Centro On The Square

I cannot recommend Centro On the Square highly enough! From the moment we walked in, we were warmly welcomed by the staff. Karla provided excellent, personal service throughout our meal, making sure we had everything we needed. The owner Grant touched the table and was very kind. The ambiance of the restaurant is elegant and inviting, perfect for a special night out. The food was absolutely delicious. The mozzarella was fresh and flavorful, the green salad was refreshing, and the in house pasta dishes were cooked to perfection. We particularly enjoyed the chicken marsala and the lemon ricotta agnolotti del plin. The drink selection was impressive, and the Italian house red wine was smooth and delicious. We ended our meal with the cannoli for dessert, which was good but not the best we've had. Next time, we'll be sure to try the tiramisu. Overall, Centro On the Square exceeded our expectations and we will definitely be returning in the future. Thank you for a wonderful dining experience!

We had an incredible dinner tonight at Centro On The Square! From start to finish, everything was spot-on — the atmosphere was lively and inviting, the service was friendly and attentive, and the food was absolutely fantastic. Every dish was packed with flavor and beautifully presented, and the cocktails were just as impressive. It was the perfect spot for dinner with friends — great energy, great food, and a vibe that makes you want to stay and chat all night. Highly recommend this place if you’re looking for a fun night out with top-notch food and service!

My first time there today, celebrating my wedding anniversary! The entire team was amazing and made our day even more special, the best service I've ever had! Food was incredible, you see there's attention to every single detail. Exceptional gastronomic experience!

This was worth the drive. My BFF and I stopped by for a meal. We had a bunch of drinks and they were all good. For appetizers we had the calamari and mussels. I highly recommend the mussels with white sauce. 👌 However, you should skip the calamari. It quite greasy and not what I would expect from a higher end restaurant. The red fish was spectacular--crispy on the outside and perfectly cooked on the inside. It paired quite well with the sauce. If you had to pick one dish from this place, I'd recommend the red fish. I had the spicy vodka rigatoni. I think maybe they messed up on the sauce because it was very spicy... this coming from an Asian, and it was too spicy for me. We then replaced it with the lemon ricotta. Both were delicious. You can tell the pasta was well made.

Update - I came back to centro ( second time with friends ) and they have improved or maybe are better on weekends. The food was way better the redfish and ossobucco my friends would recommend and the lemon ricotta is also great with some shrimp or chicken but bread and butter was mid at best. The very young manager basil is adorable he seems like he knows what he’s talking about. We had the pleasure of meeting one of the owners as well. Once again the restaurant is very cute and aesthetic perfect for dates or for a girls night out. Our waiter was very personable and attentive he made all of us laugh and seemed on the younger side as well but presented everything very professionally. I will definitely be back to try again!

The place is published as an Italian restaurant which we did not find too many italian food options in the menu. We found the menu very limited and hard to decide what to order. Only few pasta options, 5 entree dishes and if you want to add protein to your pasta is extra charge. My husband’s salmon was raw, they brought a cooked salmon after we called it. But was not pleasant that we couldn’t enjoy our lunch eating tat the same time..:they offered us a tiramisu at no cost due to their lack of cooking but we never got it. I feel it is overpriced for the tasteless “Italian” dishes offered. I got a shrimp pasta which wasn’t special at all. The mussels for appetizer were ok. The atmosphere is nice, nice music but if I don’t have good food I won’t be back. There are many Italian good choices in mckny. Save your trip to this one.

We had an amazing experience at Centro on the Square tonight. The atmosphere was both charming and elegant with beautiful paintings lining the booths against the wall. The spicy vodka rigatoni was perfectly balanced and the limoncello sorbet was a perfect way to end our meal. I’d highly recommend coming here for the lovely ambiance, attentive service, and great food. Thank you to the manager Connie for coming over to our table and ensuring we had a great experience.

We recently hosted our engagement party at Centro on the Square, and it was absolutely perfect! The staff went above and beyond to make everything run smoothly and stress-free for us. The food was incredible! Our guests are still talking about it and the atmosphere was exactly what we were hoping for: warm, elegant, and welcoming. We’re so grateful for their attention to detail and the amazing service that made our celebration so special. Highly recommend Centro for any special occasion! ❤️

This restaurant reminds me of being home in New York. The whole vibe of the restaurant is great. The bar area is beautiful and has a good amount of seats. The exposed brick inside gives it a nice touch. My husband and I sat in a nice booth and the lighting over the booths is perfect. The personalized plates are a great touch as well! We started off with cocktails. I had a Fig & Rosemary Sour and my husband had the Amaro Old Fashioned. Both drinks were delicious and well balanced. We started off with calamari as an appetizer and it was cooked well and the sauces on the side to dip it in were both delicious. For my meal I ordered the Spaghetti Shrimp Scampi that had three jumbo shrimp with house made pasta. I can't pass up fresh pasta so it was a no brainer for me. It was really tasty. My husband had the French Dip sandwhich which came with fries which surprisingly was the same price as my pasta dish. He also enjoyed his meal. Our server Joshua was kind and attentive to anything we needed while we enjoyed our meal. We will be coming back here for future date nights!

Restaurant is beautiful. Art is a conversation starter. That's about it for the positives. Our reservation (for two) was at 6:30 and we were seated right away. The waitress (who was lovely - none of our bad experience was her fault) explained that you order everything all at once because all the food is cooked after you order. Cool. Ordered drinks. Took about 10 minutes. Ordered our food. Waited about 15 minutes for our appetizer and soup. We had the beet crostini and jalapeño cream soup. Both needed a massive amount of.. other seasoning? Definitely needed salt. Bread boy came around with bread and the saltiest butter I've ever had. Was fresh and creamy, but ruined by the excessive amount of salt sprinkled on top. Why?? We then waited about an hour and a half for our main courses. They were served at about 8:20pm. Almost two hours after our reservation time. I ordered the lemon ricotta agnolotti and my husband ordered the short rib cappellacci. Both served at room temperature, not indicative of being freshly made but whatever. Despite having only these two entrees, I can tell you my husband's meal was the worst thing on the menu. Bland, undercooked pasta, flavorless short rib. It was just plain awful. My agnolotti was more flavorful, but tasted like someone just squeezed a lemon over cream sauce, as the flavor was inconsistent over the whole dish. We were so tired and annoyed by this point we decided to skip dessert. The waitress must have known we were annoyed because she brought us some cannolis to go. Unable to report on those as we have not tried them yet. Don't go here. It is a waste of time and money.

My husband and I were excited to try this place but we were left disappointed. I have never written a poor review and often give restaurants, particularly new ones, the benefit of the doubt. But this place .... Sigh. Admittedly, the ambiance is very beautiful. The bartender was attentive. However, overall service was not great. It is clearly an inexperienced staff. There were no pleasantries, no offers of bread, and it was shaky overall. The food ... extremely disappointing especially for the price. Calamari was bland. Mussels were not fresh. I ordered the mushroom pasta with meatballs. Pasta was heavy and lukewarm. The pasta is also not homemade and seems frozen. The meatballs were severely undercooked and lacked flavor. I was unable to eat them. The management was also dismissive. There are so many wonderful restaurants to choose from on the square and this place is not one I would ever recommend to anyone.

I really wanted to love this place as a local who loves downtown, but it missed the mark for us. While we were big fans of the ambiance and the hostesses and waitress were very sweet, the food was nothing special. We came in on a Saturday night, and they were out of the original entree we wanted to order. They take your entire order at once, so we had to make another entree decision before our appetizer order was put in. The bread they walk around with is dry and cold - I think it would be a lot more appetizing if they served warm bread - similar to what their mussels are served with. The mussels were bland and lacked flavor - don't recommend. My husband got the Cacio e Pepe and I got the pesto, to which we both added grilled chicken. The pasta was good, but nothing to write home about. We agreed we would give it another shot, but we think this place still has to sort out some kinks to figure out what works for them.

I was excited to finally try this place out after watching construction over the past couple of months, and after hearing great reviews online. We visited Thursday night and had a great experience! The interior is classy, clean and a perfect in-between if you're looking for something that isn't too casual or too formal. They have a bar, booths, multiple dining rooms, as well as a window where they make their own pasta fresh, daily. Once we were sat, we ordered a Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. Both were delicious, and the other reviews were right, their wine list is extensive. The wait staff also offers samplings of the wines, as well as glasses and bottles, if desired. For our appetizers, we had the Fried Mozzarella, which was house made with marinara and parmigianno. This was delicious and an excellent pairing with the marinara. I especially appreciated the presentation of the sauce with a miniature bowl and serving spoon. We also had the the Artichoke & Arugula Salad with toasted hazelnuts, olive oil, lemon, and pecorino romano. This was a fresh, tasty salad and the lemon dressing was delightful. In addition to our initial drinks and appetizers, we also indulged in their complimentary breads. They have sourdough, olive and rosemary slices, along with butter. The breads are served by a designated bread server that walks around the restaurant, with a large board of breads and butter. You are able to obtain slices throughout your meal and request more as needed. The sourdough was our favorite, closely followed by the rosemary and olive bread. The bread service is a great touch and we loved it! For our main course, we ordered the Lemon Ricotta Agnolotti del Pin with ricotta, pecorino, lemon butter, peas, and asparagus, as well as the Pesto Rigatoni with traditional pesto & bread crumbs. For the lemon ricotta, I added chicken on top which made it an even better and more filling dish. The lemon ricotta flavor was beautifully done, very fresh, summery and delicious. For the pesto rigatoni, we added the chicken parmesan on top. This was a great combo, although the mix of pesto and red sauce was a little unexpected. However, both were very enjoyable and fantastic pasta dishes. I could definitely tell they were house-made and fresh pastas. We finished the night with some of their dessert House-Made Limoncello. We only had a small glass, but it was one of my favorite drinks I have had in a long time. It was a sweet, perfect way to end the evening. Next time, I definitely plan to check out the dessert menu! Overall, it was a wonderful experience and I am glad we were able to finally check this place out. I believe the manager, Basil, even came by our table and chatted with us about our food, how we found them and our night. We were greeted by wonderful, attentive staff throughout our time and I am happy to see some success for this business. I look forward to coming back soon! Thank you so much!

I have been watching the building of this restaurant for several months and was so excited to try it with a few couples tonight. Unfortunately it was a miss. It is a pretty restaurant inside but our server was inexperienced, which set the mood for the evening. I ordered a $105 bottle of wine. The server struggled with the cork and then proceeded to have to red wine drip down the side of bottle with each pour and never wiped it off. I also ordered a strawberry basil cocktail but it came with the large ice cube and very little liquid. Two of the guys got chicken parm and said it was great, that saved a star there. I had the spicy fusilli and while I enjoyed it, the portion was super small and I was still hungry. My wife got the cacio e pepe, she declared it ok, but certainly not the top five. So, bottom line we are going to let this would sit and gain some traction before we give it another try.

My husband and I had a wonderful date night here!! We sat at the bar and were served by the lovely and helpful bartender. We had the burrata which was delicious and then we each got a pasta dish. I got the lemon pasta which was so fresh and creamy and wonderful and my husband got the short rib pasta which was also amazing!! Can't wait to come back and try more items at this beautiful restaurant!

The service was impeccable. The staff was incredibly friendly and attentive! The quality of food is the issue. We paid over $100 for two entrees and one appetizer (no drinks or dessert). If you're going to price the food that high, then it needs to be delicious, not mediocre, especially when there's another relatively new Italian restaurant downtown with better prices and higher food quality. I had one of the pastas but made it gluten free. It was okay, but not great, and my husband had the steak fries which was covered in a sauce that took away from the flavor of the overall dish. We had the chicken meatballs for our appetizer and they were unsettling dry. Even with the sauce, it was really dry. We were really disappointed and disgusted. Once this place gets their food right, we'll be back! Until then, we will take our money to Italian restaurants with higher food quality.

Food. And service was great. We could not have had a better experience. We will be back soon.

Beautiful restaurant and nice addition to downtown McKinney. The menu had options for a few different tastebuds. Price point was normal for the area and menu. Service was pretty good for being a newer restaurant. The young man that brought the bread tray by was so wonderful, he said it was his first day. However the bread would've been better warm and not cold. Food came out in a timely manner, presentation was there, portions decent. We started with the beet crostini, fried calamari, beef meatballs and the burrata. The calamari and the meatballs were very tasty. The beet crostini had potential I just feel it wasn't executed correctly. It was missing something, the ricotta on it was delicious, I just feel they should've done something different with the beets, maybe make a purée or just fancy it up a little. The burrata was okay, wasn't crazy with the flavors they added. My husband got the Lemon Ricotta Agnolotti del Plin and I got the Mushroom Tagliatelle. I also added a redfish too. The redfish was cooked perfectly it just was really bland. My pasta was really good just really heavy. My husband's dish was amazing, really wish I would've gotten that for my meal. It's one of the smaller portioned entrees because it's so rich but then again it was light. It had a great medley of flavors. I'd definitely come back to try some other things if in the area but I want to be wowed more with their food.

Wow! Arguably the best restaurant in McKinney, based on a single mid-afternoon visit. The beef filet and double bone pork chop were perfectly cooked to order and delicious. Salads and sides were impressive. Vanessa provided knowledgeable, attentive service. Drinks were superb. Decor was gorgeous. Highly recommended.

We went fairly early on a Thursday evening for dinner. Restaurant wasn't too busy but each time we ordered drinks it took a little while to get them. We ordered meatballs and the beet bread appetizers. I would skip the meatballs next time...wasn't impressed. Entrees were just ok. We tried a couple of pastas and the salmon. Could have used more sauce on one pasta. Salmon isn't anything special. We would have loved to have bread delivered to our table but the bread guy never came by until we asked another server to bring some to us as we were finishing dinner. Interested to see if it was anything special. Again, it's just ok but would be great if they offered or brought olive oil for a dipping option instead of just butter For the price I think we will stick with Fontina Ristorante in Downtown McKinney

Enjoyed the lemon ricotta Agnolotti tonight at Centro. It was very good. Wait staff was excellent and ambiance lovely.

Our group of 7 came for a 6:30 reservation and were not served entrees until 8:45. The wait staff & manager are very inattentive. Our waters were empty most of the night, we were never given a status on our food and why it was taking two hours, we asked for our check when the food was served and thank goodness we did because it took forever to get to us and to get our cards back. They also added an automatic 20% tip for our group of 7. After complaining to the manager, she gave us free desserts - which were average. The wait staff argued multiple times in-front of customers. The salads are tiny - do not order as an entree. The flat iron steak was very chewy and not enjoyable. The spicy vodka pasta was served lukewarm. The meatballs were fabulous! We were able to walk out of the restaurant at 9:17pm. Will not return.

The remolded space looks fabulous. For only being open 6 weeks our experience was amazing. Fresh pasta tasty cocktails and our server Michelle was perfect. I love that McKinney has another great restaurant.

Loved it! The ambiance, the service, and the food was delicious. I had the red fish and it was delicious. We also got some sautéed mushrooms and broccolini on the side and the portions were great. Looking forward to coming back and it being a staple in downtown McKinney.

Everything was amazing, especially the homemade pasta! Marcus, our waiter, was awesome! He checked on us frequently, without being intrusive. All four of us were very pleased and will return. I recommend this restaurant for its ambience, staff, food and service!

In the former Harvest space on the McKinney Square, Centro has turned the tables on decor and ambiance. The bar is up front with a great variety of quality and well-crafted beverages. Walk to the back of the space and see them creating fresh pasta and other dishes. We've been there several times now and always find fine service and food. My favorite surprise is their calamari. I'm usually not a fan, but these are like the perfect beer-battered onion ring. I love them! Other appetizers and entrees are equally wonderful. Looking forward to our next trip to Centro on the Square.

Food tastes like TV dinner, start with the calamari and you'll see what I mean. Service is terrible. The ambience is really nice, it could be a really nice restaurant in the perfect location, unfortunately that won't be the case.

I brought a group of friends here on a Friday night to celebrate a birthday, based on a great experience I'd had previously. Things started off fine, but unfortunately the night didn't go as smoothly as we had hoped. It took a very long time to get our drinks--not necessarily the server's fault, but she also didn't check in with us at all during that wait. One friend ordered a second drink shortly after her first because of wait time and was brought two(unprovoked). Throughout the night, multiple servers tried to take drinks away before we were done with them, saying they needed the glasses, which felt rushed and a bit awkward. One friend ordered a salad that was supposed to include artichoke, and it arrived with just three small, sad pieces. When she politely asked about it, the waitress was noticeably snippy. My husband ordered the same dish he'd had before, this time with meatballs ( knowing the portion wasn't huge to start) but when it arrived the pasta portion was even smaller with the added meatballs. I did enjoy my spinach and mushroom pasta. When the checks finally arrived, one guest who had received a third drink she didn't order was charged for it. Again, when she brought it up, the waitress was short with us. We also weren't told that gratuity would be automatically added to each check (we were a party of seven with (5) separate checks, so we understand it's policy--but it would've been nice to be informed upfront, especially since we didn't catch it on the menu). Overall, this visit didn't live up to our first experience. We had high hopes and had raved about this place to our friends, so it was a bit embarrassing. As downtown locals, we were hoping this could be a new go-to spot in our rotation, but sadly, the service and experience this time just didn't measure up

Yet another over-priced restaurant hoping to capitalize on the charm of being on the square. My wife and I went for lunch, and we were completely disappointed on every level. Server was nice enough but not very good at explaining anything and seemed totally inexperienced and awkward. I ordered an "artichoke & arugula salad" - which was a total soggy mess; pitiful. The artichoke was unrecognizable and were like slivers of artichoke stalk. My entre of "campenelle bolognese" was dry and tasteless. My wife ordered some short rib brunch special that arrived with 2 eggs on top. She told the waiter that the menu said nothing about being served with eggs and his response was basically - "I didn't know it came with eggs either". Both entrees were only lukewarm. No one ever asked - "how was everything", which is probably a good thing. Bad enough that the food was barely mediocre, but also very over-priced in addition. We won't be back; but we are also disappointed that this was so far below expectation.

This restaurant was amazing. From the moment you walk in, through your entire meal, the service is wonderful. The atmosphere is nice. Feels upscale. The food is delicious! The teramusu is..wow! Arlenne was knowledgeable and just a delight.

After multi visits I have found the food quality and service to be a consistent high standard. It's my go to Italian in McKinney. The decor is elegant. The waiting and bar staff are exceptional.

Visited Centro for the third time in three weeks and each visit has been well worth it. This week Will was our server. He did a first class job of explaining the dishes to us and attended to our needs exceptionally well. Highly recommend Centro....and my wife considers that the burrata here is the best that she's had in the USA.

We went to this place by chance when another restaurant that we wanted to go to was closed early. We were very pleasantly surprised! When we walked in, we were greeted warmly by both the hostess and the owner. Our server was top-notch and attended to all of our needs. I thought the food was terrific!We got a salad, spaghetti and meatballs, dessert and a glass of wine. The ambience made me feel like I was in a much more expensive restaurant than where than the one we were in! We will definitely be making a trip back. Way to go!

We were excited to try this new Italian restaurant for my best friends bachelorette dinner. Great ambiance as we walked in. We were greeted kindly and it seemed like we would have a great dinner! Plot twist - our food took 2 hours to come out and my pasta was cold. My friends steak was chewy and not edible. The waitress and manager were fighting in front of us. You could cut the tension with a knife - not the steak. We were given no apologies. The waitress seemed to be avoiding us throughout our wait. The manager was very dismissive but offered free desert. We would have rather had a discount or free appetizers at the least. We had many issues with our checks. We will sadly not be returning.

Amazing food and ambience for a nice date night out or dinner with friends. All pastas are homemade and nice bourbon roster.

My wife and I thought we would try lunch and a new place in downtown McKinney to celebrate our anniversary. Atmosphere and decor was very inviting and comfortable. The food was subpar at best! My wife ordered a hamburger and it came out almost raw. They did prepare a new one, but that came out black and hard like a hockey puck! I ordered a parmigiana chicken sandwich, but I think the chicken left for the day. The manager did remove the cost of the hamburger, but the damage was already done. She indicate they have new kitchen staff members and they are still learning! It's our understanding that the owners own two other established restaurants.Here is a suggestion... maybe get a few members of these restaurants kitchen staff to train the kitchen staff at the new restaurant! The waiter was professional, hospitable, and apologized regularly, but he didn't prepare the food! We were really looking forward to going into this restaurant, but at the end of the day it was overpriced food that was not very good. $80.00 for a bad lunch is a bad look. I don't see us coming back anytime some.

Just about every critique in every review of this restaurant was true. The calamari were bland, the mussels were not fresh, nor were they fully cooked. I had the pasta with the short rib, it's the smallest portion of short rib. The plate costs $28 and they barely give you any pasta or short rib. My wife had the spinach pasta and added meatballs. I don't usually send things back to the kitchen, but my wife is pregnant and the meatballs were rare (and that's being kind.) they brought another plate out with the meatballs still rare (raw, you could see they were still pink inside.) I spoke to the manager who stated they checked the internal temperature and the meatballs were fully cooked. He must have been mistaken. None of the dishes were planned well and the flavors were not cohesive. Additionally, for the price you're paying, there was no care about the presentation. Service at the bar was good, this restaurant's only saving grace to be honest. The ambiance is excellent. Probably to make up for the low quality food and barely decent service. I would not recommend this place to anybody. I definitely will not be returning to this restaurant. For what it costs, you can go to Harvest or Rick's and get much higher quality food and superior service. I expected more from a restaurant like this on the square.