Why Acquario Italian Restaurant in Keller has become a neighborhood favorite
Acquario Italian Restaurant ($-$-$)
- Where is this restaurant? 8849 Davis Blvd. in Keller, at the intersection of Bear Creek Parkway.
- Why our readers recommend it: “Great food, wine list and atmosphere. Fair prices. The owner is heavily engaged in customer service and has an outstanding chef.”
What else to know: Emin “Nino” Rata, founder of Ristorante Mulino in Southlake, opened Acquario Italian Seafood two years ago, tucked into the back of a shopping center facing Bear Creek Parkway.
The Star-Telegram’s Bud Kennedy wrote about the opening in October 2023. Rata has more than 20 years’ experience in New York-area Italian restaurants. “His restaurants feel like cozy neighborhood pasta houses, so he always has a following from Keller and Southlake customers seeking someplace that doesn’t feel suburban,” Kennedy wrote. “Acquario accomplishes that.”
Diners like the grilled octopus appetizer or crab cake, along with the salmon. The menu features butterfly Mediterranean sea bass; pan-seared salmon with green peppercorn and dijon mustard cream; and bigoli pescatore (jumbo lump crab meat, clams, shrimp, calamari, octopus, branzino, spicy house tomato sauce and squid-ink pasta). Braised short ribs, veal and steaks also make appearances on the dinner menu.
Acquario‘s chef is Ferdinando “Fredi” Plaku, a fellow Albanian coming from an Italian restaurant in coastal Connecticut. Plaku moved from Albania to Venice, Italy, at a young age and had run a Venice-area seafood restaurant.
Acquario serves lunch on Fridays from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Dinner service is Monday-Thursday, 4-9 p.m., and Friday-Saturday, 3:30-9:30 p.m.
