Pronto Cucinino

We had the chicken Alfredo and the pasta Carleone. Not impressed. Found two chicken bones in the Carleone pasta. The Alfredo sauce was thin and runny, and served with only three little slices of chicken. Very low quality overall.

The menu says it has the best Lasagna in Houston. Believe me, it is not!!! Not by a long shot… The food was served lightning quick, but it is just so bland. It is like eating a microwave dinner. We had the Lasagna, the Chicken Parmigiano, and Fettucine Alfredo. Nothing remarkable about any of it. The bread served with the meal was stale and had no taste. Was very surprised to learn this was a Mandola owned restaurant. Unfortunately it’s not a Tony Mandola restaurant, as I think it would be different.

I like their food and it’s made in a timely manner but I mean it’s really hard to mess pasta up tho. Anyhoo they have a casual setting and the dinner roles are bomb especially freshly made. I love bread!

Bland is not a flavor. What looked like a tomato soup derivative was the pasta sauce.
I’ve read that Pronto is in the Mandola family. if so, they need to visit Mandolas Markets in Austin. they are also counter service. Prices may be 10% higher but the food is well prepared, flavorful, appetizing looking and served in large portions.
What a letdown after reading mostly positive reviews.

Good food, decent atmosphere, and good service. Now, this is not a high-​quality restaurant, but for the price, it serves up pretty decent food. My favorite is the lemon-​garlic chicken. Wife got some for take out the other day and it was delicious. Obviously, it gets crowded during the lunch hour, so try to work your visit around these hours.

The lemon chicken and pizza squares are great.

I love this place for a casual atmosphere and great food. Their cappuccinos are awesome and my favorite desserts here are the crème brulee and tiramisu although the last 2 times I have been here, they were out of crème brulee :(Their food is great. I usually get the chicken or pork with mash potatoes or green beans. The rolls are good. The service is fast and friendly. The location is nice. Yes, we will be back, we have been coming here for year!

I have NO IDEA why the reviews are so low. I eat here all the time. It is one of my top 5 restaurants in all of Houston. The lemon chicken is good, but the shrimp spiedini is incredible. I might have misspelled that. It is a casual atmosphere, but the huge family photos from Italy really give it a homey feel. The restaurant is clean and the staff are very friendly. You have to try this place. Pay no attention to the reviews!

I used to frequently dine at Pronto when they first opened in Houston. At that time the Montrose location was a happening place and always crowded at lunch and dinner time.
The Holcombe location has not lived up to the original standards of the original location.
On several occasions the last few times, I, as well as HL have eaten here our food orders have come out incorrectly after they were finally delivered to our table.
I honestly think the staff who are supposed to bring our order to our table are the problem or at least one of them.
We see our food order ready sitting on the counter and no one is there to bring it to is on a timely manner.
Today my salad had walnuts after I specifically asked that they be left off.
I saw my order sitting on the counter waiting for an employee to bring it to me.
I waived at the guys behind the food prep counters asking if someone could bring my order to me.
They all tried in vain to find the lady who was supposed to be doing it.
I almost jumped up and grabbed it myself.
There is no sense of urgency and when I did receive my order it was wrong!
One of the guys behind the counter immediately made me another salad.
The lady was unapologetic and her «I don’t care attitude» was apparent!
I just know I will never return here again!

We gave this restaurant a couple of chances. In the end, the food was just ok at best. The food tastes like everything was cooked from frozen, and is very bland, the kids portions are very small (they charge you 4.99 for pasta that hardly fills half the plate, and pasta is cheap). On the bright side, the place was clean and the staff was very nice. But if I’m spending $ 50 on a family meal I can drive down the road and spend the same amount of money for more food that tastes fresh and not frozen. Oh and the pizza is not on real pizza dough almost seems like a cracker substance. Sorry Pronto, great concept, just not up to par.

By far, the best dish on the menu is the rotisserie chicken. We always order it to go with the mashed potatoes and green beans. And the bread rolls are also very good.

Fettuccine was rigid. Not al dente, but rigid to the point that it was practically crunchy. Penne was al dente. Caprese salad was perfect but sautéed spinach was cold by the time we got it home two blocks away. Kids cheese ravioli (4 count): two were stuck together and hard as a rock where they were connected and the other two were super slimy and over-​cooked. My kids wouldn’t eat anymore after one bite.
I hesitate to ever leave a bad review but we’ve tried pronto many times because it’s so close to our house and the to-​go service is convenient and somewhat affordable. The counter service is atrocious and everyone always seems like they can’t be bothered to take our order when we’ve come in. Thankfully, we’re moving and will have different nearby options for Italian to-​go.

If you know what to order it’s pretty good. Love the margherita pizza square !! Perfect, crisp crust and tons of flavor !! My fav is chicken Vincent with garlic mash YUM !! I don’t venture too far from these basics but roasted chicken is good too. I can’t say about other items as I stick to these because they never disappoint.

I thought I’d check this place out since I live right next to it. Ordered the chicken marsala with a side of the garlic mashed potatoes. Bland bland bland. Sadly, even Olive Garden is better than this.

Hmmm the last time I came to Pronto I was in college and it was 2008. I couldn’t remember why I didn’t ever come back, but today I decided to give them another shot seeing as they always seemed busy.
After having my dinner there I came up with the following take on Pronto:
–This is a great place to come to if you you want Italian-​inspired cuisine and don’t want to wait for lines, a table, or be judged for coming in athletic shorts and a t shirt.
–The prices here are pretty cheap, the quality of food is more or less comparable to its pricing.
I had the calamari tonight and tried their take on chicken fettuccine alfredo. Was it mindblowing? No. Was it terrible? No. It was very middle of the road. The calamari was a little rubbery (frozen?), but hey for 6.95 you can’t really complain.
Verdict: I’d probably come back if I wanted italian food and didn’t want to dress up or wait for lines since these last two factors are typically a problem when going to other Italian joints. I must say, my fiancée wasn’t a fan of her dish (She said her pasta was overcooked). But I’m sure she’ll write about it in detail so I don’t want to steal her thunder.

I ordered a vegetarian pasta, specifically the wheat penne pasta primavera which comes with pesto and eggplant and other veggies. I didn’t like the taste much. The piece of bread served with the meal is good though.

I only had the tomato basil soup which was just ok, but I wasn’t impressed with the limited menu.
Pizza is way over priced. A 4×4 in slice is $ 3.25 as an appitizer and a full square pie is $ 44.
Lots of other great alternatives in the area

A home-​style casual Italian in a well positioned part of the city, I find the place good. Just good. The restaurant’s self service drinks station and the large roomy tables make it quite family friendly. However, the kids’ menu is unfortunately quite limited. The portions are reasonable but it can get a bit pricey, especially for lunch. Nothing blew me away on the menu but my food was warm and filling. Not the most flavorful Italian and slightly on the blandish side for me. I reached for the salt and pepper one too many times! The pizza was very flat but I liked the thin feel. The pasta on the other hand was a bit too buttery/​creamy though. My arteries were not happy with my choices that day.
I did enjoy old Italian feel of the place with stone columns, warm rustic coloring, and spacious, open kitchens. There was something very soothing about that. And the staff was attentive with hydration.
The food is less dishy and more mix and match (entrée and side). And I thought there are a refreshing amount of vegetarian options. I won’t be running back but it might deserve another spin.

I’m not usually in this part of town, so when I was working near Reliant one day I was clueless about where to eat lunch. My friend suggested Pronto Cucinino, so I agreed blindly. If you were here on a pretty afternoon, the patio would be great. I could easily see myself there enjoying the breeze and a coffee.
Unfortunately it was chilly and wet the day we went there. No patio lounging, but I’ll make the best of it. I ordered a chopped side salad and a piece of margarita pizza. The salad was good. It’s more «beefed up» than most side salads. It had artichoke, walnuts, tomato, cucumber, and a few other good toppings. The balsamic vinaigrette is a little thin, but good. The pizza was a little «different» than I was expecting. It’s more like flat bread with toppings than pizza. The pizza sauce is unconventional. It’s made with fresh tomatoes, not canned. It’s like they just smash the tomatoes and bit and add some herbs. I liked it, but it might not be to everyone’s taste.
I also indulged in a mini tiramisu. It was good, but there wasn’t anything special about it to describe.
The food was decent, it was just a little expensive for what you get.

Came here with a co-​workers to celebrate my boss’s bday and it was just great service. It’s like a fast food place for a Italian restuarant. The service was very quick to get our food which was pretty good. Will definitely come here again.
Couple of my co-​workers got the Lemon Garlic Roasted Chicken with garlic mash potatoes and green beans, another got the Italian sausage with roasted potato, tomato, mixed peppers & carmelized onions, my boss got Chicken Vincent which is coated with parmigiano cheese topped with artichoke hearts and lemon butter, and I got the Penne Primavera which has pasta, artichoke, zucchini, eggplant, tomato, onions, olive oil, and pesto.
Pretty delicious here!