Great atmosphere, terrible pizza and lacking on service. The restaurant is nicely decorated. The food comes in great portions and the salads and garlic toast are excellent. However, my pizza taste like a cheese cardboard. The waitress hardly checked on us and I had to ask for water refills instead of being filled when low. Overall, avoid this restaurant. read more

Heard great things about Vinny's (galena location) but we were in Dubuque that day for an American Lady cruise. We got to the place and first thing I noticed was no AC... HOT!! Food looked good and sounded good, but keep reading. First thing I didn't care for is there is a tavern below the restaurant and they had their music so loud we could feel it through the floor. Second bathrooms are hard to find. But the worst thing is the food and waitstaff. I ordered Chicken Milanese, looked really delicious when they brought it out. I went to take a bite the chicken which traditionally is a pan fried dish that is breaded in Parmesan and breadcrumbs well this was deep fried and forgotten, it was burnt to the color of a dark chocolate..our waitress kinda seemed like "what do I do" but still took it back. They brought me a fresh plate and that one was, surprised burned to a crisp again. I had gotten fed up at this point and just ordered a chicken Parmesan to go. Our drinks were forgotten, table wasn't cleared, and my dad's wine took forever because they "couldn't find the wine key". As an apology they offered us dessert I passed but my mom said ok we will just do a cannoli to go. Our waitress said "I'll throw in two for you" yeah...it was 1.5 cannoli...we weren't given straws, we had to get another place setting from another table and with my to go order it wasn't even bagged so I had a piping hot foil container roasting my leg all the way back to Galena. Will NEVER come back and NEVER recommend this location. Stay in Galena!! read more

Dinner for our party of 5 tonight was just ok. The red sauce was just that, not very flavorful. The chicken Marsala seemed to have chicken that was a patty, not really chicken breast. Service was fine. For the price, I would have expected more flavor and fabric tablecloth and napkins. read more

Great authentic old world Italian faire! You can tell all of the pastas, sauces, breads and desserts are made from scratch. The ambience is really neat! Felt like we were in New York City's Little Italy. Puts Olive Garden to shame read more

Great atmosphere, slow service. Only had drinks and Vinny's chips which were very good.

ate here last night, loved the cheesy garlic bread, liked the decor, had a good waiter named Dallas who seemed on top of things. Salad was a little Olive Garden like for my preference, ( I don't like raw olives or peperoncini ) I really enjoyed my ravioli carbonara. My Cannoli was also very good. I was there on business and neglected to grab the itemized receipt. But I called today and they will be mailing it to me, so no complaints about taking care of customers here. read more

Stopped by this quaint Italian place for lunch. The starter of bread and salad was delicious and probably the best part of the meal. The bread was practically saturated in butter in the best possible way and the dressing of the salad was marvelous. My husband had the meatball sandwich and I had the special, chicken and vegetables over angel hair pasta with a spicy sauce. Both of these were very good, consistent and large portions but nothing outstanding. read more

Vinny Vanucchi's - Meatball sandwich - Italian Near Me - Dubuque, Iowa

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Great food and service every time. Seafood millennium is where it is at. For some reason the Galena location is not as good.

It took 15 minutes to be acknowledged. Bread was cold, hard and dry. When our pizza came it was also cold. All of the staff seemed like they were never taught priorities in waiting tables. Is there new management here?? Another table even said, "our waitress is grumpy". Sad because it is in the heart of Dubuque. read more

The atmosphere is very welcoming, decor is full of interesting things. Our waiter was skilled and personable. Menu has many traditional Italian choices. Everyone in our party of 8 had something different, and all were good. The homemade french fries my son ordered were excellent. Our salad bowl was a bit sparse for 8 people, but the garlic bread was generous and tasty. read more

Order the chicken piccata. Great service and nice vibe. Ask for little or no cheese because it's heavy on the salads and bread - if you're not a huge cheese fan. read more

We had a great experience at Vinnies last evening. Emma our waiter was fantastic. All aspects of the food was good. By the way there were 14 of us and all were praising the food and wait staff Emma. read more

Love Vinny's I've stopped here many times for anything from a drink on the back deck to dinner and always had a great time. I will be back..... read more

Beautiful ambiance but I wasn't thrilled by the food. I've had the lasagna and the spaghetti served with garlic and olive oil. The meals just aren't that good. read more

The food was great. Loved the ravioli! Also, my boyfriend said that his Arnold palmer was the best one he's had. Thanks to Luke, our waiter.

Ohhh my gosh...This is the best Italian food I think I have ever had! (No lie). Large portions, I had enough left over for lunch the next day. The atmosphere is beautiful, nice back ground music. Our waiter was very pleasant. I almost forgot to brag about the scrumptious garlic bread. OMG! Does it sound like I would give this establishment 5 stars? You darn tooting I am!! read more

Outstanding Italian food served by a great staff. Their house dressing and bread are to die for. Try the veal marsala or any of the other unique pasta dishes. Martinis are on point, as they have blue cheese stuffed olives! Yummmm! read more

We've been coming here for a few years now and I have to say our experience last night was just so-so... Service was really good, but the food came out extremely fast, we seemed overly rushed and for a Friday night, it was not busy, they had many empty tables for a 7:00 reservation. The chicken and veal Marsala was flavorless. Another person in our party ordered the seafood fettuccine Alfredo and said it was delicious! (Would recommend this) The garlic bread and salad is always great! A good thing, because that's all I ended up really eating.... Just so, so for the price.... read more

Great service and atmosphere. Overpriced underwhelming food. The chicken in our entrees was the pre-cooked variety and the sauces and dressings were watery or seemed like they were of a jarred variety. If the prices had been about $5-10 less, it would have made sense. P.S Dont sit on the patio unless you like to smell the dumpster and hear the trains and hyway noises. Luckily we were promptly re-seated when we asked. read more

Our party of eight all enjoyed our food and the service at Vinny's. We all ordered something different; from spaghetti, veal parmesan, veal marsala, pizza to hamburgers. The food was flavorful, the service was excellent as well. Will definitely return when we are in the area. read more

Very disappointed. Food came specifically with what i ordered it without. Next time we will go back to Marios.

Food itself was fine , but the waiter was not very attentive and the staff stacked and carried glasses and plates against their clothes. Should use tubs or trays to transfer. Tables were not cleaned very well ... done fast as I watched the people busting tables. And my meal to be boxed was placed in a sketchy place by the staff computer / register... bring the take out box to the table and let us see and do it right. read more

Went for lunch and had an overall good meal. Went with the Papa John's shells, was good, but the portions were a tad small. Service was very good. Waiter did a nice job. Would go back again. read more

We have been there twice while visiting Dubuque. Both times the food and service have been excellent! We will definitely go back next time we are in town. read more

So I TRIED to eat at this restaurant tonight but was VERY unsuccessful. The hostess was very unhelpful and couldn't even tell us she didn't have a table for us. She had to get the manager and the manager wasn't very friendly. It was a bunch of bullshit and very unprofessional. I will not be returning back ever again and I highly suggest not coming here. read more

I am so very sad the recipe's have changed. Had been my very favorite place to eat! For 30 years. Easy!!

After loving our visit to the Vinny Vanucchi's in Galena, my friends and I decided to give the Dubuque restaurant a try. It completely paled in comparison. After ordering our drinks, we waited for the delicious bread, the trademark of the chain. Instead of a deliciously crispy and sinful appetizer, the bread was soggy and cold. After sending it back and requesting them to bake it longer, we got something almost more palatable. The atmosphere was noisy, and it was hard to make conversation. I ordered the manicotti, and it was a little overcooked and not worth the $$. My party couldn't wait to leave. Since it was within the first few months of opening, we feel that this experience could be overlooked and we'll try Vinny's one more time. read more

We have had excellent food here and superb service each and every time we've been to the Dubuque location. It's difficult not to over do it on the amazing garlic bread and Italian salad befor dinner arrives! We've had ravioli, chicken Marsala, veal Marsala, lasagna, and the decadent baked seafood Italiano. Wow! This is a wonderful place to celebrate special occasions. Can't wait to go back. read more

There wasn't much open in Dubuque on Memorial Day so we were happy to find Vinny's was open. It's a bit more expensive that you would expect for the food that was served. Don't get me wrong, the food was okay, but I think you get better quality at Olive Garden for less price. A lot of the food seemed like it was bought from a supermarket rather than handmade (pasta from boxes, sauce from jars, old wilted lettuce in the salad, etc). The garlic bread, though, was pretty good! read more

Amazing food and atmosphere! Loved it! Spend the day shopping downtown and grab dinner here, you won't be disappointed!

Good food. Nice atmosphere. Friendly servers who work their butts off and do a good job taking care of the customers. We've always had good experiences dining at Vinny's. read more

After eating at L May the previous night everything about Vinny Vanucchi's was a disappointment. Their fried calamari had too much breading and the actual calamari didn't have much flavor. I'd say lack of flavor was a theme throughout the meal. When the bottle of wine was the highlight of my meal, that certainly says something. I had fettuccine with a basil cream sauce that had chicken and mushrooms in it. Nice portion (huge actually) but so flavorless. Coming from Chicago I felt ripped off for what I got in Dubuque. SKIP this place. I saw a big family in a table nearby and their food was half eaten as well. read more

Went there on a Saturday night and was seated immediately. We really liked the layout of the restaurant - tables have some space between them and you can hear your conversation. Service was excellent. We shared a pizza and some linguini with marinara sauce and Italian sausage. Pizza was excellent - it's a thin crust, but chewy - I like a little crisp on the crust usually, but overall the flavors on the pizza were well balanced. Pasta was done just fine and the sauce was pretty good - the sausage was on the spicy side which is how I like it. Overall, a very good traditional Italian meal with great service - you can't go wrong here if you're in the mood for Italian. read more

Service was good, the pasta Ala Vinny was not great. Tons of oil and took at least 20 mins for them to prepare. The salad was great.

We were excited to visit this restaurant while on vacation in Dubuque: it looked attractive and inviting from the outside, the staff were friendly and accommodating, but that was where it all ended. I cannot remember when last my family and I have been subjected to such awful food. People in past reviews have raved about the garlic bread - cheap baguettes with a hint of garlic matter on top, does not the perfect garlic bread maketh, in our opinion. It did turn out to be the most edible thing that was placed before us, however. My steak and sauce arrived cold. The steak was so tough one could barely cut through it with the steak knife. The salad was inedible, with really bitter cucumber bits in it (you would think that if they wanted to save a bit of cash and purchase a regular cucumber instead of an English cucumber, that they would have the good sense to peel it!). We all felt really embarrassed that the food was so bad, and somewhat stupefied that this restaurant still continues to operate! read more

The Gnarly Red Zuniga was good at good price. Salad is okay. Complimentary garlic bread is very good. Pollo Compamare was a lot of pasta in a lot of sauce. I had to swim through it to find the chicken. Auntie Gracie's pasta was as good as described on the menu. read more

Fantastic! Went here with kids for lunch and didn't have to eat rest of day. Meatballs and bread with fresh salad was awesome. Ambiance was good for family too. This was one of the best Italian meals we've ever had...and very affordable. read more

Excellent meal with our three kids came highly recommended from locals, we loved the garlic bread, all enjoyed our meals, lasagna for the mister, Cousin Sals pizza for the eldest, baked pasta for the two youngest and a yummy pasta for me. Dinner was capped of with a great conversation with one of the owners. We would return for sure! read more

We were glad to see that the place was very busy for a late night Friday dinner. We had a crazy server-not sure if she was drunk on life or on something else. She gave us great service; replenishing drinks, salad, and rolls. She recommended entrees and dessert. She treated us well. The food was good, the pizza and pastas were tasty. But the appetizer, fried ravioli was the worst we've ever had. Overall a good and bad experience. Great ambience! read more

I was delighted with my lunch (for three), and at a reasonable price. The penne and meatballs with marinara was great!