Primo - Tucson

The restaurant is now called Passagio. They serve Italian cuisine with a Sonoran twist. The service was good, but the food was quite average, as most dishes lacked seasoning. We tried the meatballs, fried calamari, and grilled octopus, but none of them stood out as memorable. On the plus side, the atmosphere is pleasant.

The restaurant offers pleasant indoor and outdoor seating. Since we were staying at the hotel, we chose to have dinner here. However, I would recommend that families with children consider other options, as the ambiance is more upscale. I was really looking forward to the extensive wine list, but unfortunately, the staff wasn't able to provide any information about the wines. As for the food, we ordered the pesto prosciutto bruschetta, seafood linguine, and fungi pizza. We particularly enjoyed the linguine; the sauce had a nice kick, but the portion was quite small. The pizza was decent, with a buttery, crispy crust, but the flavor was rather bland.

My son and I decided to start with a charcuterie board to snack on. We then ordered a New York strip steak and a carbonara made with confit. Both dishes were delicious. Overall, our dinner experience was excellent, with attentive and gracious service.

This restaurant was located in the hotel/resort, which explains why it is on the expensive side for food. Reservations were full, but the bar was available so we sat there, and opted to watch the chefs (Adrian and Julian) make pizza/appetizers--that was very entertaining to see how they prepared the food and paced themselves. The pasta with ragu sauce and pizza with pepporoni and sausage (no egg) were good. They were slow (forgot) my daughter's pasta, which was just butter and parmesean cheese, but it was orecchiette (little discs, looks like a ear) that takes a long time to cook. It's an adult restaurant--like another Yelper noted.

Highlights: bread oil, wine list, cannoli dessert and the service. Lowlights: most entrees. Enjoyable enough, but never memorable, and so far (after two recent visits), nothing I would make the effort to return for. Chilean sea bass was a very nice portion, but the bacon in the dish makes it waaay too rich. Saltimbocca has terrible presentation. Best part about the beet salad is the dressing. Octopus appetizer was fishy. And the actual pasta choices are not enticing. All in all a nice evening with very attentive staff, but food and menu is missing that WOW factor.