Andrea Ristorante Italiano

CLOSED!!!
Went by Andrea’s last night to have dinner with the hubby, and Andrea’s windows were all covered up and For Lease signs were in every window.
Looks like we will have to find a new restaurant to have our anniversary dinners. Very sad. :(

It’s probably more of a 3 and a half star restaurant, but I round up for places that I want to do well. Its a small establishment, nice on the inside, not necessarily nice on the outside.
I love that they started you off by bringing a plate of olives and parmesan cheese cubes and basket of bread. The olives and cheese were very nice.
All pastas and entrees come with a salad, so that came out next. I must say that I was not a fan of their Italian dressing and felt the salad was not that impressive.
For our main courses, we had the four cheese ziti and the eggplant parmesean (called something else on the menu, but that’s what it was). The ziti was excellent, the cheese sauce was amazing. The eggplant was cooked perfectly. The spaghetti and marinara was standard, nothing memorable.
We’d go back when we’re in the mood for Italian.

It was OK… as an italian food snob from NY, it takes a lot to impress me in an italian restaurant, as most of these places have the same tasting veal or chicken parm and sauce and pasta… the only ones that taste different are the ones that suck… Andreas is ok.

I cannot believe how close this place is to my house… and I had never gone. The location has run the gamut of eateries and nothing lasted, until Andrea. It’s an unassuming looking place, so I never had the urge to try it out. An internet search for the best gnocchi (which I am always on the hunt for) in Houston led me there. That same day, I placed a to-​go order for gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce to pick up on the way home. It was too early for the dinner, so the restaurant was pretty much empty. It was nicely decorated and not over-​the-​top, and all the tables simply set. My order was waiting at the counter, ready to go. The server that took care of my bill was friendly and quick. The owner/​chef came out of the kitchen to say hello as well.
Home — I immediately opened everything up even though I wasn’t hungry yet. I got a nice fresh salad with more than just lettuce (mushrooms/​olives/​parm), a small loaf of French bread, and the metal/​paper container of gnocchi, piping hot, not like you’ll get in a styrofoam or plastic container. Even if I was going to save the rest for later I had to taste it right away, and I’m glad I did. The gnocchi was soft, not chewy or hard, the sauce was very rich but not overly pungent. I ended up eating it all over the course of 3 days. It was a generous portion and quite heavy, as gnocchi in a cheesy cream sauce ought to be! I am completely looking forward to going back and trying more things and probably order the gnocchi again ;) Will update along the way!

Sometimes it’s company that makes a great dinner experience and others it’s the «wow» factor the restaurant gives you in terms of décor, customer service, and food. Last night I loved who I was with but let me tell you… there’s something special about this place. It’s not often I will give a 5 star review or sit for an extensive amount of time at a dinner table savoring every bite of my entrée (or dessert, but we’ll talk about that later). This time I did and it was worth the 2 hours we were there.
It’s been ages since I’ve written a Unilocal review. Since I moved to Houston I’ve had the chance to eat at some wonderful restaurants backed by high reviews and well-​known chefs. Most give you that «it’s not too bad» final description because somewhere along the way every restaurant seems to F something up. If it’s not something slightly wrong with the food, cleanliness, customer service, etc… Nothing seemed to give me that complete experience you look for in a restaurant. Until last night.
I’ll skip the décor and jump straight to the food because you can hit up their website up and see for yourself. Upon being seated by a very friendly staff we were drawn into their simple but unique menu. It took us about 10 minutes to even figure out what we wanted because there are about 2 food related quotes on each page. I told my date that you probably can’t put in an order for food quotes so we might want to focus on the food order. Just saying… ;)
So what we ordered, finally, was Bruschetta for starters, the special which was a Veal chop, Lasagna alla Luigi, and the all so yummy Tiramisu. Bruschetta was yummy and went perfectly with our Italian Pinot Noir. Topping was fresh tomatoes, spinach, and drizzled with a garlic olive oil. The entrees… were the best home-​made Italian dishes I’ve had in town. Every time I go to an Italian restaurant for the first time I always order their lasagna dish. Even though the exotic items seem extremely appealing, lasagna says a lot about an Italian chef. Does he/​she care about the simple things? … or does he/​she put everything into their more expensive items? If I taste canned tomato sauce on my lasagna then that was the last time you’ll ever see my face. I’ll have to say though, I savored every bite. It was one of the if not the best lasagna I’ve ever had. Simple, flavorful, layered properly, not devoured in cheese, and home-​made tomato sauce. The portion was also very generous. My date had the veal chop which came with fresh spinach and mushrooms. I obviously tried everything on her plate to find out the veal almost melted in my mouth. It was a beautiful cut, seasoned just right, and cooked exactly to her request. The word of the night was easily in every aspect «yummy.» Finally the Tiramisu… oh the tiramisu… there’s a star by it on the menu for some reason. Why? After having it I can come up with many reasons. All of them good. Thank you Viann B. for including your Tiramisu experience here in your review. That was the push I needed to order it. I have to say I agree with her. It was the best I’ve ever had in town. My date doesn’t even like Tiramisu but was all in after I fed her a fork-​full of this deliciousness. The plating was lovely and the taste was out of this world. I really don’t know how to describe the perfect texture or taste of it. Can there be a food description that goes along the lines of «Sex on a plate?» If there can be then this is it.
Oh and I almost forgot about the wait staff. They were all great, extremely attentative, and knowledgeable. Thanks for completing the wonderful experience.
To close… you’ll see me back real soon…

There are two types of Italian places — one that makes meh eggplant parmigiana and one that makes great eggplant parmigiana.
In the past I have ordered the dish only to be met with thick, dry tasting, bleh eggplant and enough bland sauce to choke a horse, but not here! The eggplant was thin, flavorful and the sauce was by far the best marinara sauce I have had in a long while.
The service was good, the food was excellent — everyone in our 4 person party was delighted with what they ordered — and we will be back!
OH! And the chef even walked us to the car with an umbrella because it was raining — talk about awesome!

Went here for lunch with co-​workers for my birthday. Yummy authentic Italian food. Friendly service and reasonably priced. Large portions!
The best tiramisu in town! We’ll be back.