Food was great. Caprese salad was awesome.
Menus
My wife and I are regulars to El Primo Hixon location. Food is excellent ! The last few times we visited the restaurant we were less than impressed with the waitstaff. We were seated at 5:00pm. Waiter came to the table to take our drink and cocktail order. He was friendly, talked about specials. We asked for bread. At 5:30, no drinks, no bread, no waiter. He walked by again and we ask for bread and to check on our drinks. Drinks arrived 5 minutes later and still no bread. We asked a third time and someone else brought the bread. When he finally came back to the table we asked him why he disappeared. He said, they were very busy. He had 4 to 5 tables and did not know how to work them simultaneously. He went to every table and discussed the specials and took drink orders for all 4 tables. That is the wrong protocol for waiting on groups of people. I've been in in the food business for 48 years and I can tell you firsthand that this gentleman needed training and assistance! We love Primo, and we will keep going back, however, someone needs to work with their waitstaff to improve their interaction with their customers. Very frustrating!!
Wonderful dinner on the patio. Quickly becoming one of our local favs.
Food was delicious as always. Our server was super friendly and steered me to the carbonara. It was rich and delicious! (all restaurants don't make it right)
Wonderful Italian food and very attentive service! Great specialty cocktails and dinner specials. One of our Chattanooga favorites!
Waiter was very knowledgeable, efficient and good personality. Food great as always. Our fav Italian.
First, do not use open table for a reservation. It seems that Primo only gives them 10% and all at 5PM. If you want another time call the restaurant directly. Been here many times, almost all great but this time really disappointing. The sausage and peppers were significantly overcooked. The order taking forever to arrive was an indicator. They offered to replace etc. but not worth the hassle, did present a free dessert. Every restaurant bombs at some point and this was one of theirs, we will go back eventually but this one was a disaster.
Food is always yummy! Disappointed they were out of gluten free noodles. Service was slow.
This was our first time at PRIMO, after having it recommended to us by many new friends in the Chattanooga area, as we just moved to the area recently. I made reservations for 19:30, and arrived at 19:25, after a 40 minute drive. The place was packed, and we weren’t seated at our table until one minute before 20:00… I thought we made a mistake making reservations here, and wasn’t impressed. It took another 12 minutes to get glasses water and 5 more minutes after that to receive a requested plate of bread while we were looking at the menus. At this point I was certain I was going to give this restaurant two stars at the most. But as the place started being a little less packed from the dinner rush, the service was impeccable, and the food simply incredible. We ordered Beef Carpaccio, olives, and Burrata for appetizers, Spinach Strawberry Salads, and five different main courses with several sides for the four of us. The food was absolutely amazing, and the presentation was fantastic, despite a rocky start of being seated almost 1/2 hour after our reservations, the restaurant, and the staff completely changed my initial impression, and they absolutely deserved the five star rating. We will definitely be back there in the very near future.
My dad and I chose Il Primo for a birthday dinner, and it far exceeded our expectations. This is probably the best Italian food I've ever had. We started with a charcuterie board and some crostini -- beautiful selection of meats and cheese. Gorgonzola was smooth and perfectly briny. I had a glass of the Montepulciano wine -- overall sweet with an herbal hint. Quite good. My dad ordered the baked lasagna bolognese, and I had the spring pea risotto with scallops. Couldn't recommend either dish enough. We finished the meal off with the day's special dessert -- creme brulee. I do wish there had been more dessert options without nuts, but the dessert we had was scrumptious. Waitstaff were pleasant, but unfortunately, some of the patrons were not. Not to worry -- the atmosphere is overall inviting and not stuffy, even if the other folks eating there are. Give this place a shot -- you won't be sorry.