One of the things I love about living in Austin is the abundance of really great family-owned neighborhood restaurants. Located in Wells Branch in the same spot as the original Gumbo’s, It’s Italian is one of those neighborhood jewels. The owners and their staff are friendly and a lot of care goes into creating each menu item. The food is not only delicious, the presentation of each dish is gorgeous.

Salad

I ordered the house salad with the house Italian dressing. The lettuce was fresh and had lots of extras — cucumbers, olives, carrots, cherry tomatoes and shredded mozzarella. A great start to a delicious meal.

Main course

There is a wide variety of Italian dishes to choose from. Appetizers include bruschetta, fried ravioli, shrimp scampi, calamari and grilled asparagus. The menu includes pizza with a wide variety of toppings, pasta, chicken, veal, steak and seafood.

My husband ordered the meat lasagna. It also comes without meat or with meatballs and/or sausage.

The veal marsala was divine, with tender mushrooms and a wonderful warm marsala sauce. The fettuccine was coated with a creamy light sauce with a hint of garlic.

Dessert

We were so full that we almost didn’t order dessert. The menu lists creme brulee, chocolate colossal cake and Italian cream cake; however, the owner/chef had made an interesting sounding lemon cake. All I can say is, “WOW.” The cake was soaked in a sweet lemon flavoring and the filling and topping was a creamy sweet lemon sauce. It was topped with a yellow lemon sauce and a dusting of powered sugar, making for a really beautiful dessert.

It’s Italian is vegetarian friendly, with items on the menu such as fettuccini alfredo, eggplant or portabella parmigiana, pasta primavera, or non-meat pizzas.

It’s Italian
14735 Bratton
Austin 78728-4304
(512) 252-1444
Hours: Mon-Sat, 5-9:30pm