Gratziano’s Restaurant

We held my daughter’s engagement dinner at Gratziano’s and it was amazing. Their event room, food and wait staff were outstanding. We fed 35 and toasted the couple for less than $ 15 per person. Gratziano’s only charged us for those who dined and the room was FREE. I haven’t enjoyed fresh, homemade pasta at a restaurant in at least two decades. The meals were spectaculary fresh and delicious with a new zest to old-​world recipes. The desserts were fresh, plated beautifully, and delicious. I cannot brag enough on how well we were treated and the beauty of the room. It is at the top of my list for hosting events and dining for Waco.

I’m surprise of the low ratings. We had a different experience. We stayed at the bar, they actually have $ 1 beer from 7−10pm. So with that by itself we were in it. The pizza and pasta that we had were very good and fresh. Our bartender was a very young girl who was very attentive, friendly and quick on our requests. We had a good Monday evening.

KUDDOS
As an Italian former Pittsburgh transplant here in Waco dining out is always an experience for me. I am extremely picky from the moment I walk in to an establishment to the moment I walk out. I recently decided to stop in to Gratzianos for a quick bite to eat. The appetizer french fries were amazing especially with the 3 special dipping sauces they offer. I ordered the Chicken Gratzi and it was honestly the best thing I have eaten in a long time. The chick was lightly breaded and covered with a cream sauce fresh tomatoes and fresh basil. It was not to rich but perfect with all of the flavors combined. I also got a side of there Parmesan broccoli with my meal which was fresh and not over cooked. I am so thankful to have been able to enjoy a meal out and not have had to cook!
I will be frequenting this establishment and look forward to trying everything on the menu!!!

Perfect for dates or families! The decorations inside make it look like you’re standing on a street in Italy. Family portions so easy to split a salad and entrée between two.
My roommate and I went for dinner as a study break. Our server, I don’t remember her name, was really attentive.
We split a salad, bruschetta, a pizza, and dessert. The salad was really fresh and the dressing wasn’t too heavy. THE BRUSCHETTA IS THE BEST I’VE HAD IN WACO! It’s on soft bread, which we weren’t expecting, but it was fabulous. We had to round out the meal with chocolate cake since we had split everything– and it was just the right amount of rich.
The Italian margarita was a big hit with us too…
I ended up bringing my family over the break and they loved it. Family of 4 and we split a salad and two entrees!
So much better than eating at a chain.

Horrid.
A recent Waco-​transfer, I’d heard good things about Gratziano’s. A friend who lives in Killeen said she’d heard good things too – so we met up for dinner – thinking it would be a nice romantic evening out. HA. We called ahead and even made reservations because we were anticipating this would be the type of place where that would be beneficial.
We walked in to the tunes of Lady Gaga, Eminem, and whatever other crap could be heard on your local top-​20 station — or at Crickets, two doors down. – odd for a Saturday night at an Italian restaurant (and where are all the people!!!)
The waiter was a young d-​bag w/​a «faux-​hawk» and a lazy attitude. It took him SERIOUSLY 3 trips to bring 2 glasses of water and 2 diet cokes. Getting refills was like pulling teeth. The bartender at the front nailed it with the girly drink my friend requested for us (I think this was the only thing that wasn’t a total disaster). We liked the bread – agree that it was probably the best part of the meal. I saw some on someone else’s table and asked «oh, do we get bread?» yep. then it took him 2 more swing-by’s and 2 reminders to finally bring it out. When we asked for a 2^nd round– he replied «it’ll be extra». ok, we’d still like it… TODAY. ha. He brought it out after bringing our meal. which was 30 minutes after we had asked for the 2^nd round of bread. I actually had to collect the empty drink glasses to the edge of the table before he finally realized we’d like refills (which took forever). So, aside from the crappy inexperienced waiter, it didn’t get any better.
We were quite hungry, so we ordered appetizers – the «fondue» was SO GROSS. the guys thought it was tasty – it was a skillet of fried greasy cheese, ground beef, fried chips, and extra grease. perhaps I just can’t read – or I was so hungry I was temporarily blinded – but «fondue” – to me – seems like it would be fondue. not cheese and meat thrown on a skillet and left to burn. it was ridiculous. Crab claws were fine – but small portion for $ 13.
The menu is less-​than-​desirable. I was shocked that there was no back page – and ¾ of the menu is pizza. Well, gee. I guess I’ll have a pizza. I request the 4 cheese specialty pizza and asked to add sausage to it.
So, I ended up with the «build-​your-​own» (which only has one type of cheese) with sausage. AND onions… hmmmm… no, onions please… «what… there are onions on there??» yep – see those big purple/​white circular things all over the pizza – those would be onions. that I didn’t ask for… *sigh*
so, he takes the pizza back, and it comes back out relatively quickly — again, just the «build-​your-​own» with sausage added. whatever – I’ve given up at this point. pizza was greasy-​the thin –crust was decent – my boyfriend had alfredo – he apparently thought the sauce was great – it reminded me of Michelina’s frozen dinner entrees – exactly.
When we get the bill, I did ask for the bread to be removed – seeing as we hadn’t touched it and it came out AFTER the food. He obliged – and either forgot to charge our diet cokes, or comp’ed them… guessing he forgot it, but wasn’t going to say anything after the whole thing. and it very clearly said on the receipt «build-​your-​own» not 4 cheese – so, again. D-​bag waiter at his finest. I can’t pin-​point him, because there were seriously 3 other dudes that looked just like him – faux-​hawks and all.
So, all in all…
romantic ambiance? more like a «Bad Romance»
good service? –perhaps on «Jersey Shore» (I give it 1 fist-​pump – if I must.)
quality of food? I guess it’s important to note that I did NOT get food poisoning. so that’s a bonus – haven’t checked in with the friends to see if they were able to drive back to Killeen without an emergency pit-​stop, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they did.
So, I guess I’ll have to continue the quest for a decent italian food place – because this was certainly sub-​par – I think I’ll stick to the Michelina’s…cheaper, better service, and much better environment in my own home.

I came here for dinner bc I craved their salad dish called ‘the californian’ but when we got it… Our server was ‘busy’ bc she had a little party. She didn’t come by our
Table ad we had to go get our own menu. When she did come by she said that she’ll be fully ours when the party leaves. Luckily we knew what we wanted so we placed order. Good thing we did… She didn’t come back to us for min with no drinks or anything. On top of a horrible server, there was a piece of wrapper in it and to top that off we told our server and all she did was say sorry and throw it away in front of us. Also she didn’t even bother to get the manager to even come by our table… There was no one there to greet us when we first came. The dish was good except I’m not sure I want to go back here to eat it. She totally ruined for us.

We visited this restaurant for the Sunday brunch buffet. The selection of three gourmet pizzas was about average. They offered Barbecue Chicken, Margarita, and Pepperoni. There was also a selection of three pastas, a cheesy penne dish and macaroni and cheese that were both sub par but the chicken parmesan was very good. All the salads were tasty and the dessert selection, which included a chocolate chunk cookie and a brownie were satisfactory. The staff was especially friendly and a gentlemen even offered to have an additional selection of pizza baked for our tasting. Gratziano’s has done an excellent job of presenting «the buffet» in a tasteful manner.

Justin L is right, the vegetables are too oily. Actually, the free bread was the best thing. More importantly, what’s up with that awful series of mural prints? Really?

I had dinner yesterday evening with my wife and two other couples here and had a pretty good dining experience. My wife and I had a beer at Crickets before meeting the others in our party for dinner at 6 PM. It was midweek and there was hardly anyone around so seating was instant. The waiter was polite and helpful. We had the cheese bread as a shared appetizer and it was delicious. One small thing that I liked here was cloth napkins instead of paper, lending a more luxurious dining experience. For a main entrée, I had the Chicken Gratziano with fettuccine. My wife had spicy chicken fettuccine. Both meals were excellent and had very good flavor and richness to the sauces. Prices were reasonable, with each of our entrees being around 10 – 11 dollars each and my wife took half of hers home for later. Everyone else at the table seem to enjoy their meals and I didn’t hear any complaints. The waiter came by and checked on things periodically and was very professional. I would return here again if I was in the area and in the mood for some pasta. Maybe next time I will try one of their pizzas.