sa za

not for me. i have visited this restaurant twice. my first visit was with one of my young daughters. it was daddy and daughter day and we went out to eat. our experience was not the best but it wasn't anything that would have made me not want to come back. i had to flag down the staff to get refills on my water and tea and it seemed like the food took a little longer than you would think but what can you do.

my second experience was a little less than what i expected. my wife was working late so i took my twin daughters and son there to eat. it was a thursday night and a little busy. the hostess said there was not any seating available for my party of four. as i saw some empty tables i was a little taken back and asked about them but she said they were all reserved. to her credit she did offer me an alternative to sitting at a table, she wanted me and my three children, two five year olds and a nine year old, to sit at the counter area in seats that were not even in a row together. needless to say my kids and i found other dining arrangements for the evening. i realize this restaurant is not for me and they really don't need my few measly dollars to be a successful business. good luck to them.

great service at the bar. greek pizza was delicious. nice atmosphere.

lunch, no so good. asked for table at window, took 10-15 minutes to clear. no one seemed to want to take responsibility for clearing table; many employees, not very busy. waiter absent most of dinner; but pleasant when available. my plate was clearly reheated, some parts cool, some hot. many choices in the alley, will not plan to return.

great customer service. called sa za at 3:50 to order a pizza on the way home and was told they didn't open til 5. the person on the phone said hold on some of the cooks are here let me see if the ovens are warm and can make your pizza anyway. they did....so many places do as little as possible. this means i will definitely be going back. kudo's from one who spent much of my youth in restaurant work. and the pizza sauce is the best in montgomery for sure.

not bad. i took my wife and an employee, who was visiting town, there for dinner on sunday. since very few of our local places are open on sunday we decided to give this a try.

i had the sunday sauce it was very filling the portions were huge, but it kind of was one note in the seasoning dept.

our server, rachel, was very attentive and helpful in making my selection from the menu.

we will be back.

excellent food, drink, service. italian with a twist. thoroughly enjoyed my experience. very nice cocktails. lobster was delicious, as was the polenta, fresh garlic bread, and cannollis.

really. how do i start. it was my anniversary weekend so my wife, step daughter and i decided to check out sa za. my wife had heard a lot about it and thought it would be worth the stop. let me start off by saying that i moved back to alabama over 5 years ago from new jersey. i go back to jersey at least tree times a year to visit family and to get my fix of food and music. my first stop is a pizzeria called villa victoria. the best pizza ever. so when i hear about italian food in alabama, i'm all over it. after we were seated (about 1:00) pm the waitress took our drink orders. we ask for lemonade, no lemonade. ask for fruit punch for our daughter, no fruit punch. ask for apple juice for her, no apple juice. this has never happened to me before but what can you do. we ended up giving the 3 year old sierra mist which we don't like to do. after a few sips, she drops the drink on the floor. i pick up the cup and explained to the waitress what happened. she filled up the same, now dirty, cup and lid and put it back in front of my daughter. my wife saw the whole thing and requested to have a clean cup. i still remained cool. when the pizza was about to come to the table, i requested more soda. she takes the cup and about 30 seconds she returns and asked me if the other cup (which was half full of water) belonged to me. this was odd considering she gave it to me. i replied yes and she took it away to be refilled i assumed. as i talked to my wife at the table, my wife chose to watch the waitress. my wife whispers to me, "she just screwed you. she put soda on top of your water." before i could respond, she tells me that the waitress has taken my soda cup and filled it with water. totally in shock and disbelief, when i got the drink back, i put my straw to the bottom and it was mostly water i tasted. very upset at this point, i asked another worker for the manager. when i approached the young lady and explained the situation, she gave me a constant plastic smile and said i'm sure my employee didn't do that and that this was her livelihood and she would never do such a thing. i tried to let her know that i'm really displeased and she said i could just leave. i replied "leave" and she said yes leave. at this point i'm at 10. i requested names and asked to speak to her boss. the waitress and the so called manager go back to talk to some other manager. i then spoke to another employee who informed me that the other manager in the kitchen will fix everything. when the other manager shows up, the female manager tries to chime in. i tell her to back the hell up and that i was done talking to her. all of a sudden the manager says (without hearing my side of the story) you can leave sir. once again i am totally floored. i will be soon 50 years of age and have never, and i mean never, received such poor service in all my life. i'm a veteran and i currently work for the government and have worked as a concierge for a major airline for over 6 years and the one thing they would reinforce was that good news travels fast but not as fast as bad news. i'm not sure what kind of training is given to employees and managers at za sa's but they had better do a lot more. i must say from talking to people since this incident, i really hope and i pray the fact that we are african american has absolutely nothing to do with how we were treated. i plan to follow up with the owner to check the response. to be cont.....

great, great itialian food. i had the halibit special which was outstanding. the deserts are to die for especially the seasonal strawberry shortcake.

meh. went to try saza'a after their renovation. this was my 3rd visit and 3rd diappointment. had the eggplant parmesan (15$) - it was more like an eggplant casserole over undercooked penne. at first, i thought they had forgotten to bread the eggplant because it was just mushy. it tasted fine but lacked texture of any kind. other firends got pizza (3$ a slice) - if i go back i'll stick with that.


-----26 feb, 2010-----

great venue - ok food.. i have eaten at saza's 4 times now. the venue is very nice, the service is great, the food is - mediocre. i have seen all the reviews talking about how fabulous - blah blah blah - the food is and i am starting to think someone was paid to write them. everything i have had (with 1 exceptionn - the chopped salad) suffered from bland seasoning and in regards to the proteins - horribly overcooked. i was also told that the pizza dough is frozen .

server amanda very busy still managed to provide good service. good recommendations for cocktails as week as entree. had the special an 8oz center cut filet w mushrooms roasted garlic demi fingerling potatoes and haricot vert and baby carrots ( some not so baby)

over all meal was good demi could have had a little more flavor. all in all a 7 not to bad for a quick meal.

nice cocktail menue wine list good will eat here again.

we got double charged 3 weeks ago.manager said it wad a glitch in the system. we have been waiting for a while for a refund, but nothing yet.every time we call they say that we have to wait for a few more days, and it's all our bank's fault.not ones manager have apologized or offered to do anything to make the situation better.the food is good but i will not take that chance again.unless you have double amount of hour bill in banking account type to spare.

not the best place to eat in downtown montgomery--and that is a polite way of saying stay away from this restaraunt. pizza is mediocre, while the location is great. the service was just fine, but the waiter felt entitled to a double tip and charged me 40%. i held on to my receipt and called management only to be whisked away. i would stay away.

get drinks at the outside bar, leave the food alone. every time i have been here, i have been utterly disappointed in the food. the pasta puttanesca was so salty that i couldn't eat it, their pizza is ok, but if you eat to slow the crust turns into cardboard. i have had several of the salads and the chopped salad is the best value but still way overpriced for what it is. you are better off skipping the food here altogether. get some drinks from the lovely redheaded bartender in the outside bar, watch the people walk by and enjoy a half off drink special. there are several other places where you will get a better pizza, a better salad and better table service. don't waste your time here.

disappointed. i ordered a slice of pizza with pepperoni and spinach. it was ok. sauce tasted good. however, i was really disappointed with the $8.00 piece of tiramisu literally translates to “pick me up.” the crème part was good. the ladyfingers were literally soaked in amaretto. seriously. there was not a single taste of coffee. the top was covered in some crunchy stuff that reminded me of ice cream topping. this would usually be cocoa. the "tiramisu" tasted good and i ate it all because who doesn't like booze and dessert. i would propose that it be called the italian word that means "let me down" considering the huge price, small piece and lack of "pick up" to the dessert that actually means "pick me up."

very bad, over priced meal. my husband and i love pasta and went to sa za after hearing a glowing recommendation. we both ordered pasta but with different sauces - puttanesca and arrabbiata and we shared an antipasto salad.

the too-sweet dressing was lacking in seasoning and the cured meat rolled atop the salad (either mortadella or prosciutto) was of inferior quality. i did not taste it but my husband did and he remarked that it was nothing special.

my penne with arrabbiata sauce was flavorful for all the wrong reasons. with the first bite i knew something was off - not a spoiled taste but definitely off. i believe it was the pasta - perhaps the penne had been partially cooked and then finished in old, starchy pasta water when my order was prepared. even if i had been served fresh tasting pasta, i'm pretty sure i wouldn't recommend the dish to anyone. the sauce was poorly made and the taste was one dimensional. just spicy.

my husband had the pasta with puttanesca sauce and it was loaded with anchovies - so much that it reeked and was offensive to taste and smell. he has had pasta with puttanesca sauce many times - sa za's version is unbalanced.

we travel often to italy and also cook italian at home so we were anxious to try sa za and really wanted to like the restaurant. the poor quality of the ingredients, the bad execution of classic recipes and high prices for pasta with basic, meatless sauces have us convinced to never return.

i do want to be fair and end with something positive. i noticed that the staff was busy putting together pizza boxes and while exiting the restaurant we saw a very good looking pizza at another couple's table. our friend suggested the pizza to us and judging from the large number of pizza boxes being assembled it appears that sa za does a big business in pizza.