Maurizio’s

I got the baked ziti, it was pretty good. Service wasn’t so great though. Had to wait a while to get a re-​fill.

It’s nice to find an Italian place with gluten free options other than salad. We eat here quite a bit, and it’s always enjoyable. I like the grilled tilapia with risotto and grilled veggies. Sometimes, they have wine specials, too, during the week.

Enjoyed a nice dinner here. Came in relatively early (about 5:30) and sat at the bar. Enjoyed conversation with a local regular and Maurizio. Had the Tilapia and Shrimp Scampi over risotto. The fish was done perfectly and was very tasty. The sauce was fantastic. The risotto was also done perfectly — very tender but not mushy. Very good meal, albeit a little pricey. Homemade tiramisu was really, really good. My server (didn’t get his name) was nice and attentive. Atmosphere was nice and quiet, but homey not hushed. About 5 – 8 other couples/​families came and went while I was there. Décor was simple yet elegant.
Wish I had found this place earlier in my travels to the area.

Love this place and the owner is great also, love the pizza.

I had a salad. I wouldn’t go back. It wasn’t fresh and their dressings are limited.
Im not gonna rate them too low because ive only had their salad. But its not my cup of tea.

This place was decent. Not the «best» Italian food I’ve had but okay. I had the Chicken Picatta and a Cesar salad. The salad was pretty bland. My main dish was overall pretty good. Had a good lemony taste to it.
Service was good. We were served pretty fast and our server was nice.

This is a reasonably priced Italian restaurant hidden away in Coppell. Their pizza and pastas are very good, but my favorite is actually their grilled salmon with no sauce. The prices are reasonable, service is good and the wine list is ok.
Everyone was very friendly and we enjoyed a dinner for 6!

Ordered take-​out pizza. Would have been a bit better I bet if we ate in-​house as brick oven pizza like theirs works best hot from the oven. Still very very tasty. Lots of toppings to choose from, good quality cheese and the sauce was tasty. The crust had a nice crunch to it on the ends. The restaurant itself looked like a nice spot for a sit-​down meal too.

I was in Coppell for a meeting and needed to stop for lunch before hand. I saw the restaurant and Italian sounded good. They have a nice menu variety of entrees for lunch, 3 different pricing structures.
I opted for the middle price bracket, $ 7.95, and ordered the chicken piccata. The entrée came with a salad and a nice rosemary laced bread. The salad consisted of field greens with their house Italian dressing. There is a Caesar salad option if you want it. The bread was also quite tasty.
The chicken piccata came with a side of angel hair pasta. The chicken was tender and the sauce with the capers was just what a chicken piccata dish should be. I was very happy with my experience and will return in the future when visiting Coppell.
I also watched many pizzas come out and they looked beautiful. They do have a wood burning oven at the restaurant.

Ate here on a whim, looking for some good Italian food.
Too bad I never found any, because the food was mediocre at best.
Walked in and noticed there was hardly anyone in the restaurant: bad sign.
Had the Penne Evita, which would have been a good dish if they had used better ingredients. The owner was angry that I didn’t like it and swore they use only fresh, but my basil was brown and the cheese was cold and looked like the stuff I buy from Wal-​mart. Worst of all, I was starving and it was a skimpy portion in a huge bowl! What?! I left hungry and irritated after the owner complained I complained.
No thanks… would rather eat my own foot.

I was expecting a lot better from Maurizio’s and was let down.
The atmosphere of the restaurant was very pleasant and intimate. Our waiter was nice enough, but the service was kinda iffy. It took him a little while to take our order. Then my mom asked for another lunch menu — never came. A little later, my grandma asked for more butter with the bread — never came either. The bread was just average, by the way. The house salad tasted fine, but it was kinda pitiful. Just a tiny pile of lettuce with one tomato and a bit of dressing.
My mom and I both got the Penne Estiva, which sounded very nice because it had fresh mozzarella and cherry tomatoes. When they brought it out we were very disappointed. It wasn’t bad, but my mom said it looked and tasted like it was from a box and I agree. We were expecting delicious melted mozzarella but it wasn’t. It just seemed like they randomly cut it into chunks and threw it on there as an afterthought. It was all tossed with just a little olive oil. The whole thing lacked flavor and it was something we could throw together ourselves in minutes.
My grandma got the Spaghetti and Meatballs and I asked her how she would rate on on a scale of 1 – 5 stars. She said she’d give it 2 stars — enough said.
I bought a deal from Groupon for Maurizio’s on the same day we went to eat there. They said they wouldn’t be able to honor it and claimed that they have never worked with Groupon before. They also said they had this problem 6 months ago but the deal was taken down now. I told them I just bought it today so obviously it isn’t gone. Even if it wasn’t their fault, they still could have at least given us a discount for the trouble. It was just kinda like «Too bad, so sad… have a nice day.»
Well, Maurizio’s… too bad, so sad, we won’t be coming back again. :)

Real wood burning oven from Italy. Not gas or electric back up, it’s all wood, the real thing and this makes it possible for Maurizio, the owner from Naples, to do it absolutely authentic. This type pizza is meant to be eaten immediately out of the oven, not best for take out. So do it like the Italians do and get your butt outa the casa and eat the pizza there, you will love it! All else is excellent too. This guy is the real deal from Italy, and he goes back regularly to brush up, stay connected. Price is very reasonable, vino at very reasonable prices.
Manga tutu cosa! Molto bene!

I ate at Maurizio’s shortly after they originally opened, and was quite happy with the food. The atmosphere was not so impressive, as they have no windows, and the decoration is rather sparse and unwelcoming.
Long story short, I returned recently and ordered the same fettuccine carbonara I had ordered on my first visit. Well, this time I can say that not only was I displeased with the food, the server flat-​out lied to me. The dish was served and I immediately notice that the sauce was cooked to death.
Carbonara, being an egg based sauce, should not be over heated. The sauce I was served was certainly overheated. So much so that I essentially had a plate of fettuccine with scrambled eggs and (hopefully) pancetta. When I pointed out to the server that the sauce was off, I was told in no uncertain terms, «That’s the way it’s supposed to be».
Well, let me tell you, Maurizio’s, that is most certainly NOT the way carbonara sauce is supposed to be; I often make that sauce, and never turn it into an omelette.
All you had to do was say «I’m sorry, can I have that remade for you?», but you chose to lie to me, assuming that I wouldn’t know any better. Due to that, you’ve lost my business.

This is probably a soft 3.5 review overall. Read on…
I really like the atmosphere of this small restaurant. I had previously dined here in Nov 2009 when it was Café Portobello and don’t see that much has changed in the décor, etc. Pleasant surroundings with dark woods and dim lighting. The current ownership opened Maurizio’s in March of 2010.
I sat in the small, cozy bar area which is my preference. On the previous visit I sat in the main dining room, which during a busy lunch time was noisy and a little chaotic. But, it was at the peak of lunch time dining.
At 1500 on a weekday, for a late lunch, I was the only diner present in the restaurant. Nice, quiet, and relaxing, overlooking the wood burning oven behind the bar. Soothing… promptly greeted, seated and drink order taken. There were several lunch specials, but I opted to order from the regular menu, craving some fish.
Zeroed in on the Tilapia and Shrimp Scampi, customizing with Tilapia only, no risotto and veges, sub some Angel Hair with Marinara instead. In other words, I created my own dish, which my server Rodolfo was pleased to do.
Nice warm bread with butter served immediately. Nothing out of the ordinary, but I enjoyed the texture of the soft bread and creamy butter.
My food, served in the appropriate amount of time, was a very nice presentation. A generous serving of Tilapia was flaky and moist, with the lemon butter sauce. Quite tasty. I expected some capers, but enjoyed it without. The fresh parsley on top was a nice touch. Some grill marks and crispy edges on the fish would have been nice, but the flavor was there.
The pasta was perfectly cooked; I enjoyed the tomato-​ey Marinara but would have liked a little more of the sauce on the Angel Hair carbs, which I requested when asking for a to-​go container. Again, Rodolfo was happy to accommodate. (Leftovers the next day were sooo good!)
Service was excellent, a well deserved 5 stars. He was cheery, attentive, friendly, and present when needed.
The main issue garnering 3 stars, rather than 4, is the price. I feel that $ 16 for a very simple Tilapia dish with a side of pasta was a little over the top. I’ve had comparable dishes elsewhere, even one with lump crab meat on top ($ 15), that were less (i.e. Tilapia Francese over Linguini @ 3 other small Italian eateries ranging $ 10.99-$ 12.50). I feel the price point on this dish is no more than $ 13,
It probably seems that I am quibbling over a measly few $, but that is just my humble opinion. Of course, I ordered it anyway as I was so hungry for some good fish.
Nice wine list @ fair prices. My Estancia Pinot Noir was $ 7.00.
This spot is not in my ‘hood, so probably won’t find myself visiting too often, but I would definitely go back when in the area. It was overall an enjoyable experience. Next time, will try some of the pasta specials, a true measurement of good Italian. BTW, there are some appealing pastas on the dinner menu that appear to be very reasonably priced. $ 9 – 12 range. Lunch specials are even less.
Yep, will be happy to give Maurizio’s another shot.

Pizza Club strikes again! I had to quickly find a place that would be semi-​central to various parties coming from the east and the west that was open past 9 and this place fit the bill. I think they were a little surprised to that 7 people rolled up and ordered 7 pizzas but our waiter was great. He had to pull a third table up to the two were sitting at to make room for all the pizza!
The pizza was good, not amazing. We are starting to really know our way around this neapolitan style, wood burning oven pizza. It’s really thin and sometimes the crust is burnt, we’ve come to expect that but some of our honorary Pizza Club members took issue with it. But what I do mind a little is the very thin crust which very easily gets floppy with the sauce and toppings. I thought the sauce was nice –I don’t like a lot of tomato chunks and this was thin but flavorful. The thinness of the sauce did have a negative impact on the crust holding up, tho. The toppings didn’t include anything out of the ordinary but the meatball slices on the pizza were quite good as was the ham, it was very thin sliced and generous on all the pizzas we ordered with it. Oddly enough, the Hawiian pizza (which is not something I usually go for) was one of the best, the sauce worked really well with the yummy ham and pineapple. It was a solid example of DFW’s new neopolitan pizza trend (the owner of this place is pals with Jay Jerrier of Canne Rosso fame) but would have enjoyed some more exotic toppings. I was between 3 and 4 stars but I’m bumping it up to four beause of the location being a little off the beaten path and not requiring us to drive into Dallas for this kind of pizza.

I thought it was pretty good, not a fan of the pizza. But I must say the white sauce was pretty fantastic, very authentic! Had a light nutty flavor and the cheese popped!
I don’t see myself being a regular here, but will go back from time to time!

Perhaps I missed something, because I do not understand all the 5 star reviews of this place. Yes, it is better than most places in the food abyss I live in called Coppell, but seriously, it was not that great.
We had the pizza and the spaghetti and meatballs. The meatballs were actually really great, but that was the only thing that was exceptional.
The pizza was kinda a let down. I heard this dude worked with Jay from Cane Rosso for a while. He should bring Jay in to teach them how to make killer pizza. Otherwise, I’m not eating the pizza here again. It tasted OK but not much better that the crap-​hole that is Palio’s pizza around the corner. Alas, I had such high hopes for some great pizza in this city. But there is still much need for improvement here.
3 stars is maybe a bit generous, but there was nothing really bad, but nothing to make me want to come back anytime soon.

I just tried this place on Tuesday for lunch with a girlfriend. I had the pasta bolognese and she had the chicken piccata. They were both good. I had such a good experience that I went back with my husband for dinner to try the pizza. We shared two, they were both excellent and we brought basically a whole pizza home. One pizza is big enough for two or three.
Yesterday, after church we took my two step children. They are picky eaters… and loved it. The staff was so sweet. They gave the kids pizza dough to play with and then put it in the wood burning oven and brought it to the table. The kids, 4 and 8, were thrilled and said it’s their new favorite place.
It’s definitely a gem!
Cheers!

My co-​worker and I came here for lunch today and I initially rolled my eyes when he told me that not only he wants Italian food (in Texas? Com’on!!!) but also when he said he knows of a great Italian restaurant.
Being a recent transplant from NYC, I totally dismiss any Italian restaurants outside of the city (the city = NYC. Sorry) but I was surprised by their food and their service. I wouldn’t say this place has the best food especially having been to Italy several times but I must say that their food is as good as what I used to get from NYC.
I highly recommend this place if you are not a big fan of fake Italian food (aka Olive Garden). Oh. By my standard, this place was really cheap, too. YAY!

I have only eaten the pizza but it is «to die for» one of my coworkers said their entire menu is «exceptional Italian food» so much so; he and his family drive from Frisco to Coppell to eat dinner! Well worth the trip and I promise you will return; you won’t be able to help yourself. The owner is a very warm and genuine person and it shows!