Lorenzo's Italian Restaurant

Excellent artisan pizzas, and if you want to know what real marsala sauce tastes like and you are luck enough to go when it's one of their specials, get it, you won't regret it. Salad and bread are ordinary, but their shine on whatever specials they have for the day. Skip the menu and just order from the specials board. It's the best in the house. more

I walked in with my party around 8pm on a Tuesday night, and it was semi-busy. There only seemed to be one waiter doing everything from seating, taking orders, serving the food and bussing tables, which was fine. He did a good job, although his service was definitely rushed. We ordered our entrees and were given a salad and some bread. The dressing on the salad was watery and the chunks of lettuce were MASSIVE. Trying to cut them on such a small plate = salad all over the table. The bread wasn't anything special. Now on to the entrees. We ordered lasagna and the linguine with clams and cream sauce. The sauce on the lasagna smelled like sauce in a can of chef boyardee. The pasta with clams was WAY salty and overly buttery. We decided to brave the dessert menu and try the tiramisu cake and a cannoli. The cake was soggy and you didn't get much of a true tiramisu flavor. The pastry of the cannoli was HARD. After living in New York for awhile, yes, my expectations for Italian food are quite high, but this was a truly poor reproduction of just basic Italian food. more

I love Italian food and that what make me visit this restaurant with my wife last weekend. the welcome was very cold for being Italian restaurant even though Italian music was playing . the service was below normal but what cut my eyes and ears is the way how this man and i think his the owner acting so uncivilized with his staff cursing cussing and screaming at all of them and you can hear every thing, it was disgusting to see some one traits his workers that way, and then my food was over cook in ugly dish and i think that is the out come of the way he treat his workers....few minutes later he stop by our table acting like Italian do, but all was fake from the beginning to the end .....by the way, the menu is saying that he's being in business since 1966 .....wooow this what he comes up with after all this long years and this how you act with your employees . Chaim on you man more

I live near the area. Was so hungry and craving for some pasta. I googled and found this quaint resto. When i entered the place, there were two couples inside eating. I ordered their sauteed mushrooms and capellini. It was okay--kindah watery tho. The servers were okay but they did not even bothered to ask if i needed water. All in all, i think its a nice place for young couples--- place is kind of romantic at night (with italian songs playing in the background) and budget friendly too. more

I have been to Lorenzo's a few times, and every time i go - i leave there delightfully full and IMPRESSED. This last time we went on Friday, and were treated exceptionally well by our waiter for the evening, Rudy, whose recommendation of not bothering to open my menu, was odd at first but turned out to be a delightful way of him describing the on-board specials of the evening. I went with the Shrimp Corinna, which was breaded shrimp in a rich and super delicious lemon garlic cream sauce with butter and garlic linguine, and my wife ordered the Sausage Brasciole, which was a homemade roll with super tasty cheese in the middle! I don't think our mouths had ever been any happier than they were on Friday Night!! Our server Rudy brought us glasses of a wonderful Italian wine , which of course he recommended called Sangue Di Guida, (it means Blood of Judas-I had to write the name down for future reference!). It was a bubbly and sweet red wine served chilled - very tasty! The chef makes a great Pistachio Walnut Pie and a Chocolate Walnut Pie, which unfortunately they ran out of by the time we were ready to order it, but thats ok, because we have enjoyed these treats before, and we most certainly will again! Our server was right - always go with the on-board specials, because the Owner/Chef Rick Lorenzo puts such grace and imagination to his beautifully created off-the-menu sensations! His passion is sometimes mistaken though when he gets loud in his kitchen, but i just believe that he doesn't allow any shortcuts from his staff - understandably. My wife and i will always come back to this restaurant - not only for the on-board dinner specials or for the very tasty wines, but for the excellent service as well! Pros: Ridiculously low-prices, flavorful food, outstanding service Cons: too small - deserves more space more

The food isn't bad,...but it isn't good and the chef isn't really Italian! He likes to talk like he is, which is confusing because he's speaking with an Italian accent. What's funnier and even more pompous is the fact that Patricia, his ex-wife who works for him because she can't get a job anywhere else thinks she's even more Italian than he is. (She's not. At all.) They live in fantasy world up there, and the entire show is disfunctional as hell. The place is packed with chairs and tables even though they don't get much business. The food is alright at best. Rick (the owner) yells at his waitstaff all day long, which I actually found funny, but not all people enjoy watching that. You won't see the same face twice because that's how high the turnover rate is for the staff there. Aside from his ex, (who is stuck up and snooty) because she doesn't have anywhere else to go, and his son who is a deadbeat. Pros: none really Cons: it's a joke more

I absolutely love Lorenzo's! I go there at LEAST once a week for lunch and I am so glad I found this small little restaurant. The food is great and it's cheap. I'm reading some of yalls complaints, and really your probably just fabricating the story. I know the manager/chef & he does a pretty damn good job. As far as the lady who said all of her food was stale and so was the bread, why in god's name would you order a desert if your food was so bad? Wouldn't you assume that ""oh, my bread was stale... my spaghetti was cold and nasty, and deserts would probably be bad too"". If you want to pay more and get ""better"" food to Aldo's down the street or just go to good old Olive Garden. Pros: It's delicious, service is amazing, and the story behind the restaurant is just heart-warming. Cons: It can get pretty damn busy during lunchtimes. more

As a disclaimer, as far as Italian ristorante's are concerned, I grew up in New York and recently spent 4 years living in Italy, so I can judge italian ristorante's a little harsh. But even with putting the ""living it Italy"" aside, Lorenzo's was more like a neighborhood pizza place in NY that a restaurant...or ristorante. The place is really small and quaint.....not much of a romantic place. Nothing on the menu really jumped out at me. As the place struck me as more of a pizza place, I went with my gut and ordered the pizza. My wife had the lasagna, which was dubbed ""The best in SA"". First off, the waiter brought the bread, which was toasted, but cold. The salad's soon followed, which were fine with a nice homemade oil and vinegar dressing. Then our meals came out. The helpings were more of a lunch menu size with a high end dinner price. The sauce was very salty for our taste, but the lasagna was not half bad. As for the pizza, it skimped on the cheese toppings, and at 7:30pm on a Sat night, I heard the chef tell the waiter that after my pizza order, ""no more pizza orders would be taken tonight"". AT 7:30pm on a SATURDAY NIGHT??? Nevertheless, the wait staff was good and the food was mediocre. There really wasn't anything on the menu that my wife or I couldn't have cooked better at home. When we dine out, we expect to have a similar or better experience than our own home cooked meals. Lorenzo's was more of a quick lunch stop, than a ristorante. On a side note, we read the other posts describing Chef Rick's outbursts and mistreatment of staff, so we expected to see something unprofessional. As for tonight, there was no show from the kitchen. But if unprofessional outbursts are a frequent scene.....maybe we should put Lorenzo's on Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares!!!! more

Vegetarians have it kind of hard in this city, espeically if the spouse is a die hard carnivore. But at Lorenzo's everyone can leave happy and still have enough money for a movie afterwards. The generous portions of pasta ( chicken alfredo for you canrivores- or the ziti and marinara for the vegetarians) may mean you'll be taking home some leftovers. The menu has tons of options for the vegetarians (veggie to the max pizza, lots of pastas and some old world favorites like lasagna for the carnivores). The salad is fresh and perfectly paired with the house dressing (made from scratch daily- they really should bottle this!). The wine list is big for a little place ( the texas sweet red is great with the chocolate walnut pie- or if you're lucky, the chef sometimes makes the best canoli outside of Rome.) Give it a try- especially if you need great food for an office party in the medical center area- or if you're like me and a vegetarian, or like my husband and a die hard carniovre- Lorenzo's has something for everyone! more

My favorite little hideout in SA. The food is yummy, not commerical yummy, it is the type of food you savor bite for bite, like a new baby tasting something for the first time. The space is quaint, but it gives a very romantic feel and kid friendly too. Its a family place, really, the owner and his wife are in there all the time and I think the son is the cook. At times I have seen the grand daughter making her presence. Very great place, feel good place, with feel good food. And you have to have a glass of the Texas red very good, nice a sweet. Oh and dont forget the chocalte Walnut pie. The only bad thing is the price its too reasonable, so you keep wanting to go back for more and more, and well my favorite jeans dont like that. Pros: nothing but pros Cons: small and quaint so call ahead for big parties more

The best product that you can digest without the torment and fear of breaking your wallet. Lorenzos offers the straight deal and no middle man so to speak when it comes to Italian food. The owner (my father) is at the restaraunt everyday to guarantee that his recipes and livelihood are served to each customer everytime. You'll taste the difference and the quality without the expense from your budget. At worst you may experience what some customers have described as the ""Show"" when the Chef yells in the kitchen to make sure that his employees (including his son and ex wife) are following orders. I admit it is never easy working for family or in a kitchen, but I promise that the Italian food we serve is at the best quality that you can buy in this city. Pros: Great food inexpensive Cons: Hole in the wall more

I have to be honest, this was the first little Italian place my wife and I tried when we arrived in San Antonio. It WAS (keyword WAS) great. more

I am surprised this place is rated so highly. We went there at 6:30 pm on a Saturday and when we walked in were the only two people in the place...that was our first clue. It is quaint and the staff is nice, but there was a manager or the owner talking so loudly it was impossibly to have a conversation over him. He yelled at someone for throwing out the decaf and called one of the waitstaff a liar. He was not phased that there were customers sitting right there! Our waiter was very nice, and tried to ignore the rantings, but it was clear that it was common place. Our food was not good. I had the alfredo, which was tasteless and almost lumpy in texture. My husband had the special - Osso Buco which was a veal dish. It was not good at all. It was two thin veal ""patties"" breaded with marina poured over it. Needless to say we won't be back. Pros: Nice waiter Cons: bad food, loud owner/manager, expensive for a place like this more

I have to say I have never had bad service here. All the waiters were always great and down to earth. The bread is sooo good too. I recommend the meat sauce. Its homemade and very good. The pizza I had once was just ok...but all the pasta dishes are GREAT. Pros: Great service...meat sauce Cons: could use better desserts, but I am usually too full for dessert more

My husband and I ate lunch there an hour ago. We won't be going back, nor will we be suggesting it to anyone. The best part of our lunch was the thawed-out piece of cheesecake that we shared. The worst part was a toss-up between the horrible garlic bread and the overbearing chef, Rick. I really wanted to tell him that he ruined our lunch hour with his constant belittling of the two poor waitresses, but I was in a serious time crunch. Whether his complaints with them were founded or not, there is a time and a place and a manner in which one should address their co-workers, and he clearly doesn't realize that. I arrived after my husband, who had ordered our food and was already eating. I was greeted with the stalest, driest bread imaginable; he said it was like that to begin with, not because of it sitting out on our table for 10 minutes. When I had the waitress bring us some fresh bread, she brought us the same basket back; they had simply warmed it, and I could tell it was the same b/c of the little bites I took from one piece in there! I had the spaghetti w/garlic and O.O., which was nothing above what I can throw together, and I'm no chef. My husband had the chicken tortellini which had good flavor but was a rather small portion, even by lunch menu standards. Both our house salads were pretty pitiful too. If you want good, ""authentic"", Italian food, you're better off sticking to your local Olive Garden, we're sad to say! more

I called Lorenzo's for Valentine's reservations for my family (wife and 3 1/2 year old little girl) and was told that they could seat us immediately if we were there in 10 minutes. After he told me this and heard my little girl in the background and stated - ""We are only allowing kids over the age of 16 until 9:00pm. more

If you are looking for a very casual and relaxing atmosphere, Lorenzo's could be for you. I work for a major hotel chain and this spot is highly recommended, not only by myself but co workers. Promt seating and family friendly service help make this restaurant. Local cuisine is always helpful in looking to make a city more personable. Highly recommended Pros: Inexpensive and Very relaxing Cons: Parking is limited more

Anyone tired of long lines and long waits for the local chain restaurants? I have to say Lorenzo's does it well. I love the portions and the price. Rick, the owner, knows his stuff. I look forward to seeing Jim and the other guys that work there each time I dine. The pizza is never a bad choice. I try to order something different each time. The salad is delicious. Lorenzo's has a nice selection of wine and the best desserts. Don't just take my word for it, I've seen local newscasters go in there too. Head on over for a delicious meal and tell them I said so, lol. Pros: quantity for the price, friendly service, delicious food Cons: parking, space limitation more

Good food and nice price. Small joint that is pretty much as eating Capparelli food with a differant name. There use the Capparelli family cookbook because they are kin to each other. Pros: Price and Food Cons: Small place and service more

must try this place more--the baked ziti was pretty off the hook. their salad has excellent dressing! Pros: the food--to some extent Cons: service more