I have been to Tuscan Kitchen in Burlington at least a dozen times, and one issue keeps coming up during many of those visits: the food is consistently salty. The dishes always look great and the menu has plenty of choices, but the seasoning tends to overwhelm the actual flavors. Sometimes it feels like each bite is even saltier than the last. This repeated issue also explains the inconsistency of the meals. Some visits are better than others, but the saltiness shows up often enough that it has become a pattern. It is disappointing because the restaurant has a nice atmosphere and the potential for great food, yet the seasoning gets in the way. A lighter touch with the salt would make a noticeable difference and could really elevate the experience. read more

Tuscan Kitchen - Italian Near Me - Burlington, Massachusetts

Had dinner here this past weekend to celebrate my husband's birthday. It was over the July 4 weekend, so the place was absolutely not crowded, and the service was attentive. We sat out in the patio in 80 degree sunny weather, simply perfect. Bob was our server and was a pro. The osso buco and tagliatelle alla bolognese were very good. My daughter is a vegetarian and she was pleased to hear that they could make a vegetarian version of just about any dish in the menu that night. We had a delightful evening. read more

Tuscan Kitchen - BOLOGNESE - Italian Near Me - Burlington, Massachusetts

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I went with my husband and sons (11 & 14) on a Saturday night at 8:15pm and it was mostly cleared out by 9:15pm. Food was decent, offered a warm and cozy ambiance, and the service was excellent. This is a great place to go if you have a group of people as the place is spread out. It feels like a slightly more upscale environment to a Cheesecake Factory restaurant, yet food would be similar. Reasonable prices too. read more

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I've been here many times over the years and this place has gone noticeably downhill. The biggest problem is the service, which ranges from indifferent to outright hostile. My most recent visit--which will be my last--shows as much. I arrived on a Saturday with a 6:30 reservation. We got there early and spoke with the hosts. I mentioned that I had two kids with me. That comment sparked a whispered, nervous discussion about where to seat us. From what I could hear, it seemed that they were concerned that at least one server wouldn't want to serve our party, presumably because we had kids. More on that later. After the hosts settled on a table assignment, we were seated about 6:25. An attendant brought bread and filled our glasses. Then, nothing. Our server never came. After waiting 20 minutes, I politely asked another server to send our server over. Still nothing. Then, I asked the attendant to send our server. Again, nothing. Having waited more than 35 minutes for a server, I gave up. I left money on the table for the bread and left. In the meantime, the older woman that I assume was supposed to be our server took care of the other tables, but never looked in our direction or got within earshot of our table. When I walked out, I told the hosts that our server never arrived, despite our asking multiple times. The hosts (for some reason, there were two or three of them standing around) simply mumbled a "sorry about that." There was no real apology or an attempt to reseat us with a proper server. Instead, they let us just walk out. In fact they didn't even seem surprised. It seems clear that the older woman server (who I know is rude, based on previous visits) had no interest in serving kids, and so she decided to ignore our table. The hosts hinted as much before they seated us, and they all but confirmed it by the lack of surprise when we left. I waited to post this review, figuring that the manager would reach out to apologize for this incredibly subpar experience. But I heard nothing. Looking over the other reviews, it seems like the poor service I experienced is commonplace at this location. Unsurprisingly, when I was there on Saturday night, there was no wait and many open tables. I suspect that this location's days are numbered. Regardless, I won't be back. read more

I haven't been here in years because the last time I was here, it was a quick stop of desperation and the meal was as expected. The Hubs insisted we eat here because his recollection was glorious. We left saying I was right. We popped in on a late Thursday and ate bread (excellent), meatball (also excellent), extraordinary bad bolognese (record breaking terrible) and an almost as bad fra diavalo. I will say there was lots of seafood, but the sauce was like chef boyardee. His bolognese had almost no meat, very little sauce and looked mushy. I didn't even want to try his. He said it was just awful. I ordered a manhattan off the specialty menu. It came very cold in a martini glass and was sugary sweet. I complained and they brought me one without the sweetener and the glass was half full, which makes sense, because that's about how much simple it tasted like it had. Our server was friendly. read more

Tuscan Kitchen - Italian Near Me - Burlington, Massachusetts

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Yikes $45.00 for Tagiatelle Al Tartufo. My fault for not asking when the menu said "market price". Honestly, it is macaroni and cheese. We won't be back Just way over priced. $155.00 for 3 mealsI and 3 sodas. The bread was hard and stale. The service not exactly attentive. Too bad the decor is beautiful but the food? read more

The best thing about Tuscan Kitchen was our server, he was such a nice guy. The food was not great, especially my pasta. I got the bolognese, and added a meatball. The meatball was awful, and it cost me an extra $7, what a scam. The bolognese was not particularly flavorful either. It was probably about as good a dish at olive garden, except it was $27. This was the most expensive worst pasta ever. The free bread and olive oil they gave us was better. My friend got the filet mignon, and it was significantly better than my pasta. We also got calamari and it was just okay. I would never come back here. read more

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The restaurant has a nice atmosphere and the service was fine, not exceptional. The food was fine- not memorable. The prices were astronomical. I would not go back because of the prices. Not sure who they think they are. It's not fine dining. read more

We went there last night, and our server was very friendly and attentive. Unfortunately, the food was forgettable. It cost $165 for the two of us, with food that was quite blasé, with tiny portions despite the cost. I ordered the tuna sashimi appetizer, which was 4 or 5 tiny pieces that looked thrown together. My entrée was the pork saltimbocca, also tiny portioned -- it was overdone and had no finesse. The only good part of the meal was the dessert. read more

Tuscan is really a 4.5 As with all Italian restaurants, one must start with the bread - for all you fellow Italian bread snobs out there - Tuscan Kitchen is your place. Soft, flavorful focaccia and crusty delicious Tuscan bread are your two offerings in the bread basket with accompanying EVOO, olives and Parmesan cheese - perfect! We ate family style. Mushroom Pizza - fresh mushrooms , right amount of mozzarella cheese, excellent flavor. Caesar Salad - with REAL anchovies - wonderful - don't really need to say anymore. Tortelli Brasato - short rib stuffed pasta in an elegant "Matriciana" sauce - very tasty, really best looking recipe on the menu - served Luke warm unfortunately- that dish comes out piping hot and I'm still talking about it. Tomahawk Ribeye - cooked perfectly, seasoned expertly, potatoes and broccolini terrific sides. For a chain Italian restaurant, Tuscan is superior to most. We really enjoyed our meal. Our server Kathleen was a real pro too, and the pricing is fair. Reason why it doesn't get a perfect score was the cold ravioli, the loud, annoying music every chain restaurant feels we must have as background noise, and the bane of all restaurants these days - a lack of an experienced, well trained and well coordinated staff with an invisible manager (the Tomahawk came on a cracked serving board, the food runner asked to borrow my napkin to prevent spillage with the promise of a replacement that I'm still waiting for) - gone are the days when an owner or manager would circulate throughout their restaurant to check on their clientele - at least with the "corporate restaurants" Still - a superior menu, excellent bread, and fair pricing We'll be back read more

Tuscan Kitchen - Dining Room - Italian Near Me - Burlington, Massachusetts

This place has changed drastically in the 2 years since I've been here. Menu severely limited. Way overpriced. Slow service and not many people in the restaurant. Mushroom ravioli bland, bland, bland, and doughy with a weird unidentifiable creamy sauce. Husband's margarita pizza was a slather of tasteless sauce, clumps of mozzarella and undercooked crust....more like bread. The only good thing was the bread. Should have stopped at the bread. Not worth the sticker price for nice ambiance with the expensive crappy food. Won't be back. read more

Veteran's Day, November 11, 2024. This restaurant honored Veteran's with a very nice dinner for two. A pasta course and a complete roast pork dinner. Coffee and cookies for dessert. They served about 1,000 free meals to veteran's and their families. They should be complemented. read more

We went for Valentine's Day and it was packed as expected. We wouldn't have mind if our waiter actually checked in on us but she never did. She only started coming to us once she realized we were waiting an hour for our food. She apologized, the manager came and offered us the pizza and dessert free since it took so long. We agreed that was fine and ate our dinner. The braided short rib was delicious! The steak strip was okay, a little on the dry side and underwhelming with the salad that it's paired with. Fast forward another hour, and our pizza and dessert didn't show up still. When it did we just took it home. The manager was nice but wasn't a good first experience personally. read more

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Tuscan Kitchen offers a large space with lots of different rooms for whatever dining need you have. Last night, that need was a semi-private space for a large group from my company. We had a cozy space near the fire place and the service was very friendly. Our food was served buffet style so I got to taste a lot of different dishes. Everything I tried was tasty. Excellent salads, pastas (particularly the raviolis), and meats (yum, medium-rare beef). I also enjoyed the tiramisu and cheesecake desserts. read more

Went here for a good meal with 5 other friends and our service was great! Jannelle (our server) went above and beyond to make sure our experience was good. The food was delicious and served promptly. We had a great experience and will definitely return. read more

Equally excellent food and ambiance. We had a pleasant experience with kids' picky palates. Recommend to people of all stripes.

ABSOLUTELY NO COMPLAINTS!!! My wife and I went there for our 29th Wedding Anniversary. I called a few days ahead because my wife had always wanted to try the Cheese Wheel Pasta. I asked if there was any way they could make an exception of doing it for us on Monday (normally they only do it on Tuesdays) They said it shouldn't be a problem. We arrived on Monday and they couldn't have been nicer to us and the Bartender/Waiter took such great and amazing care of us, starting with two complimentary glasses of champagne. He then took our/my order, as he already knew what my wife wanted. I got the 10oz Filet and my wife the truffle cheese wheel pasta. Both dishes were amazing!!! The chef came table side to serve and cook the pasta in the cheese wheel. Simply awesome!!! Any staff member we encountered was just super super nice!!! Thanks to all you in Burlington, MA. My anniversary couldn't have ended nicer!!! read more

Ok full disclosure: I have not been a huge fan of Tuscan Kitchen in other locations. However, I have to give credit where it is due. Yesterday, I attended a bridal shower there for my niece. The food was outstanding. From the appetizers they passed around, the salad, the drinks at the bar ( lemon drop martini with limoncello) to the meal, everything was on point. I ordered the salmon. It was excellent. The desserts they offered were also very good. I tried the tiramisu. I also want to mention how good the service was. That was not an easy crowd, but all the waitstaff were so good - almost invisible, if that's even possible. Great job Tuscan Kitchen, I highly recommend having an event at the Burlington Mass. location. It was a real pleasure. read more

The quality of dinning is extremely low. I was recently here and it's obvious that they've invested more into the ambiance and vibes than the food and service. The dinning room wasn't clean, there were flies flying all over the place, and the food was bland. I don't ask for much just to be treated like a paying customer, I don't think requesting a seat change because of flies in a dining room is too much but for this establishment, I guess it's asking for too much. read more

This is one of my weekly stops for lunch or dinner. Their food selection is great and they appear to make all dishes with fresh ingredients and on the spot. My two favorites are the bolognese and the grilled salmon. I highly recommend their own labeled Super Tuscan wine with their pasta or even fish dishes. It is very smooth and savory. If you sit at the bar during the lunch hour, you will likely be served by a very friendly bartender named Sean. He will remember your name and food selection after the first visit. He definitely makes you feel welcome and not just like a $ figure like some places do. read more

Tuscan Kitchen - Their molten chocolate cake is delicious - Italian Near Me - Burlington, Massachusetts

Good food and great service. I came in with some friends while in town for work. To begin, I have extensive food allergies. The waiter and manager I spoke with were so great regarding my allergies. They walked me through everything. I don't mind if I can't eat something, it's part of the life of an allergy girl - I mind when a restaurant doesn't know their own food. So, Tuscan kitchen knew everything - down to which toppings I could and couldn't have. We got the burrata to share (it came out almost like a "deconstructed" dish because some of my allergens were in the toppings). It was great! My friends got to have their burrata with toppings, and I got to have mine without my epi pen lol. For dinner I got a special allergy meal - pasta with olive oil and steak with some veggies. The steak was cooked perfectly. One of my friends got the bolognese, he didn't love it. Overall, would gladly return read more

Extremely rude staff they cater more toward people of a higher class. But the food is not as good as they make it out to be

Had a gift card and wanted to try something new for Date Night, I have been a few times to the one in the Seaport and LOVED the steak I had so I wanted to bring the Hubby to check it out. Ordered the Filet, had a few apps. The apps were great, drinks were good, Service was nice. Chicken was very bland and almost room temperature when served. I get that Tuscan tries to be slightly upscale and it works in other locations, but here in Burlington in the Mall parking lot I feel its doing a little too much! Steak was just good, but the apps were delicious! Would probably not come back if I didnt have another gift card, would continue to visit Seaport, everything there just a little bit better! read more

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The food was blah. I got the haddock with risotto and it was NOT good. The haddock was bland and the risotto tasted like boiled risotto with boiled spinach, no seasoning or cheese. Gross. The service was nothing special. She only checked on us once and was constantly in a rush. Parking is good, plenty of it. Drink menu and bread is probably the only reason I gave them a 2 stars. Not sure if I'll make it back here. read more

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I'd give this place an overall 3.5, but service here may bump it to a 4. Came here on Saturday for dinner with my boyfriend and his parents and didn't think we'd need a reservation for such a casual place. Hostess had informed us that it was going to be a 1.5 hour wait so we initially decided to go somewhere else. Luckily I pulled out Opentable and saw openings from 8-9pm, which confused me on why they wouldn't give us a table when there were so many slots, but whatever. We waited about 20 minutes to be seated which wasn't terrible. Got seated and our waiter definitely made our experience better. Overall super attentive and sweet. We got the Toscana salad and octopus appetizer to share, then had two of the salmon, swordfish, and the creste di gallo for our mains. Everything was pretty good, not too many complaints. The octopus was a little charred for my personal liking but was still good. The salmon was cooked perfectly and was not dry. I subbed my sweet potatoes for mashed potatoes and was such a great choice as they were super fluffy. Don't know if I'd come back, but if I were in the area and craving something like Tuscan Kitchen, I'd probably maybe consider. read more

Just WOW! Wonderful food, and AMAZING service! Lisa G is personable, knowledgeable, and delivers a fantastic experience. We had the table side Truffle Fettuccine- bougie Mac & Cheese. YUM! Haddock with risotto, bolognese, gnocchi, shrimp scampi. Phenomenal! read more

I've been to TK three times now, and it has been great every time. The menu is varied, all of our entrees have been very good. The salads are light, fresh and the dressings are amazing. Three different servers and all have all been attentive and pleasant. While I've gone is 2's and 3's, I would choose TK for a large group event in a minute, it's open, spacious with great service! read more

We had a birthday celebration for 20 people on January 5, 2025. This was the first time at this restaurant. The day could not have been better. The restaurant is absolutely beautiful. We had the gathering in The Wine Room that was appointed like a true Tuscan Wine Cellar. The server Kyle was truly amazing and incredibly professional. He, along with the other members of his team, made everyone feel very welcome and served their needs. The food was prepared to perfection having all the courses come at the correct time. The presentation was as fine as I have ever seen. This could hav not been possible without the first interaction with the Special Event Manager Wendy. From our first interaction with Wendy she was very attentive sending the menu to us within 30 minutes, going over what they could do and what was to be expected and actually answering her phone every time we called. A true professional. Thank you all for making this a very memorable day. WS read more

It felt like a front desk with a grumpy receptionist walking in. "Name" she demanded. We slumped down in the chairs to wait. Not long before we were seating but didn't see our waitress for at least 20min. I ran out of wine and water before our appetizers arrived and had to ask someone else to see if they could put a wine and water refill in to our server. She never showed us the wine list, never went over the menu, never took away the menus but left us dripping our olive oil (really grossly over salted and filled with cayenne that made my throat burn. Bread felt like leftovers, dry and crumbly and flavorless). The appetizers were terrible, the sauce over salted like canned food and sausage dry dry dry. The entree of filet minon was okay and the pork seemed like it was steaming the way you'd see coming out of a microwave. Not good. Server had resting miserable face. They didn't take note of my reservation message that it was our anniversary. I told the server and she brought out a to go container with cannolis after we'd already ordered a tiramisu which I could buy pre-packaged in a grocery store for same effect. I really wish we'd read these reviews before deciding to spend our anniversary there. They are all bad reviews! Here's another one. read more

What does Tuscan Kitchen do well you might ask? 1. The ambiance and the interior. Dimly light, spacious interior with ample seating and the feeling like you're not crammed on top of other people. Enough space to have a conversation without feeling like everyone is listening in. 2. The Open Kitchen: Always a big plus. You can see that everything is being made right there on site and it also gives you a bit of entertainment to see all the things going on during a busy service. 3. The Pasta. Everything is made in house. You must get the pasta, because it's made fresh and really tastes like it. My dish of choice was the Maine Lobster Ravioli. $28 for a full portion, but worth it. Each one stuffed with ample lobster and creamy ricotta. So delicious. 4. The Service: Waitress was nice. Very attentive and explained the specials and the fact that everything was made fresh, or imported from Italy in certain cases. 5. Parking: Great location by the mall, with plenty of parking. What can Tuscan Kitchen improve upon? 1. Too much Salt: The Calamari appetizer was good, but extremely salty. Much of the yummy goodness was overpowered by salt. I think the chef is a little heavy handed with the salt. I think more pepper might have worked better. We didn't finish it. 2. The Food store: I was here many years ago and I thought (if memory serves me), they had a massive store of pasta and other goods. Now it was a sad display case of dried out desserts. I looked at the cannoli and thought, "Hell no, I'm not ordering that dried out, old thing". This actually kept me from ordering a dessert, for fear I'd get stuck with that. 3. The Free Bread: For an Italian place, their bread is sub par. They have a massive oven back there that could probably crank out loaves of crunchy outside/chewy inside Italian bread. Instead we get stale focaccia. OVERALL: I wouldn't give Tuscan a 5 star rating, it's just not there (yet). I think they could be. Ultimately, it's the best Italian in the Burlington Mall area. I think that if another place slides in there, they could be in trouble. And with Burlington expanding it's restaurant variety, they may be in jeopardy soon. BUT, you should try the Tuscan Kitchen for great homemade pasta and a good glass of wine. read more

Tuscan Kitchen - Calamari - Italian Near Me - Burlington, Massachusetts

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Small portions of less than average food. Octopus was inedible...salad was blah...bolognese was less than average and tiny. Ceasar salad was a hunk of romaine that I had to cut. Big disappointment. Expensive sub par food. Will not go back. read more

Listen, there's no doubt that dining out in the times of COVID-19 is a different experience. I'm inclined to give restaurants the benefit of the doubt during the pandemic, however Tuscan Kitchen fell short of my expectations with even that factored in. The service was just off throughout the whole meal - either checking in way too frequently at certain stages while at other times disappearing for 30 min. Judging by other reviews, this seems to be a trend here -- even before COVID. So did the food bail out the sub-par service? Unfortunately, it did not. It was mediocre overall, and I was particularly disappointed with the salumi e formaggi plate which I did not enjoy much of. The only real saving grace of the meal was the solid bolognese , but maybe that was just in relation to the other two bland pasta dishes we tried (see photos). Overall, Tuscan Kitchen isn't really worth your time. There are a lot better Italian options in the area. read more

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Excellent food, drinks, and dessert! I've been here a few times now (twice for private events and once with friends), and the food has been excellent. The service has always been great. The decor and atmosphere are nice. My recommendations would be the Tuscan Tini and the pollo parmigiano. Don't forget to get dessert, the tiramisu and canolis are to die for. read more

Sat down at 1:30 in the afternoon on a Sunday, had to get up after 20 minutes to ask who the server was since we had not even gotten water. I appreciated the fact they had a price fix menu for $25 but they had to make multiple substitutions for my entree due to not having things in stock. The orange zest cannoli pictured below was the only saving grace of the afternoon. read more

Tuscan Kitchen - Italian Near Me - Burlington, Massachusetts

Went there to celebrate my brothers bday... well, Food seems to be very limited for options, however food was good, the service was soooo slow, order a beer and a few cocktails, it took at least 25 mints. We were in 5 people, nothing crazy. My brother in law order a second drink, exactly same thing happened. More 25 mints. After that I just gave up on ordering another drink. We probably stayed for almost 2 hrs. The inside is cozy, kinda old style lots of plastic plants. I don't know if I would come back, nothing very impressive about this place. read more

We visited from out of town for the holidays in hopes of finding a nice place to dine with family. The decor was nice. The waiter were affable and polite. The bread basket and charcuterie were delicious as well. The meal, however, was meh. The chicken parm was dry and flavorless. The shrimp in the scampi was overcooked. The whole meal lacked salt, and there were not even salt shakers on the table! We had to beg the waiter for a dessert menu and the bill. And the zeppole barely powdered. Bah humbug! read more

First dinner out after the restaurants opened from the pandemic. We opted for outdoor seating on the patio. The reason we came was for their "Truffle Tuesday" dish of linguini in parmesan with truffles on top. Sadly, since it is prepared tableside they are not serving that dish now. Even more of a bummer was their facebook said it was being served. Oh well- a little miscommunication, but the food we did get was still great. We started with calamari for an appetizer, instead of marinara it was served with a lemon aioli, which was really good. The calamari was great, not chewy at all. For dinner I got the short rib raviolis, they were delicious. Almost a week later I am still thinking about them haha. The service was okay, the waiter did take our calamari away before we were finished and didn't ask if we wanted it boxed up, so that was kind of annoying. read more

My husband and I went to Tuscan Kitchen in Burlington for the first time on Thanksgiving day this year. It was our first time dining there. We were extremely impressed with the our delicious meals and exceptional service as well as the beautiful ambience. Every aspect of our experience at Tuscan Kitchen was memorable in the best possible way. The GM stopped by our table and also chatted with us for a few minutes as we were leaving. His attentiveness went above and beyond on a busy holiday. It will definitely be our "go to" restaurant for any special occasion. I highly recommend you to check it out. I promise you'll be glad you did! read more

The staff is great. The food is so bad I was disgusted that dinner for two people was $150+. It's a shame such a beautiful restaurant can't put out higher quality food. Choose food over decor every time. read more

Swung by Tuscan since it was hard to book reservations elsewhere. Great that you can secure a spot via OpenTable, but it was an underwhelming experience. My waiter was so friendly and great all around, but the food was mediocre. I enjoyed the bread and olive oil, but the portion was small for a group of three. One of the highlights in the end, which is quite sad. The mushroom risotto antipasti was bizarre because of the addition of honey. Not just a couple of drops, it felt like it was generously drizzled and mixed in. I've never had pasta where the sugar/honey was that obvious, if sugar is even an ingredient... The baked haddock was bland - very forgettable. My entree was the sausage ravioli, which was a mistake on my part since I am quite picky about ravioli. These only contained cheese, with bits of sausage atop. I also got sausage and meatball added but it was a piece of each and they were very average. I was sad the restaurant had a menu that did not appeal to me - and I really love Italian food. The sides were not bad but on the small side. I enjoyed the truffle fries, but the rosemary potatoes and roasted root vegetables were bland. It will be hard to come back even though it's easy to reserve and park. There are too many other food options in the area. Another thing I want to note is that I was shocked at how many staff members and customers were not wearing masks. I am coming from Boston where they are more strict, but I thought they would at least mandate the mask for the staff facing customers. In addition, they did not check for vaccination cards. read more