Vic’s Casual Dining

I’d humbly consider myself a foodie in constant search for those hidden gems in different cities. Restaurant chains need not apply…
This spot is one of those rare finds. One owner running around seating people, chatting and caring for guest’s every need while the other is behind the line cooking up fantastic Italian/​American food.
A father and son dynamic duo!
Well done… I look forward to my next trip to Michigan and will go out of my way to return.

First time in… very nice​.clean​.me and GF in for a nice lunch. started with mussel appetizer.wonderful.very nice sauce. lots o garlic. fresh mussels… yummo.
The tomato bisque soup was velvety and smooth. great flavor
We split the lobster ravioli… could have used more lobster. but not a complaint… wonderful dish.
Great cannoli, coffee and cappuccino
The waiter was wonderful. very attentive and professional… very reasonable prices.
Great experience. will go again

This is a must try! We frequently visit this place-​excellent food with very generous portions, most meals come with salads and bread and the atmosphere is very cozy. I eat here over big chains like Olive Garden in a second. Great service, food, and atmosphere.

This is a must try. Eaten here at least 10 times. Never had a bad meal, bad service or a bad experience. Great service and staff. Quick to come take our orders, and then quick and courteous service out from the kitchen. If you dont try this place it’s your loss.

I went to Vic’s as a fluke. We were hungry and had just left the Docs. I did not expect
doesn’t look like much on the outside. Once we were in I was impressed with the décor the beautiful ceilings everything. The service was prompt and the servers were very educated about the food, having tried much of it themselves. You start with soft delicious bread with awesome.
husband had one of the specials. ny strip and all the sides for11 $.it was so tender and flaverful. I had chickenzero wazoo AZ marsala (soooo good).she brought my plate and said I’m so sorry. i only gave you half an order. I’ll bring the rest out to you in a minute. She did. I couldn’t finish it. I’ve been there several times since and have NEVER been disappointed. And there desert is awesome. YOU CAN’T GO WRONGHERE. the owner is always there. they also serve wine if you like that with your dinner. This is a hidden gem in
try the Salmon dinner

My favorite Italian food in the area. Filet Briana, Chicken Piccata, and Gnocchi are my personal favorites. The servers are friendly and on point. Overall, you can’t find a better value for the quality of food (for any type of restaurant) in the Metro area. The atmosphere is warm and cozy, and the owner is there — helping out — almost every night.

Great cozy, friendly little Italian restaurant. Excellent service. Bread was wonderful, served with a delicious amoglio sauce for dipping. Salad with their house Italian dressing and fresh ground pepper– delicious. Homemade pasta! We ordered a half carafe of their house cab, really nice.
I will definitely go back. Next time will try a desert, they looked good!

Best restaurant downriver! I’ve tried multiple «hidden gems» of downriver and this one beats all of them! Been going here since I was a kid!

Can’t beat the great food and service. A true gem Downriver. Definitely will be back. Thanks Vic.

Went there for the fist time. I heard rave reviews on Facebook. I was disappointed. I had the lasagna, it was covered in sauce that didn’t taste all that great. No bubbly melty cheese on top. I also thought it was overpriced. Pia’s in Taylor is much better.
On the plus side. The bread was good…

All I can say is this my my wife and I go to date nite place. It’s small, romantic, and Vic is the greatest! If you are looking for Italian American food and want to avoid the crowds come to this place.

Everyone enjoyed their meals. I had Lasagna Sicilano which had a good amount of meat sauce and cheese on top. Wife had the Tortellini Scallops and Broccoli which she loved. Very nice seafood flavored white sauce. She had a house salad with Creamy Romano dressing which was delish. I upgraded to the Village Salad which had romaine lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, Gorgonzola cheese and their house dressing. A little pricey with a $ 2.75 up charge but tasted great. Next time I am getting the house salad with the awesome Creamy Romano.

The food here is always delicious and authentic. My favorite thing about this place is the service and the owner. It’s not often u find a family owned restaurant where the owner is actually there. I love when I feel welcomed and appreciated! Much rather support this restaurant than nearby Italian chains.

I love this place. Gahhhhlic in the marinara!

I am not from the area but was looking for something different to try and didn’t want a chain.
I absolutely found something special here in Downriver/​Southgate (I am not sure which I am in). In any case, service was great, fast, precise! Salad was great for a side salad and the Parmesan Perch was great! I have never had perch like that and the flavor of the fish was not overpowered at all.
I would highly suggest this restaurant to anyone looking for a good meal. I will try again next week when I return.

Excellent food, excellent service. Our waitress was very prompt with our drink orders Even though we were there with about 8 people things went very smooth. Salads came out quickly after we ordered them and our food soon followed. Everyone got something different, and no one complained about their meal.

Upon entering, Vic sat us at our table. Our server (whose name I didn’t catch) greeted us right away and got us some drinks. He asked us if we wanted to know the specials (which I appreciate, because sometimes I don’t want to know) and was prompt.
We had bread with this delicious red tomato sauce that I can’t really explain but it was AMAZING. I could have just eaten that. Tony got soup and I opted for the salad with their creamy romano dressing. it was delicious, as usual. Tony’s soup was full of BIG portions of whole vegetables, so you could tell it was made on site.
I got the butternut squash ravioli with the hazlenut cream sauce which was delicious, and a change of pace from what I normally order when eating Italian. Tony got the Filet Brianna, which was also quite tasty. He was really impressed with how well the steak was cooked.
I think we’ll try to frequen that place a little more instead of the standard Olive Garden fare. My only complaint is that the bathroom is very small, and there was no changing table. I never realized how important this is until you are trying to use the diaper changing pad on the floor of a bathroom while your kid is trying to run away to play in the toilet. *ah, parenthood*

My husband and I were looking for something different, something we hadn’t tried before. As there was an hour wait at Carrabba’s, we drove down the street thinking there might be an amazing dining opportunity awaiting us. We have found some wonderful eateries just by not wanting to wait for a table somewhere.
But we were wrong in this case.
Vic’s is a casual dining establishment that is family friendly. They serve mostly Italian fare, and there is a full bar.
We walked into the lobby at Vic’s – or, tried to as there was only room for two people to stand in between the counter and the door, and two people were already standing there. Several minutes went past and those first two people were seated and we could finally enter the building completely. Looking around the place, I noticed it appeared much larger from the outside. From my vantage point at the side of the bar, I noticed there were several tables at the back of the restaurant that were empty. I assumed that in the interest of clearing congestion we would be seated rather quickly at one of them, but alas, it was not to be. A few more minutes and a gentleman came up to tell us that there would be a booth available soon, and there was.
After we were seated in the dining room, we were presented with menus and placed our drink order (iced tea for both of us – they do not carry Splenda or Equal, just Sweet-​N-​Low and sugar). A bread basket with what appeared to be a spicy dipping sauce appeared very promptly.
The waiter came to the table and told us what the specials were for the evening – a 12 oz. NY Strip with fresh mushrooms and gorgonzola cheese with garlic mashed potatoes, and a type of fettuccini with chicken (I cannot recall the name of the dish, but as soon as he said fettuccini I tuned out because I am low-​carbing).
While we perused the mostly Italian menu, we discussed our experience thusfar. It was rather loud in the dining room (we arrived at prime time for dinner, so the ambient room noise was a bit higher than we prefer) but we discussed the décor (heavy, dark wood tables and booths, the bar area separated from the dining room proper by a half-​wall topped by a drapery of hunter green and cranberry) and the service thusfar (very prompt and pleasant).
I ordered the Chicken Marsala, the other side of the table ordered the steak with gorgonzola. Both of us upgraded the house salad that came with the meal to a Caesar salad for an additional couple bucks each.
The salads came out promptly and were okay, just okay. The entrees came out quickly also. On the plus side, the chicken was very hot so the plate was not sitting around waiting for someone to bring it to the table.
My first bite of chicken was a bit of a surprise. What I first tasted was the wine used to cook the sauce. The chicken had an odd texture – rather like canned chicken and there was zero seasoning at all. The mushrooms were rubbery and overcooked. The garlic mashed potatoes were very dry and oddly bland also. I ended up eating only half of one of the chicken breasts and one small sample bite of the potatoes. My husband’s steak was also unseasoned and he was also surprised at the blandness of everything. The waiter came by during the meal and brought refills on our iced tea.
When we put our plates to the side of the table, the waiter came back and asked if he could wrap the leftovers. We told him it wouldn’t be necessary and he didn’t ask if there was anything wrong with the food. There was nothing to really complain about, because I had the feeling that this was just how the food IS there. Also, there was no offer of seeing the dessert tray from our waiter. It was alright though, because it was sitting at the edge of the counter within touching distance of the people standing waiting to be seated, uncovered and unrefrigerated when we came in so we knew what was on it.
So, to sum up:
The positives: We were seated within just a few minutes on a busy Friday evening. The salads were within acceptable parameters and the service was excellent.
The negatives: The entryway of the building is set up awkwardly and traffic flow comes to a standstill at times. The food is very bland. The dessert tray was left out in the open and within reach of people waiting to be seated. The noise level was very high in the small dining room.
We left, $ 50 lighter and still hungry.

I would give this place 0 stars if I could. Me and my best friend went there tonight to try it for the first time. I ordered the fettuccine alfredo with chicken and she ordered a steak.
First let me say the positives were the excellent service we received from the bar as we were waiting for a table to become available and the bread they serve before the meal and the sauce were pretty awesome.
And now the negatives.
My chicken fettuccine alfredo had absolutely no seasoning whatsoever. The chicken was dryer than heck. My best friend had to send her steak back because it wasn’t cooked properly (i.e. when you ask for WELL DONE and it comes back red with blood it’s not done). When we began telling our waiter our issues, he walked away mid-​conversation.
Needless to say I will NOT be going back there and I will be letting all my friends and family know of my experience.

A restaurant has to be something really special, above and beyond, to get 5 stars from me! This Downriver gem is just the place. It can’t be just the food, the service, the ambience, you’ve gotta have heart. Vic’s Casual Dining lives up to this expectation!
First, I must say, we’ve been here before, in it’s old incarnation as Salvatore Scallopini, and several times as Vic’s. It never disappoints, but it is somehow easy to forget. It’s location in Southgate on Dix road, sandwiched between no-​tell motels and small, privately owned businesses might be the thing. When I was Christmas shopping on a Saturday night, December 15, I knew I needed to get off of Eureka to have a positive dining experience with my husband.
When we arrived, we were greeted by a tall, friendly man (Vic?) who seated us at a cozy corner booth. The place wasn’t jammed, as I imagine the Eureka establishments were. The waitress was fantastic, patient and attentive. The bus girl didn’t hover, but our plates were taken away in a timely fashion, giving one the impression that we were the stars in a carefully-​orchestrated opera.
I ordered the jumbo veal tortellini in beef and red wine sauce. It was al-​dente and bursting with flavor! My husband ordered the eggplant Parmesan, which disappeared before I got a chance to taste. The salad, the dressing, the bread with sauce, the drinks kept flowing. I was in heaven!
But there is more! Let’s get back to the tall, grey-​haired friendly guy. He was personable, and funny without being intrusive. During the time we were there, I witnessed this man give his heart to several patrons. I observed him help a woman with a cane to her car. He payed special attention to an older couple near us. When it came time to leave, he and my husband had to help the man get on his feet. He stayed with the man until his wife pulled up with the car. The man said how grateful he was to be walking. This guy helped him into his car and told us the older gentleman had been in an accident and was rehabilitating. This is the special something that gives this restaurant five stars. This man might be the real Santa! He knows his people and gives his heart to them! Don’t forget this restaurant as I did, go there, enjoy the food, feel the spirit! Merry Christmas.