aldino cucina

oh.. if i could give a negative 10, it would still not be enough to describe the unbelievable subpar quality of food we ate at this so called "best italian food restaurant in san antonio" i would not feed this food to a stray cat in an alley. we ordered 3 distinct dishes and an appetizer to see how the various dishes would be served, their quality and appearance. the fried calamari appetizer was passable, but the chicken and mushroom risotto, the penne vodka with fennel sausage and peas and the margherita pizza where right at the same level of olive garden quality, with double the price tag. risotto is not supposed to be soupy, and arborio rice must be used. both ingredients a fail. the penne vodka with fennel sausage and peas had an overwhelmingly fennel flavor that turned us off from enjoying any portion of it. the margherita pizza was cooked on a pre-made dough (pre-made!!!!!! we are talking airplane grade food now) and questionable (at best) mozzarella cheese..... then a plopped slice of crappy fresh tomato on each slice.... no-no-no-👎 . my recommendation: you can get better quality and flavorful italian food from johnny carinos at half the price. very disappointed. the onlygoodthing was that the assistant manager offered to give us a discount, since 3/4 of each dish was still left over in the plates, as we refused to eat it. so kudos for that attempt.

busy place in an outdoor mall. calamari was well fried and sauce was tasty. caprese salad was refreshing. trout came with a nice sauce, mushrooms, and one artichoke heart. also served with pasta. chocolate cake went well with coffee. decent wine selection too. waitstaff was, at times, too attentive and it felt like they were trying to rush us out. but the food wasgoodand affordable!

wonderful experience. tried this restaurant for the first time last night and can honestly say this is one if the best meals we've had since moving to san antonio.
the wine, the caesar salad, the chicken gorgonzola, even the kid's pizzas were excellent.
our server (joel, i think) could not have been better.
it was agoodplace for our family but can't wait to return on a date night.
all the desserts are made in-house. save room!

food wasgoodbut somewhat salty and sent it back and next plate was much better. however sat a table of kids right next to us when we were clearly trying to have an adult discussion. why do people do that? adults want to talk with adults and not listen to kids at the next table.

great lunch. alwaysgoodfood at this little spot. not as crowded as it used to be for lunch which is always a plus. plates are always very flavorful and waitstaff always attentive but not pushy. had a great lunch experience here the chicken in pasta with a lemon sauce over vegetables was absolutely fantastic. could have been a bit bigger but the shrimp were huge so it made up for it. will definitely be back about dinner time.

not sogoodservice, ok food. i used to frequent aldino because of one dish i would always covet, the ravioli di vitello, which was disappointing. i hadn't been back in a while, and it seems in that time things have gone down hill. the service was not good, we waited about 5 minutes to be acknowledged. then it took 10 minutes to get our wine, finally my wife asked the waiter for a spoon for her pasta and he literally walked away and forgot, we had to flag him down after seeing him just standing there. not agoodexperience at all.

completely forgettable food, not verygoodservice. i'm not usually a very picky eater, so i'm surprised at myself for writing this review. i'm just very disappointed after having spent so much money.

the waitress seemed bored, and came back to check on us only twice during our entire meal. the bread was okay, not browned on the outside very much and seemed a little undone in the middle.

i've heard you should never order risotto at a restaurant...but i was hungry for it, and i figure the restaurant took themselves seriously so i went for it. the rice was very over cooked...almost to the point of having the texture of gruel, the grains had fallen apart into starchy glop.

that might have been enough to overlook if it had any flavor. there was no aroma of rice left in the grains, and if they used chicken stock..i could not tell, could have been tap water. it was touted as "risotto alla milanese" but the tell-tale golden hue was no where to be seen, and i could not detect the floral aroma of the saffron. the only thing that i could taste at all was unmixed bits of parmigiano reggiano. it did have bits of chicken and mushroom in it, but the chicken was overcooked and had bits of cartilage in it....and the mushrooms tasted like limp bits of mushy button mushroom that had no flavor.

my wife got the ravioli, which was a lot better than mine...but that doesn't say much.

i will definitely not recommend this restaurant for anyone i know.

great atmosphere, food was good. the restaurant's look and feel is very pleasing. i really liked the atmosphere here. service was very prompt and polite. the food may be a little more expensive than some other italian places, but not much and it was pretty good. i had the ravioli and it tasted great, the portion was bigger than i expected so that was a nice surprise. overall it was agoodexperience. i can see myself returning at some point and have no qualms recommending.