sarafino's

a bit of italy in crafton. those who've lived and dined in italy will appreciate the atmosphere and food at sarafino's. a favorite of pittsburgh's own rick sebak and many others, thisplacewill 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 the food and the wait staff. a niceplacein crafton.

first negative experience needs to be known!. i have enjoyed the food and atmosphere at this charming littleplacefor 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 the food was 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 ( theplacedid 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 theplaceis dirty, crowded, there is noplaceto 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 the food is 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.

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. food is good, staff is friendly,placeis 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 my food wasn't quite ready i had a chance to look at things. thisplaceneeds 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 the food is good, but now i have to question the sanitary aspects of the restaurant.

nice italian!. my wife and i were looking for aplaceto try. i had heard good things about this place, so we drove there on a recent monday evening. small dining room, had customers, and service was quick and attentive. small menu with a few specials was just right. pasta is king, but hte pizza on the neighboring table looked great for next time. even though my wife sent her pasta dish back, because the pasta hadn't been properly drained ( a common problem at many places) the server and manager ordered a completly new dish to be prepared, even though not requested, and handled the situation professionally. this is good italian food, and its byob!

celebrated my brother and sister's birthday there yeaterday.we were early and the hostess was accomadating and sat us early. i had the crab cakes and the bruschetta as an appetizer. it's byob so u can splurge on the meal. theplaceis very small and my only complaint was the bathrooms were upstairs, outdated, and smelled. great crab cakes!

won't be back. this was our second time here. the food is 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 aplaceto 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!

my wife and i have been regulars for years and really like it. the staff couldn't be friendlier. it is very busy on weekends, so we tend to go during the week. we stick to the pasta dishes and green and beans and enjoy the deserts. they recently changed their bread vendor and it's a big improvement. isn't it funny that when you click through to the people who write the overly negative reviews, this is the onlyplacethey've reviewed? makes you wonder. this is a good solidplaceto dine.

will never go again. our dear friends, my husband and i were looking for somewhere different and something that was mid way between our homes. i called for reservations on tuesday for saturday. they told me they had call ahead seating but that we they were sure a table would be waiting. we showed up 10 minutes early and were told it would be just a few moments. 45 minutes later we left after being totally ignored and watching people come in and get seated ahead of us. if you are local to crafton and know someone at thisplaceyou obviously get priority seating. all others are totally ignored and there is no manager to even complain to. as my husband says -- the lunatics are running the asylum at sarafinos.

service. not sure about some of the reviews regarding service a sarafinos. besides being one of my favorite "go to" restaurants - i have never, ever had bad service here. have they been busy and maybe a bit quick - sure - but look at the size of theplaceand the crowds they get on a friday/saturday. best time to go is for lunch - either early or late. it is one of the few places in pittsburgh that i will recommend to friends and especially out-of-towners. never had a complaint.


-----25 jul, 2009-----

always dependable. great food in a family atmosphere. lunch or dinner. it has become a go to choice for our family when we want good family style italian in a comfortable, casual environment.


-----26 may, 2009-----

always good. always dependable.

first time review. my wife and i tried the restaurant on the recommendation of a friend and the reviews on urbanspoon.

we weren't in the mood for pasta or pizza (having eaten both recently) so we decided to try a sandwhich. it was a cold night and a bowl of soup also seemed in order.

it wasn't very busy and the waitress was very nice and quite funny. she recommended the potato-leek soup, which i tried, my wife had the old standby wedding soup. the soups were good but not great, i added cheese to mine for more flavor, my wifes wasn't hot enough.

i ordered the seared steak panini, supposedly with "filet tips". the steak was so tough you couldn't chew it. my wife and i both shared the steak because the waitress brought her a meatball sandwich, she had ordered a hot sausage so we sent the meatball back. we should have sent the steak back as well.

the hot sausage when it came (soon after) was good, we shared that and picked at the "side salad" (as stated on the menu). it was actually a side "pasta" salad, one of the reasons we ordered a sandwhich was because it came with a "side salad", never thought i would have to ask if that meant actual "salad". we even asked for the house dressing on our salad and the waitress never batted an eye or explained the salad was a pasta salad. weird!

when we paid the bill we told the waitress that the steak was too tough. to her credit she said that we should have said something, they would have gotten us something else. she was right and the next time we will.

one more thing, when we got our food this fruit fly (gnat to some) appeared and started hovering around. i saw that on a few other reviews and assumed that being the middle of winter the flys would be dead. guess not. i think the owner needs to close theplacedown for a few days and give it a good cleaning.

would we go back....maybe, and try something they are known for, like pasta.