“Simple stuff done right” is how owner Michael Wilkerson characterized the menu at San Antonio dining spot Primo’s when he stopped by the table at the end of a Tuesday meal.
Wilkerson and chef Nels Christensen co-own the budding restaurant now approaching its third month of operation. The two are veterans of “Southern-inspired” Ida Claire, which operates locations in Addison and San Antonio.
While they learned hospitality lessons at the chain, they bring little of its Dixie-inflected menu with them. Primo’s simplicity skews unabashedly Italian.
The most complicated-sounding item on the menu’s appetizer section may be the wine-steamed mussels with lemon aioli and focaccia, but I suspect that the arancini, or stuffed rice balls, are harder to pull off.
Sometimes thought of as a way to use up yesterday’s risotto, at its simplest the dish involves forming cooked rice and cheese into balls, coating them in bread crumbs and deep-frying them into golden orbs often served with a lightly spicy arrabbiata sauce. Primo’s uses aged provolone rather than the usual mozzarella, and it melds beautifully with the creamy rice and the thin, crunchy coating.
Pasta dishes aren’t priced to be thought of as a prelude to the menu’s list of large plates as they traditionally would be in Italy. A sausage orecchiette with broccoli rabe will set you back $25, and scallop tagliatelle clocks in at $29 — the latter costing as much as the roasted pork porterhouse. So share.
The baked trotolle — a curly pasta with hefty chunks of porchetta, slivers of roasted bell pepper and tangles of fresh spinach, all in a creamy besciamella-like sauce — comes in a clay casserole, the better to maintain heat. In this case, sharing might involving passing it around carefully. The crunchy topping of cheesy bread crumbs makes it worth the effort alone.
Including that porterhouse, Primo’s selection of large plates is confined to a trio of offerings that also include crispy garlic chicken and seared flatiron steak with risotto.
I’m not sure whether it’s the garlic or the chicken that’s supposed to be crispy, but there was little garlic in evidence, so not that. And with no skin on the chicken, it was hard to detect crispness either. Despite the accompanying smashed parmesan potatoes not being boldly cheesy, the simply presented plate seems to work regardless. The juicy breast was generously peppered and accompanied by an equally peppery arugula, a few burst cherry tomatoes and a comforting pan sauce.
Not a destination dish, but not bad, either.
And then there’s pizza. Primo’s has resisted adding a burger so far — a meatball sub doesn’t count — but six pies round out its menu. All have improved since an early soft-opening visit. The crust isn’t obsessively artisanal, but it’s more than merely serviceable. And the toppings on the Primo’s Supremo — pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, green olives and red bells and onions — are well-distributed over a tomato-sauce base that’s just right in proportion.
A glass of wine — red, please — is both good with pizza and while waiting. Gives one a chance to check out the crowd. I arrived to a nearly empty dining room around 6:15 p.m., and by the time I left a little over an hour later, the place had filled up with a mix of generations that appeared to skew to its location, which straddles the Monte Vista neighborhood and the St. Mary’s Strip.
Wilkerson confirmed that the neighborhood had welcomed Primo’s, adding that he’s usually seeing one turn per night from 40 to 50 patrons, many of them repeat visitors. Apparently, that’s enough to merit the restaurant’s recently advertising for a new chef on Instagram.
The menu will get a few minor tweaks over the summer, but the owners plan to wait until fall for a major overhaul, according to Wilkerson.
The modest wine list could use a little fine-tuning now, however. The two Southern Italian reds I tried, the usually powerful and profound Nero d’Avola and Primitivo, sounded pizza-perfect, but both were disappointing. Simple food doesn’t necessarily mean simple wine. Think Champagne and fried chicken, for example.
It’s a little surprising that Primo’s has a cocktail program at all given its stick-to-simple approach, but of the two drinks sampled, one gave me hope the bar may develop further. Although the Tuscan Smoke, featuring mezcal and grapefruit and full of tumbled-looking ice, was reasonably complex the moment it hit the table, it began to dilute quickly after that. Holding its own to the end, though, was a minty Southside SA based on gin with lime and cucumber.
Simple. And, like most of the menu, done just right.
Subscribe to SA Current newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed
Related Stories
San Antonio pizzeria Il Forno lands spot on a coveted Top 50 list for 4th year in a row
San Antonio North Side staple Tiago’s Cabo Grille closes after 18 years
This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 9, 2025.