Brio Italian Grille

We ordered takeout from Brio Italian Grille and experienced a serious food safety issue. My wife discovered a bug in her pasta after she had already bitten into it and heard a crunch. I have photos documenting what was found in the food. We had to return to the restaurant anyway because an item from our order was missing. While there, I asked to speak privately with the manager, Stephen, and explained that we were returning all of the food and could not accept the order given what had occurred. Stephen’s response was unacceptable. He offered $50 off a $102 bill and stated that he believed this was a suitable resolution, despite the fact that my wife had bitten into a bug in her meal. There was no immediate accountability, no urgency, and no indication that he understood the seriousness of the situation. The interaction felt dismissive and transactional rather than focused on food safety or customer well-being. Only after Stephen failed to properly address the issue did Josue step in and take over. Josue was polite, apologetic, and did what he could to make the situation right. His professionalism highlighted just how poorly the situation had been handled initially. This wasn’t about a discount. This was a food safety failure compounded by poor management judgment. A situation like this should never require debate or negotiation. We’ve dined at Brio many times and expected a much higher standard. Unfortunately, both the incident itself and the initial management response fell far short of what customers should expect.

Salmon Eggs Benedict is very good, with enough lemon in the hollandaise sauce (most restaurants don’t get this right). Amaretto coffee was delish as well! Love the outdoor patio and the waitstaff. Will definitely go again.

Really love the Risotto Dinner and the flat bread sampler was excellent as well but what makes this place so good is like the service. The service is really really good . The waiter, Dustin and Francesca were really honest about what to order even though everything looks so good . I had the opportunity to meet the manager Jamie was so so pleasantAll nice people ! !

Love that place. Came here the past decade. The happy hour is a must. atmosphere is great and the place is do lively. Food is amazing, wine is great. What a wonderful place.

This was our first time visiting this location. Unfortunately, it wasn't a great experience for us. It started with the hostess when we walked in. She didn't give a smile or even a "how are you?" Or a "welcome in". Then once we were seated we noticed we could smell the bathrooms from the middle of the restaurant where we were seated. I had to ask to be moved closer to the kitchen to not smell it, but even from there we could smell it. Our server was nice but would take long time in between getting back to us and we noticed this was because she would be texting on her phone. For the positives. The food tasted good. The serving sizes were good also. One person at the table got the lasagna and I can say it is big enough for two people.

So I'm an Expresso Martini connesuir. Unfortunately, even with brewed expresso made for their martinis the bartender wasn't great at making them. So Unfortunately, I sent it back for a basic margarita. It was then I realized this bartender wasn't very good at making drinks period. How do you mess up a margarita?😬 I didn't send it back for the sake of the server of course, but went on to enjoy the lasagna. Let me tell you the lasagna here is AMAZING as you can see from my plate!!! 😋 (I was so hungry I forgot to snap the picture before i devoured it). I actually ordered the kids plate, because their regular portion is enough to feed two people. Aside of my cocktail flop, I still enjoyed my meal! 🙃 kudos to the chef 👩‍🍳 👏

I feel terrible to leave a bad review but right from the start of our time here our experience was negative.. our reservation was for 645 and after finally finding parking we entered at around 6:46, to which we were told we needed to wait for a table to open up (despite seeing many open tables) we sat with no issue but one of the hosts kept looking at us in a strange way and whispering to her coworker and said “um hold on we need to have a meeting” and they did a strange huddle, but their third co-worker kept looking at us, confused as to why they weren’t seating us. After about 12 minutes of this and growing increasingly more uncomfortable, a party of 5 walks in with no reservation asking if they would be able to seat them for around 8:00, to which the host looked at us, and then looked back to the group of 5 and said “we can seat you immediately!” and off she took them to their table, I believe her name was Sarah. Now at this point it is about to be 8:00 and they still have not sat us despite many open tables and us making reservations. The third host looked at her other co-worker and said “why have they not been seated yet??” To which her co-workers response was “don’t ask me!”…. My husband became very annoyed and I was very uncomfortable and we were ready to leave but their third co-worker just decided to seat us herself. We were hoping to put that strange experience past us to enjoy our meal… but unfortunately, the drinks which we ordered before everything did not come until our entrees were served, our calamari appetizers way messy, and was sitting in a pool of mayo and marinara which was very unappetizing, and while my main salad was fine, my husband was given the wrong pasta, and his chicken was barely seasoned and almost pink inside still, uncut with no knife provided to cut it up. After having an alcoholic beverage each, one appetizer, a pasta entree and a salad entree, our total came to 125$ before tip which we personally found incredibly pricey for the quality of food and the experience. And while the decor is nice enough, it does not make up for what we experienced vs our expectations. If you were the host who actually seated us last weekend, thank you very much for your kindness, in an uncomfortable situation.

I think the ambiance is great and the service was pretty good. The food is not great for the price. I got a flatbread with pepperoni and sausage. The presentation wasn’t great and it was dry and not hot. I don’t recommend that. My friends ordered pasta and the steak salad and that all Looked very delicious.

Austin is the best bartender in all of Sarasota. Always great to visit and share our lives together, Very professional, friendly and will someday own his own restaurant. Yes Steve the GM should give him whatever he needs to keep this Brio location in Sarasota the best in Florida. My wife Jackie & I always dine there when we visit our family in Sarasota. Cant wait to come back again. Paul Darden

Please bring back the good bread. It was terrible! Overcooked and tasteless. Spaghetti Bolognese was bland and watery. The Chicken Milanese was chewy but the replacement Chicken Marsala was good and temp hot. Definitely the best part of the meal. It was the most disappointing meal I've ever had there. We are regulars.

I've eaten near a handful of times in the past, but never wrote a review. We ate at this location a couple of weeks ago for lunch. The ambiance in this franchise is pretty decent. The wait time was very minimal and our waiter was very nice and attentive. We ordered a wedge salad with chicken, a wedding soup, and a lemon chicken entree. The appetizer was great, my lemon chicken entree was on point, and the wedge salad was just as good as Any other. I will say for a franchise everything was decent. We will return to see about the consistency. Food 8.0 Ambiance 8.0 Service 8.0

I think AI must've done the response from Brio. Absolutely no acknowledgment of my comment or the one star review.

This place has some really good pasta. They do use pork a lot so you have to ask for those who don't indulge like myself. The atmosphere is really nice. I went here on a solo date and enjoyed myself. Also, try to lay off the bread if you have any intentions on finishing your food

Another great meal at Brio-- not generally a fan of chains but this location is consistently excellent in both service and food! Everything from the carpaccio to the avocado caprese salad were delicious! Also really great cocktails! If you're in the UTC area it's definitely worth trying versus many of the other offerings l

Had a great meal here tonight. Ate here last min on a Fri night and it was busy but we were able to get in. Had a couple nice drinks to start ... the Limoncello, Vodka lemon aid was great. We had chicken Marsala which was a pretty big portion ( we could have split) ... the side of mushroom ravioli w/ braised beef was outstanding. Also had a chopped salad that was very good. There are a ton of places to eat in Lakewood Ranch / UTC... this is a good option. Very good ambiance, friendly service with attention to detail. It's not inexpensive ... the chicken Marsala for example was $30. Overall it was a great meal and we'll come back again

A spacious, clean, well-lit space that offers delicious food and stellar service. We sat in a private room, and our waiter, Chad, took great care of us. Everyone enjoyed the food and drink. It's casual yet could also be a fancy night out for dinner.

Let me start off by saying our server was a doll :) If you look at my past reviews, I havent penned many because I like to give people the benefit of a doubt, but our experience at Brio merits this review. I ordered the shrimp and scallop risotto and my husband got the strip steak and a salad. He was looking forward to a plate of succulent greens, but instead received something similar to a chopped salad you could buy at a gas station. He said the steak was just okay. As for my meal, there was nothing in the item description about onions, yet they were as plentiful as the mushrooms, which took up half my plate. Technically, aren't you supposed to list the ingredients by what there is more of? If that's the case, it should have been called Mushroom and Onion Risotto with 3 shrimp and about 15 M&M sized 'scallops'. But the *best* part of the meal was sweating inside the restaurant. I'm thin and usually run cold. This place was hot, and looking around at the short-staffed restaurant, all the servers were sweating, poor people. So were the people dining there. It turns out the manager of the restaurant thought it was a good idea to OPEN ALL THE DOORS earlier that afternoon for live music on a day that the county issued a HEAT ADVISORY LOL What was he thinking?! A posted HEAT ADVISORY that suggests people stay inside air conditioned locations. People go out for dinner to escape the heat and have a good meal, not to sit inside a sweatbox and eat sub-par food. We only stayed because we had ordered our food already. What human being OPENS ALL THE DOORS to their restaurant on a day where it's PLUS ONE HUNDRED DEGREES with the heat index up to 110° When we arrived it was 6:45, and the restaurant still hadn't cooled down from the afternoon live music in the sauna. And add to that the fact they were short-staffed. Was it because people don't want to work, or because this restaurant follows the current culture of corporations working their skeleton crew staff to death in order to make a bigger profit? In any case, not a tasty or cool evening out, too bad :(

we love this place!! food and service never disappoints! parrish was very attentive and personable as a server. he made our birthday experience very special

Had a very nice dinner with friends on Saturday evening. Our server was Sara (without an H). Sara was very sweet and had a great list of her favorites as this was our first time visiting Brio. She was attentive and efficient. The food was excellent. It came out quickly, was hot and the portions were appropriate. Overall a great experience and we will return soon.

Sarasota has many excellent Italian restaurants, and among them Brio stands out. Everything at Brio is just as it should be. Stepping into Brio is like stepping into a little bit of Tuscany. The food, what can I say, it couldn't be better. Try the Ravioli di Bello. You won't be disappointed. I also recommend the Sausage Rigatoni Arrabbiatta. The Lasagne is delicious. The Wedge Salad is one of the best. I could go on and on. The service was excellent and entertaining. Ask for Oscar. However, we've also enjoyed other servers. But...Oscar. Bon appetite!

Brio is a family favorite for us. We think this is one of the best Brio's in FL. Jaime, Steven, the chef do a great job managing this store, the kitchen does a great job providing great food and the service we get from the servers and even the rest of the staff is top notch. We love sitting outside and ordering a few cocktails and that shrimp and eggplant app. The new bread service is wonderful too. Definitely worth the money for it. Check out this place!!!

Waitress was great but for the type of restaurant, there was no bread or salad with the meal. When my meal came which was pasta alla vodka it was portioned for a toddler and presented like it was a toddler. I was very disappointed and left hungry and this comes from someone on zepbound. I mean seriously put some food on the plate especially if it is just pasta.if I would've counter there were about 12 and these were half the size of a ravioli. Just sad! Won't be back!

We met friends from 50 years ago! Service was fantastic without being overbearing. The lunch specials were affordable and delicious. I had a wonderful cocktail. Sorry it was inventive and gin but I don't remember what it was called. They never rushed us and we had a lovely reunion.

We love Brio Italian Grill. It is one of our favorite places to visit and have cocktails and dinner. The bartenders Andres and Jeremy are the absolute best and the manager Stephen is the kindest and most helpful person in the restaurant. We are regulars because of the wonderful food, service and family atmosphere that Brio has to offer.

Food was delicious, service was nothing shy of amazing and staff were kind and courteous. On the way out the host staff was kind and inviting us back. We will be back! Great job Brio!

Please see attached photo of our review on Open Table. Truly a disappointment. I wish things could have been different. Especially being frequent guests.

Food is very good and the service is very attentive. Ambience is Tuscan Italian and warm.

Ohh man! We did brunch and it kind of rocked! The food was killer with lots of stuff that we had never tried before, and always great staff/service! Check them out! For more info on cool places.. IG: Sarasota_Foodie_Couple

Hosted a 20ish person event at Brio and had the best time. Our server Oscar was a total rockstar and made it perfect x10. Kim was great with setting it up too! So impressed with the way the event went and will definitely use them again for future events. Thanks to the team

The food was amazing and Miguel was fantastic! He was classy and professional. My wife and boys had a fun time celebrating my birthday.

Good food in an upscale in terms of ambiance chain. Drinks are good and service is prompt and attentive.

Good service, but they were always hopping. Their model is that whoever can takes the orders out to the tables which potentially gets you your food quicker but makes follow-on requests more difficult. Very friendly and fun atmosphere. Nice patio area to enjoy the later afternoon. Entrance is only from outside the mall which confused us at first. Very good wine selection and house water. Excellent gnocchi! Perfectly prepared and well seasoned with a good balance and variety of flavors. The Gorgonzola Cream Campanelle was very good. I would prefer larger pieces of chicken, but that is just personal preference. A note that most of the chicken ended up on the bottom so I didn't notice them for a while. The Sicilian Spaghetti with Shrimp was very good, too. Not spicy, but very flavorful. The shrimp were done perfectly.

Great food, exceptional service. I recently had friends in town and we dined at Brio at UTC. We started with the bruschetta sampler and lobster bisque. I had the Gorgonzola encrusted medallions for my entree. Everything was great! Service could not have been better. Very attentive and made sure we had everything we needed. It was on Friday night and the restaurant was very busy, but the manager still made time to stop at our table to ensure we were enjoying our experience. Highly recommend Brio to anyone who enjoys good Italian food and great service. Thank you Brio

My wife and I had a great time at Brio. We had a delicious carpaccio and some drinks at the bar with bartenders Andres and Jeremy. The only problem we had was that when we ordered bread, we got dinner rolls that we had to pay for. If they are going to make us pay, at least they should have fresh hot bread with something special on it, not stale rolls.

My food was amazing! The service was friendly and helpful, and quick to adapt to any request. The place has a super warm vibe inside lowkey and good for a nice quiet dinner. Olivia L was a great host!

Valerie took really good care of us. I am allergic to shellfish and felt like having a nice risotto with mushrooms. The only risotto on the menu was with shellfish. She went back and asked the chef and they made a beautiful risotto fungi for me. That's service! My husband had his favorite, the steak salad and we had perfection! Thanks Brio for making a delicious dish specially for me.

We all enjoyed our dishes and our server named Alex was amazing. I'd like to come back when they are not as crowded/busy.

the service was professional yet friendly, the food was delicious, everything. the manager Stephen came over and recommended desserts. and took the time to explain the new service and cost!! we want the d bread back or if not you should serve something that is an obvious upgrade, like bigger, artisinal with more flavor and a great texture.

I had a great experience here on a Saturday evening dinner for two! A new friend and I decided to stop here for a bite. Unfortunately, we did not have reservations and had to be seated in the pizza area or patio area. We sat at the pizza area and had wonderful partial views of kitchen and oven in the pizza area. I felt comfortable and welcomed by the staff. Our server was very friendly and knowledgeable of the menu. I enjoyed a very well made classic mojito! The flatbread I ordered was amazing! Everything we ordered was tasty.

The food was great, and the service was even friendlier. The host, Olivia, was very energetic and always had a smile.

Had a family reunion dinner with my two brothers from New Jersey. Arrived at 6 pm on a Thursday. Place was busy, but not crowded. They have a large menu with many unique pasta dishes. There are numerous starters , soups and salads. There is a full bar available. We had two different types of sangria. We started with fried calamari and a bruschetta sampler. They serve delicious sourdough bread. For entrees I had the sausage rigatoni and my wife had a braised beef with pasta dish. All the food and drinks were very good with good portions. The servers provided good and friendly service. There is both indoor and outdoor seating. We were too full for desert, but it looked good at neighboring tables. There is plenty of parking as it is part of the UTC mall

Another great meal at Brio. Everything came out hot and delicious. Service was good! Chicken Milanese is like chicken parm but they don't put the sauce on the chicken only on the pasta so that chicken doesn't get soggy. Ask for extra sauce on the side! The salmon Fresca is a very flavorful health option!

over priced food was terrible. waitress was non existent. spent 150.00 on gar. went there 14. /09 25. yuk. calamari 20 bucks dis a child's plate. you have to pay for bread. 4.50 for 4 pieces.

Food is good but service has really gone downhill. We came in the evening with friends and the service was awful due to a shortage of servers. So, we tried again for lunch. Same problem. The server was nice and the food came out hot, but it took forever! Sadly, we will probably not come back even though this has been a favorite restaurant of ours in the past.

Chadrick (?) is an amazingly attentive server who facilitated a marvelous dining experience all around. We will definitely seek him out next time! Francesca (manager?) is also phenomenal, having brought the restaurant to a whole new level of excellence. Brava!

SKIP THIS ONE! Average food at best and service was disappointing. The atmosphere inside the restaurant is cool but the food and service has really gone down hill from the grand opening years ago. I ordered a filet butterflied well done and fingerling potatoes. The potatoes were very dry and the filet came out rare and not butterflied. I waited 10 minutes to get my steak after sending it back. Hubby ordered Chicken Limone' and he said it had no flavor. He added salt and pepper to his dish. He NEVER adds salt to anything so I knew it was bad. My chocolate martini was delivered spilling all over the place and it splashed on my white sweater. Unfortunately, I didn't notice until we got home so my sweater was ruined. We didn't get a discount for the troubles and the manager never visited our table to apologize. Beyond all that, the most disturbing occurrence was a table across the way had a serious incident. The waitress accidentally dropped her whole tray of drinks all over a customer at the table and broken glass flew everywhere. The back of the customers shirt was soaked. I never saw a Manager come to the table to apologize!? The poor customer had to wear a napkin draped across her back. Unbelievable.

Decent meal and decent service. I've been there a number of times over the years. One little problem- a few days ago I ate there and left my credit card behind. I called and asked the manager to destroy it and he said they would cut it up in a million pieces. Unfortunately, I have received two notifications of attempted charges from the credit card company, since speaking to the manger. It would seem someone got their hands on the card number and is attempting fraud. Fortunately I locked the card immediately after I realized I had left it there. Brio - I am disappointed.

Chadrick, I am only leaving this review because of how amazing of a waiter Chadrick was, the entire experience hung on his Awesome service, quick to respond attitude, and consistent quality in conversation. Food was pretty good too, as well as the music, but most of all Chadrick. 5 stars.

Obviously management has abandoned this place. Service was horrific. And I don't blame my server. We went at 4pm and only 3 other tables were there. Now, there were plenty of servers. But they were mainly MIA. What were they doing in the kitchen? No idea. We ordered. Our waiter was prompt with drinks except my bar drink. 10 minutes later I flagged him down when he emerged from the back and "oh my fault let me get it." and 3 seconds later I had my drink. Next we ordered salads. I literally saw them on the pass for 10 minutes waiting for someone to pick them up. Our server nowhere to be found. Luckily another server eventually saw them and brought them over. Oh and then our entrees arrived 1 minute later. I saw a manager across the room but, nope, never came over. No care in the world. Finally, we ordered 2 chicken dinners and they were both overcooked. So another miss. I assume whoever owns this place doesn't care because it's attached to the mall and gets tons of traffic. Brio corporate should take a look how this franchisee owner is killing their reputation.

Had a great experience tonight. Food was very good (always consistent) and service was attentive. Natalie very friendly. We will be back.

I had an amazing night at Brio last night. the food and drinks were great. The service was extraordinary. Thank you Oscar for making a memorable experience. I will be back for sure.

I don't know what the experience would be if dining at the restaurant, but I can say that having the food delivered was a very disappointing mistake that we won't repeat. Specifically due to the food being way overpriced, quality is mediocre and portions were ridiculously small. We ordered the pasta alla vodka, spaghetti bolognese, gnocchi app and caprese salad. Before tax, fees and tip the total was $75, so about $100 in total with those fees. The portions were very small -- like kids meal sized in most other restaurants. The alla vodka had a single tiny piece of pancetta on it, looking nothing like the picture. The spaghetti was dry and had very little sauce -- so bad my daughter had to put some jar sauce on it. The caprese, which was $17, had 3 pieces of tomatoes and almost no flavor. The gnocchi was also pretty flavorless. I also noticed they add about $2 to each menu item via DoorDash vs what is on their real menu, so just tons of markups. For what we got, it was about half the value of what we spent. It's also pretty pathetic that they don't even give you bread or anything with the food. This was definitely a one and done for us, and we won't be ordering from them ever again.

The food was amazing and Miguel made the experience that much better!!! I'll definitely be back in the future!

My girlfriend and I went for an anniversary dinner. Food was wonderful, service was prompt, and the nice ambience added a great deal to the overall experience. Hostess was very friendly and quick to get us a table, waiter was very knowledgable with the menu and good with recommendations. Even one of the managers, Steven, came over and made sure our experience was to our satisfaction. Had a very good time, will definitely return as my girlfriend is now obsessed with the Brio creme brulee!

Really unfortunate experience. Host staff were extremely young, giggling, rude and disrespectful. Took 10 minutes for us to greeted at our table. Drinks were forgotten. Food was mediocre at best. Our waiter forgot we existed and we literally had to flag him down (didn't check on us after food was delivered. He disappeared. 20 min later we finally got his attention to ask for the check). The restaurant was not full. Will not go back and will actively encourage friends to avoid.

We came here for Sunday lunch. Pasta Brio, soup and salad, lamb chops, steak salad, tiramisu, chocolate bread pudding. The four of us enjoyed all of it. Our server Renae was nicely attentive and gave good service.

This was an amazing evening! Delicious dinner...we were a party of 4...4 different dishes, and I am making reservations again! The restaurant is beautiful inside...and the staff were very attentive. Simply a wonderful experience! Thank you Brio