Pascone's Ristorante' — Restaurant in Sarasota

Our first time at Pascone's and we were extremely disappointed. The atmosphere is very nice, warm and comfortable. They have a piano player most nights and that added to the atmosphere, and wasn't too loud or intrusive.

Upon being seated, we waited almost 20 minutes before being acknowledged and offered a drink; far too long. Our cocktails, a dirty martini and a gin and tonic, were excellent--but were $14 each. Not a problem if the food and service are top-level, but please read on...

Our server asked us if we would like to start with something and we asked to start with the pear and gorgonzola salad, to be followed by Eggplant parmesan and "Rigatoni Scarpailo: which promised rigatoni, chicken and spinach in a cream sauce.

As we waited, we sampled the bread and seasoned balsamic oil. The bread was warm and perfect. The balsamic oil was curiously bitter and unpleasant. We would have liked to have asked for plain oil or butter, but never saw the waitperson again until our food arrived.

Within 12 minutes of placing our order, the entrees arrived (and we had told the server we were not in a rush and would like a slow relaxed evening)--but we had never seen the salad. Upon mentioning this we were told that the salad was ready and they were going to go get it now. With our entrees in front of us we asked them not to bother.

The eggplant parm ($20) was very good; standard, not too heavy, nothing spectacular but as good as any well-prepared eggplant parm.

The Rigatoni Scarpailo ($24) was simply horrible. The chicken was almost non-existent, consisting of three small 1" cubes of meat. The sauce was oddly bitter. We both tried it and both used the words "funky", "off", and "bitter" to describe it. It was also a surprisingly small portion, about enough to fill a small soup bowl.

When the server finally came around to ask how everything was, we mentioned that the salad had failed to precede the entress and the rigatoni was very disappointing, and even unpleasant. She did not offer to replace it, swap it for something else, adjust the bill, bring us a drink...nothing. She did not even apologize. She just shrugged with a "hmph". We sensed she is used to comments such as ours as there was no surprise or concern whatsoever, and certainly no empathy about our obvious disappointment

On her final visit to our table with the check, I asked if they had their regular chef tonight; I was hoping by doing so to continue our conversation about how disappointed we were. She simply replied that yes, they did have their regular chef that night.

$77 plus tip later we left still quite hungry and very disappointed. We would have enjoyed Carrabba's or even Olive Garden better than this experience. Selva (Italian Restaurant) has just opened across the street from Pascone's. The Selva in Venice is much better than Pascone's, so we are eager to try it out.

We don't mind $14 drinks and $24 bowls of pasta if the food, service and atmosphere are on-point. Unfortunately, at least for us, Pascone's was very off-point during our visit.

Sadly, we will not return...

Updated review: Wow! After reading the owner's response, I am certain it is a place to never return. Read others reviews and you will notice the same trend of slow service, higher pricing and mediocre food. We love eating out and trying new places. We always give each restaurant we go to a fair sample of their menu items to really get an overall feel of the restaurant's quality and services. We ordered appetizers, entrée and dessert along with drinks. After spending around $70/person, sampling each other's food at the table as we often do. I can say food is definitely over priced for the quality you get. Don't assume the rest of my party enjoyed the experience as you are not sitting with us. My mom thought it's the worst restaurant we've ever taken her to since she moved here. My daughters refused to eat their leftovers as it was swimming in grease and butter the next day once it all separated out. My daughter's boyfriend thought the chicken was soggy and spent most of the time trying to figure out what the black piece of item was in his dish. He barely ate and didn't even want to take the leftovers home. It is a Tuesday night afterall, not the weekend! If it's slow service on a Tuesday night, I don't even want to imagine what service would be like on a busy Saturday night. Now this is the most honest review I've ever written for any restaurant. We are all entitled to our opinions. You don't have to take my words but I should be truthful in my reviews. This was our experience as it is.

Made reservations on a Tuesday night for 7 people for 7:15pm. Table was not ready upon arrival. Had to wait 15-20 minutes as they scramble to get a table together. I honestly think they forgot about the reservation even though it was written in their book. I had to point it out to them before they realized we do have a reservation. After getting seated finally, service was very slow. Had to ask someone to get our waiter to take our order and then had to to ask again if they had table bread service before they bring out bread bowl after more than half hour of being sat. Appetizers were good. Presentation of the dishes were good but quality is ok. Risotto was loaded with butter along with most of the other dishes. Dessert was decent. Overall experience was ok. There are definitely much better Italian food out there. The overall experience feels like a chain restaurant at best. Most likely...

Poor management, poor service, inconsistent food; not good enough to return. Went twice and will not go back. The first time we called 3 times for reservations AND emailed as a follow up to the calls since no one answered or followed up to the voicemails left. We arrived and they had no reservation on file—after 3 calls and 2 emails?! The food that night was pretty good, service still needed work, and there were the expected hiccups of a new restaurant, but we chalked that up to a new opening and decided to give it another try. What a mistake! While we were able to get a reservation and they had it when we arrived. However, they did not honor it. We waited almost an hour after being constantly told that they were “just getting our table ready”. That while later arriving people without reservations and apparently known to the owner, were repeatedly seated ahead of us. We asked to speak to the owner, Judy, no less than 3 times during our wait — she walked by us numerous times, but did not stop to speak with us. Finally, when we were seated, the owner could barely verbalize an apology and cound not be bothered to take the time to hear our concerns/feedback. The entire meal was a fiasco: -Our drinks took a long time to come to the table, came at different times and two of the drinks were served incorrectly. To make matters worse, the bartender actually came to the table and grabbed one drink and took it away! He said he had not finished making it. -A plate was dirty and had to be replaced - by another dirty plate with an obvious fingerprint - by the owner, who STILL would not take the time to hear concerns or feedback. -The fish was definitely over-cooked and nothing (not even the bread) was consistent with the last visit. -The bill took forever to arrive and was incorrect. At this point, given the number of missteps, one would expect some kind of offer of apology —instead, all we received were disingenuous excuses about it being busy. Overall, a terrible experience. Both visits were handled poorly. No need to return when it was clear our business was not appreciated or needed. The owner’s dismissal of us and her overall attitude are what make the mistakes inexcusable. She must think that the busy-ness of a new opening is like winning the lottery, as she clearly believes that discontented customers and their feedback...