Amici Ristorante

Came here all the way from short pump to try the black ink squid pasta. Nice! The tomato roasted garlic dipping sauce for the bread was quite good. Thinking to make the sauce at home.

I was very disappointed in the value for the food and the service in this restaurant. I don’t know why they have any diners Awards. Waiters are not attentive and do not clean the table off when necessary. Our dinner was lacking an important ingredient. They adjusted the bill but we had to bring it to their attention that crab was not served on the plate.
Our neighboring table was also very disappointed and expressed his concerns to the waitress. She said she would tell the chef. from what we could tell nothing else was said and his bill was certainly not adjusted. Tonight two unhappy customers will not be returning.
Even with a coupon deal it’s a poor deal.

Went there with a group. Had the best dining experience I have had in years. We did the Chefs Tasting. you cannot go wrong with this .at all. Every dish was excellent! As much food as it was; it was so well timed and the proportions were perfect.; not to mention the taste and beautiful presentation. Everyone got to indulge in each dish. We met the chef who was simply lovely and genuinely passionate about his food and the people who eat it. Wow!!! I will go back and i recommend ANYTHING on the menu. I wish i could rate higher then five stars.

The food was pretty good during restaurant week. I had the ravioli. Yum! The bread and red pepper like purée dip was different and good. Service was underwhelming upstairs. Amici could do much better if they seemed welcoming and actually came by to check on us a tad more.

The tiramisu was excellent and I don’t even like tiramisu. Also the salad was fresh and my entrée was okay. I was there with my work group and we had a private room, but service seemed crazy slow and they started us off with 1 menu… 30 minutes later we got menus for each person. I’m hoping this was a one off. Overall, I can’t say I would be dying to try it again but I wouldn’t scoff at the idea of returning if someone else wanted to go.

I was not very pleased with this restaurant, especially with it being so expensive.
For starters, even though it’s a cute remodeled house and seems like a cozy space… it’s no really. The lighting is WAY to bright and the caustic are awful. Having a conversation was very uncomfortable because I could hear everyone around me and they could hear me.
We arrive and showed to our table, we order sodas and wine. The wine was good, but nothing special. I ordered a diet coke which tasted like it was half water, seemed like it didn’t have any bubbles. I told the waitress… she seemed confused but changed it. It was still just as awful. I asked her for a Perrier lemonade, which was good.
As appetizer we ordered the cheese stuffed red bell peppers with balsamic vinegar. It was good… but just good… would prefer a stronger cheese because the taste was sort of bland.
Looking at starters was dissapinting because almost all pastas were similar and just 1 ravioli and no risotto options. I went for the ravioli in light sauce. Yet again another «good» dish… nothing fancy. The others ordered a ravioli as well and a Salmon. Apperantly the Salmon was prepared very well.
Nevertheless, we payed a 140 $ bill for «okay» «good» food… it was definetly not worth it and probably won’t return

Italian food isn’t usually on our radar screen but decided to give it a try.
The service was good and the food was some of the best Italian we have had in a while. The pasta was made in house and was perfectly cooked. The duck was expertly prepared as well. Dessert was quite delicious as well.
I would give it a 17 on a 20 point scale.

Fantastic food — the pasta is fresh, the ingredients are top notch, and the ambience is cozy. The fettuccine and mushroom ragu’ was delightful.

Forgot about this wonderful restaurant. Hadn’t been there in 20 years and my husband and I went for our anniversary. The food was excellent and the service was great. The focus on freshness was apparent and the staff was friendly. Décor needs some updates, but we willbe back!

Fantastic! The food was just delicious and the service was great! I enjoyed the setting with the open doors and intimate dining area. My favorite part of the meal was the prosciutto wrapped asparagus which was just perfect! We would absolutely go back if we are ever in the Richmond area.

Amici has changed a bit since we were there in 2006. The outdoor seating area has been elevated and enclosed with glass & wood-​framed doors to the street and a glass wall. All those hard surfaces make a noisy echo chamber and although there was only one other couple in the resturant, the acoustics were very noisy.
The calamari appetizer we split was very good, as was my wife’s duck. My Black Angus sirloin would have been good had they done it as requested — medium rare. Their second try faired no better, but due to the long delay I went ahead with it. One would think with a high priced Resturant with only 2 customers, 2 servers and the owner/​manager present, they could have gotten the steak done correctly… at least on the 2^nd try.
The wine was way over priced, the cheapest was $ 36 for an ordinary wine or $ 13 for a glass of house red. The desert choices were ok, but the Seasonal Berries in a cream sauce turned out to be sliced strawberries. No other berries. The owner/​manager did offer is a lemon cello for the raw steaks mistakes.
I expected high prices, but a $ 130 bill excluding tip with food not up to par, puts Amici on my «not to be repeated» list.

Arrived at this intimate Italian establishment for Restaurant Week ($ 25 for a 3-​course meal with few options for each). My previous experience at Amici’s was at a Unilocal Event a year prior. It was delightful as the sampling of dishes were overwhelmingly delicious. This time around, I thought the food and service would be right on par, but they all missed the mark. Despite having constant mixups on refilling our waters with sparkling vs. tap vs. spring water (all we wanted was just plain water) and waiting for an extraordinary amount of time to order or to pay our checks, we still enjoyed dinner on a warm evening out on Carytown.
On to the food:
1. Appetizer: Fried artichoke — four small dry, fried balls of artichoke. Certainly not what I imagined it to be.
2. Main: Pork cheek with cabbage — succulent small portions of braised cheek that were well-​seasoned and left me wanting for more. Best dish of the meal.
3. Dessert: Tiramisu — good.
Overall, the dining experience left me a tad disappointed and unsure of what to think. Take this with a grain of salt as it is possible the experience was more a product of Restaurant Week than of their true standards.

YUMMY! 4.5 stars for sure. Solid Italian eatery.
We enjoyed a late lunch. We started with salads, trying both a shaved fennel and orange salad that was subtle and delicious, and the traditional caesar that was fresh and crisp.
We ate all the bread and chili sauce they brought us-​it was very tasty!
All of us had pasta– homemade fettucine, farfalle with peas in a cream sauce, and shrimp with a tomato sauce. We were all stuffed! It was great!

7 of us went and ordered from the restaurant week menu. The pork cheek with cabbage I had was juicy, tender and full of flavor. The tiramisu was super as well. A few in our group had salmon and really enjoyed it.
On the other hand, some of us had rustic tomato soup found it rather bland and disappointing. The service was friendly but not as professional and efficient as we expected.

I came here with my brother on a Monday night for dinner around 7 PM. The food was excellent, easily four stars or possibly even five. The speed of service however was terrible and only deserving of the lowest possible rating. We had appetizers and entrees — no desserts, no special four or five course tasting meal — and we spent 2 hours and 20 minutes in the restaurant. On a Monday? Unacceptable.
The food was great though: I had the Antipasto Misto and a seafood dish with scallops, shrimp, mussels, calamari and salmon in a delicious tomato broth. The Caesar salad also hit the spot. My brother also enjoyed the duck with cherry reduction. Prices are fair, definitely a little on steeper side but worth it for good food.
The service though was just such a letdown. Our waiter checked on us infrequently and did nothing to help make the wait bearable. We started with a beer order and it took probably about ten minutes for those to show up. We ordered the appetizers and they took *at least* 20 minutes, possibly as much as 30. After finishing those about 45 minutes in, we just sat… and waited… and waited. I ordered another beer and waited another 10 or 15 minutes for it to show up. At about the 90 minute mark, our waiter came to fill up our waters and we finally inquired about the status of our meals. Apparently the kitchen was «slammed’ — strange because the restaurant really didn’t look that busy. A short while later, my Caesar salad showed up. Then, finally — at 1 hour and 50 minutes into our seating — we received our entrees. We cleared our plates within 20 minutes and were finally out of there 10 minutes after that. As he was taking our check the waiter made a brief apology about the speed of the food. That salvaged him a 15% tip.
I understand the restaurant business can get crazy and sometimes service slows down. It happens. But when it does, I expect some proactive communication and perhaps a small effort to make me feel like a valued customer. How about offering us some more bread? Or maybe not letting us sit there for 20 or 30 minute stretches without checking in on us? Seriously, not cool guys.
I’m sure this was a terrible anomaly since my brother has been there before and had no complaints about the service. But I’d be scared to go there on a busy night of the week after this experience.

The one thing that I like about Amici is the option to choose a 4, 5, or 6 course meal where the chef chooses the dishes. Now some folks may be a bit more skittish about what they are willing to eat. I’m willing to give it a shot and put the trust in the chef. This is my third time of going this route — usually because I see too many things on the menu and figure I’ll have multiple things using the multiple course meal. Makes better sense economically too. And to take it a step further, I had a living social certificate. So I chose the 5 course (no breakfast and a lean cuisine for lunch!) for $ 45. You can also choose to have the restaurant pair wines for an extra $ 15. I chose a simple glass of Riesling.
First course — appetizer was a thinly sliced veal with a sauce that included tuna and topped with capers and arugula. I initially couldn’t tell what was in the sauce but when the waitress indicated what it was — well, aha moment. Only problem I experienced was a lingering flavor of tuna — so crunch on the breadsticks in between courses.
Second course — 4 cheese ravioli (Fontina, Ricotta, Parmigianno, Gorgonzola) with a pureed light zucchini sauce. Delicious — and I’m not a pasta fan! Cheese just oozed out — yum. Just a warning, although it is light if you don’t like the stronger flavor of a Gorgonzola — you’ll probably want a different pasta.
Third course — Heirloom tomato salad with frizze and sautéed onions in balsamic vinaigrette. Fresh, delicious — but you have to be good with the sometime «bite» of the frizze.
Fourth course — Rockfish topped with crab, mashed potatoes and those lovely skinny French green beans. The fish was delicious and the crab more so! I like the little spring of rosemary standing in the mashed potatoes. Gives me the ability to add some delicious rosemary to my every bite. (No I don’t consider it a garnish to be tossed aside and I do love rosemary.)
Fifth course — Tiramisu. I kept praying the chef would choose to send the panacotta. Darn it. I hate coffee so you know something had to come up. Well the tiramisu was tasty — and I just steered clear of the soaked ladyfingers at the bottom.
Wait staff is wonderful, attentive, and personable. 5 stars on that. The food was good — don’t get me wrong. But I have been other times and I would say that other times it was a strong 5. I rated it as a 4 this time because the flavor selections affected the following dishes. the tuna flavor lingered and I don’t think the pasta stood a fair evaluation. Then back on a stronger flavor with the frizze and balsamic. I guess I’d just prefer that stronger flavors not be used on the front end unless all of the dishes have similar bold flavors.
Hey! That picture has a strawberry on the tiramisu — mine only had the mint sprig. Must be too late in the season!

My b/​f took me here for a lovely dinner on Valentine’s Day. When we arrived, we were greeted by several of the friendly staff. It was my first time eating at Amici, and I immediately appreciated the pleasant atmosphere of the Amici dining room. Pale yellow walls adorned with eye-​pleasing framed prints and attractive décor, dimmed lighting, and a relatively low noise level conducive to intimate conversation collectively set the mood for a romantic dining experience.
Our server was very knowledgeable about the wine list and was helpful in answering our questions about several wines that we were unfamiliar with. We both found our respective glasses of wine to be very enjoyable (a Riesling for me, and a dry red for him), so that got our meal off to a great start. I’m a pescatarian, so the numerous seafood dishes on the menu gave me lots of options. I changed my mind at least 3 times before finally settling on the «spaghettini al nero con trota affumicata.» Translation: homemade black ink spaghettini with smoked trout, arugula, and cream sauce. I was intrigued by the uniqueness of this dish, which is part of the reason I decided to order it. However, I had never eaten trout before ordering this dish, so I was a bit nervous to find out whether I would like it or not. The first bite removed any skepticism I might have had about whether I ordered the right thing or not… oh my gosh, this was so incredibly delish! I savored every bite, but as much as I wanted to devour the whole thing, it was too much to finish in one sitting, so I enjoyed the leftovers for lunch the next day. My b/​f sampled my pasta dish and agreed that it was fantastic. He ordered the ribeye, which came with potatoes and asparagus… since I’m a pescatarian, I obviously didn’t sample his entrée, but he said that it was awesome, and his clean plate supported that statement. :)
So, Amici Ristorante earns high marks from me for providing an overall wonderful, romantic dining experience. It’s definitely worthy of a spot on my list of fave special occasion dining spots, which means I will most certainly be back! The next time you find yourself looking for a quality date night spot in RVA, you should definitely give Amici a try!

Had a good meal here to have a small celebratory business dinner. Service was great, notably two people arrived earlier than the rest and were engaged in conversation/​entertained at the bar before the other two joined.
The food was good, I ended up with the fettuccine. No complaints there, it tasted fresh.
A nicer option in Cary Town, though you’ll notice the difference at the end when you get your bill.
Note: Ask for a seat away from the windows if it’s during the colder months. It get chilly!

Nice little restaurant on Cary St, with some class. Had the calimari for an appetizer… it was okay. Had the caesar salad… it was okay. I had the grilled scallops for an entrée, and it was off the charts. Cooked perfectly, and with just the right amount of a smokey taste. My wife had the pan fried grouper, and it was awesome as well. Had the appetizer been a little stronger, this would have been a 5 star easy.

Based on the price, I normally would have labelled this place a «special occasion» restaurant, but ended up going for no reason with a Living Social deal. I’m glad I tried it, but being new in town with so many other great places to try, I probably won’t go back anytime soon. Nothing was bad — everything we ate was delicious, and the service was great, it was just way overpriced, and I wouldn’t call it out-​of-​this-​world amazing.
Since we had a Living Social, we were able to order drinks, an app, dinner, and dessert. I was disappointed in depth and variety of the wine selection, but happy with my choice. I chose a glass of pinot grigio, and my boyfriend had one of the reds (not sure which, but it was one of the lesser expensive ones!). I wanted to try one of their martinis, but opted for the wine instead.
We very much enjoyed the bread selection. Three types, and served with a bean dip, rather than your typical butter or olive oil. Very delicious.
For the appetizer, we chose something a little different — acorn squash panacotta. I thought all the appetizers were pretty creative. The dish was sweet like a dessert, but not too sweet, as it was balanced out by the squash flavor. It was good, just a strange concept, and I’m still not sure that I really liked it. But glad to have tried it!
For dinner we ordered fettuccini, and ravioli. Both were fresh — and excellent! The rosemary fettucini with pancetta had a great flavor, and the ravioli sauce was creamy yet delicate. But at over $ 16 a dish, I expected a salad, or some veggies to be paired along with it, or at least Olive Garden sized portions! Nope. Just the pasta. Delicious, but a little angry about the cost.
We ordered dessert to go — a slice of Irish crème cheesecake. I was surprised that the Irish crème was the current flavor, because I know it was the flavor in the beginning of September as well. (Stopped in to see the dessert menu once but decided to move on elsewhere.) Overall a good cheesecake, but obviously store bought.
If you’re willing to pay the price — definitely try it out! But if you want a more reasonably priced meal for the same quality, look elsewhere.