Zio’s Italian Kitchen

10041 Coors Road NW,
Albuquerque NM, 87114
Phone: 505-792-9222
Fax: 505-792-9333
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Zio’s is an Italian kitchen that markets itself as a restaurant offering good Italian food and atmosphere within a good price range. It is not a formal setting so this is a restaurant that suits the family experience and you can watch your food being prepared by oven or open flames as it offers an open kitchen to the seating area. Zio’s is a chain managed by Mazzio’s, a large corporation with restaurants located mainly in the Oklahoma and Texas areas. However, this Italian kitchen located on the Cottonwood Mall grounds is the first of this chain to reside in New Mexico.

The main selling factor for me is the modest prices for the majority of entrees. The average price of an entrée is in the $7 – $8 range with house features getting up to $13. For the most part the ingredients used are very basic and do not extend to exotic Italian ingredients, like some dishes you will find at Trombinos or the Macaroni Grill. But hey, how many people out there really care about the difference between regular and buffalo mozzarella anyway? Like any Italian restaurant, the heart of any dish is the sauce, and in this restaurant I would recommend three very good ones to try; their Marinara, Spicy Alfredo, and Spinach Artichoke sauces. My recommendations for appetizers are the Bruschetta and Pepperoni Bread. For entrees I would recommend the Seafood and Spicy Fettuccini Alfredo’s, Salmon Dijon Pasta, Marco Polo Salad (a unique salad with a sweet strawberry/raspberry flavor), Chicken Marsala, and Chicken Cannelloni. One thing this restaurant is missing is the inclusion of veal, which is traditional for Italian dishes. From the brick oven they have excellent calzones, but I would say that the pizzas are average. The desserts are also well priced in the $4 range and you get your money’s worth with the Tiramisu and Wedding Cake.

The area that this restaurant needs the most work in is organizing their entrée preparation among the sauté, salad, and brick oven areas. They seem to not be in sync a lot of times, especially on busy nights as the pizza/calzone area seems to be slow to complete orders (a warning to those ordering a pizza or calzone, or well done ribeye for that matter). So the pasta dishes can be made very quickly while the oven area will drag the ticket for a long time. Other open kitchens like the Macaroni Grill offer a much more cohesive assembly and entrees are prepared in both areas at around the same time. The service is about average, but you will find really good service from a few of the servers at this restaurant. It’s a very laid back operation so they are not expected to know everything, but the menu here is very informative as to what is in your dishes and how it is served.

It is a very chain-like atmosphere in this restaurant, just like what you would expect to find in a mall parking lot. The Italian décor is mainly painted on to the walls and the walls are decorated with a vast collection of artistic olive oil bottles. The tables are dressed with white construction paper and crayons to suit the family (aka occupying the kids while you eat). So I would recommend this restaurant to those looking to take the family to eat and to those that want to visit an Italian restaurant without spending a lot of cash.

Taste:
[rate 7]
Service:
[rate 5]
Ambiance:
[rate 4]
Overall Reader Rating
[ratings]

Zio's Italian Kitchen, 9.3 out of 10 based on 3 ratings

Popularity: 25% [?]