My mom recently celebrated a birthday. She came to Houston for her birthday so we did a few things to celebrate her birthday.

We started with a Birthday shoot with balloons. My mom is pretty laid back and chilled so she doesn’t like a big fuss for her birthday. I stopped and picked up some balloons from Party City and took her some pictures.

She loves taking photos for her birthday. That alone is a big deal for her. She loves to make memories with her photos to refer back to each year.

After we finished the photos, we did a little shopping in CityCentre. CityCentre is a beautiful area.

I even hopped in a few photos in between our shopping.

We stopped in at Brio Italian Grille for an early lunch. Brio Italian is an Italian restaurant serving Authentic Italian dishes. Italian food made with fresh, quality ingredients.

My mom loves Italian food so this restaurant was a good option. We dined outside on the patio at Brio.

It was a gorgeous day, which was perfect for outdoor dining.

Our waiter arrived to take our drink order. I ordered the Berry Lemonade. The Berry Lemonade was made with Monin Wild-berry syrup, housemade lemonade and a sugar rim glass. The drink was delicious. When my drink arrived it didn’t have the sugar rim. I made the waiter aware of it, he fixed it quickly and apologized said he forgot.

He also arrived with fresh bread and butter. The homemade bread was fresh and tasty. The butter was very simple and I think as an Italian restaurant they could have served the bread with oil, cheese and spices. Something a little fancier for an Italian restaurant. Just my observation.

We started with the Calamari appetizer. This appetizer consisted of Fried Calamari, Fried Pepperoncini served with a lemon aioli and a arrabiata sauce which is like a marinara sauce but spicier. A really delicious appetizer.

My mom ordered the Lasagna for her entree. The Lasagna is made with their Brio’s signature bolognese sauce, ricotta cheese, alfredo and mozzarella cheese. Who doesn’t love Lasagna, a delicious Lasagna. I think her only regret is that she didn’t order the dinner portion.

Her lunch came with a Caesar Salad. She said the salad had too much cheese for her liking.

I ordered the Chicken Milanese. This is similar to a Chicken Parmigiana. Made with Crispy Romano Chicken, herb pasta, house marinara topped with mozzarella cheese. The dish itself was good. The chicken was crispy and paired nicely with the pasta. The mozzarella wasn’t fresh. The mozzarella wasn’t cheesy or gooey. It didn’t enhance the dish at all.

Overall the dish was good but don’t put something on a dish that isn’t edible.

Brio Italian Grille over all was pretty good. The service was average. Our waiter seemed sleepy. He lacked focus and forgot a few items during  our dining experience. He was friendly though.

The food overall was really good. There were a few things that the kitchen/chef could do better. But the majority of the things we ate was really good.

Brio is a good option if you are in the CityCentre area and you are craving Italian.

Brio Italian Grille is located at 12808 Queensbury Lane, Houston, Texas 77024. The Hours of Operation are 11:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. daily.

Go check them out and be sure to tell them that Da’Stylish Foodie sent you.