sarafino's

greatfoodbut too long wait. we did a 'call ahead' too and waited almost 2 hours to be seated. we too watched how some large tables were finished but just sat and drank. some people in our party of about 8 wanted to leave but there was nowhere else to go close by so we stuck it out. yes, thefoodwas excellent but by the time we were seated we drank too much waiting and the owner sent out pizza, etc to please the crowd waiting. when our dinners finally came we didnt enjoy them becuase it was too late and we were full and drunk! so, all and all not an enjoyable experience.
we will not go back, nor will many people we know, unless they start taking real reservations on weekends which i think they should do. there are too many other great places to go to without waiting 2 hours to be seated!

we called to see if we could reserve space 3 or 4 weeks in advance. they told us they don't take reservations, but that we shouldn't have a problem. they took our name and also told us to call the day of. sounds suspiciously like a... i don't know... reservation?? so we did that. we show up for our "reservation" and guess what? restaurant is full, and the rude employees are claiming they have no idea what we're talking about and have no record of our name. ok, how long will we have to wait for tables to open up? they have no idea, could be hours. did i mention this was my wedding rehearsal dinner? i was pisssssssssssssssed. maybe don't tell people that their wedding rehearsal party of 17 will have no problems getting into your restaurant? this was several years ago and out of the kindness of my heart then, i didn't post a scathing review. fast forward to this new year's eve and we find ourselves at sarafino's with a group of friends. we get seated and in my absent-mindedness of their byob policy, order a titos and soda. a large, sloppy, obviously drunk man proceeds to make fun of me the entire night because of it. "how's your titos??!!" he yelled to me several times. did i mention the sloppy man was the owner of sarafino's? my friend called the restaurant ahead of time on nye to see how late they're open etc. they tell her we can't arrive until 5 or 6 pm because there's a private party scheduled for 4 pm that day. you mean a private party that was reserved for 4 pm that day? i thought to myself, "that sure as hellllllll had better be a sarafino's employee party." i suspect sarafino's caters to their "regulars" in the italian crafton mob. although our waitress was polite and efficient, and thefoodis good, the service is reprehensible. if you're not the owner's friend, you don't matter. why be professional and kind to customers or keep your filthy restaurant clean when you can get by on the business of your friends?

thefoodwas delicious and the service was friendly. the bread also tastes freshly baked and was delivered warm with dipping oil/sauce. amazingly delicious. we got the white clam sauce, red clam sauce, and veal parmesan - all three were delicious and we all had leftovers. i highly recommend the restaurant and will go back.

also, they have a small lot on the side of the restaurant, but we saw it as we were passing it, so we just parked on the street. plenty of street parking, too. the restaurant is very small, so getting there early is probably a good idea. i'm not sure if they take reservations.

(my dad went to the rest room and that is upstairs and apparently pretty far away, so not good for someone who can't walk too well.)

it is byob with a $5 corkage fee (even for a twist cap that requires no opener), which is a bit much especially since they don't sell alcohol, so it's not like you're trying to cheat them out of business, but their soda is insanely cheap, so if anyone isn't drinking alcohol it's a bargain. they didn't give us a bag for our leftovers, which was a problem when it was placed on the back seat and we got oil all over everything, since they just have the styrofoam containers that don't seal, so you might want to ask for a bag and/or hold your leftovers very carefully on the way home. there will be leftovers. tons of food.

a bit of italy in crafton. those who've lived and dined in italy will appreciate the atmosphere andfoodat sarafino's. a favorite of pittsburgh's own rick sebak and many others, this place will make you happy. great food. kind staff. i have never had a bad experience. in fact, i have taken groups of people for lunch and dinner and we have always enjoyed thefoodand the wait staff. a nice place in crafton.

first negative experience needs to be known!. i have enjoyed thefoodand atmosphere at this charming little place for years. we plan meals with out of town visitors, and friends catching up, and quiet week night dinners to sooth our need to be nurtured. saturday night we combined several of these reasons to visit the restaurant, and five of us went to dinner early ( 4:30 ) so those with tickets to the ncaa playoff games could arrive on time. we took our own wine and one of us arrived early to secure a table for five. our waitress was accommodating and made a suggestion for the artichoke appetizer ( wonderful) ! it did not take long to decide on three appetizers and four entrees! we were served all in good time and thefoodwas wonderful. we never felt rushed or pressed and it was looking like another epic evening at sarafino's until it was time for the checks. i don't know if it was the impending crush of business ( the place did fill up quickly ) or just a bad night...but, our waitress had a melt down. she had never ask up front if we had a check split request, and when we told her we wanted to pay for on three different checks she became very agitated. she actually 'went off' on a member of our group and said 'you shut up' several times. we were only trying to help her sort out the charges and she was down right 'ugly' in her behavior. we were all kind and paid our bills... and tipped 15%...because the meal service was good...but...it has left a memory that is not pleasant. we all murmured about her meltdown and talked about it afterward...our conclusion is she had a really bad night. we hope you feel better 'j', and we wish you well. hope you got it out of your system before anyone else ask for a check! we will return after the renovation...and look forward to more good experiences...don't know if i will sit at a table in 'j's" section again! you need to know...and so does she! she will remember the event! looking forward to our return! thanks for your attention.

it is what it is!. the call ahead seating is a joke. i called two days before and 45 min. before our visit. why bother calling at all? got there at 7:30 pm, didn't get served our dinners until 9:30 pm. told the owner he should take reservations. he said" we never have" and that was the end of our conversation. yes the place is dirty, crowded, there is no place to stand while you wait, so you're automatically in the way of the wait staff. and they were frazzled. they were just too busy for their own good and they're shooting themselves in the foot. you just get the feeling that they just don't care to get any better. yet people will still probably keep going because thefoodis very good and it's byob. some of the early dinner patrons just stayed too long and drank their wine. they actually had to ask one table to leave. then the chef starts yelling from the kitchen, "we need tables!" in other words, "get the hell out!". the wine glasses are little jam glasses. the men's room was clean. it will be a long while before we consider returning.

poor service and tacky glasses. i have been to this restaurant many times and always enjoyed it. it is a byob restaurant and they always provided nice wine glasses. on a recent visit they are still charging a corking fee but now give you small jelly glasses for your wine (like you used to get free in the grocery store free). it kind of takes the good taste out of wine. also, the waitress we had needed to be chased down twice for items. she served thefoodand disappeared. she also disappeared after our first up of coffee and we had to hunted down for a second cup. i was very disappointed as this used to be one of my favorite restaurants. :(

great food. thefoodwas incredible. its like going to your italian grand mothers for dinner.
go hungry. and enjoy/. the staff is great.foodwas hot and came very quickly.
and oh my god was it good. this is a true hidden gem in western pa.

another great meal. had a fine meal last weekend, vodka penne my fave. daughter had the bolonaise and my son had the pizza. everything was great and not a long wait for food. looking forward to the veal chop next time as it looked yummy!


-----05 oct, 2012-----

family fare. have visited sarafino's on many occasions and find it delightful.foodis good, staff is friendly, place is small and sometimes the wait is abit long but well worth it. i usually opt for the vodka penne with rita sauce....bread and dipping oil goes well with the house salad....byob is great on the wallet......will have to try the pizza sometime..looks very good.

great food. i've only been here a couple of times and the last time i was there, it was for take-out. since no one was in there and myfoodwasn't quite ready i had a chance to look at things. this place needs a cleaning!! it was almost dinner time and the carpet looked like it hadn't been swept in days. same goes for the kitchen floor and pretty much everything else. a shame when thefoodis good, but now i have to question the sanitary aspects of the restaurant.

it's a great family owned establishment. thefoodis always fantastic.

horrible customer care:: i don't care if you are a "regular" at this restaurant.. or if you have connections with the owner, you should not have special privileges to be seated over someone who had been waiting for over an hour. i don't mind waiting at a good restaurant on a busy night.. it happens.. but i do expect to be seated when a table is ready.. this did not happen. my boyfriend and i waited over an hour to have a "regular" steal the table that should have been ours. i will not be returning... thefoodat segneri's in coraopolis is better. i've been to italy multiple times.. you can trust my opinion..

my new favorite. we've gone here 3-4 times now and i love it there. thefoodis unbelievablyy good. everything is delicious. we go during the week and even then it is packed. had the portabella panini it was wonderful.

viva italiana!!!. stop what you are doing and go to this restaurant. i have been going here for a few years and turned my friends on to it but kept my mouth shut to the general public because the restaurant is too small. my advice is to go there in off hours like my husband and i did yesterday. the sides are heaping bowls of goodness. my greens and beans and polenta with pomodoro sauce appetizers are brought to the table along with the freshly baked crusty bread and dipping oil we were already enjoying. byob always makes it better but as we had been out shopping, a bottomless glass of ice tea was a refreshing break from the hot day. i tried the recommended fare for the day which was an asiago ravioli made with red pepper dough in a delicious vodka creme sauce. i always order the meatball's on the side because with their marinara they are one of the best in the city. my husband ordered the capalini bolognaise with meatballs, theirfoodis always well executed and delicious. large portions were also being brought to the table adjoining mine and the people were in awe proclaiming "this is a side dish" when their heaping plates arrived. obviously they had not been there before. abondanza. great service tops it all off. if your waiter or waitress is busy someone else steps in with a smile and without even thinking about it to fill your glass or bag your delicious leftovers for the trip home without so much as a look from you. during my first visit to this location i had a butternut squash lasagna which i have not been lucky enough to catch on the specials menu since but i keep returning hoping that someday i will get to once again taste that joy that i experianced my first time there. it should be a regular menu item. my true wish is that they would tear down the adjacent buildings and make a larger space so you could have parties there. be sure to call ahead if you are bringing more than a 4 top. bravo sarafino's keep up the good work!

won't be back. this was our second time here. thefoodis good, so i can't complain there. but, arriving for a 8 pm seating, and not being seated until 9:50 is totally unreasonable. we were a party of 6 and had a few bottles of our wine while we waited, but space is limited and their really isn't a place to sit and wait. had we been in the city we would have left and gone somewhere else. by the time we needed to decide leaving or not, it wasn't really worth it to go somewhere else. they kept saying they were waiting for a table to leave, but that table clearly was in no hurry, as they kept cracking open beers when they had finished eating long before! really!!!! just rude! love byob's, but with so many all over now, we'll stick to one's where ressies/call ahead are honored. lawrenceville/bloomfield have great ones!