ruffino's italian restaurant

will never visit again!. ruffinos used to be our "go to" restaurant for special occasions. never again. we were immediately sat and a waiter immediately came to us with the drink menu. before i had a chance to look, he boasted about his "favorite"winefrom napa valley that was the night special. i love redwinebut i am not very particular so i told him to order me that. then we were promptly met by another waiter who said he was the food waiter. in total, we had 3 different waiters. it seemed very hectic with waiters zig zagging all over the place. i was also disappointed to learn that the salad was no longer included with the entree and was. 6.95 just for the side. but we ordered it because we used to love it. well that has changed too , and was just ok. but my major disappointment was when we got the bill. that little glass ofwinewas 25.00. i felt tricked and taken advantage of. it cost more than either of our entrees. my husband and i are both hard working people and dont indulge ourselves like that. i wanted to send comments to the manager but could find no place to do that. overall we were very disappointed on the changes this restaurant has made. they will no longer have our business.

two words: don't bother w.... two words: don't bother

went to eat there last night for my wife's birthday. it was the first time for both of us. sat down, got some good bread and olive oil dip. after that, they poured my whiskey drink into my wife's sugar rimmed glass. i was offered a paper towel to wipe off the sugar. all the drinks are served in shakers which guaranteed underpours and drips all over the table. got some great bbq shrimp and a mozzarella salad app. not bad at all. ordered a filet, it came out blue, like seared and raw blue. they fixed it, but my wife was done eating in all the time it took them to remake it. i had ordered a glass ofwineafter the apps. never received it. then was told after eating that they would "take it off the check." well duh, i never got it. i'm not paying forwinei never got. they didn't even do anything for my wife's birthday. no cotton candy, no happy birthday on the dessert we ordered, nothing. don't ask customers if you are celebrating something if you aren't going to recognize it.

the ambiance was akin to tiger stadium, loud as all get out and full of drunks who could care less. if a 30 year old thinks it's loud, it's loud. apparently everyone else got theirwineand properly poured whiskey.

i had always heard it was fine dining. the decor was a mix of tj ribs and uncle earl's.

$180 for dinner for two with horrible service and people literally yelling 3 feet in all directions around you is not worth it.

check out 18 steak, ruth chris, or even louisiana lagniappe. all have better food, better atmosphere, know how to respect customers, recognize a simple birthday, and cook a simple steak.

ruffino's: italian for overpriced and overhyped

this is a great place for sunday brunch. great music and terrific ambiance. having said this, the restaurant was a bit off its game today. i arrived at 11:30 am and was promptly greeted and seated. the waiter (hunter) took the drink order and said he would have to go back in the cooler to get my bottle of sauvignon blanc. twenty minutes passed and the bottle had not arrived. he apologized and thewinecame shortly thereafter. he said he would bring a bucket to keep thewinecool but it never arrived. i ordered off the brunch menu (fried chicken- how hard can that be?). about 40 minutes after arriving, hunter came to apologize and said no prep had been done for fried chicken. (so why is it on the brunch menu?) he came back 10 minutes later to verify my order and said there were problems in the kitchen. i realized he was having a bad day because he was apologizing to me and every table around. finally, the food arrived. the chicken was not the greatest (it could have been from
winn-dixie). the spinach that accompanied the chicken was so salty that i was unable to eat it. in sum, the meal was not worth the price. with all of blue blood baton rouge nearby, they really need to up their game. there is just too much competition in baton rouge to be bad to mediocre these days. i think the manager realized there was a problem because he was filling water glasses and listening to disgruntled customers. they obviously were having a bad day and i will give them another chance.

try the ruffino's experience. if you aren't afraid of what may come out of the kitchen i definitely recommend the ruffino's experience.
i was not disappointed. very well executed. service was amazing.winerecommendations were great. only thing do not like is i find it a little under-lit. i can't see the table. takes away some of the visual aspect of dining.
i will return.

great!. i love the food andwineat ruffino's. it is definitely a favorite for my family, and pretty special, too. it was the first official dinner date my husband and i had when we first dated. however, it was dinardo's then. we never miss an opportunity to go. excellent food, service,wineand atmosphere,

expensive but worth it- great seafood, nicewinelist.

absolutely disappointed. went there for our 15 year anniversary. i will say that thewineand cotton candy were good, everything else was mediocre. ordered the fried calamari and the crab cheesecake appetizers. calamari was a sad mockery of the golden, fluffy batter supposed to complement an al dente bite juicy squid. ate two pieces before giving up. the rest of the meal was also a let down. i will say the waitress tried to make this a memorable experience, however there was no coming back from the sad limp squid. i am surprised in light of that meal that ruffinos has stacked out such a big claim on the restaurant scene in baton rouge.

excellent food, wine.. i was very pleased the last time i went to ruffino's. we went as an office for a holiday party and the service was quick andwineselection tremendous. i even found a new top-10 cabernet (solaris 2005)... which i haven't been able to find locally as of yet. food was very good but not excellent. i was pleasantly surprised when one of the owners came to greet us. overall i was pleased with my visit. i would give ruffino's an "a-".

i wanted so badly to like this place because of the location (close to home). but unfortunately it just comes up short in several areas. this place is more about the nostalgia and history of local people than it is cuisine. the staff and hostess are under trained and kind of rude. thewineselection is average and the waiter could not explain the suttle differences between reds, whites, etc. the food is just meh.. their signature pasta sauce comes up short in many areas (acidity, sweetness, and flavor is just a bit off). i did enjoy the apps, crab and brie and the eggplant app was good. caeser salad needed dressing needed more anchovies. chicken parm was too average. usually you can tell a lot about and italian restaurant with their chicken parm. dessert was tiramasu. once again, just too simple, needed more flavor. if you live in br you've probably eaten here and had a totally different experience. but having traveled the globe from rome to san fran, this place is just middle of the road.

one of my faves!!. i absolutely adore ruffino's. every time i go there, i leave very full and happy. the crabmeat cheesecake is phenomenal and the cedar plank redfish is wonderful. their steaks are also some of the best in br and they also have a fantasticwinelist. i've never had a bad meal or experience at ruffino's.

favorite. i love ruffino's, we've been to 6 of theirwinedinners and highly recommend!!! it is not a kid friendly place, but a great place for couples!

terrible!. my wife and i decided to go here for our date night, big mistake. we waited in the bar area for a table to be ready. ordered two glasses ofwine($20) and both were only filled about 1/4 of the way at best. the hostess came to seat us at our table, which was right behind us in the bar (nice). i do need to say our waiter was a nice guy and so was the manager who later helped us. thats the only nice thing i have to say about our experience. the appetizer we ordered was a shrimp and crab meat dish. the shrimp was still raw and the crab meat lukewarm. the manager was called over to our table by the waiter, and told us he would take it off our bill. thanks. i wish the whole night would have been comped. while we were seated in the bar area for our meal, all we could smell was bleach that they use to clean up the bar area. we ordered our main course, steak and red snapper. the steak was great, cant mess that up. the fish on the other hand had way too much balsamic vinegar. while we were eating a large man just walked over looked right at me, didnt say a word, and just took the other two chairs at our table. wtf. i later found out that this was the owner. how nice. needless to say, i will never eat there again, or recommend this restaurant to anyone.

disappointed. we visited for the first time last night. we had the arancine appetizer and it was good. i ordered the fish katie which came with roasted potatoes and a sensation salad. the fish was strong, the sauce was not, and substituting the salad was an extra $6 which the waitress failed to mention. my husband had the hanger steak which came with mushroom bread pudding, and he was happy with both. he also substituted the salad; another upcharge. the highlight was the bottle ofwinethat we'd never tried before and the four in our party all thought it was a good cab. nothing was really bad but nothing was great either, and the ticket for the two of us was $177. i can think of several other places i would rather eat for that.

cold veal micheal. i've visited ruffino's for the second time this week. it wasn't my choice, but i'm glad i had the opportunity to try it again to see if my first experience was just an off night for them.

i wish i could say that i liked it better this time, but i didn't. the veal michael was lukewarm with some parts unacceptably cold, and the service was horrible for this price point. they actually forgot the imperial sauce that goes with this dish this time. this was the second time that i've visited this establishment and luckily the bill was on my company.

i'm still impressed with how ruffino's is able to portray a quality image to this city without supplying a quality product.

thewineselection, on the other hand, is awesome. second to none in this area.

wedded bliss. my husband and i were actually married in one of the banquet rooms almost 5 years ago. they catered to our wedding party with zest and made us feel at home. we continue to go there, especially for our yearly anniversary, but inbetween anniversaries as well. i'm not an italian food fan, but there is still much to choose from. my favorite is crabmeat cheesecake or no barbecue shrimp for an appetizer and fish katie for my main meal. our favorite wine, which they introduced us to, is a rhinewinefrom germany, called lewis guntrum riesling, so smooth for a whitewineand not dry at all. my husband gets the same steak with lump (huge) crabmeat topping his filet' mignon! i've never been treated so well, the wait staff knows the in's and out's of the food on the menu as well as their specials! we go as much as we can.