Sabatino's Italiano — Restaurant in Apex

Wanted to give them a fair chance. Walked in around 7pm on a Wednesday night to a mostly empty place. A group of 5 a group of 6 and maybe 12-15 tables. Bartender sat our party of two at a table for two along the front wall. Five minutes later another party of two came in. The waitress sat them right next to us at another table for two. Even though the rest of the place was empty. Mind you, these tables for two are very close together. Thee two tables really were close enough to have been a table for four, they were that close. Meanwhile, almost the entire place was practically empty.

We placed our order (laughed to myself as she talked up the Ga-no-key as a pasta to go with Chicken parmigiana…) and the waitress walked away. We sat for another five minutes or so and had flag down the front wireless to ask for some bread. About five minutes later the waitress came back to the two tables and put down some type of oil and vegetables for dipping bread… but no bread. Another five minutes later, the waitress came back and stood between the two tables and placed bread on both tables at the same time. The bread slightly warmed, but stale. Obviously stale. Like dry crumbly packing styrofoam consistency stale. When my chicken parmigiana and my wife rigatoni bolognese were brought to the table, at the same time as the other table of two… the waitress kinda grumbled when we asked for grated parmigiana. She walked away and came back a couple minutes later with a slight piece of parmigiana and a grater that she struggled with. When I finally took a bite of the chicken, it was obviously restaurant supply chicken and not anything which was made locally in the kitchen. The chicken also had a bitter taste, and the melted cheese tasted more like Swiss cheese than parmigiana or mozzarella. For the price that I was charged, I expected better. A lot better. I expected the wait staff to know enough to not stack people up on tables next to each other when the place is mostly empty. I expected food which was cooked in the kitchen and not reheated restaurant supply company meals. There are a lot of places to eat around here, but not a lot of Italian places. However, there are better Italian places than this. Olive Garden seems like a better option...

The Good: The calamari and short rib risotto were very good.

The calamari was tender and lightly fried and with lemon juice squeezed on top was a refreshing but satisfying starter. The short rib risotto with demi-glace was rich, hearty, and delicious.

The picatta was simple and good. Although the menu doesn't say this, it comes over a large bed of pasta. This is normally a good thing, unless you are trying out a low carb diet and ordered it instead of your preferred pasta dish, but I digress.

The Bad: The kitchen was out of both bread and chicken when my party dined here.

We received no bread service and were not informed the kitchen was out of bread until we specifically asked about it after ordering.

Similarly, we were not informed of the kitchen being out of chicken until after we ordered dishes with chicken. The original chicken picatta I ordered had to be changed to veal picatta. Veal is fine, but it was not my preference. I personally think a forced substitution like this should not be up-charged (e.g. only charging for the chicken and NOT the veal since that was what was ordered), but when we got our bill that was not the case.

By themselves, being out of chicken and bread is disappointing but not terrible, but how it was handled compounded the negative experience.

The Ugly: Although marketed as a more authentic than some "garden of olives" Italian restaurant, both the alfredo and carbonara are the Americanized versions that are full of cream. I did not have the alfredo, but the carbonara is very milky and missing the cheesiness of carbonara that I would expect from a quality Italian restaurant.

Notes: The following does not affect my rating at all, just interesting things I thought I would add since I noticed them. "Manzo" is "beef" in Italian. I assume "Risotto con costolette di manz" is a misspelling. Similarly, in the description of that dish it says "CAB Beef Short Ribs". CAB stands for "certified Angus beef", so calling something "CAB Beef"...

We did take out for the second time, more on that in a minute. The Tuscan soup was excellent being bisque-like in taste and texture (sherry, cream, butter, white wine) with a slight piquancy. Yummy spinach, potatoes, and sausage provide the body. Mussels and clams appetizer was just as described, tasted fresh, with lots of garlic. A bit more crostini would be nice. The cavatelli alla norma is indeed savory and very tasty with a substantial portion. Great flavors in that combination. Five stars for food.

Now, for the take out, it's unknown to us how many people order take out from here but there's room for improvement. Because this restaurant is so good it can get quite crowded at the reception stand. Makes it hard to flag someone down to get one's order. No one is going to wait in a line of people giving their names to the receptionist to pick up their order. Somehow a separate area is needed so that it's obvious the person is there for take out; otherwise, you're having to be mildly rude to get someone's attention. For example, perhaps a separate stand off to the side with "take out only" sign? Four stars...