probably everyone (see previous poster) should have noticed by now that the menu and food are, let's say, very similar to a certain Beijing Italian staple some doors down the street.
now i'll come right out there and say I like Annie's for what it is, but I hardly think they need any advertisement.
so, the simple question is, are there reasons enough to go to Alio Olio instead? I happen to think so. here are some:

1. Windows
where Annie's feels just plain cavernous, this place actually has some. you could even call it a view, if you choose a place on the parkside.

2. Bread
ok, let's face it - Annie's strange attempt at a free starter bread basket is just weird. Here, you get slightly salty thin pizza bread with very passable olive oil and balsamico vinegar. nice!

3. Kid's menu
awesome. it even comes in a sort of picture book form, so little ones will be busy enough studying it leaving the parent(s) some time to choose food. also, it offers a much bigger choice than Annie's and really nice things to choose from, too. you can obviously also go for the small portions of the normal menu.
Fortunately, along with the menu and recipes, kid friendliness was brought over from Annie's, too: they have plenty of high chairs and kid friendly plastic cutlery/sets and are pretty attentive to little ones.

4. Owner
whom you actually get to meet here. I'm usually not the sort of customer knowing the name of the restaurant's owner (and I don't know his), but it's nice seeing somebody putting an effort into offering good service and being friendly to his customers. recently he also looks like he now puts in a night of sleep or two from time to time.

one more good thing is the efficient delivery service with actual English speaking people on the phones, but that's something Annie's has down to a t, too, so no extra points there.

bottom line: it's certainly no high-end Italian eatery, but if you're looking for American-Italian comfort food like what Annie's is offering, you might want to try this for a change.

and no, I'm not affiliated with the owner or the restaurant in any way ;)

Great variety for great prices. Every time I go I am not disappointed. I thought after the first few months when they got busier the standard may drop but it has stayed as good as ever. Really great pizza and lasagna.

I went here with a friend last weekend and was very pleasantly surprised. Really nice atmosphere, especially with the live piano. The food was tasty and very well priced. We could not help but order the fondue and I am now afraid of the proximity of this place to my apartment. Fondue should never be within such a tempting distance. There's not much on the menu that hasn't been done before but it's the price and environment that make this place special.

This place is so good I'm afraid it will get too popular and ruin itself.

Seriously though, excellent food, cheap wine and attentive without being annoying service.

I can't remember the name of the place that used to be in this building, another Italian joint. It was good, but pricey.

They are giving you a fantastic deal at this place and I'm not afraid to say Annie's is not even a competitor as far as the in restaurant experience. Hopefully they focus on this and don't try to compete with Annie's on delivery food.

Stand-outs of the meal were definitely the fondue, which for 36 quai was an amazing deal. They give you so much cheese sauce. I recommend ordering the steamed vegetables along with the fondue for obvious reason. A nice blend of cheeses. That fondue was fantastic.

I decided to do some comparisons to Annie's as they offer a lot of similar or outright the same items. The lasagna at this place is better. Similar style but tastier and a lot less greasy. Same price as Annie's.

Salads are large and fresh with a good variety of dressing.

Ordered a lamb shank which was tasty though a bit on the small side meatwise, a big ass bone but not too much meat. Probably the only negative part to the whole meal, and it was still good, lamb with some kind of tomato sauce. Still doesn't detract from the 5 stars I feel this place is worth.

A bottle of French white wine comes tableside chilled on ice and I didn't have to pour my own glass once. The staff was on that perfectly, they noticed when my glass was down to a couple of inches and they swiftly gave me a perfect refill of about half a glass.

Makes you feel like you're in a classy place while not being pretentious.

When I entered there was an Italian customer flipping his sh*t about something, really giving it to the owner. He was pissed off something fierce about bread or something. I imagine Italian people must be the worst customers in Italian restaurants simply because everyone thinks they're an expert on the cuisine.

I found the whole experience very satisfying, in fact I was raving about it afterwards.

Check was about 300 and well, well worth it. We were starving and ordered a lot of food, and the bottle of wine was 118 yuan. If you just went in for a quick lunch two people could eat there easily for 100 quai.

I'm not gonna debate the authenticity of the place or compare them to those guys next door. none of my business! That said, I went there yesterday for dinner and was pleasantly impressed by the food, the staff and the prices.

We arrived there a bit late, past 9:00 pm for a late dinner when there were maybe 3 other tables on the floor. we were promptly greeted, seated and given menus.

I liked the extensive selection of wines and who could argue with the prices? They might not be the best ones in the world but a good 10 bottles under 150RMB with some of them under 100 even. Winner! The menu was clear (albeit a few spelling mistakes) and well organized... exactly what i like!

We ordered a Melanzane, smoked goat cheese with mushroom sauce, fondue, pizza and cannelloni along with a bottle of wine.. total came to about 340 which is more than reasonable in my book.

The Melanzane was standard, nothing to write home about. The smoked goat cheese not to my taste. The fondue rocked, especially at a wallet-friendly 38rmb. The Cannelloni lacked a bit of salt but otherwise alright and the pizza had one of the better crusts I've tasted in Beijing.

Left very satisfied and looking forward to my next visit.. It might not be fine dining but it's great value and very much non-pretentious... me likey..

Today we decided to try Alio Olio and we didn't regret it!!!
Good solid food and real Italian coffe!!! Try the pasta is tasty and "al dente".
The owner was very attentive and friendly.
We had good time and we will go back for sure with our friends.

A friend and I went yesterday evening to try it out, and were impressed. Had the green salad with chicken, walnuts, parmesan cheese--can't remember even noticing any iceberg lettuce, which automatically puts a salad at the top of my list. The lamb chops were incredible--very tender, done just right. We then finished off with a Hawaiian pizza--much better pizza for the money than Annie's, I think. The owner, Guiseppe, came over personally to see how we were enjoying our meal; the friendly, attentive, chatty owner is the best part of this restaurant, in my opinion. After we finished the meal, he sent over two complimentary shots of shockingly pink strawberry creme liqueur. I liked it, though my friend said it set her teeth on edge. :) (She's got sensitive teeth!)

I love the restaurant design, with the smoking section upstairs and the non-smoking section downstairs. (Why, oh why do so many restaurants here put their non-smoking sections upstairs? It's like there's some secret pact to make sure all the non-smokers will still be breathing the secondhand smoke coming straight up the stairs or through the floorboards.) The bathrooms were impeccably clean, and had the greatest automatic disposal in the bathroom--freaked me out at first when I walked in front of it and the lid whirred open. At the encouragement of the owner, we did go up the circular staircase to check out the smoking section, mainly because it doubles as a private room for parties. It (apparently) has a great view, looking out over Chaoyang Park (though we couldn't see much since it was after dark).

And I should mention that when you get to the front door and see only what looks like an empty reception desk and amazingly clean stairs that look like the varnish is still wet, don't be fooled into thinking the place is still under renovation. That reception desk is actually a mini-bar that is going to be stocked with drinks and coffees for mid-afternoon passersby--and the stairs are JUST THAT CLEAN. I wouldn't have thought it was possible to have stairs that clean in this city. Granted, the restaurant just opened; I'll go back in another month and see if the stairs still have that clean, wet-varnish look.

Kudos, Guiseppe! I'll be back. And I'll bring friends.

We went there last night as we live in the area. Decor is quite similar to the pizza place a few doors away as is the menu, but the pizza is much better. I had the Napoli Pizza which actually tasted and was not bland like the one from the competition. Service was friendly and the Italian owner is a good guy who knows how to treat guests, which is rare in Beijing! Definitely the better choice if you want Pizza at Chaoyang Park West!