Nido’s Ristorante

I am SOO glad that Chef James has come to Nido’s! As a local gal who frequented Nido’s from the former owners, we put up with the bland food to support local businesses. However it was really hard when you wanted to ask for seasoning because the sauce was bland and that limited what you could order. The new items being introduced are not only seasoned well, but cooked well. The Ossobuco with noodles was good. I would prefer rice but the meat was so tender and the flavors were excellent! I am so excited to continue exploring Chef James specials! Hope one day he can redo the bland & texture-​less marinara sauce.

My husband Tony and I had brunch today at Nido’s (29 Nov 2105). We’ve eaten here many times for lunch and dinner and have always enjoyed the food and service (love the eggplant parmesan, linguini with clams, and white pizza, just to name a few).
There’s a new chef in the kitchen (James) and we were happy to know this because we know his reputation — he’s an excellent chef. I’m glad Nido’s has him under their belt.
The brunch cocktails list includes a few different mimosas, two types of bloody Mary’s, and other drinks. I had the Limosa, sparkling wine with lemoncello. I loved the lemon flavor (I love limoncello!). Tony stuck with his usual morning brew of coffee.
I had a hard time choosing from the menu (see the photos I attached with this review). I ended up ordering the Florence Benedict with crab meat, asparagus, and a hollandaise sauce. The eggs were poached to my liking, runny on the inside — not overcooked. The hollandaise sauce was just right — not too thick, and just the right amount covering the eggs. Also included were fresh fruit and roasted potatoes.
Tony had the Brunch Pizza Flatbread, which was topped with scrambled eggs, tomato, mozzarella, and mortadella; also the fruit and roasted potatoes.
While enjoying our brunch, we listed to Don, who was playing the accordion. Nice touch.
The brunch menu ranged from $ 9 to $ 15, which I thought was very reasonable for the quality (fresh ingredients) and quantity/​portion of food served.
There aren’t too many places in Frederick that serves brunch (I’m talking restaurants versus diners) and the ones that do are expensive (at least in my book). Nido’s gives brunch a twist with Italian ingredients — a nice change from a regular brunch menu.
As an FYI, they have a bar upstairs, in which we’ve gone for happy hour drinks. You can sit upstairs for dinner or sit and relax on one of the couches/​chairs. The place really has a nice casual and relaxed atmosphere.
Overall an excellent meal at Nido’s, along with great service. I’m looking forward to going back to try other dishes on the menu.

Well it happened and I knew it would even after being assured by LeAnn. The new owners started putting their own spin on the old standards.
To start, the white pizza was the least affected. Still pretty good. White beans, not so much. More herbs and less garlic which equates to much less richness.
That was a bummer. I had the seafood platter with white. The garlic and oil was just okay. Very watery.
The calamari was extremely hard. In the past it would have been nice and tender. The pasta and other seafood was acceptable.
The wife had her favorite, Lasagna. Strangely the portion was about two times larger, a huge piece.
Normally this would be a good thing right?
Well sacrificing the full flavored meat and delicate lasagna noodles makes it not worth the extra portion.
In their defence, the sauce was still flavorful.
Adding new menu items would have been much easier to swallow rather than what they perceived to be improvements to the old time tested and flawless favorites.