Primo for Lunch today

I have never visited Primo before, but tried it for the first time today. I love the atmosphere! The place is very modern, open kitchen comfortable seating. The parking is across the street? The service was average at best. The food, too little for the price IMO. Don't get me wrong, $13 for a lunch pasta is fine, given a decent portion. I had the special ravioli, spicy Italian sausage in a Prima Verde sauce? What is Prima Verde? It was just marinara. The pasta was very good as was the sauce, but portion was small. My guest had tuna cooked medium rare. Excellent presentation, garnished with spring mix and orchetta pasta. No bread or anything was served. Both my guest and I left feeling as if it wasn't enough. Both lunch entree's were $13. We joked about the credit card commercial "elf food". I went across the way to Market on market and we got granola bars.
I was expecting more given the touting. Melillo's is a much better choice. The food is equal to or better, service is much more attentive, and it costs less for more. I have no affiliation to either place. Just reporting my experience.

Sorry to hear about the poor service there Kurt. I had a business lunch there the other day and we had good service. Sometimes though a restaurant doesn't have its "A team" working lunch.

I had a salad, a pizza, and a glass of iced tea and I was stuffed. It's definitely priced beyond what I can afford for an everyday lunch, but its comfortable for an occassional splurge.

I've never thought about comparing them to Mellilo's, but they are close together geographically. I like Mellilo's, but the food is so different I would have a hard time comparing it to Primo. To me, Mellilo's is more comparable to someplace like Come Back Inn.

I shared a very similar experience on my first trip to Primo. It was also a lunch. Although we found our experience to be rather poor, we decided to give them another shot at dinner. In our opinion dinner is where they are best. The atmosphere was great, the food was less meager, the service was better, and we were offered bread. My advice to you would be to give them another shot in the evening.

I love Primo...worked there for 2 years, but I agree that they are best at dinner. I think what makes Primo an amazing place is great food, intensive server knowledge and training, and the intimate, personal experience you can have there. I think the things that make a good lunch are the polar opposite of Primo's strengths: quick, less relaxed, and an emphasis on fuel rather than artistic food. I would do Primo for lunch if I had a lot of time or for a long lunch meeting, but it's not fast food, it's an experience, and that's not what most people are seeking at lunchtime.

I've only been to Primos for cocktails in the early evening (just after work). I can't speak of the food experience but I can say that the bar is one of the best stocked I've ever seen. Service was beyond good with several servers stopping by to make sure all was OK (I was waiting for someone) and trust me, I am well ahead in years for their interest to be anything but professional.
Based on the bars friendly casual manner I will definitely give them a go for a dinner some time soon.

My advice to you would be to give them another shot in the evening.

Having a gift certificate that was begging to be used, my DW and I had dinner with Primo again this evening. It was as good if not better than our last dinner experience there.

I started with the artichoke appetizer which was very light and refreshing. DW had a salad with a mint blood orange viniagrette. Her only complaint was that the dressing was almost undetectable and left the salad a little imbalanced with the bitter radicchio. Her disappointment was that the dressing was the reason she ordered the salad.

Moving on to our entrees she had the ravioli of the day and very much enjoyed it. I had a beautiful tuna steak with blood orange marmalade served over couscous and arugula. The tuna was grilled perfectly and the blood orange marmalade was a great complement to the grilled fish.

Experiences like this should further reinforce the need to give restaurants a second or third chance if you find your initial experience disappointing as we did.

BTW - we were given bread and even offered additional bread later in the meal

this has become my go-to place for business lunches. It's downtown, but it has ample parking . . . a rare combination. There is something on the menu for everyone, and the atmosphere is conducive to talking business.

I went to Primo for dinner on Derby evening and had a lovely time with my date. The food (their fabulous steak!), wine, dessert, everything was excellent. The only downside was the noise, as the restaurant doesn't seem to have any design to muffle the sounds.