Restaurant: Brio Tuscan Grill.
Location: Easton Town Center, Columbus Ohio
Hours: Sun. to Thur. - 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM. Open until 11:00 PM Fri. and Sat.
Website: http://www.brioitalian.com/
Meal: Lunch
Cost, with tip: $13.00
Score: 4/5
A friend and I walked into Brio about 11:30 AM or so and were seated immediately. It was a very large, spacious area, with lots of Roman columns, shades and foliage. We were seated towards the rear entrance of the restaurant, as were most of the guests who followed us in a short time after. The table itself seemed to suffer from some form of bloating. It was the standard white tablecloth, with paper sheets on top, but there was a significant amount of some sort of padding between the cloth and the table. The drinks often sat at a bit of a slight angle.
A server greeted us in a few minutes and took our drink orders. We had unsweetened iced tea with lemon, which was well-flavored and not too tart. For my lunch, I ordered the soup of the day and a salad.
The soup was Brio's version of an Italian Wedding Soup, complete with little meatballs and a very good chicken broth. It was served in what looked like a small urn, rather than a soup bowl. The taste was very good and it was just the right temperature for eating immediately. Not too hot, but hot enough to be fresh from the pot. The bowl was a little difficult to work with and I ended up picking the whole thing up in order to finish the soup. I could not actually finish the soup without bringing the bowl directly to my mouth, so in the interests of decorum, I elected to sacrifice the last bits of the soup.
I didn't go hungry, though, as the salad was more than enough. I got the Bistecca Insalata for the salad, which is literally a wedge of iceberg lettuce, covered with bacon, roma tomatoes, gorgonzola cheese and parmesan dressing. An excellent salad, but the health conscious may want to avoid it, or see if romaine could be substituted for the iceberg. (Iceberg being mostly water, and much less nutrient dense than romaine.) It was a very large salad, but manageable, none the less. Were I to do the same thing again, I would probably order the soup, or the salad, as either one would make a nice, light lunch. The two together was a much fuller meal, but not too much for one person.
The prices there are comparable to an Applebee's or a Max & Erma's. The lunch menu offers appetizers and light fare in the 8.00 - 10.00 dollar range, up to steak entrees at 20.00 dollars, for those who like their dinner early. The staff was friendly and on top of things, without being overbearing or too 'in your face' about it. The only issue we faced was that our server did not ask us if the checks would be separate, and gave us only one check. This was resolved simply by asking to split the check, which was done quickly, and with no fuss.
No experience is perfect, but I would give Brio 4/5 for good service, good food and quiet, friendly atmosphere. It's definitely someplace I would take the family to, and plan to in the future.
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