Ariving west across town on River Road in the dark, Tucson doesn’t seem all that different from what it was 35 years ago. But once you turn south on First Avenue and then west on Wetmore Road, the traffic gets more frantic and the signs brighter as you approach Tucson Mall—and the chain restaurants multiply thick and fast.
Count ’em: Boston Market, Domino’s, Carl’s Jr., Applebee’s, Taco Bell, Starbucks, Sweet Tomatoes, California Pizza Kitchen, Cheesecake Factory (the mere name explains a lot about the U.S. obesity rate), Olive Garden, Mimi’s, Red Robin, Chipotle Mexican Grill and Cold Stone Creamery.
Brio Tuscan Grille, a 40-strong chain out of Ohio, landed near the epicenter of this dense brand-name gastronomic cluster last summer. It occupies a big, handsome building next to REI, across the way from Cheesecake Factory and just a hop, skip and a jump from Olive Garden—of which it is basically a higher-class version. Like Olive Garden, Brio serves up an Americanized version of central Italian food in an American fantasy of what Italy might be like—except for the three giant-screen TVs that dominate the otherwise-beautiful bar at one end of the room. (I have to say, there’s something about the combination of fine dining and ESPN that just doesn’t click for me.) But this sort of thing is probably exactly what it takes to propagate a successful Italian-restaurant concept in a world where appetites are attuned to stuffed-crust pizzas, and every bar is a sports bar.
Despite the TVs and that chi-chi final “e” in “Grille,” Brio has its points. The staff is warm and attentive; the big room is opulently and pleasantly decorated; and the place is comfortable and not too noisy. Most of the food is quite tasty, and some of the things that really count—the bread, the salads—are terrific. But the general style tends to be complicated and over-rich in a way that’s more about Columbus, Ohio, than Firenze. And, for better or worse, it’s at Tucson Mall. In other words, Vivace has nothing to worry about.
I arrived with my friends Barbara and Kathy on a freezing Tuesday night and was happy to see the place bustling with folks who were clearly having a good time. Our waiter was sweet and very young. He couldn’t recommend a Chianti, not having tasted them—but was patient with our dithering over the menu. As we tried not to fill up on the excellent house-made bread (featuring a fresh, chewy interior with a shattering crust) and super-excellent rosemary-parmesan crispy cracker bread, we decided on the bruschetta quattro ($14.95) to start. It was two pieces each of four types of bruschetta, topped with roasted red pepper; roasted tomato and ricotta; sliced steak; and prosciutto, respectively. Each of these, to my mind, involved too many ingredients. Asparagus really does nothing for prosciutto, and they all were tarted up with melty cheese and balsamic “drizzle,” which had the effect of making them sweet. Basically, it was bar food—made with lots of fat to soak up alcohol and lots of salt to stimulate thirst, and cloying after a bite or two.
Next, we split a Brio chopped salad ($4.95), not because we’re cheap, but so we didn’t get too full to enjoy our entrées and desserts, which was already a possibility after those bruschette. We asked for the salad dry, with oil and vinegar on the side—but it came dressed with a good vinaigrette, which is probably the only way it comes. It was pretty fantastic—a perfectly balanced mixture of lettuce, tomatoes, cukes, olives, red onion and feta, all icy cold, crunchy and chopped fine to be easy to tuck in to. We loved it.
Up to that point, the service had been top-notch, but after the salad came a lull. This was OK. We had lots to talk about, and I was on my second glass of Castello di Meleto ($12.25 on special, and worth every penny), but we did begin to wonder what had happened to our entrées. If we’d been, say, a bored, older restaurant-going couple, we might have gotten restless. But just about the time we began to notice the hiatus, a manager came by to tell us that Kathy’s crab and shrimp cakes were “still coming up to temperature,” and that it would be a few more minutes.
We appreciated his attentiveness and the ETA, yet we couldn’t help speculating. Clearly, the cakes had been very cold. Did that mean they’d been frozen? Well, probably, and that was fine, except that it normally never would have occurred to us to think about whether they’d been manufactured someplace else. And were the cakes actually defying the laws of physics—stubbornly refusing to be heated up—or had our waiter or someone in the kitchen screwed up?
When our entrées finally arrived, the three very nice seafood cakes ($22.95) were succulent, nicely seasoned, packed with shrimp and crab—and piping-hot. Kathy was delighted with them and with the pool of horseradish sauce, the heap of al dente vegetables and the crispy roasted potato pieces that came alongside.
Barbara’s grilled shrimp and orzo ($19.95) was another unqualified success: Big, juicy, very spicy shrimp were served on a bed of nicely cooked orzo and accompanied by grilled vegetables. She polished it all off.
I was less happy with my penne Mediterranean ($16.35)—pasta with mushrooms, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, caramelized onions, feta and pine nuts. It turned out to be bland and rather greasy, so I ended up picking out the vegetables and pine nuts and leaving most of the penne.
We finished up with three “dolchinos” picked from the sampler tray of intelligently portioned desserts ($2.95 each)—tiramisu, apple crostada and mascarpone cake. They were all fine; the last was our favorite.
We asked one another at the end of the evening: Would we return? Probably not. We’d really loved the breads and salad, but those weren’t special enough for us to brave the mall traffic again. Of course, not being real meat-eaters, we couldn’t try any of the large selection of steaks, which may be wonderful. Barbara did sample the sliced steak bruschetta. She found the beef to be good, but said the whole thing was off-puttingly sweet due to the drizzle and some caramelized onions.
“Besides,” she concluded, “I had to park all the way over by Sears.”
This article appears in Dec 15-21, 2011.
This has to be the nadir of TW restaurant reviews. Talk about attitude, imagine having to eat at a chain restaurant in Tucson! Where all the restaurants should be locally owned and run by three star Michelin chefs. Get real Ms Downing. This is 2011 Tucson Arizona, not Firenze (or as we hicks say Florence). The Mall happens to be where the people are. The Mall is located where it is because the developers figured out some basic traffic and growth patterns. Imagine locating a restaurant where it might do some business. Would you be more comfortable in a more up-scale location? Would you like it in say Ventana Canyon?
It is sad to see someone with your delicate sensibilities having to suffer so. A freezing Tuesday night you say. Where you and your friends there at 6 AM and the temperature had gotten down to 30 degrees. And TVs, oh no, not TVs.
The only things that seems to have interrupted your preconceived review were that the food and service were pretty good. You must have been disappointed that the manager came over to talk to you about the seafood cakes, and then to make matters worse, they turned out to be delightful.
Let me close by saying if you and your friends are not meat eaters, you shouldn’t be reviewing restaurants. I am sorry Barbara had to park by Sears, maybe if she had parked by Bottega Veneta you would have had a better time.
“…in a way that’s more about Columbus, Ohio, than Firenze…”
Renee– have you ever been to Columbus, Ohio?
Yes, it’s also now full of chain restaurants, but its heritage is in places like German Village. Oh yeah, and it’s where Wendy’s got its start, on West Broad Street.
And Columbus had one of the great Tiki restaurants in the 60s — the Kahiki Supper Club.
From a publication that promotes the locally owned businesses in Tucson, I am completely surprised and disappointed that any writer would want to waste the paper this is written on with a review of a chain restaurant. Shame on you and quit being hypocrites.
We all know that chain restaurants don’t serve freshly made food and they can’t meet foodies expectations. I don’t see the point in reviewing this type of restaurants. I was at Brio for lunch a couple of months ago and although the food wasn’t bad, I will never go back because there was nothing special about anything. The decor, the service, the food just screamed chain restaurant and that is what it is.
The article does not give this place enough credit. I have been there many times since the restaurant opened and have had nothing but great food and service. The parking at the Tucson mall is horrible but Brio is worth the walk. Crab cakes are some the best I have ever had. The writer comments on them being frozen?? I saw them prepared with my own eyes at the Plaza Palomino Lobster event in November and they were not frozen. Of course they need to time to cook and get hot. Obviously the writer doesn’t know how to cook.
Crab cakes take no time at all.
I gotta back up Rita on this one @John shoe. Obviously you have no clue how to cook if you think you are braising crab cakes. The meat is cooked prior to cake form, therefore a quick, hard, sear on both sides is all it takes to get a crust and warm through…
The fact that you are eating mall/chain/italian/seafood and uttering the phrase “not enough credit” shows your brazen ignorance of food.
good day
We’ve been to Brio on three occasions and found it to be the best of Italian chain restaurants with the food and service a cut above any of the others. The breads are fantastic, salads great, and the steaks flavorful and perfectly prepared. Our last visit was Christmas Eve and Brio provided a much needed respite from last minute shopping. The service by our waiter (David) topped that of any and all chain restaurants we’ve been in over many years. Brio may be a chain but it sets a standard that few, if any, chains can meet.
With regard to the crab and shrimp cake entree referred to multiple times, the item is actually prepared in Ohio, frozen, and shipped to the Brio chains across the U.S. This is the same process used for pizza dough, soups, sauces, and breads used at the establishment. I previously worked at a Brio in another city and know this to be true. Not much different than a Carrabas, Macaroni Grill, or Olive Garden, but does not help to create positive differentiation. Do the right thing and go to one of Tucson’s local Italian spots. You might pay a buck or two more, but you are receiving a superior guest experience and providing more help for the local economy. Brio? It is what it is.
The crab cakes are made on site at each Brio Restaurante. I know this for a fact, since I worked for two years at a Brio outside of Detroit, MI. Also, the crab cakes are probably the best that you would be able to find outside of Maryland.
It’s always better to support locally owned business if possible – so please give Vivace & Tavallino’s a try – or even Contigo located on River (2 down from PF Changs) – the owner purchases local organic produce and grass feed beef.
used to work there the bread is anything but house-made it comes out of the freezer and into the oven haha
When did being a chain be so bad? To me it implies that the “local” restaurants haven’t gotten it right enough to open another restaurant.
Now on to the crab cakes…really? Just a nice sear because the meat is already cooked when formed? Although that may be true, I wouldn’t want a sear on the outside and a cold mess in the middle…think about it literally, wouldn’t you want your food to be hot? Bread coming in from a bakery…oh no I would never have that! Of course it comes in, how many places can really boast of a fresh bakery? Oh ok, let’s put Subway on the map because they make their bread there, they are much better quality too! Really, a restaurant that joins a community like Tucson, has done plenty of community work in the almost year it has been open (i.e. donating 10% of sales from opening week to Tucson Children’s Hospital), has done food drops to the local fire station and police department on 9/11, and is a local member to the Tucson Chamber of Commerce is definitely worth being part of this community. So before you bash a chain restaurant, please do some research and realize that chains make your “amazing” little town better by paying taxes and becoming a part of the community rather than soaking up all the benefits from not paying taxes and cheating the system. I love how Tucson “foodies” boast about great food, yet make Sonoran Dogs the food of choice….
That last comment sounds like it is coming from management over there. Who else would have such advanced knowledge of all of the restaurant’s philanthropic activities? I appreciate how such a long comment speaks nothing about the quality of food produced by the establishment. The food is schwag. I worked their and ate the food created by the corporation, it was not that good and definitely not worth the price. I am glad I left Brio and I am proud to work for a local group providing much better dining/drinking options at a substantially better value. Go back to Columbus! I’d rather have a sweet Sonoran dog than any of your crapola. Anytime!
just making a comment on the bread the reviewer thought it was house-made it is not never said bread made off sight was bad defensive much?