Cenare is like Olive Garden in where in the Olive Garden commercials they tell you that they send their chefs to Italy to learn how to cool Italian food properly, except all the people that work at Cenare are actually from Italy, and speak Italian, and might be in the mob. Â Okay I'm joking about that last bit (please don't put a hit out on me Mr. G).
Seriously though, if you're looking for a good date place, this works well. Â I would put it somewhere between Olive Garden (blah) and better known local Italian restaurants such as Caffe Capri. - Please note that this is just an example, I haven't been to Caffe Capri in years and need to revisit it for reviewing. Â But I digress, the pricing and ambiance are a step up from Olive Garden, but its still a little weird. Â They have genuine wax candles but they're battery powered. Â And there was definitely some 80s music playing that didn't quite fit the atmosphere. Â But all this can be ignored when your waiter is really from Italy and has an awesome accent and sweet hair. Â Seriously, if you go, ask for Giovanni you won't be disappointed, he's a cool dude.
On to the meal! Â I had the Lasagna which I was assured by Giovanni was one of their best and I wasn't disappointed. Â Others had the chicken and other pasta dishes and all enjoyed them. Â To top it all off, Mr. G showed up at the end and talked to our table. Â
Overall it was a swell night at a semi-fancy Italian place. Â It felt like I was eating fancy but the prices were reasonable which made things better. Â The restaurant is also connected to Terrazzo so if you want a fancy dessert too you can get that.
Italian food is like Mexican in that a lot of restaurants make it but few do it well. Â Cenare makes me wish for more Italian restaurants with more options in the area. Â That way I could eat more breadsticks without being judged.
We came in and did not think this was a very upscale place. The most expensive thing on the menu was under $20 dollars and not a super amount of variety. I ordered the lasagna, my son had spaghetti with meatballs and my wife had the linguine with clams.
They started us with fresh warm bread that was pretty good. They didn't have butter but brought us olive oil after asking. The salad was average and I ordered stuffed mushrooms which were 5 and decent.
There was a single waitress covering all tables at 5pm and the owner came out and talked to 2 couples who seemed to be regulars. She did not stop by our table while I tried to flag the waitress running around to get tea refills. Eventually another person came and helped, but it did not seem like much interest in good service expect for the single waitperson who was hustling. I tipped her well but thought the owner and other person could have helped out more.
My meal wasn't outstanding for flavor or style but good average Italian food. Â I did feel pleased as sometimes Italian food is super small portion trying to be snooty and super large portion sacrificing quality. I would say the portion was just right so made me feel pretty good in the end. My wife said the same thing.
Cenare is not actually bad, it just isn't very good. When you've eaten Italian food in Boston, NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, and all over Italy, then you know what Italian food is supposed to taste like. Most of the items here, from appetizers to salads to main courses are very standard, very basic Italian-American "Olive Garden" type dishes. Wine list is unremarkable and undistinguished. This place is uncannily popular in BCS, something I simply don't get.
Review Source:Excellent food. Â Classic Italian. Hands down the best Italian food in BCS. Scratch olive garden off your list and go here instead. Â As of today it was purchased back by the original owners who are returning the menu to lower prices and higher quality. The original owners sold it to a guy who has owned it for a few years, when the service went down as prices climbed. Â The original owners are true italians who strive to ensure an authentic italian experience. Â It's good to find a local business that has excellent quality. Keep it local, and skip the chains that seem to thrive in BCS. You won't regret it.
Review Source:THE WORST EXPERIENCE AT A RESTAURANT IN AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER!
This week, my sister graduated from A&M and must now be addressed as Doctor by all. It was a very exciting day for all of us. She made reservations at Cenare since she liked it and usually had a good experience there. We were shown to a table immediately upon arrival. Good start. The interior is lovely and it wasn't very crowded. There seemed to be a lot of servers. Unfortunately, the only good thing was getting our table on time:
5-7 minutes after arrival- Waiter, Cheyne, finally comes over to take drink orders.
10 minutes- waters finally arrive and he walks away.
10-15 minutes- Waiter comes back and takes our order. Walks away.
30 minutes later- salads arrive.
45 minutes later- entree's arrive. Half are cold. the other half inedible. My gnocchi was raw. My wine never arrives but at least he didn't put it on the bill. He disappears for another...
10 minutes- We ask for a manager and tell him our food was cold and we waited 1 hour 45 minutes for it. We appeared to be his only table. Every table around us got food and had left and been re-sat. "Check please!"
After eating what we could and waiting another 15 minutes for a manager, we finally got up and flagged one down. The owner came out and was very nice. He was the only person to apologize to us. It wasn't just that dinner in a half full restaurant took 2 hours, but that our waiter didn't care about service at all. I used to work in restaurants and believe that everyone should work in the service industry for at least a month. I start every restaurant review with 4 stars and work up or down from there. This however, was the worst experience I may have ever had. Were it not graduation weekend, we would have left long ago and tried to find somewhere else to go, but we knew other places were booked. Several of our friends noted similar experiences. I will never go here again.
I had previously been here only once, on a Valentine's Day a few years back, and recalled it being a good but pricey restaurant. Â Well, we just recently went back with a Groupon discount and my impression stayed the same.
I had salmon with tomato sauce over spaghetti which had awesome flavor! Â Salmon was big and cooked perfect. Â My teenage daughter had clam pasta which was also good. Â We upgraded our salads for an additional $4.50 and I got a spinach salad, which was very yummy and big! Â
Service was good but not spectacular. Â We went on a local high school's prom night, so maybe they were busy.
I ordered sangria and thought it was a bit too watered down for $6.50.
Overall, the salad and food were awesome but it was pretty pricey even with the Groupon discount. Â I may try again if I can find another discount.
I think I got too excited after reading the reviews which isn't the restaurant's fault. I've been to Cenare twice now and both times it was just kind of... average. The mozzarella sticks were okay but tasted like they had been microwaved. The gnocchi was really fresh tasting but had a weird flavor to it? Maybe I'm just not a gnocchi person but I was not feeling it at all. Great service though.
Review Source:Based on the reviews, I may have set my expectations a little too high.
The service was excellent and very inviting but the food was just average. Compared to other Italian places in town, of which there aren't that many in BCS, this is pretty good. But, if you have had good Italian food elsewhere, this is just OK. Nothing special.
this place is awesome to take a girl on a dinner date. the wine is good (fat cat is my favorite). the entrees are unique, not the usual stuff you see at olive garden, johnny corrinos, or carabas, this is true italian. the restuaraut is family owned from what i know, and it shows. there is a  nice ambiance, and like i said before a good place for a date. my only complaint is that its a little expensive. i would like the entrees to be about two dollar cheaper.
Review Source:Reasonably good Italian place. I like the vibe most of all, feels like a place where you should dress nice and behave like an adult, even though the prices are still at corporate chain level.
Run and staffed by good and friendly people, I wish I'd gone more when I lived there. As it was, it was mostly for mandatory "date nights" with a terrible (ex) girlfriend and for business dinners when we were recruiting new employees.
Pretty good. Â But I've yet to be wowed by an Italian Restaurant in College Station. Â I was expecting a big bang, but what I got was decent, authentic, Italian food.
Unlike some of the Italian chain restaurants, Cenare breaks from the mold and provides some dishes that provide a little more depth.
Overall though, I just wasn't that impressed. Â I had a good meal, but where is the creativity? Â Most Italian places that you go to provide the classics, but I think Cenare has the potential to really break out a little and they just never really deliver on that potential.
Great atmosphere and a friendly, helpful staff. Â Nice place for a date. Â A little overpriced for what I got.
Okay, I pretty much want to adopted by this family.  I love the husband's pizza place (<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/mr-gs-pizzeria-bryan">http://www.yelp.com/biz/…</a>), the son's Italian place (<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/VRMs6z39yEbJujhBO68dOw">http://www.yelp.com/biz/…</a>), the daughter's bar (<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/revolution-cafe-and-bar-bryan#hrid:PInGgcnmUkh-8DjKjOIvAg/query:revolution">http://www.yelp.com/biz/…</a>) and I've heard great things about their wine bar.  Each of these places serve a different purpose and does so extraordinarily.  Cenare is no exception.
I knew that the family owned this place and I love support local places, so we thought we'd stop by. Â Since it is located in t a strip mall (and this is College Station), we didn't bother dressing up and weren't expecting such an elegant scene. Â With the subdued lighting and soft ambient music playing in the background, you're immediately whisked away from the stress of everyday life and are invited to just relax and enjoy the food.
The service is spectacular and each dish I've tried has been beyond amazing. Â My only complains are the location and the slightly high prices. Â And since their son also owns an Italian joint (albeit, a much more casual and cheaper place), I tend to go there more often.
This is a great place for a romantic meal and while many people flock to the obvious places, you'll definitely stand out for taking someone to such a "hole in the wall". Â However, don't let the location fool you--it gets pretty crowded on the weekends and reservations might be a good idea.
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