I keep thinking about the short rib gnocchi! SO GOOD!…read more We've never sat at a table, but we absolutely love going to the bar area. Great vibes and service!

First off, our server was extremely attentive and kind. He checked in on us the perfect amount…read morebalancing giving us space and time to enjoy our meal, while ensuring all our needs were met. The ambiance is clean, vibrant, and welcoming. The food overall was solid. One star docked because my pasta was over-salted in which I had to scrape the excess sauce on the noodles toward the end. The guanciale paired with pecorino romano is bound to be on the saltier side, but I think the pasta could have been unsalted to balance it out a bit more. That said, the guanciale and pasta were delicious, perfectly cooked. You can tell they use quality, simple ingredients! Their 3-course presto lunch for $24 is a hard to beat deal; however, I may venture out to their regular menu next time. Yes--there will likely be another time!

In a sea of endless Italian food on the hill, Andino's can be easily overlooked but not outdone…read more After trying just about every other spot on Atwells, I can't believe it took me this long to get to Andino's....my mistake! The host seemed surprised to see us despite being right on time for our reservation but we were seated right away after a quick exchange. Our server Erik came right over with a smile and continued to be a consummate professional throughout the evening. I wish I could have him be my server everywhere I go. We started the night with some seasonal cocktails. The spiced pear old fashioned was to die for. Complete with a solitary large cube and balanced flavors it was delicious. Our table had veal parm, linguine and white clam, and lasagna. Each dish was fresh and executed perfectly. It's a garlic lovers paradise but never overpowering, in a way any Nonna would approve. For dessert we split a slice of limoncello cake. The cake was so light and fluffy it was like eating air. Even the frosting was light enough where it didn't feel like we were stuffing ourselves to finish it. It's a smaller place so it gets busy quickly and can be a little loud. I would highly recommended a reservation as I don't think you'd have much luck getting a table on a weekend. There was a bar area with some seats but it's probably not easy to get a seat there either. As the old adage goes, if a restaurant is full all the time there's a good reason why ;)

Have you ever heard of a restaurant that won't do a takeout order over the phone without requiring…read morea credit card number for " security purposes" That might be the most petty cheapest thing I've ever heard of. So I plan to pay with cash now I have to give a random person my credit card information over the phone just because they don't believe that I will show up to pick up my to go order?!? absolutely ridiculous. Such a shame because the food is so good

Been there four times this year and the service and food was excellent…read more Food was served promptly, hot enough and the other people of the party were also very pleased with the amount of food, the taste and the courteous and friendly atmosphere. Definitely recommend and will be returning as a matter of fact, this week. Bon Appetite!

The portions are big enough for 2+ people I was stuffed. Also probs wouldn't get the gnocchi again…read more It was good but I thought I liked pink vodka sauce more than I actually do. Very big place and very crowded and lively. It was a bit loud but was fine

I've written about grilled pizza before. Wrote a whole piece about where it came from. The…read morefishmonger's misremembered story. George building the grills with his own hands. Johanne making the dough. The accident that changed American pizza forever. I'd fact-checked everything I wasn't sure about, and I was genuinely nervous about some of it. Writing about someone's life and legacy carries weight. Getting it wrong carries more. I didn't know until tonight whether I'd gotten it right. Al Forno opened January 2, 1980. Two RISD artists who needed to pay their bills. By 1993 they had a James Beard Award. By 1994 the International Herald Tribune had named them the best casual restaurant in the world. Not in New England. In the world. George passed away in 2015. The grills he built with his own hands are still burning. You walk in through a vine covered archway, brick wall on one side, open air on the other, small lights threaded through the bare branches above you. The room inside is white tablecloths and mismatched wooden chairs and a ceiling painted in blocks of blue and chartreuse that shouldn't work and absolutely does. Wood smoke hits you before you sit down. (I have been to approximately a thousand pizzerias. I have never smelled wood smoke like that walking to my table.) We were there to present the RI: The Pizza State March Madness 2026 Grilled Pizza Championship certificate. Which sounds like a small thing. It didn't feel like one, at least not to us. While we were waiting for the food, Johanne came over and sat down next to me. Just sat down. Like she had time and we were worth it. We talked about the community, about what RI: The Pizza State is trying to do, about why it matters to support these small places. Then she asked about the article. She'd read it. She told me she enjoyed it. And then she said I got it right. I want to be honest about what that felt like. I'd spent real time on that piece. Primary sources. Decades of coverage. Interviews with people who knew George. I'd checked and rechecked the details I wasn't completely certain about. Every single one of them held up. When the person whose life you wrote about sits down next to you and tells you that, something settles in you that you didn't know was unsettled. She excused herself when service started because she knew we were there to eat, and she said she'd come back. She did come back. She offered us anything on the menu. She wanted her love for pizza and our love for pizza to meet in the same bite. Forty-five years of doing this and she still wants you to taste what she tastes. She is royalty. Not just in Providence. Not just in Rhode Island. In the culinary world, full stop. That's Johanne Killeen. The pepperoni arrived in sheets thin enough to be almost translucent, laid across a crust that had been stretched to something close to the same and thrown directly onto a charcoal grill. Irregular at the edges in the way that only happens when a human being made it by hand and the fire had opinions too. The crust doesn't crunch exactly, and it doesn't chew exactly. It does both. Something in between that I haven't tasted anywhere else, a consequence of olive oil and fire and dough stretched thin enough to see through. But the sauce. Al Forno's pomodoro is San Marzano tomatoes cooked down with olive oil and garlic and a whisper of sugar to balance the acid, then applied in dollops rather than spread. Not a uniform layer. Concentrated pockets of it, so that each bite hits differently depending on where you land. Under the heat of the grill the fat from the pepperoni renders down into those pockets and the whole thing becomes something I don't have a precise word for. Bright and rich simultaneously. The spice from the pepperoni building slowly into the tomato. Then the scallions. Shaved into curls, laid across the top of everything. Most people look at them and think garnish. They're not garnish. They're the finishing note, a little crunch and a clean fresh bite cutting through the richness of the meat and the intensity of the sauce. Take them off and the pizza is lesser. I've had a lot of sauce on a lot of pizza over a lot of years. This is among the best I've encountered on anything. The mushroom pizza was the right call. Thin sliced mushrooms over ricotta, more scallion curls, herbs. Where the pepperoni was assertive this one was considered. Two completely different conversations using the same language. Here's what I know about Al Forno that I didn't fully understand before tonight. The food is extraordinary. The room is beautiful. The history is real and documented and earned. But none of that is what makes it what it is. What makes it what it is, is Johanne. Still there. Still sitting down next to strangers who love what she built. Still trying to feed you one more pizza before you leave. George built the grills. She's kept the fire on. Forty-five years. It shows in everything.

Wow. That's the shortest way to describe my experience here today at Al Forno…read more It was my first time, and I was here to deliver a certificate for Best Grilled Pizza in Rhode Island for my Facebook pizza group. I had emailed the restaurant last week and they gave me a reservation for 5:30 to dine with my friend Tim. When we arrived, you first walk through a brick arch. It really set the tone as we walked in. Inside, the ceilings were brightly painted and I let my eyes roam over the furniture, knowing they were made by George's hand. I was on pizza hallowed ground. I was ready to worship. Donnie was our server and he was incredible. Super personable, funny, always thinking ahead and overall just a joy to have. I know he says art is his passion but he has wonderful hospitality skills and if he ever wanted to walk away from art, he would excel in the restaurant world. We had two pizzas, the pepperoni and the mushroom. The pepperoni was spicy, the sauce robust and the dough soft but crispy. I understood why Al Forno is both the originator and the standard for the style with one bites. The duxelle pizza was divine, creamy and earthy, I can't wait to finish the leftovers tomorrow. Johanne Killeen, the icon herself, came to meet us, chat and even took a picture with us and the certificate. As a woman chef in a male dominated field, I have looked up to Johanne for almost 20 years. I was so surprised she took time out of her day to do that. Al Forno is known as one of the best restaurants in the WORLD (for good reason)so they don't need the same kind of promotion as other small businesses. They stay booked for reservations for months at a time. So it meant a lot to us that she came herself to talk to us and receive the award. After dinner, we split a berry tart they had on special. A perfect way to end the meal. The four berries were sweet, a little tart and encased in this flaky pastry dusted in sugar for that crunchy texture, sitting on a pond of creme anglais, the vanilla custard the perfect accent to the tart. I could not have asked for a better time for my first experience, and I'll be making a reservation tonight for my next visit. If you can make the effort to get a reservation, do not miss this Rhode Island icon

One last magical dinner at Rosalina! All our favorites - the most amazing eggplant parmesan with…read morericotta cheese & crostini, a decadent thick cut pork chop with peppers & grape tomatoes over magical mashed potatoes & the best bolognese with tagliatelle I've ever eaten. SOOOOO GOOD! We wish Lauren & Tom all the best in their next endeavor. And we can't wait to have them over for dinner sometime soon!!! NOM NOM NOM #YUM NOTE: Rosalina is closing for good on 2/15/26.

Four of us went to dine at the restaurant before going to attend a performance at the nearby…read moreTrinity Rep. It is a place we like. We were seated at a semi-circular booth by the window - more comfortable than at the table and metallic chairs. We had a number of cocktails: Tommy Pickles, the Trinity and a Limonata. The fourth, a tea totaled, had a Ginger Ale. The generous portion main dishes were a shrimp bucatini, a squid ink pasta, swordfish, a thick pork chop and an eggplant parm. All very tasty. We took some of the food home. To end we shared a good tiramisu. And two of us had coffees. Our server, Desiree, was efficient and cheerful. The check came to over $215, to which we added a generous tip. We will return when we are next in the area.

This was our first visit to Providence, and we chose to stay in the Little Italy neighborhood. We…read morestopped here for dinner and absolutely loved it. Although we didn't have reservations, we arrived early and were seated promptly. The atmosphere was warm and inviting, setting the stage for a wonderful meal. We started with freshly baked bread and olive oil--simple yet outstanding. The fried calamari was perfectly prepared, crisp and flavorful. For our entrées, we enjoyed the grilled pork chop with brown butter gnocchi and the grilled salmon--both were exceptional. Our only regret was being too full to try dessert!

While the food was good, the service was terrible and the main reason for my 3 rating. We tried to…read moregive our server the benefit of the doubt given that it was a busy time, but for only 2 drinks and 3 food items, we should not have needed to ask multiple other waiters if they could find our person so we could order/pay. The food itself was good, we ordered the cacio pepe and maccheroncini del cardinale - both were flavorful and had a nice balance of fat that made the meals hearty. We also ordered the tiramisu which was larger than expected and soaked well. The overall vibe was very family friendly and while we enjoyed our meal, the poor service really took away from our experience, and for this reason I will not be returning.

I took my in-laws there for dinner before going to ppac We…read morewere pleasantly pleased with our server,Jay and the food was delicious Swordfish was exceptional. Scallops was cooked just right I am definitely going back

I've been to Camille's 5 times with the most recent time being this weekend for my husband's…read morebirthday. Let me start off by saying the bartenders absolutely need training. Our favorite drink for a night out is a dirty martini extra dirty. The martinis here are NEVER cold enough. They are legit luke warm. So we have learned to ask for them extra shaken here. Not only were our martinis still not cold, but they were clear aka not dirty. We sent them back based on the color and our server brought the same martinis back with a side of olive juice. After trying them with the extra juice they had a dirty water taste to them, almost like the ice used to shake them was dirty, which is ironic considering they were barely cold. I hate to do this but we sent them back again and let the server know they simply didn't taste good and also were not cold enough. He ended up going back and making them himself and they were much better but STILL. It shouldn't be this difficult for a bartender to make a very standard drink. The food unfortunately was also very mid. The table behind us actually sent their food back twice as well and the manager had to come over. It's also worth noting I put in the reservation it was my husband's birthday and there was no acknowledgement of it at all. This restaurant is meant to be a splurge for a nice dinner out and honestly was not up to par at all. $300 dinner for two and I was extremely disappointed. Honestly don't think we will be back.

When in Federal Hill... Eat Like You've Got an Italian Grandma…read more So here's the scene: my buddy's in town, I'm the new kid in Providence trying to make friends (and avoid cooking), and we somehow stumble into Anthony's Authentic Italian Cuisine -- a small, cozy little gem tucked into Federal Hill that smells like heaven and olive oil had a baby. Our server, Mina, deserves her own Michelin star. She was patient, funny, and treated our table like we were her long-lost cousins. My buddy -- who is basically a professional food snob -- grilled her with menu questions like he was interviewing for "Top Chef." She answered every one like a pro. He went with the chicken alfredo and practically gave it a standing ovation. Said it was "light years ahead" of what he's had anywhere else. I mean, I half expected him to ask for a passport just to move into the kitchen. I had the shrimp scampi, and when Mina brought it out, it was steaming hot and smelled like angels had just sautéed garlic themselves. The flavor? Incredible. My only complaint? I only got three shrimp, and when they were gone, my pasta felt lonely. (I literally whispered, "I miss you" to my last shrimp.) Then Mina found out we'd never had a cannoli -- and without hesitation, she brought two to the table like a dessert fairy godmother. They were crispy, creamy, sweet-but-not-too-sweet perfection. The bathroom? Small but spotless -- which honestly tells you everything you need to know about how much they care. Bottom line: 5 stars for Mina, 5 stars for flavor, and 100 stars for making me feel like I belong in Providence already. I'll absolutely be back -- next time with more shrimp and maybe a bigger appetite. I forgot to take pictures.

Saw this place on and the great reviews on here and figured we'd give it a shot 2 hours before a…read morehockey game in Providence. When we walked in, it was quiet--3 full tables. We sat down, looked at our menus, and about 10-15 mins later we got our waters. When we ordered our food, I asked if they had capellini for my Chicken Francese. Our waitress responded, "No, we don't, but the closest thing we have to it is linguini...but we also have angel hair, penne, and spaghetti." I was a bit confused; capellini is much closer to angel hair than linguini! Same with spaghetti! Brushed it off and my BF ordered a chicken piccata. Couldn't help but notice that the 4 people behind us (who were there before us) didn't order their drinks or food until about 10-15 mins after us, but they got their food 35 mins BEFORE us (we actually started keeping track, we were there for 45-50 mins at this point). We got our food and my boyfriend was very confused because they delivered a chicken Marsala instead of his chicken Piccata; I didn't even notice. He only orders chicken piccata from one other place, so it took him a minute to realize what he had been served... he tried it, thinking that we could just wrap up our experience since we were already running late, took 2 bites and said it wasn't something he liked so he put it at the end of the table. Unfortunately, I had already finished my meal by the time the waitress came over to check on us. No apology for messing up his order, but a, "oh, would you enjoy this?" My boyfriend was stunned. The piccata came out 15-20 mins after this interaction. I enjoyed my chicken Francese and he enjoyed his picatta. Luckily, our shrimp cocktail and peroni were comp'd but I'm not sure why they couldn't just take the meal off at that point -- it was like $4 extra for something that we didn't order in the first place. We were about 30 mins late to the game that we planned well ahead for. Maybe it was a bad night, but this was not a good first impression. TLDR: Service was horrible, food was good.

So after being disappointed by another place that was closed that sparked my interest to head over…read moreto the Hill (Federal Hill)! I walked up and down the street to see what was open and then it hit me. My Grandfather use to take me here on the weekends when I was a kid so I had to head over there and take a walk around and get a sandwich and see what else they had to offer.On to the review! I walked in the store and was greeted with smiles and I walked around and was offered if I needed help with anything. I just walked around for 10 minutes to just soak up all the stuff they had which is like everything! I ended up settling with an Italian Grinder and some Tarrone Italian dessert thing that that my Grandfather loved getting for Christmas time. Itlian Grinder - I have to say the grinder was pretty good ! It had a pretty good meat to veggies to bread ratio! The bread had a crunchy crust but soft on the inside. Tarrone - Just as I remembered from back in the day soft sweet and filled with nuts, O did that bring up memories of being a kid and hanging out with Grandad! Over all, I really enjoyed my time there and enjoyed sitting down eating my sandwich and having some great small talk with a wonderful employee that walked at the register. I didn't get her name but she was a sweet person! The place was very clean and had a great vibe to it! Keep it up over there Venda! I will be visiting again soon!

Venda Ravioli is a classic Italian Market and Deli in the Federal Hill section of Providence. It…read moresays something that for over 15 years, whenever I visit Providence, I try to fit Venda Ravioli into my plans. They have a large case with ready to eat pasta, meatballs, cutlets, sides, etc. The pasta and cutlets are better than what you get at most similar markets. They make sandwiches. They sell specialty products like Olive Oil and vinegars. They sell a variety of ravioli and sauces to make at home. They have fresh bread. Venda Ravioli is a classic spot that has thrived for generations. Places like Venda Ravioli should be celebrated. 5 Stars

Waitress was not that attentive but the busser ended up being the absolute best!! He was kind,…read moreprofessional and extremely polite! The gnocchi was amazing but the margarita pizza was sub par compared to Providence Coal Fire Pizza

Always delicious and great service! Even sitting inside on a cold day, I love Venda!read more