Aquilante’s Bistro & Tavern

I am so happy to have found this restaurant! It was recommended to me by someone else. I’ve been three times now with my husband and sat at the bar for dinner all three times. We love the food there! The bartenders are so nice and very efficient. They do a great job, they are friendly and helpful, and they make you feel comfortable and welcomed! We’ve had a curry mussels special that was very good, linguini & clams, shrimp scampi, Salmon salad, veal chop special with butternut squash ravioli, and a tower of eggplant and veal with pink vodka sauce that was extremely tasty! I plan to return and recommend trying this place. They have a nice dining room setting as well and plenty of parking! But come early they stop cooking at 9pm

I cannot think of a single favorable thing to say about the food I was served here.
Poorly cooked and drained pasta, in a watery «cream» sauce, mixed with shellfish past its prime. This would have been a substandard offering for an Italian chain restaurant in the mid-​West. Here, I’m not sure there’s any excuse for it.
F.

I ate here after someone at work recommended it. I did like the atmosphere. The hostess greeted us and was friendly. The waiter that we had also seemed nice and was very helpful with specials and drinks. Unfortunately, the food was just okay. I ordered pasta and meatballs, and while the two meatballs were ginormous, they just didn’t taste very good. They were sort of mushy and they, along with the sauce, just lacked any sort of flavor. It just tasted like tomato and mushy meat. My husband ordered lobster ravioli and there were about 10 regular sized ravioli in the dish. While he said it tasted alright, I wouldn’t say it was even close to being worth the $ 18 the plate cost.
Had a decent time at the restaurant, but won’t be returning.

A wonderful all around dining experience. Great service… nice atmosphere… reasonable prices and the FOOD… fresh and delicious. I have found a new favorite.

What a difference the new Aquilantes is compared to the previous one on Cowesett! The place is so cozy inside, with quaint décor and a bathroom I am actually jealous of. The food is delicious and the prices fair. I went here for a work party and the buffet was great, with chicken marsala, scrod, salad and pasta. I can only imagine how good the rest of their dishes are as a sit-​down dinner. Can’t wait to go back!

Randomly decided to try this place on Saturday night. We didn’t have reservations, but they were able to seat 4 of us at a table right away (7:30pm). There was a nice bar on one side of the restaurant and a fireplace on the other. The restaurant was much bigger than I expected. They offered some great holiday drink specials. Our waitress was lovely. I ordered the linguine and clams. It was probably the best linguine and clams I’ve ever had. They were very generous with the portions. All items on the menu were fairly reasonably priced as well.
I will definitely return… and soon!

Not a good experience at all. 7:30 reservations 4 people/​-​waited close to an hour. Host apologetic but after 45 min of waiting should have, at the very least bought us a round of drinks, or sent an app or dessert to the table. Supposedly the table he was waiting to leave never got up to leave. Whatever, Poor table management Strike 1. Got our menus, server came over, specials heard, drinks ordered apps ordered. Italian egg rolls and calamari. Eggs rolls good, crispy hot to table nice flavor good, calamari was terrible. Soggy, not crispy or even fresh. We live in the ocean state, please do not use frozen rings yuck! Strike 2
Hubs got the Cruella fri Diablo, over gnocchi good bite to the sauce but come on, chef school 101, they didn’t remove the muscle from the sea scallops, who wants to chew that? And the gnocchi was undercooked and raw in the middle. I got the «signature» eggplant Napoleon with pink vodka sauce. Bland sauce! I liked the idea of the entrée and spiced correctly would have been delicious, strike 3. Our dinner companions got fish dishes and were again, just okay. All set with this place! The service was okay the bus person was rather awkward at the table, can I clear this can I clear this, can I clear this over and over again… Words of advice — Train your staff better than that and your host needs lessons in table management, your kitchen needs a hand in preparing food correctly. Will not be back

We’d been dying to try Aquilante’s after it moved from Cowesett Avenue into the Quaker Valley shopping center.
First of all let me say that their signature appetizer, the fried Squash Blossoms, were amazing. I had heard the buzz, so we had to try. They were stuffed with a gooey cheese, and a lemon-​caper-​butter sauce. Just tasty!
For the dinner entrée, I had one of the nightly specials, Pork Napolean!!! OMG, it was insane! Thin layers of pounded pork, eggplant, tomatoes and mozzarella, all stacked nicely with a branch of rosemary to hold it all together.
It sat in a bed of creamy vodka sauce, which was out of this world. If it’s a special when you go, order it!
There were a few minor hiccups like a bread basket — some of which was nicely warmed — while other pieces were stone cold. The olive oil dipping sauce could use more seasoning, too.
Service was good, and the place is very rustic and charming, with a really nice bar. I cannot wait to go back soon!

We went there for my birthday. Great meal. Owner prepared an off-​menu sugar free desserts for me. The best!

I gave this place return visit based on a pleasurable experience I had there previously… Never Again. no more than 1 star.
NO WAY — is it worth the money. These people DONT HAVE A CLUE!
Bad news started with drinks — my wife ordered a mango pomegranate martini, pretty straight forward stuff. It didn’t come until AFTER the appetizer was served for one thing, and its served with a HUGE slice of grapefruit! Who puts a slice of greatfruit with a drink that has mango in it? what? Bar-​tending 101: You put a strawberry on it, or a slice of mango or even a lime, Unfortunately, my wife cannot have greatfruit, and this was explained to the waitress. We sent it back and our waitress informed us that the owner made it, and ensured us it didn’t have any greatfruit in it. So we get the SAME DRINK back without the fruit on the rim — WOW! Guess what? The rim of the glass STILL has greatfruit on it, smells like greatfruit, tastes like greatfruit… Sent that drink back and ordered a blueberry martini that as slow coming back to us as the first drink.
The appetizer we ordered was stuffed squash flowers which I love, these however, were completely drenched in butter and lemon. Totally loosing any delicate flavor of the flower or the stuffing inside. We ate them anyway — they weren’t THAT bad and we were pretty hungry.
Now the entrée’s: We each had a ‘special’, she had a salmon with like a citrus mango type of salsa, side of zucchini and mashed potatoes. The salmon had grill lines on it, but tasted like it was poached. Maybe I’m too picky on the way I like my salmon, but it lacked that ‘grilled’ flavor. The zucchini tasted like it was ‘past’, definitely didn’t taste fresh. And potatoes were bland and tasteless.
And my dish was the bone-​in veal ordered medium rare, with some fig and apple Cinnamon. The veal cut had to be the worst cut of veal Ive ever experienced. It was extremely fatty AND tough. How does that happen to a piece of veal? After sawing my way through the outside it was RARE! eeesh! I showed the waitress the bright red uncooked center, asked the waitress if she agreed with my findings, and her response was that shes not a chef, she didn’t know. When I asked to send my veal back, the waitress wanted to know what should be done with it? Really? Is there a chef back there? The piece was sent back to the kitchen and returned to me with a mild apology, cooked thoroughly — a bit more like well done to medium. I was able to eat like 4 pieces of non-​fatty well cooked veal before I threw in the towel.
The whole time the waitress didn’t notice that we both needed drinks and didn’t even ask if we wanted another, let alone a drink on the house to help our waiting or to help ease our disdain for our meal. So, really, NOT A CLUE.
So between the drinks being made without a clue, the slow clueless service, the kitchen serving sub-​par quality food, totally NOT WORTH $ 85 without the crap tip i left. I used to be a waiter, and I never stiff on tips until now, sorry — just couldn’t do it.

I’ve looked over some of the reviews, and thought it was ironic that a few mentioned that the food was blah or tasteless, because our experience was the opposite: The food was too highly seasoned. The dressing on the salad, for example, had way too much vinegar. The came the entrée — the veal francese — good, but way too much lemon (thank goodness we didn’t add the capers!). That could have been workable, but the accompanying mashed potatoes included everything but the kitchen sink: cheese, garlic, salt (lots), and other spices. Plain mashed potatoes would have been the perfect accompaniment to the veal. Loved the décor, and we’re willing to give it another try, but will order more carefully and get more info on all the ingredients.

Not pleased. Atmosphere lovely but food marginal. Calamari Appetizer was tasteless. Red sauce mediocre. Eggplant parmigiana was mushy. Will not come back again.

Always drove by the new location and thought to try it. Kind of in a weird place but definitely a gem. We didn’t make reservations and was sat at a table right away. No wait! Very nice atmosphere and décor.
We started off with the brushetta, very nice and loaded with house made mozzarella!
I got the eggplant parm. I loved it! It’s so rare to find a place that doesn’t slice the eggplant paper thin and just cover it in bread crumbs and throw it in the frier. This was lovely and their pasta sauce is not generic, which is also a plus.
My friend got the ricotta gnocchi. My god… this was absolutely amazing. Very flavorful and perfectly cooked.
We then proceeded to get the coconut tiramisu… mouth watering. It was amazing.
We also had a very nice server who was always checking in! Very nice girl!
The only thing I would say was our drinks were on the pricey side. Other then that everything was wonderful and we will definitely be back.

Had the pleasure of dining here this week. Hostess was extremely pleasant, as were all the waitstaff that I observed. If possible, I like to «eye» other tables now and then to see how other waitstaff interacts with customers.
Our server was lovely, knowledgable about the menu and the evening specials.
Appetizers: snail salad that my husband liked very much. Not my favorite — I’m partial to thinly sliced snails. These snails were in chunks. Personal preference
Fried squash flowers stuffed with prosciutto and cheese. These were served with a francais sauce with capers. Delicious
Main course: fettuccine with scallops, peas in a cheesy cream sauce (sauce tasty, delicate, not too heavy)
Pumpkin ravioli with delicious light sweet sauce and dried cranberries
Linguine with meatballs. Not very adventurous but their giant meatballs are tender and tasty and I had to have them
Now, here is the reason for only three stars.
Drinks: each of us ordered a Sangria. They were large and they were ok. Maybe it’s me but when I order a drink, I like to taste the alcohol in the drink, if I didn’t I would order a soda
Not a huge deal until the bill came — $ 14.00!!! Per Sangria!!! No Way, Not Acceptable
The owner needs to re-​think this or at the least include the price on the «summer» drink list that is on the table. It just rubbed me the wrong way. This is Warwick, RI not a rooftop restaurant in New York City
That being said, I will go back because service and food were excellent. I just won’t order a Sangria!

This place exceeded my expectations. Delicious bread served with a nice dipping oil filled with nice garlic chunks. Mixed green salad with crumbled blue cheese and chucks of watermelon was amazing. The pork Napoleon was outstanding. Three layers of pork, tomato, fresh mozzarella, eggplant and a delicious sauce. Truly excellent and no way could I finish it all. My sides were rosemary mashed potatoes and grilled zucchini. Delicious. The only complaint I can come up is my husband’s pasta and meatballs could have used a bit more sauce but it was still very good. What he didn’t finish we asked for some extra sauce to be put on the leftovers and they gladly obliged. Service was spot on… Paris was our server. Highly recommend! We will be back.

Have been to the ‘old’ location several times and recently stopped in at the new location on Rt. 2. The new place is lovely with a fireplace and large bar. Much more spacious then the other location and better décor. The menu is the same, and the pork napoleon is always a special. They bring a dessert plate around after your meal. Very tempting. The staff is friendly and attentive. They have a full bar, wine and beer. The food is about the same — if you have been to the other location, you will most likely find the same quality at the new location.

This past Sunday my family went in to Aqualantes for Mother’s Day. We had been to the previous location and loved it! I’m assuming the reason that they moved was because the original location was «cozy» and they needed more space. My husband and I, arrived and hour before the rest of our party, at 10am. Our reservations were for 11am, when they opened. I started to look at the Unilocal reviews for the new location, and became nervous quickly! I kept seeing bad reviews for the new location. That being said, One thing I noticed as we waited outside was that there was outdoor seating. A big plus in my eyes. When our entire party arrived, we walked into a beautifully decorated restaurant and an adorable hostess named Melissa. She was wonderful and funny! I’d have to say that she was my favorite employee at Aqualantes! She showed us to our table. The waiter was a little odd, but he did not make one signal mistake. Now the important part… The FOOD! Our party of 9, ordered the awesome «tower» of veal, 6 orders of the rack of lamb, brick oven pizzas and mine… Lobster ravioli! All I can say is EVERYTHING was perfect! As we finished our meals the waiter came over with a mouthwatering array of desserts on a platter. I like when restaurants do that so you can SEE the desserts before ordering. Now, I never order dessert but I heard «caramel» and that changed my mind. More than half of our party ordered dessert. I had caramel flan with fresh salted whipped cream. It was one of the best desserts I’ve ever had! Also, all of there desserts are made in house! I’m not a «drinker» but another thing that my party loved was their 15 different types of Sangria! Yes I said 15! Lastly, the owner came out during the meal and introduced herself which, in my opinion, isn’t the easiest task when you are trying to run a restaurant. We will be going back… Definitely

The trouble started pretty early, when I arrived a few minutes ahead of a 7:00 reservation. I was approached by a very aggressive waiter and a wish washy hostess, both of whom ignored me immediately after I said I was waiting for a friend. When he arrived (less than 5 minutes later), we were ushered by 3 different people to a table steps away.
The aggressive waiter turned out to be the one serving us, and I just knew we were in for it. He lunged across the table to show us the wine and sangria list and then left us for a few minutes to decide. When he came back, he took our drink order, and as we tried to order an appetizer, informed us that the kitchen preferred they put in all the food at once, but they wouldn’t rush us, and would we like to hear the specials. Oooookay. He read off at least ten specials (I stopped listening after three). I ordered a dish called Marie Antoinette, which was pasta with sausage, eggplant, two meatballs and red peppers. My friend got the lemon ricotta scallops.
The busboy brought bread in the meantime, which was an Italian loaf torn into pieces, one of which still had the finger marks in it. Disgusting. Needless to say, we put that aside. The appetizer of Italian egg rolls was decent, not great, but it was the best thing we tried. My meal came out hot, but mostly flavorless, and the pasta was overcooked. The meatballs were huge but mushy and likewise flavorless. The best thing on the plate was the eggplant with homemade mozzarella. I left mostly everything else behind.
This place was a disappointment, especially considering the amount of money we paid for dinner. We won’t be coming back.

Very frustrating experience.
Server was pushy, rude and overwhelmed.
Food was completely disappointing in an area filled with excellent choices for Italian cuisine. I ordered the butternut squash ravioli with brown sugar white wine sauce, except it showed up minus most of the sauce. Ravioli was dry and had what appeared to be Craisins brand dried cranberries sprinkled on top. My fiancé’s pasta with chicken came with very little red sauce — which was extremely watery — and his grilled chicken was rubbery.
Drinks were incredibly overpriced. I wouldn’t mind spending $ 13 on a Ketel One martini at a 5-​star downtown restaurant, but charging that for a bottom shelf vodka soda is outrageous.

My husband and I and four of our friends dined at Aquilante’s last Saturday night. It was our first visit to this restaurant, and in fact, we did not even know it was right there, practically in our own neighborhood. It was a terrific surprise and a very happy find!
First off, we entered through the quaint little tavern into the restaurant. We were greeted by the owner, and then by a very friendly and knowledgeable waitress.
We ordered appetizers (a huge platter of delicious calimari — naturally — and an order of stuffed squash blossoms) and two pitchers of sangria. I thought the sangria was pretty average (certainly not the best I’ve had, nor was it the worst). The waitress brought us six glasses filled with sangria, and then the two pitchers — so it was a pretty generous serve, and the four of us could not even finish the pitchers — but aside from moi, there were really no drinkers to speak of at the table.
I had the best pasta with white clam sauce ever. I will go back there just to experience that dish again. Three diners had a veal chop which they proclaimed to be excellent. One had salmon and the sixth had a baked cod dish, minus the butter and breadcrumbs, and both fish eaters were very pleased with their meals (and the dieter said her meal was prepared exactly as she had ordered it.)
When dessert time came, two couples each ordered one (delicious!) dessert to share with their spouse. Three in my party also ordered cappuccino. Sadly, the cappuccino tasted like brown water, and the waitress tried again. She came back with three more cappuccinos but again they were no better. We figured something was wrong with the espresso machine, but the coffee drinks were not added to our bill.
All in all, the six of us left with a good impression of Aquilante’s. It would have been better if we had gotten our cappuccinos, and the bill was just slightly high, we thought. It was higher than the more expensive restaurants in East Greenwich, and we were dining in West Warwick, not East Greenwich (I figure EG rent is higher than WW). Mainly, though, the priciness came from the sangria — which was $ 30 per pitcher. I think the sangria made the bill higher than expected, since we didn’t see a price for it on the menu. We didn’t finish it so we would have been better off each ordering one drink. Next time, we will definitely do that, and that would knock the price back to average.
I’m still giving Aquilante’s four stars, because the food was really, really good. I’m happy that I found a new place with good food, that is less than fifteen minutes from our home.
NB: Since I wrote this Unilocal,Aquilante’s has moved to Quaker Lane, in the Quaker Shopping Center, in the location that had for many years Pinelli’s Deli.