Silvio’s Italian Restaurant; One of the Best Louisville Has to Offer – #LocalFoodieFriday
My husband and I, like the responsible adults that we are, almost let our anniversary slip us by. We are just extra in love or something, because we celebrate both our dating and wedding anniversaries (having them in the same month helps). April 1st marks the longest April Fool’s joke ever played by him, which means it’s been 7 years of our relationship this year. As soon as we realized that it was the next day (!!!!) we hit the Googles to figure out where we should celebrate. And that’s where Silvio’s Italian Restaurant caught our eye.
Silvio’s certainly isn’t very eye-catching from the street. Tucked into a side street off of Shelbyville Road in St. Matthews, you’d be too busy navigating the traffic to notice it. Perhaps for that reason, they work extra hard at Silvio’s to provide a top-notch experience once you’re in the doors. We arrived at our reservation time to a fairly busy (for a Wednesday night) restaurant. Water glasses filled on the table, menus at the ready. We began our plan of attack.
My advice for Silvio’s is to order as many things as you can and share them with the table. Most dishes are enough for 2 people to share easily, and can accommodate sharing among 4 if you’re ok with just having a few bites of everything. We started with an order of bruschetta (6 pieces), a Caprese salad (4 big hunks of mozzarella with scattered halved cherry tomatoes), and a single arancini rice ball (large enough to share). Each of these appetizers was like biting into a fresh bite of Italy. At its core, Italian cooking is pure ingredients done simply and well. The tomatoes, basil, cheese – all of it was fresh and bursting with flavor. You could feel the care that went into every single dish.
Our main course was equally impressive, but I almost want to skip it for dessert. But suffice it to say that my pasta primavera and my husband’s cheese lasagna were further examples that the chef knows what they’re doing. But now the best part: dessert. We ordered the limoncello cake, and words simply cannot describe it. The smooth and creamy icing topped a tender cake, sweet but with a subtle sharpness from the lemon. Addicting doesn’t even begin to describe it.
In addition to the stunning cake, we got an order of cannolis on the house! Owner Bill Melillo is a staple in the Silvio’s dining room. He wanders the tables, greeting regulars like family and asking how your experience has been. When he learned that it was our anniversary, he sent cannolis to the table on the house. The table behind us was celebrating a birthday. What did they get? Cannolis. The tangy, sweet, lemony Italian confections are the currency of celebration at Silvio’s, and are cause for celebration themselves.
After three courses and several dishes, we were stunned. How had we never experienced this place before? The service was prompt and friendly and the food was filled with flavor and made with care. Silvio’s is a gem of a restaurant, the kind that you don’t have in every neighborhood. St. Matthews is lucky to have it, and by the amount of regulars we saw filling the restaurant on a Wednesday night, they know it. If you have a cause to celebrate, make sure it’s at Silvio’s. I’ll see you there for my next birthday, double fisting cannolis and in a limoncello-fueled food coma. Until then, here’s to good drinking, great eating, and even better living!
Silvio’s Italian Restaurant is located at 104 Fairfax Ave. It is open M-Th 5-9 pm, F-Sa 5-10 pm, closed Sundays. Visit their website to make a reservation.
