Solevo Kitchen — Restaurant in City of Saratoga Springs

I’d say once every 2-3 years I find some place deserving of an overzealous Google review...Solevo is one of those places. I tried to order from Solevo last year when I was in Saratoga during COVID summer - I was so stoked about the menu that I researched it ahead of time and painstakingly plotted out my order. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out - I think they had just reopened and were probably slammed with takeout orders. I was devastated. Anyway...I’m in Saratoga again this spring and decide to try ordering again. Ordered LITERALLY everything I was planning on trying last year - polpo, eggplant chips, Caesar, Il Cortile and truffle fries. I cannot say this with enough emphasis: everything was perfect. Flawless. Perfect 10. It only took 20ish minutes for them to put together the order. Pick up was quick and easy. What shocked me right off the bat was the SKILL and FINESSE with which my food was packed: hot foods stacked in order of how hot/steamy you want to keep them; salad packed in a separate bag. They gave me some amazing crusty bread and KETCHUP 👏🏼 ON 👏🏼 THE 👏🏼 SIDE!! Honestly, the truffle fries are so good that you don’t need ketchup at all (truffle fries actually tasting like truffles??!! shouldn’t be a big ask but phewwwww if I had a nickel for every time I paid for a truffle fry that tasted only kind of like a mushroom coughed on it). I am a ketchup fiend. I put it on everything. It’s sick, I know this. In fact I’ve developed a specific kind of shame about my ketchup-love and I hate asking for it when I order takeout. Any restaurant that GIVES KETCHUP TO ME, UNSOLICITED - I’m sold. That’s it. You have my respect for life. The eggplant chips: what the f*. Why isn’t every single restaurant making these??? They’re insane. Honey? Chile flake?? EGGPLANT? I’m obsessed. I would have these as my entire meal and still tip generously. The Caesar salad was great. Just enough dressing, croutons still crunchy even though it was takeout. Zero complaints. A Caesar salad is kind of like my measuring stick for every Italian place I’ve ever eaten at and this one was damn good. The polpo was grilled perfectly. Honestly I didn’t really read the description that closely on the menu; I saw “polpo” and jumped so when I opened the container and saw green sauce - I was nervous. I do not like pesto (sue me). But upon first bite I realized that this is NOT pesto, it’s some kind of oily/buttery, zesty, herby nectar that pulled the whole dish together. Amazing. The pasta was insane. IS insane - I ate two bites and said “holy s*” and took a break because it’s so delicious and rich that I just don’t think I can handle it at the moment. I will confess that I am that person who avoids ordering meat or even vaguely meaty dishes at times. It’s just not my thing. I don’t find meat impressive. I can’t remember what possessed me to order Il Cortile but I’m grateful for it. This pasta is incredible and I regret all the times I swore off veal in the past. Another confession - at the risk of discrediting myself, I have to share that I’m not a fan of Italian food. It’s like, near the bottom of my ranked list of favorite cuisines. BUT - !!! - I will contend that this is because I’ve never been wowed by Italian restaurants. Solevo has changed that. Mic drop, the end. I’m so sorry if you read this whole thing, I just firmly believe in the power of a thorough...

We love Saratoga dining, and tonight was the first time we'd been to Solevo, but it unfortunately wasn't an experience we're willing to repeat. Our server was lovely, and took good care of us, hence the 4 stars for service. Everything else made things difficult.

Despite having a reservation for multiple months, we were seated at a weird solo high-top table beside the bar. My husband's Negroni was served nearly room temp - on a 90 degree day. Speaking of which, I don't think the temperature of the room dipped below 83 during the entire two hours we were there.

The complimentary bread was nice, but the house eggplant tapenade was weirdly sweet? Our antipasto salad was delicious! But it was made up of meats and cheeses that the restaurant merely assembled, didn't make themselves. Our pasta, Il Cortine - the first listed on the pasta section of the menu - was problematic. The capellini - house made according to the menu - was sticky and way overcooked, and the sauce, which claimed via the menu to be creamy, was barely to be found. The dish was massively oversalted, and this is coming from someone whose friends say they always OVERsalt their food, so I'm no stranger to seasoning.

Honestly, the pasta ingredient combo seemed to have been imagined by someone who had no idea what elements combine to create a good pasta dish. The noodles, sauce, and other elements just clashed completely.

The shining star was our Barolo wine, which was well-priced, but we saw that all the reds were sitting in the hot dining room, and would have been served well over proper temperature, so we asked in advance for them to chill it to typical cellar temperature. Thankfully, the chill our server put on it made it the perfect serving temp.

As far as atmosphere, the volume was very loud, and the entire restaurant was smoky most of the night due to poor ventilation in the open kitchen.

For a period of time, our weird isolated table was completely inaccessible by our server due to the huge crowd of people overtaking the bar. Thankfully we didn't need anything urgently, because she literally couldn't access us for 20 minutes.

Solevo has a "vibe" and fancy clientele, but likely, the fancy clientele is what people see, rather than the problematic atmosphere and underwhelming, inauthentic menu. We will not...

Inconsistent !!!!!!! It's either very good or very bad but these reviews are for in-house dining only this is not a restaurant you want to do take out because the food is typically dry by the time you get home or overspiced , you don't get bread or companata on take out so pick another place for takeout ...but for in-house dining it's more often than not pretty good. Again...we could not have been more disappointed in the takeout on December 2024. Dining in UPDATE: 6/2024: we have been back about a half dozen times since the last review and the food is outstanding and back to its usual impeccable presentation. One of the top two restaurants in Saratoga along with Osteria. UPDATE 5/2023: After many great visits here we had a super clunker today. The chicken was raw on the inside. They took it back and finished cooking it but they should have made a fresh plate to be safe (and it still looked raw when they brought it back). We used to love this place but after many memorable dinners we will not be back. No reputable chef would have sent this meal back out to a customer (especially someone who spends the amount of money we do on eating out.)

UPDATE 2022: We went back again for dinner and the service as before is impeccable. Never have I dined anywhere else where the staff is so courteous and tries so hard to make your evening perfect. We had the 3 different pasta dishes and all were excellent including the appetizer. We have to increase the score from 4 stars to 5! Excellent Cavatelli, Lasagna and Cappelini

Very Excellent Bread Very Excellent Caponata Excellent Service Excellent Wine Good (not great) sauce Great outdoor dining with good music Great location (next to Caffe Lena). Look forward to returning and seeing if the next meal is a "5". The Sunday Sauce Meal (rigatoni with meatballs and sausage) was a "4" since sauce was very thin and the sausage was not very good. Meatballs were very good and pasta was cooked perfectly. One of the better places in Saratoga Springs. Food is authentic Italian better than what I have found on Broadway restaurants. Not cheap. Hey, it is Saratoga-...