aiello's fine italian dining

aiello's italian food is by far, hands down, without a doubt the best italian food in the valley! carrie and i went there on our date night a few weeks back. we've passed by aiello's numerous times on the way to other restaurants in DoPho (downtown phoenix). for whatever reason, we've never stopped to eat italian there.

anyways, we decided that we would go out for italian dinner on our date night and thought that aiello's was the spot to go. from the outside, you expect a quaint dining experience and their trees covered in white lights out front are a sure sign of this. on the inside, the dining experience is enhanced by the open kitchen. on a personal note: i love open kitchens, they just feel fancy and really add to my dining experience. the owner, joe aiello, is intentional about visiting every table as they are seated to greet them and strike up a conversation.

as an appetizer, we ordered the calamari. i think that it is our way of determining how the rest of the meal is gonna go. and aiello's is no disappointment...we found that the best thing to do is take the marinara sauce and add a hint of the chili oil that they serve. just try it, you'll love it too!

for dinner, carrie has decided that linguini with clam sauce is her ultimate deciding factor in a good italian restaurant. me? i went for the special. ravioli stuffed with carmelized onions, prosciutto and cheese in a pink sauce. so how was the food? OMG! it was the best italian food we've had in the valley...hands down, no joke. the ravioli was perfectly offset with a fair amount of basil that was not offensive. carrie, who normally saves half of her meal, at the entire portion of linguini with clam sauce. not because it was small portion, but it was THAT good.

despite our fullness after an appetizer and entree, we ordered a canoli. i heart canoli. and aiello's canoli is out of this world. whatever you do, save room for this canoli. it was rich, but not oo rich, and had some cinnamon which made this desert incredible. OH! and don't forget to get a bite of the fresh strawberry with your fork full of canoli.

i don't think i even need to make another argument about aiello's. it's amazing and you'll definitely wanna go here! out of 5 sporks, we give aiello's 4.5! joe aiello came around to visit us after dinner and i was more than happy to tell him just how impressed i was with his food. and he followed up our dinner with a surprise that i won't tell you about. you'll just have to go and find out.

aiello's fine italian dining
5202 north central avenue
phoenix arizona 85012
602-277-8700