Collina's Italian Cafe

Ive been to the one on Richmond before like 30 years ago. Never went back since. But since they were close by and we were hungry we thought we'd give it a try. It was either that or Olive Garden. Sadly they don't have a kids menu. but they can do a half order of any plate. I liked the Z pizza. And the Alfredo was ok. Salad was meh as was the complimentary bread. Staff was ok but seemed understaffed on that Sunday afternoon.

I ordered lunch from Collina's today via Uber Eats for a co-worker's birthday and the food was disappointing to say the least. I ordered the linguini primavera for me and the tortellini for the birthday girl. Both came with old lettuce in the included side salad and both meals missed out on our taste buds. The linguini primavera had no flavor whatsoever - I had to add salt and pepper to make it somewhat edible even though I threw out most of it. The tortellini was barely there - only several small tortellinis were present in some sauce. Not only was this a waste of money, but also embarrassing as this was for someone's milestone birthday. I will not be ordering from here again!

Dropped in on a Saturday around 12 - glad they weren't super busy - they are typically busier at lunch during the week, and in the evenings on weekends. Service was adequate. Ordered an 8' margharita pizza and a house salad - upsized the salad from a side portion - kinda regretted that decision. After removing a 1/4 amount of purple onion rings and a few huge tomato chunks, i was left with a plate of lettuce and a few black olives. It was served w two cups of Italian dressing - where one was more than enough. Not jazzed about the salad or the price. The pizza was okay - but the mozzarella was hard toasted vs being melted and gooey. I also didn't care to dine in a restaurant with a non service dog - there was a couple a few tables over with their (larger) dog - they even brought their own dog rug. Assuming they're regulars and that's just what they do. Why do restaurants do this - pretty sure it's against health codes.

What happened to Collinas?! My family grew up eating Collinas and I have so many fond memories going there over the years. Admittedly, all those warm and fuzzies were from their Greenway Plaza/Richmond location, but quality can't be that different, right? It's still Collinas, right? ....Nope. I came with 3 others, and we all ordered a personal sized pizza or a calzone, plus calamari to start. Everything was just so bland it blew me away. It was like they forgot to add salt in the dough, and then again forgot to add salt to the marinara, and then said to themselves, "this needs zero seasoning" and sent it out to our table. Service was friendly and quick, but wow, that might have been the blandest meal I've ever had in Houston.

We were excited to try this place. My husband had never been here and it's been many many years since I've eaten at a Collina's. The only reason for 1 star versus zero stars is because of the superb service. We came around 2 pm on a Sunday afternoon. After looking at the menu, we decided on garlic bread, chicken piccata, and penne with spicy marinara. Our server comes back and tells us they are out of garlic bread and so he brought us focaccia bread instead. The bread surprisingly didn't have much flavor and was only saved by own concoction of olive oil, salt, pepper, and red chili pepper flakes that was on the table. After the bread, came the dinner salads - hubby's salad was phenomenal but mine, the exact same salad, tasted old/left/expired and complete opposite of my husband's - same salad, two completely different experiences. On to the main course, our food arrives. Mine was edible, but my "penne" (if you can call if that because it was huge) was over quite cooked and the marinara sauce was VERY soupy. The flavor of the marinara wasn't bad, but I think the spicy is what really saved it. Now, the chicken piccata.....by far the most disappointing meal my husband has ever had the horror of eating. The chicken was dry, over cooked, too salty, and yet the mushrooms on top lacked any flavor. There was also a severe lack of lemon flavor. Normally there is a lightness and freshing taste to chicken piccata and this was absolutely non-existent in this dish. There was maybe only 2-3 capers in the dish. As per my husband, "it tasted like it was made with expired ingredients." If you've ever watched the show Food Wars, we basically had the reverse gifting with this chicken piccata! Needless to say, we won't be returning. But I would like to reiterate that the food was the issue, not the service! Our server was spectacular and took very good care of us. We would go back just to have water because of the excellent service.

Superb service. Great prizes. Excellent ambiance. Food is delicious. Great for family night. BYOB.

This is a really good Italian restraunt in the Memorial area, mainly for their pizza options! Their pizza called the Greca is delicious, we always get it in the 16" size and split it between four people - paired with their stuffed artichoke appetizer, it is amazing!

Just had lunch here. Really good little spot!!The bad reviews are ridiculously dramatic. Get a life people. Great service and great pizza. It's a mom and pop. But I really enjoyed it. Thanks!!

Decent Italian joint. The place is clean and the service is friendly. What I liked: I'm an eggplant junkie and the eggplant parmigiana here is nicely crisp. The sauce was better than average. I did not sample the complimentary bread. The salad was fresh, but...What I didn't like: ...the salad is drenched in oil to the point that it's soggy. While our server was a friendly dude, I asked for angel hair (instead of rotini) to no avail. Not a deal breaker, but still. Finally, there is not a lunch menu, which is likely why the lunch business here is usually flat. (They do a great dinner business from what I understand.)I would absolutely come here again. And I would order the eggplant again. But next time, I would forego the salad.

Great food, lasagna is fantastic. Reasonably priced and service is excellent. Bit noisy weekend evening but there are tables outside