Avvio Ristorante

Dinner with friends, had reservations for a party of 5. The overall atmosphere here is fun and clean, a little higher than casual but nothing formal, no dress code.

The food:

Grilled Octopus - delicious, well seasoned, grilled nice and tender, however SCANT. For $18, we barely got one small tentacle. *Caution: if you’re wary of raisins, the raisin mostarda is overwhelmingly the main component of the dish, and not in a good way. This particular pairing is a bit wonky and it does not compliment the dish.

Mussels - tasty and tender, nice amount for the price, sauce very flavorful.

Calamari - standard as in any other Italian restaurant in the area. Good, but unremarkable.

New England Clam Chowder - *special of the night*, this was a wonderful highlight. Fresh, with a healthy portion of clams within, the chopped bacon sprinkled on top gave the chowder a nice smoky finishing touch, rich but not overly heavy. This was perfect!

Oven Roasted Duck - I had high expectations for this dish, but unfortunately the experience was a letdown. Although it was seasoned beautifully, the fat was not rendered at all, leaving the piece unenjoyable. Being the most expensive dish on the menu, it just left much to be desired. The portion of duck given to us was criminally insufficient. Beluga lentils were nice, firm, and flavorful. A unique addition.

Winter Squash Risotto - Cooked nice and tender with a slightly firm grain, creamy, well flavored. Great essence of squash throughout without having it overpower the other components of the dish. Nice texture, no mealiness. Paired ours with salmon on top, which was grilled with crispy skin. Upscale “comfort food” vibes.

Chicken Parmesan - great traditional Italian staple done well. Sauce was nice and fresh, chicken came crispy, healthy amount of pasta. Can’t go wrong with the basics.

Penne con Pollo - Tasty, light dish, flavorful grilled chicken and shiitakes, garlic white wine sauce is nice and fragrant yet delicate. Everything works well together. Great for someone looking to try something new but safe.

Tiramisu - Awful! A block of stale whipped cream with a lady finger thrown in somewhere in the middle, if you can find it. The sponge on the bottom was half gone by the time it came to the table, and instead of being soaked in espresso it was drizzled in some sort of coffee creamed concoction that was also slightly drizzled over the top. We gave this back immediately, would not recommend.

Gelato - rich, creamy, delicious! Tried all the flavors.

Bottom line: nice Italian traditional dishes, slightly more upscale than a typical causal restaurant. Great highlights include the chowder and the risotto. Higher end dishes lack their required execution, and are definitely either overpriced or under portioned, depending on which way you look at it. Avoid the tiramisu.

Fantastic, absolutely phenomenal food. Little on the costly side but the bill fit the quality of the dishes.

The food was excellent, the menu was a little pricy for the amount of food that is given. Someone at my table ordered the scallops and they were only given six for over $30.

One of the worst take out experiences I have ever had. Ordered online scheduled pick up for 800pm. At 810 we were informed that one dish was wrong and needed to be corrected. This took an additional 30 min. Even though the item was a simple sandwich. This also caused all the other food to be ice cold by the time we received our food. Dine in is fine. But I wouldn't get take out from here if it was free.

Ok but overpriced for the quality. The menu is listed for example there are only 4 pizzas listed. The bread is very good and that helps the sandwiches. Portions are good size, I did take half the sandwich home. Service is friendly and quick. They have a large bar and a decent wine list.vIf you are in the area it is Ok, but certainly not worth a special trip.

Party of 6 went for lunch. Originally placed at table too small. Waitress kindly moved us to larger table before food was served. Great service. The food overall was great, however salmon was over cooked and dry. Complimentary limoncello shots at end of meal. Nice touch!

Went for a late lunch and had Austin as our waiter, who was excellent! Good was terrific as the service. Went again for dinner again both service and food were great. Love when u can count on consistently having great food and service with each visit!

Lovely dining spot to visit all year long. Wonderful staff, food and a calm atmosphere and warm welcome every visit.

I had a chicken Cajun sandwich with a salad and my wife had a eggplant something or other sandwich with salad. Better than four stars but not quite five.

My grandson got linguine & sauce, the pasta was all stuck together and the sauce taste like ketchup. Myself I had steak which was a lot of fat, the mash potatoes &green beans was the only stuff I actually ate. I gave them a two star. Also there online menu does not match what they serve

The food was delicious and the service was great! I loved that I could have Brussel sprouts instead of fries. Very accommodating with the menu

Always great service. Usually go for dinner but went for lunch instead. Sat outside on the covered patio surrounded by oranmental trees and shrubs. It was a nice quiet escape from the traffic flowing through Garden City. I had the cesar salad with grilled shrimp and paired that with their cocktail of the day made with prickly pear and muddled strawberries. It was so light and refreshing perfect for summer.

Went with my future daughter-in-law on a Monday at about 1: 30. There was a 5 to 10 minute wait which is totally acceptable. The atmosphere was very nice kind of old world Italian. The waitress was courteous and efficient. Our cocktails were excellent and our sandwiches were wonderful. I had the turkey with fig jam on ciabata bread and a salad instead of the Parmigiano fries, which my daughter-in-law had and they were excellent. We shared the flour less chocolate cake which was very decadent. They served us complimentary lemon cello with the dessert which was a very nice touch.
From the minute we walked in until we left the whole experience was a 10. I will definitely go again.

Service and food was excellent! I had chicken piccante and it was perfect. Wasn't overly crowded and the restaurant was very clean.

Noah was are waiter he was great good attitude seems happy calamari was great bolognese was incredible never waited for anything very quick and great experience try chicken parm won't be disappointed nice vibes good date place

Food is very good! Great atmosphere and always friendly waitstaff. If you haven't been, it's a must try. Located in Garden City.

What more can I say about this place that hasn’t already been said in previous reviews. I recommend Avvio; the professionalism and level of care are above reproach.

This was our first time at Avvio and we really enjoyed it. The atmosphere, the service and the food and drinks were all excellent. We had Cappuccinos after our meal and they were served hot, creamy and delicious. At the end of the meal our waiter brought us complimentary limecellos which I guess is a token of appreciation they give to all their customers. The only complaint we had was the AC. At this time of year most restaurants have the AC cranked up so high you need a jacket to be comfortable. Avvio was the complete opposite today. It was so warm we were both sweating so much. Our waiter and others told us they complain but the manager doesn't seem to listen. On our way out we told the girl at the reception desk and she apologized but they really need to address this issue. It's gonna be a long hot summer. We will probably will go there again but not in the summer time. This is why I gave 4 stars instead of 5.

One of my favorite spots. 1 due to consistency of service which is always prompt and 2. Quality and portions of food for the price. A classy atmosphere but not to extravagant or dress downed. Most of the sandwiches can be split between 2 people. So if I go with someone we usually get a pizza and split it and a sandwich and split. Alsofor the chicken milanese

Went mid afternoon, it wasn't busy. We were a party of 2. We requested to sit at one of the 3 empty, sunny tables out front; hostesses said they weren't available. They instead sat us on the "side porch" and would not give us the one sunny table there either. In the shade, with the wind blowing straight through, it was chilly and uncomfortable. We ended up just eating our food as quick as we could so we could get out of there. I noticed they never did seat any of the sunny tables out front the whole time we were there (and 2 of those tables were 2-tops).

Our server (Carlie I think?) was super nice and tried to make the best of a bad situation. But overall it was just an unpleasant experience.