(37 votes, average: 3.27 out of 5) - 
50 Pine St
Carlisle, PA 17013
717-243-6141
Rillo’s excellence in fine dining can be traced to its culinary expertise and dedication to service and hospitality that have made it truly a landmark of tradition in Central Pennsylvania.
[Rillos]
Related restaurants:
YES! Still missing Joey. Dishes are nothing like they used to be. Still go there a lot though. Ordering the specials works because you are getting something the chef knows how to cook. The family recipes are killed there. Sad.
Poor Menu. Wheres all the good italian dishes??? you had a choice of different pastas with either spaghetti sauce or spaghetti sauce. Any other dinner your paying $30. no alfredo sauce?? no manicotti?? no stuffed shells??
very disappointed after hearing hype on this place. Overrated to say the least.
Rather go to olive garden.
I eat out at Rillo’s once per week for a business meeting since December 2009. I have to eat gluten free or I’m getting very sick. Rillo’s has excellent gluten free choices and if something is not gluten free on the menu, they might be able to accomodate you. So far they have done an excellent job with my food. The servers and the kitchen have excellent communication about this gluten free thing and I never have to be afraid, that I’m getting cross contaminated. This doesn’t happen very often, so I’m really fond of them. I actually wrote a review about Rillo’s. You can read it here, if you like: http://www.examiner.com/gluten-free-in-harrisburg/gluten-free-at-rillo-s-restaurant-carlisle-review
Recently I dined at Rillos and ordered the Chicken and Shrimp Marinette (3rd time under new ownership). When the Rillo family owned this restaurant, that was truly a wonderful dish and the only thing I ever ordered there. But this was the third time I’ve been there since the new owners have acquired the restaurant, and this dish just isn’t nearly as good as it used to be. I will admit that there is much more chicken and shrimp than previously, but that’s not the only thing that makes this dish. In fact, I think it detracts from it. The seasoning on the chicken and shrimp has become overpowering to the point that you can’t really enjoy the wonderful citrus, tomato, ginger, sesame sauce that is on the pasta. And there are very few vegetables. I had half of a potato, a couple of carrots, a couple of red pepper strips, a snow pea, a few pieces of onion, and maybe a mushroom last night. When the Rillo family made this dish, vegetables and meat were probably almost equally proportioned. And it didn’t have an overpowering salty taste. It seems to me that it would be more cost efficient to them to serve more vegetables and less meat, right? But perhaps then no one would want to pay $24.95 for this dish.
Personally, I think Rillos is over-rated. The only reason I have for going there is if it is a pre-planned group event. If you’re going out for Americanized Italian food, there are other less expensive and equally good places in the area–like Miseno’s and maybe even Luigis. If you want authentic Italian food, go to Piatto.
It’s been a year or so since we had dinner @ Rillo’s, but when we want real Italian we think of Rillo’s. Unfortunately, our experience this past Sat. was not what it use to be. Service was slow, excused very professionally by the server, but the food was no better than Olive Garden. Veal cutlet was overcooked and the chicken cutlet was tough. Linguine was undercooked and the sauce was mediocre. A $100 dinner for two w/cocktails, but a $40.00 experience.
Jim & Barb
I have eaten at restaurant’s all over the country, and have been to Italy, and Rillo’s is my favorite place for Italian food. My wife and I have eaten there for our anniversary every single year since we got married (13 years now) and love everything about it, from the food to the atmosphere, and the attentive but never intrusive wait staff. We were greatly relieved when the change in ownership did not negatively effect it. I can recommend it unconditonally.
I agree. My experience with Rillo’s has always been marginalized cooking and service at an exorbitant price.
Great atmosphere,food and service.
I went there on my 50th birthday and had the best time ever.
Attention to detail was impeccable.
Food was authentic,homemade and the best Italian I have ever had.
I would strongly suggest to put this on your reservation list while in Carlisle.
I am a student at dickinson and this is my favorite place to go if my parents are in town. It’s really great food, (just call before you go in, they can get busy on weekends). My buddies and I like to get to-go orders. Tuesdays we can each eat a soup or salad and a hearty, college-guy-sized, pasta with a meatball and sauce for $10.
Dinner with some friends last night. Great food, great service and what a great time. Meals were large in portions and very tasteful. Portabella Appetizer was wonderful….please put on the menu! Tell all your friends – Best Italian Restaurant in the area! Can’t wait to go back….
This restaurant is back to where it should be. The new owner has kept the recipes of the Rillo’s family & has hired a very friendly attentive staff. The portions are well worth the money, & we are always happy when we leave.
Worst service ever received. This is unbelievable. We pick up Rillo’s to-go soup and garlic bread at least once a week. We always ask for gift certificates to use there. On Valentines Day after returning from a day of skiing, we were hungry for our usual seafood bisque. We walked in, paid for our quart of bisque and garlic bread, picked up the brown bag and left. Upon arriving home, we found the soup to be completely cold as if it was just taken out of the refrigerator and poured in to the container. The bisque was horrible, very runny, a ton of parsley, very little seafood and absolutely no taste. We paid for a half loaf of garlic bread and received only 5 very thin pieces. This $20 soup and bread dinner was worst than a cheap can of soup. We tried to call Rillo’s, giving them all the chances in the world because of the usual decent food and it was Valentines Night and we knew there were busy. We could not get thru on the phone. Monday night we took the container back to Rillos, yes we actually saved it to show them, but Rillo’s is closed on Monday. So we came back home, still toting this gross soup. We called last night only to be told by a young lady that there was nothing she could do…we would have to talk to the owner about it and there was no one there. Completely dumbfounded that the employee’s are not empowered to simply replace a quart of soup we asked “D” to have the owner call us. Tonight we decided to drive over and were fully confident that, in person, they would surely replace the bisque. NOT SO…”D” told us that the owner had been in meetings all day and that was probably why he hasn’t returned our call. We flat out asked “D” if she could please just give us the quart of bisque but she said ‘no’ so once again we came home with the awful bisque. It amazes me that for a simple quart of bisque and some garlic bread, Rillo’s is completely willing to lose a once a week client, who by the way, also frequents their Market Cross restaurant. I wonder if I ate there in person and something was wrong with my food, would they tell me they couldn’t do anything and that they would have to have the owner call me. This is the most ridiculous and horrendous customer service I have ever seen. They really do not even deserve 1 star.
great food and authentic atmosphere! my family and i love rillo’s!
Always have had good experiences at Rillo’s.
We have been going here thru 2 daughters at Shippensburg University.
This was there favorite place to go when mom and dad came to visit.
visited numerious times before the posted last seating and the kitchen had already been closed down. better call ahead to make sure they are still serving if you plan on dining late. customer service is a thing of the past under the new ownership.
My wife and I had a date night dinner at Rillo’s last night and it was a wonderful experience. Great service, friendly staff, and the food was fantastic. This was our first visit but won’t be our last.
Went for the first time last night. Great service, awesome food! Enough left-overs for dinner tonight, too. Thanks, Rillos! I will definately be back soon.
Very disappointing. Mediocre food, so so service. Not worth the $$$.
Went for my first time this evening. We had a great experience with friendly and attentive service and flavorful food. I would definitely go back.
Italian food? Not like mom ever made. Not sure if it was sausage or a garden hose. Wonder bread with garlic not italian bread.
Not up to NY standards
Thank goodness someone else didn’t buy this and turn it into some chain restaurant! Same recipes and great food cooked by some of the same cooks that were there since the opening in 1960! The service and food are as good as ever!
Still missing Joey. Now taken over by owner of Market Cross. Portions and quality have suffered.