Capriccio Ristorante

Capriccio Ristorante has been serving Italian food from its North University Drive location since 1987, which makes it one of the longer-running independent restaurants in Pembroke Pines by a wide margin. Four decades in the restaurant industry, in the same general location, is not something a lot of restaurants manage, and it says a great deal about how the kitchen has kept both its regulars and its standards intact across a lot of change in the surrounding city.

The menu follows a traditional Italian structure, moving through antipasti like carpaccio and calamari fritti, a pasta section built around hand-rolled varieties paired with classic sauces, a frutta di mare section devoted to seafood, whole fish preparations under pesce, and a chef select category that rotates seasonal veal, lamb, chicken, and steak dishes. Salads and soups round things out. It is the kind of menu built for lingering over a multi-course dinner rather than rushing through a single plate, and the restaurant leans into that with live music on Friday and Saturday nights.

Capriccio is BYOB-friendly, charging a 40 dollar corkage fee per 750 milliliter bottle with a two-bottle limit per table, a policy that lets regulars bring a favorite Italian red without paying restaurant markup on the whole night. The restaurant also allows guests to bring outside cakes for celebrations, for a 2.50 dollar per person service fee and a signed release, a small but telling accommodation that speaks to how many birthdays and anniversaries have been celebrated in this dining room over the years.

Private event space accommodates anywhere from 12 to 200 guests, which covers everything from an intimate family dinner to a full wedding reception, and the restaurant caters throughout South Florida for parties held off-site. For guests who would rather stay home, delivery is available through Uber Eats. Capriccio has also picked up an OpenTable Diners’ Choice Award along the way, a recognition based on actual guest reviews rather than paid placement.

Hours run Monday from 5 to 10 PM, Tuesday through Thursday from 5 to 11 PM, Friday and Saturday from 5 to 11:30 PM, and Sunday from 4 to 10 PM, with the kitchen closed for lunch every day of the week, a schedule built entirely around dinner service. That single-minded focus on doing dinner well, rather than also trying to cover lunch and brunch, is common among Italian restaurants of this style and generation.

Reach the restaurant at 954-432-7001 to book a table, particularly on weekend nights when the live music draws a full house. For anyone in Pembroke Pines looking for an old-school, family-owned Italian dinner spot with a wine list worth bringing your own bottle to supplement, Capriccio remains one of the city’s most established options, independently owned and operating from the same North University Drive address since the late 1980s.