Vincenzo's Ristorante & Bistro

Probably more like a 2.5, but not planning on returning to see how the cookie crumbles, so will give them a .5 benefit of the doubt.

We happened upon this place after I realized at 3pm on vday, the reservation I thought I had secured mid-Jan for Seven Sows didn't go through thanks to a glitch on open table. So the husband and I were left scrambling at the last minute for a viable option. Vincenzo's looked good so we took a 9:30 reservation.

We were warmly greeted at the door and ushered on up the stairs to an outdated dining room. When we sat down, we promptly realized our table was busted as all get out and required both of us put equal weight on it so it didn't flip, but details, details, how was the food??

The calamari we started with was quite good although we were both puzzled where the strong garlic flavor was coming from, which was a small sign of what was yet to come.

I ordered the veggie gnocchi because I am obsessed with perfecting my own gnocchi recipe and like to benchmark my progress against the pros every chance I get. Unfortunately, I was told they do not make them in house but sourced them locally. The husband ordered the clam linguine. Both dishes had potential and I actually enjoyed the gnocchi quite well, but both dishes suffered from an egregiously heavy handed dose of garlic. I mean whoa.

You may be thinking, I like garlic, that's not a bad thing, but let me tell you, I have never tasted such garlic in my life! And being an Italian lady who tends to quadruple the amount of garlic in all recipes, that is something. I think it took me until after breakfast this morning before I could erase the aftertaste of raw garlic from my mouth! I mean whoa.

Furthermore, this place is not cheap and the inattentive service left us the task of fetching our own water. Oh well, at least we crossed this one off of the list!

We came here for an anniversary dinner, and had a very nice meal. They start out with bread and olive oil, which isn't too bad. We had the cheese puff pastries as an appetizer, which tasted good (it was a huge square pastry, as opposed to individual pastries).

For pasta, we were really craving the gnocchi, but apparently they didn't have it that night. We went with a few different cream and spicy pasta dishes, and all of them were very good. They had one special sauce made with sriracha peppers, which was fantastic. We ended our meal with cannoli, which came with an odd berry sauce but was good otherwise.

Prices were quite reasonable as well. There is also free parking in their private lot (though it is not that big).

I wanted to like the place...
There was live entertainment with a guitarist who sang well and offered a nice touch.
But...
When she took a break, she left the iPod on and microphone played a series of random Sugar Ray songs...yuck.

I wanted to like the place...
We got great parking and thought the food was going to be great.
But...
The glass of wine had lipstick on it, the lasagne was meh, veal and the risotto balls were pretty good.

Amazing food and great ambiance. I'm told they do piano playing downstairs which we missed. I love that they do 1/2 portions for people like me who eat like a bird :)

I ate with a party of 12 people and every single person loved their dish! That's gives it 5 stars in my book.

Great Italian food in Downtown Asheville. A friendly staff & great entertainment. Veal chop is my husbands favorite, I love their eggplant parmigiana with pesto angle hair pasta.

Are you people that contributed to the 4+ star rating kidding me!? Asheville is known for it's fresh, local, delicious ingredients. We have been to so many good restaurants in downtown Asheville we decided to give Vincenzo's a shot. This place was a horror story from the moment we sat down. Our waiter was completely aloof and even told us he was feeling "air-headed". Nice. It took 20 minutes to get bread. We had our waters refilled once.

Let's talk about the 'food'. My wife ordered the "gnocchi". This paste ball tasted like it traveled across the country and then hopped right into the microwave. It was DISGUSTING. Our waiter came to the table (amazingly) and had the nerve to tell us how savory and fresh he thought they were. I stunned him mid-sentence when i asked him if they were made fresh at the restaurant every day. He stumbled around a bit and finally told us that their kitchen was 'too small' to make them in house and they had a "place" make them specially for Vincenzos... Right... You mean Sysco foods?

I ordered the Risotto con Funghi and the Chicked Arrabiata (spicy marinara). We took one bite each of the overcooked, strange tasting mush and put the spoon down. My chicken had a REALLY disturbing after taste and there was absolutely no spice in the marinara. Yes, it did have some italian seasoning like oregano, but that does not qualify it as spicy. It was so overly bland (no real seasoning) and strange tasting that I had him take it all off the check. I normally feel bad doing this, but Vincenzos was so unforgivably, unbelievably terrible that I HAD to. In a town like Asheville with SO many good restaurants, there is just no excuse for this place to still be in business. STAY AWAY!

**Update**

I thought I would update this review as the owner has responded to my thoughts. Although I appreciate that the owner is eager to respond to critique, the dismissive and creative way he avoids my direct criticism requires me to detail the experience.

1. We waited over 10 minutes for your *head* waiter to even stop by our table. Meanwhile, the other 2 or 3 servers on the second floor were hitting all of their guests. I had to flag down the waitress to ask for bread and water. She told me our waiter was very busy that night, so she would flag him down. When he did come by, he told us he was feeling air headed and we didn't see him after that for another 10 minutes.

2. How can you be 'confident that the food and service delivered to this table were of high quality and met your standards'? Excuse me, but I believe your guests determine that and not your employees. I am telling you... It was NOT.

3. Let's start with the pre-made gnocchi. It was pasty. It was over-cooked. It did NOT taste fresh. Pre made gnocchi at a nice Italian restaurant is not acceptable by any standard. People can TELL when something is pre-made and heated up. Are you trying to tell us that something like gnocchi that is frozen, shipped, and then heated at a restaurant is just as good as fresh? Your head waiter told us it was shipped in. It was bad.

4. Your risotto was OVER COOKED. It was mushy. It was pasty. It was watery beyond belief. It had absolutely NO seasoning. No salt and pepper. Come ON!

5. The Pollo Arrabiata was not spicy at all. Most shockingly, it was more under-seasoned than everything else we received. Really? The *spicy* marinara chicken had no seasoning? The chicken was rubbery. The Penne was just so-so. The house(?) Marinara is so bland and watery that my dish was swimming.

Look, I'm not out trying to destroy Vincenzo's with a bad review because I'm bored. It was so bad that I created a yelp account just to express how bad our night there was. This was our second time to Asheville in 3 months. We stayed for a total of 12 days between the 2 trips and this was the only bad experience we had out of 9 or 10 dinners. We tried Salsa, Avenue M, Black Bird, Bouchon, and many others and they were so spectacularly good that it made this night seem that much worse.

You say that the dishes were prepared true to the recipes that you learned in Italy. Were you there that night? How long ago did you learn those recipes? Is it possibly time to update a little bit and start innovating again? And why does my review keep disappearing?

Not only one of my favorite restaurants in Asheville, but one of my all time favorites anywhere. Everything about this place rocks.
Pros:
-I have had several pasta dishes, and the food is excellent. Is it autentico? I have no idea. It's good.
-Service is excellent with personality.
-Ambiance: I prefer downstairs which is less fancy. It's like eating in Frank Sinatra's wine cellar.
-Pricing is fair for quantity and quality of what you get.

Cons:
-It is not cheap, which keeps my riff raff friends away, so I don't have to buy them drinks.

The BEST Italian food I have had was either in San Francisco or Philadelphia, but Vincenzo's gets a better all around score. It is excellent.

Dinner for 2 last night was a pleasant surprise. As tourists we basically picked this restaurant driving by.

I had the fillet with gorgonzola and pinenuts - cooked perfectly. My husband had the veal parmasagna. His was cooked perfectly, but he realized he doesn't love tomato based dishes - only a preference thing. He loved my selection. The food was cooked precisely as it should have been. The wine selection was good and we enjoy our choice.

We LOVED the piano music! The music made the atmosphere work. While it is true that it appears this place as been around for a long time, isn't retro decor "back" anyway? I considered it Old World versus outdated. We thought it was charming.

The service was really terrific! I was pleasantly surprised how friendly yet professional our waiter was. Very attentive from the moment of arrival to the moment we left. We felt like invited guests rather than "just a customer."

The only downside that I can think of was that the restrooms could use some refreshing.

We would certainly make this place a favorite if we lived in the area. We were happy with the choice.

Great date night plan.
Intimate dining downstairs with a talented piano player. There is also an upstairs quitter dining area but I did not check it out.
The downstairs area is a little outdated décor wise, but did have beautiful wood. The tablecloths are topped with plexi-glass which makes it easy to wipe down but not fine dining. I would say the food is authentic Italian but I am no expert. All dishes came prompt, hot, and were tasty. Service was professional and able to explain menu. I liked that they offered full dish and small dish options depending on your appetite.
Good option for dinner date or with parents.

I never really bother with writing reviews, however my experience at Vincenzo's was so noteworthy I was compelled to do so.

Me and my Girlfriend went to Vincenzo's last night. We are from out of town and didn't realize that they were 10 minutes to closing time, still, they insisted on having us. The live music continued and, although it was just us and a few other patrons at the bar, the atmosphere was what I would expect if it were peak dinner time.

The food arrived quickly, yet not rushed, and exceeded our expectations. Seriously, best Caprese I have ever had, the balsamic glaze was heavenly. My Rack of Lamb and my girlfriend's Capelli D'Angelo was great. After dinner our waitress kindly offered us dessert, 20 minutes past closing time, all the while feeling welcomed.

Your hospitality to two weary travelers was some of the best service I have ever had, bar none. I look forward to visiting Asheville again for your amazing food and amazing people, maybe even visiting sooner because of this.

Your passion for outstanding service does not go unnoticed, thank you Jessie and everyone else @ Vincenzo's!