iozzo's garden of italy

wonderful lunch experiences. today was my second time to have lunch at iozzo's. on both occasions, the wait staff has been tremendously kind and generous with their time. the food is very good, and this coming from someone who doesn't usually care for italian. both the chicken parmesan and theitalianmeats pizza were entrees i would gladly try again. with all that said, i would still come back for ambience alone. white linen tables and an exposed brick wall make for a romantic setting, and after months of cold weather, i was ecstatic to finally enjoy their patio in the back.
i will gladly return.

this is the bestitalianin the city.. hands down

iozzo's is easily my favoriteitalianrestaurant in indy, and i lived in italy for 2 summers. the food is fantastic and authentic, and i would highly recommend the lasagna, the wedge salad or spinach salad, and the goat cheese marinara appetizer. they also have a very friendly and knowledgable staff, and a large wine selection! one of my favorite restaurants!

i would recommend this restaurant!  the service was excellent, even on a colts game day.  my  partner ordered some of their traditionalitalianfood, and his pasta carbonara was excellent.  my egg dish was very tasty and cooked well.  we are anxious to go back for dinner, or maybe another lunch.

iozzo’s is a place with history. the great grandfather, fred, was the patriarch that started the family business in indianapolis in the 1920’s. by 1925 he had 2 dozen grocery stores throughout central indianapolis. the gem of the empire was anitalianrestaurant on south illinois. it featured a band stand, 2 kitchens,3 bars and seating for 850. a tragedy in 1941 led to a quick and final demise of the restaurant. the family kept their recipes and traditions intact for over 60 years before they opened iozzo’s garden of italy in 2009.

love this place! by far the bestitalianin the city. we love eating outside in the adorable courtyard. the meatballs and specialty drinks are worth every penny!

this is a great place to grab an amazing meal and have a great time. the patio is beautiful and they feature live music from time to time. unique drinks at the bar and something for everyone, even gluten-free!


-----29 apr, 2013-----

finally, greatitalianin indy!. this restaurant is a family owned, indianapolis original. the food, atmosphere, wine selection & service were beyond my expectations! we sat outside in the beautiful courtyard and had an amazing evening. i can't wait to go back to iozzo's this summer to see live music and old movies in the courtyard!

i just went there with 2 friends this evening. a first-time visit, and quite likely the last. not impressed in the least with the food. way better and less expensiveitalianfood in this neighborhood. milano inn & iaria's

really good..... we tried this place out for devour and we really liked it. we went for lunch and my husband ordered off the devour menu and he loved everything he got. he had theitalianbeef sandwich and it was great. it came with chips and this amazing dip. i'm not sure what it was, but i am always a sucker for dip and chips and this stuff was so addicting. he also had the ceasar salad and it was yummy. i had the regular house salad with the balsamic dressing and it was so good. i also had the lasagna and it is definitely some of the best lasagna i have ever had. there was this sauce that was so perfect. mmmmm. my husband had the cannoli for dessert and he and my two year old pretty much inhaled them. i chose to drink my dessert and ordered a chocolate martini and it was perfect!

living the godfather. iozzo's is a must see place even if you are not a bigitalianeater. the decor and atmosphere are marvelous! and the smell when you walk in is heaven! you want to start eating right a way! they were not terribly busy when we were there - the middle of the afternoon - and we received some extra attention, especially with the telling of the family story.

so much of whether food merits 4 or 5 stars is up to individual tastes and what people were brought up on. but, the food was all served fresh and hot and i highly recommend it! nearly everything, including dressings and sauces, are homemade. so it is a unique taste experience. and you have to order the meatball martini! three meatballs on a nest of spaghetti served in a large martini glass for $5. a person could have that with a salad for a meal!

we went for lunch, which i prefer for the lower prices. but if you are looking for a good time in the evening this seems to be a good place to go.

the menu is pretty classic indy-italian, but i appreciate the special menu which had some unique items on it, some of which were tasty. my guess is if i return, i will likely be continuing to order off the specials menu simply because it is not exactly the same as every otheritalianrestaurant in town. but….the quest continues. iozzo’s garden of italy 946 s. meridian street

iozzo's: good ideas, not so good execution. i've gone to iozzos three times now; while overall i would give them a cautious 'thumbs up' the new owner(s) have much to tend to. first, presentation: ravioli with any kind of sauce should not be drowning in it. beingitaliangrowing up in chicago's old little italy, ravioli should not be 'submerged' under a sea of sauce: any trip to anitaliantrattoria in rome or florence or anywhere else will attest to that: sauces dress pastas lightly, not 'drowning' the pasta. iozzo's serves their ravioli 'buried' under too much sauce. while i do like their "family" [marinara] sauce and give them good marks for that, they've got some 'presentation" techniques to improve. example: they'll bring you a little dessert-plate size of someitaliantomato salad; it's excellent but what comes out on a dessert-size plate is a teeny-tiny portion of tomato salad dressed very deliciously obviously with a good extra virgin olive oil, s & p and i think some basil or oregano, but the presentation and portion is underwhelming. my steak done in anitalianstyle was superbly cooked medium rare the way i like it, but the chef was way too heavy-handed with the seasoning: i was taken aback by the amount of some kind of salt in it. cut back! iozzo's is in a century-old brick building and has a problem with air-conditioning in horrid hot weather as indy has had this past summer. one evening, we had to walk out before beginning our meal, it was wretchedly hot in there; while they apologized, they said they had installed the maximum number of a/c condensors the building could handle. well, something's wrong. i grew up with a family-runitalianrestaurant in an 1880 all brick row house in chicago near downtown. we installed oversize condensors with city approval and on the hottest summer days, the intimate victorian-eraitaliandining room was blessedly cool as everyone who dined there would attest. so i don't get it. there has to be a solution to iozzo's a/c problem. i'll go back there but i'm going to be more selective in what i order. and i'll go back when it's cooler! steve (indianapolis)

fresh and delicious. a friend and i ate lunch there today, and i was thoroughly impressed. i amitalianso my evaluation ofitalianrestaurants can be somewhat biased. we both enjoyed theitalianwedding soup (the fresh spinach was an impressive touch). i enjoyed the caprese salad, with fresh basil and what must have been homemade fresh mozzarella. my friend ordereditalianbeef, and commented that he didn't knowitalianbeef this good was available this side of chicago. to top it off we had spumoni ice cream-also very fresh and loaded with real cherries and pistachios and very little chocolate ice cream- the way it is supposed to be. the atmosphere is quaint and the patio makes you feel as though you might be somewhere in italy. the only negative was the highway noise as the restaurant is located near the interstate. ~k. vigliaturo

probably the bestitalianfood around indy! love the portobello orzo - so deeliocious!

iozzo's garden of italy has become one of my favorite lunch spots over the past year or so. located just south of shapiro's in the same historic building that used to house the late, lamented café at ray, thisitalianrestaurant already had quite a bit of