Pompilio's Restaurant

05/16/08

Good food and good service

by GregBraswell at Citysearch

I travel a lot and usually try to eat at a "local" Italian restaurant during my travels. While the food was not the greatest Italian food I have ever eaten, it was extremely tasty and I highly recommend this restaurant. My server was very attentive, the portions were very good, and the prices very reasonable. The only unextraordinary part of my meal was the salad--it was just your average, run-of-the-mill salad. Of course, I don't go to Italian restaurants just for the salad. In reading the poor reviews of this restaurant, I can only speculate the people who wrote those reviews are very difficult to please under any circumstances. The next time I am in the area, I will eat at this restaurant again.

• Pros: Good Food, Good Service, Very Reasonable Prices, Good Portions
• Cons: Parking, The Salad

01/23/09

Beware of service

by tammyLei at Citysearch

My family and I love this place we have been coming here for years. This was the place we would come and have our last dinner before the family would part for school and thier jobs.I must say it looks great and the food is as tasty as ever! But the serves that we exprienced was enough. Our server Gary was the most worst server we have ever had we had to wait at least 15 minutes to be waited on and not to mention couldn't get an appitizer because he was to buzy in the back trying to get off work. Had to buy our drinks from the lady at the bar,and to top it off we had to wait on him for another 15 minutes to get our bill.Needless to say we love the food but don't deserve to be treated the way we were and a big suggestion to Pompilios is Better Service. Beware of service!!

04/28/08

Pompilio's sad

by WashingtonStNeighbor at Citysearch

My uncle ate at Pompilio's every day till he died; grandma lived a few doors away. It wasn't great then and it isn't good now. But we've changed. Everyone cooks better, eats better and dines out in better restaurants with better service. I tried it again to show my grandson the neighborhood and neither of us liked the food but he did get to hear great stories about his great-great relatives. It may be authentic Pompilio's but it is neither authentic Italian nor good. It is a shame.

04/15/08

lively, welcoming, tasty food, enjoyable

by sbl219 at Citysearch

you are in Newport Kentucky, not New York City where I am from. So this ain't haute cuisine. Having said that, it tastes good. It is a tad bland, but not too salty. The tomato sauce has some personality, the chicken is moist, the pasta is cooked right. The cook, I am happy to report, respects vegetables and worships garlic. The house wine is very decent and very cheap. Most of all, the atmosphere is great. It's friendly, welcoming, convivial. The old building is really charming, especially the amazing old bar. The chairs are unusually comfortable. You just don't want too leave. Even though you're full, you want to try to squeeze in dessert, or at least an espresso. If you find yourself here, check it out. They'll try to squeeze you in among all the locals. You will not be sorry.

07/22/07

Extremely disappointed

by goodfoodplz at Citysearch

While our requests to modify our orders were followed, actual service from the waiter was sub par. We never got asked if we needed more drinks until we finished finished with our meal. While poor service is never excusable, it can be tolerated if the food is good. The food was NOT good. To begin with, we both like good bread and were disappointed to find that their "italian" bread no better than wonder bread, that's been sitting out for a while and is no longer soft on the surface, but unpleasantly stale and dry. We had the calamari appetizer, where the marinara sauce was very good, but the calamari was over cooked, overbreaded and under seasoned. We did without the olives and banana peppers that are supposed to come with the dish. Unfortunately, there were bay leaves still in the marinara sauce, and for safety, unedible material should always be removed from any dish. The salad dressing was good, at least they have a good vendor for salad dressing. The salads themselves are sad, mostly iceberg (a couple shreds of non-polyester greens) with two cucumber slices and and a halved grape tomato. I ordered the lasagna, popularizied as the house specialty. Well, there was no meat in it, but was topped with a a meat like sauce, the cheese was unseasoned, the noodles were still wet and over cooked and the sauce tasted like it was out of a jar. My husband (who is 3/4 italian) had the veal. It was not pounded down thinly as veal parmesan should be, it was over cooked and rubbery and the pasta that came with his meal was over cooked (think spaghetti-o's) and the sauce in the pasta tasted like tinned meat. We did like the wine we picked for dinner. But, for spending almost $50.00 for dinner, we expected a lot more. Sadly, we thought Olive Garden is better, and we don't even consider Olive Garden to be Italian food. We were hoping for the real Italian food, but got something resembling a pale, terribly bad and unappetizing imitation of what italian food should be.

• Pros: While small selection, good wine.
• Cons: Food was awful, service could be much better.

06/19/07

Wanted it to work, but a disappointment

by dmad53 at Citysearch

My wife and I, my son, and our granddaughter went to Pompilio's on Fathers Day, and I really wanted this to work out, what with the "Rain Man" hype, and the fact that real "Italians'" have operated this establishment since it's inception. I had the sampler platter and my wife had the lasagna. The Italian sausage was fine, but the eggplant parmesan was limp and soupy. The lasagne was a real disappointment.....only pasta and ricotta, and everything was covered in marinara. The marinara was adequately seasoned, and caramalized, which is good. My son enjoyed his Manicotti.

Having a wife who is 1/2 Italian (her grandmother actually came over on the boat, so to speak) and who has sampled many authentic dishes throughout her life, I believe, makes her a pretty reliable source when it comes to this type of quisine. She was, however not impressed. I base my review only on the items we

ordered. In fairness, there may be better choices to be had on the menu. But with regards to lasagne, it really isn't a difficult thing to make.

• Pros: Relaxed, informal atmosphere
• Cons: Not really very good Italian food

02/17/07

Food was just average, expensive, small portions

by rsnurse45 at Citysearch

I had not been to Pompillio's in many years, I had grown up in the area but had moved away, but when I had a chance to go back I thought it would be nice. We entered the restaurant and was seated the waitress brought bread and took our order most all items on the menu are sold individually . When the sodas were brought to the table they were in 8oz glass bottles, which I had not seen in a long time,(you must pay for each bottle you get , and if you are a person who drinks throughout your meal prepare to put out $6-8 dollars for your refreshments each!. The food arrived to the table promply, my italian meal was not on a plate but in a large soup bowl which I found odd, the food was OK nothing special and we did not drink with this meal, there was 3 of us on the check. The room which we were seated was like stepping back into the 50's so updating could be done.

After eating for which I was still hungry due to the portion sizes were anything but large we paid the bill which totaled $48.00 which I thought was extremely expensive and left. in my opinion if you are looking for good italian food with Newport on the Levy so close try there or even the Olive Garden would be much better, and less expensive!!!

• Cons: high price, small portions

04/27/05

Wonderfully Traditional

by jenking1616 at Citysearch

This is excellent authentic italian food for a wonderful price. I grew up in the area, and have moved away. EVERY time I come home, I go to Pompilios. The meal portions are huge for price, but quality is not at all sacrificed.

02/28/05

A Visitors Treat

by twogen1 at Citysearch

The food was terrific, the portions large and the service was surly and real Italian. One of the highlights of my vacation.

• Pros: food, portions, value

Enjoy local color, traditional Italian food and a warm atmosphere where everyone is treated like a regular.

by Contributor at Citysearch

The Scene
This may be the most truly "Cincinnatian" restaurant that isn't in Cincinnati. A warm, family atmosphere pervades the dining rooms (one non-smoking, the smaller one smoking). Photos from "Rain Man" hang from the walls, and everyone in the place is treated like a regular.

The Food
The fare is simple, affordable and delicious. Begin with eggplant Parmigiana, fried calimari, toasted ravioli, or the refreshing mozzarella a la Caprese (fresh mozzarella with tomatoes, capers and a drizzle of olive oil). Move on to traditional dishes like canneloni, chicken cacciatore, brasciuole, or chicken or veal Milanese. House favorites include shrimp Ronaldo (angel hair pasta with shrimp, sun-dried tomatoes, olives and feta cheese)and meaty lasagna. Portions are large and the presentation is simple. Inquire about dessert and a waitress comes back arms laden with plastic-wrapped treats, like "Spumoni-cheesecake-Snickers-chocolate suicide."