Zio's Italian Kitchen

The first time that I went to Zios, I went with a friend, for lunch and we had only descent service. But the food was awesome! I tried the artichoke and spinach pasta, which was phenominal! We also tried the artichoke and spinach appetizer, which was also very yummy. Its creamy with a hint of spice to it. The pasta, has some grilled chicken, in a creamy sauce and arichokes and spinach, a great flavor for it. The second time I went, I went with my husband and two children. The service was excellent. The food was just as good as the first time. I again, had the artichoke and spinach dip, but we tried the pepperoni bread for an appetizer. It was good as well, but in my opinion, not as good as the artichoke and spinach dip. My daughters had chicken strips, which tasted homemade and were awesome in itself, and the other one had macaroni and cheese, the mac n cheese, was great, made with real cheeses. My husband tried a shrimp dish and loved it. This is one of our favorite restaurants now, we can't wait to go more often. And try more of the choices!! more

My husband and I love Italian food. When we lived in MD we'd make a trip to Baltimore to what is known as "Little Italy" and we always had the BEST ITALIAN FOOD around. It was worth the trip there. Since moving to Colorado Springs we haven't found an Italian Restaurant but we noticed Zio's several times as we passed by on I-25 and remarked we needed to try it. So, one day this past week, between snow storms we go there. We didn't realize it is a "chain." I'd never heard of it. We had good service, they seated us and we looked at the menu. When we saw that they did not have Veal Parmigan nor Egg Plant Parmigan, we should have just left. But we were there so we stayed. I ordered the Lasagna with a Ceaser Salad, my husband got the Lasagna with the house salad and our daughter got Chicken something. Our waitress brought us a loaf of bread and we devoured that while waiting for our food. It wasn't long before she brought our plates to us. They portions were HUGE. We all 3 could have eaten from one Lasagna plate. I tasted mine and it was SO BLAND but I thought, well, maybe get into it and it will be different. I did end up eating little less than half of it but it never got better. My husband said the same thing. He ate about the amount that I did. When the waitress came back, she wanted to know if we wanted the rest boxed up .. I said, "No, it's not that good." Now maybe had we brought it home and let it set for a few days, maybe the spices would have gotten better .. but in our opinion, this was NOT a good experience for ITALIAN FOOD. I can't believe they stay in business. Are there Zio's in your areas that are like this or is this just "unusual?" more