the way around. Marcella Hazan would cry (yes I know she's Venetian and this is supposed to be Sardinian, but still).
NAME: Scott
SUBMITTED: 12/15/2005 LAST VISIT WAS: 12/05
FREQUENCY: Visited once
MY REVIEW: I took my dinner club Eight Friends Out to Arcodoro for a divine brunch! We had about 24 people, and they had the private room exquisitely prepared. We enjoyed cocktails on the patio--weather was lovely! We started with their house salad, Insalata Arcodoro, which is field greens with arugola, radicchio, fresh tomatoes & slivers of grana padano cheese, served with olive oil balsamic vinaigrette. We had 3 different entrees, but I am a vegetarian, so I had Ravioli di Pomodoro, stuffed with mild imported cheese in a tomato basil sauce. This was very light and delicate, delicious! But, of course! The dessert! Delicatezza al Cioccolato, a chocolate mousse in a velvety sauce of Godiva liqueur. I savored it slowly. The waiter tried to take it away, but I was insistent! Staff is friendly, attentive, lots of fun! This is a favorite of our dinner club, but I always shudder before I look at the bill. However, you do get what you pay for. We love this place!
NAME: Andrea Foster
SUBMITTED: 12/6/2005 LAST VISIT WAS: December 2005
FREQUENCY: Everybody here knows my name...
MY REVIEW: Arcodoro is not for everyone. It appeals to a more sophisticated crowd, except for the lame bartender who was talking about getting drunk and customer's panties with some hard-up ladies at the bar.
Other than that, it does have a more authentic (I'm guessing) Italian flavor than an americanized Italian restaurant. We were seated on the patio and well tended to the entire evening. The meal, the drinks, the dessert were all exceedingly perfect, but not nearly as wonderful as the company I shared. I ordered steak and I like mine rare... and it was so perfect - warm through and bloody! Then dessert came: wonderful and different.
If you like something out of the norm and a romantic-type setting, this is definitely one I recommend.
NAME: A
SUBMITTED: 11/11/2005 LAST VISIT WAS: 11/10/2005
FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times
MY REVIEW: We had dinner that night and wanted to try something upscale instead of the regular italian restaurants that we go to. As we were driving down on Westheimer approaching the Galleria we saw Arcodoro. We made up our minds and so we went inside and was greeted and seated by the bar. The ambiance was perfect it almost felt like I was in another country for that particular time.
I ordered the steak, it was awesome........... it was served mashed potatoes. He ordered the pasta with clams and for the first time since we've been together in 4 yrs. he finished his meal. We finished our food and we enjoyed dining at Arcodoro. It was a positive experience for both of us.
When we got home .................. My husband and I started making out in the driveway. He said "I think it's the clams in the pasta"....... I told him we need to go back over there soon.
NAME: mamari
SUBMITTED: 5/20/2005 LAST VISIT WAS: may2002
FREQUENCY: Visited once
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