Brio Tuscan Grille

We told my dad to pick a restaurant to go to for his birthday, he didn't know what where he wanted to go, so we suggested Brio that had just opened at the Scottsdale Quarter.  As I have said before, my dad LOVES Italian food, so we thought this would be a good pick for his special day, and fun for everyone since none of us had ever been there before.

We had a 7:00 reservation on a Thursday night and were seated promptly upon our arrival.  Let me just say, the interior of the restaurant is so beautiful; it has high ceilings which have been ornately decorated with chandeliers and fabric swags.  Even though the ceilings were so high, and there were so many tables, it really didn't get to be all that loud inside, so we were happy about that, especially my dad.

We were greeted by a friendly waiter within seconds of sitting down, and placed our beverage orders.  We were also given a nice basket of assorted breads and cracker breads, the cracker breads were the best of the bunch; seasoned with rosemary and parmesan cheese!

We looked over the menu and were impressed by the selection, and felt that the prices were very reasonable considering the atmospher of the restaurant, so we were hoping the food wouldn't let us down!  We decided to start with some Lobster Bisque and salad before our entrees.  My family cannot resist a bowl of Lobster Bisque, and if we see it on a menu, we generally find ourselves ordering a bowl with four spoons!

The bisque came out in an adorable soup toureen that had lion heads on either side of it, which is something that my mom, sister and I couldn't help but point out!  I was the first to take a bite of the bisque, and while I found the flavor to be nice and lots of big chunks of lobster, I found the texture to be a bit off.  A bisque is supposed to be as smooth and velvety, but this was really thick, almost like you had to chew your soup!  We all decided that the flavor was there, but that the execution was off, so next time we will probably pass on the bisque.

We had also ordered both the Caesar Salad (minus the croutons) and the Brio Chopped Salad as starters.  The Caesar was just your classic version, but both my sister and dad really liked the dressing.  It was nicely dressed and sprinkled with Paresan cheese, and the lettuce was nice and crisp.  My mom really enjoyed the chopped salad that was filled with tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, onions and dressed in a red wine vinaigrette.  Everything was chopped into similar sized pieces making it easy to eat, and she thought it all went very well together.  The salads had made up for the chewy bisque, so we were looking forward to our entrees!

I decided to order off of the appetizer menu since I wasn't overly hungry that night, and I chose the Gorgonzola Lamb Chops.  They offer an entree sized portion of these, but when the waiter informed me that it came with EIGHT chops, I decided that was just way to much!  The chops were cooked to a perfectly pink middle and were baked with a crust of gorgonzola cheese.  Dipped in the red wine veal sauce that they were served with, they really just melted in your mouth!  The sauce was one of my favorite parts of this dish, I was dipping my bread in it at the end to make sure I didn't miss any of it!

My dad chose the Veal Marsala for his entree.  The veal was super tender like veal should be, and was swimming in a classic Marsala sauce specked with mushrooms.  On the side, there were crispy roasted potatoes and green beans.  My dad loves veal, and tends to order it most of the time that he goes for Italian food and he really liked this version.  The portion was a good size and he especially liked the roasted potatoes.

My mom and my sister both ordered the same thing, the Shrimp and Scallop Risotto.  The dish came out and smelled amazing, and we could all see that it was overflowing with shrimp and scallops.  The risotto was made with fire roasted tomatoes and cream, giving it a rich and creamy flavor.  It was drizzled with a pesto sauce that added just the right amount of nuttiness to the dish.  I was able to snag a few bites and fell in love with this, it reminded me of my beloved "pink sauce" that I tend to gravitate to when ordering pasta.  They both had leftovers to take home, and reported that it was almost even better leftover!

Since we were celebrating a birthday, we couldn't not have dessert, although the birthday boy wasn't interested, so my mom and I got to choose!  We decided to get a Creme Brulee Trio that included a classic version, a caramel version and a chocolate version.  For some reason my sister does not like Creme Brulee, silly girl, so it was all for me and my mom!  They were all smooth, silky and creamy but the caramel one was our favorite.  It was not overly sweet, but had just enough of the caramel flavor that it was just divine. 

We all really enjoyed our whole experience at Brio; the service, food and atmosphere were all excellent.  The menu had quite the selection and we all agreed that there were other dishes that we would be interested in trying, so I am guessing that we will be back again in the near future!

Brio Tuscan Grille

15301 N. Scottsdale Rd.

Scottsdale, AZ 85254

http://www.brioitalian.com/