I hadn't been to Vinny's in over a year (moved out of town for a while) so I thought I'd stop in as soon as I came back to Austin. I came in on a Wednesday night at 7 or so and were happy to see that some of the bright color contrasts in the bar have been toned down to a classy red and black decor. The hostess was very sweet and found us a nice booth by the garden as we requested. She told us the vegetable and soup of the day and said that our server would be right with us. Sure enough, a couple of minutes later, our server showed up. She was very cordial and sold us on a couple glasses of red wine. We ordered an appetizer (Danny Zucco platter - you have to try this! The fried artichokes are AMAZING!!!) and decided on our entrees: Chicken Marsala and Pollo Scallopini. Our dinners came with a salad and some bread & oil. NOTE: if they could fine a way to bottle and sell their garlic oil, they'd be millionaires!!! The salad was crisp and the house dressing, a basil vinaigrette, was some of the best I've had. Our dinners arrived with great timing as we were finishing our appetizer & salads and they were HUGE portions. Although a bit daunting in size, the taste was unparalleled. My Italian boyfriend said that he hadn't had chicken marsala like that since living at home with his Italian mother! My chicken scallopini was just the right amount of breading and lemon butter sauce and the artichokes and mushrooms were a great addition. We ended the meal with their homemade tiramisu and espressotini combo. Although a bit disappointing that the tiramisu didn't have ladyfingers it was very light and creamy with a great coffee flavor. The espressotini was fabulous!!! Had we not been driving, I'm sure we would have had another! Everything was great and a five-course dinner with wine and martini for less than 60 bucks can't be beat!!! We will definitely be back for more...
Pros: Food, Service, Value, Atmosphere
Cons: No ladyfingers in the Tiramisu
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