Scarpino's Classic Italian — Restaurant in Florida

Amendment to previous review: The GM responded to my review and invited my husband and I to come back and try them again. We went this evening and they managed to turn a bad experience completely around. From the greeting and seating to the server and the kitchen, everything was wonderful. We shared the calamari which was lightly battered and served with their marinara, which in itself is delicious. My husband had the lasagna, made from scratch and served piping hot and was plentiful as well as very tasty. I had the chicken Francaise and it was a perfect combination of lemon and capers over chicken breast that was in an egg batter and so moist it melted in your mouth. Thank you Daniel and team for a wonderful dining experience! We WILL be back and with friends ☺

My husband and I and a friend from out of town went here tonight. We had been pretty regular a few years ago however had a few not very good experiences with take out and dine in so we no longer frequented the restaurant. Our friend from out of town wanted to go as he has been there on a previous trip. I made reservations, we got there a bit early so couldn't be seated till our time, which was understandable and completely acceptable. My friend and I need to be gluten free due to stomach issues so I had called to see if they had gluten free options available, which they did. I ordered chicken marsala which I thought may have flour and I would chance it and ordered gluten free pasta. My meal came and the chicken had been breaded and fried which I didn't expect and it was also piccatta NOT marsala. I told the young lady that delivered it that it was incorrect thinking she grabbed the wrong dish and I did not touch it. She took it back to the Kitchen and brought me back the same dish and told me it was what I ordered, meaning it was the marsala. Marsala has mushrooms, there were no mushrooms, piccatta has capers there WERE capers. I waited to see my server in the vicinity so I could ask her for my meal, in the meantime my dining partners were uncomfortable eating without me. I saw the server at the host station so I went over and had her come to the table and pointed out my plate she confirmed that indeed it was piccatta not marsala. She took the plate to the Kitchen and came back to tell me they were "fixing it". She returned with the same dish that they had added marsala sauce to the original dish, as it still had capers. I now had a chicken ( breaded and fried) marsala with cream (ok maybe) AND piccatta WITH CREAM ( um that should be a hard NO) and really not sure if gluten free pasta. I ate this as I was hungry. When I pointed out to the server what the kitchen had done she was clearly appalled and said she would take it off the bill. So in the end the server made it right. Had I had a true celiac or serious gluten allergy I would probably feel worse than I do right now. Guess there is an issue with the kitchen and training on the food runners part of the operation there. They seem to be trying to recreate themselves but still have...

Updating my review from 2021 after visiting on September 3rd, 2024 to 2 stars from my original 5. My family and I have been coming to Scarpino’s for years. It was always good. It was a must visit anytime we were in Florida, and we would drive 2-3 hours to eat there. Now it isn’t, and let me explain why.

My party of 4 came on 9/3/24 -Tuesday which is $1 meatball night. Usually this is the first of two visits during our yearly trip to Sarasota. We knew it was under new ownership and were aware Rocco and his family sold and went back to Italy, but we wanted to try the food anyways based upon social media postings.

The first thing I noticed was that it was $1 meatball night, and the place was empty. Absolutely gorgeous after the remodel, but absolutely empty. It’s 6 PM on a Tuesday, and in years past, we’d have waited to get a table. We got seated promptly, and our drink order was taken, along with our appetizer order of Zucchini sticks. These were quite good, and were fresh out of the deep fryer. Then my house salad came, and I found that the house creamy Italian while still good, was not the version I remembered from previous visits. The Garlic Knots were ok, but didn’t seem as fresh as they had been in years past. I remember getting them straight from the oven when they were busy, and would have to wait, but it was worth it. Then our entrees came out.

My wife’s spaghetti and meatballs lacked sauce, and it appeared that the spaghetti noodles were no longer homemade. It had almost no sauce at all, so she asked for more sauce which was brought out quickly. Her side order of meatballs was fully cooked but cold as was my 4 meatballs. It’s $1 meatball night, and these things should have been piping hot, but they were not. My fettuccini alfredo with sausage was hot, but I’m not sure if it was microwaved or not, because my sauce was broke. I told our waitress that the alfredo sauce was broke in my dish. She looked at me and shrugged her shoulders, and started to walk off. I stopped her and then asked for more alfredo to salvage my dish.

We were offered dessert which we declined, so she quickly brought out a Toast payment machine and told us to just go ahead and pay the total by card. No printed check. When I asked for an itemized check as I wasn't going to blindly pay, she was not amused but returned with one anyways. To which I discovered I was charged for the extra sauces to salvage their dishes. As most of the clientele of this restaurant in years past are older/retired, this new method of payment is definitely scaring off the older crowd.

All of this occurred while I assume the owner or night manager, wondered aimlessly around the restaurant glaring at everybody there. He never once checked on any table, even after we told the waitress about problems with the food.

Sadly, this will be our last visit to this restaurant after years and years...

Honestly, there is no way to say enough good things about this little Italian Heaven! There marinara sauce is FIRE! It is the best I have ever tasted in a restaurant, and that's saying A LOT. So, I had a Stromboli with Sausage, Pepperoni and Mushrooms. My date had the Chicken Parm. Both arrived is a timely fashion. Both were MASSIVE in proportion. I swear, the large bowl they gave my female friend must have had 3 lbs of food in it, because it was well over 2 lbs when it was boxed up to take home. It was litterally 3 meals and then some. The Stromboli I received was also of epic proportions. It was a huge crescent shape that took up most of the serving plate / tray they brought it on. I know it was a plate, because it was stoneware, but I had never seen a plate that large, it looked more like what some restaurants bring you a 20" pizza pie on. I cut it into 3 pieces, and had one of them and I cannot tell you how good it was, I was basically in shock the entire time. Dipping that food of the gods in the marinara sauce from heaven and then placing it in my mouth and masticating (not chewing, this was too good for that plebian word) it was shear joy. Honestly. I have never had such Italian fare. Gorden Ramsey himself would kiss the chef's feet for allowing us, mear mortals, to taste this ambrosia. Just WOW! Honestly, I have to really go deep for the words that will do this food justice. Suffice to say, if you love anything to do with Italian food, I would give this little place in the Target Parking Lot a BIG try. Sorry, no photos, maybe I can remember next time, but I don't know if I can remember anything once that food hits the table but how to eat it.

Back on 9/30/25 - Had a trio of things - Garlic Bread (SOOO good!) for the table, a bottle of wine which was only $4 more that night than just the normal glass would be! Took most of it home, corked, in a sealed bag and in my trunk to keep Florida PD happy if I was stopped I only had Coke Zero by the way, so I'm good! Then we tucked into some of those $1 meatballs with marinara sauce and boy are they tasty, I would love a hoggie / grinder / sub / hero made out of them with some of their freshly made mozzarella cheese and bread. That would be fire! OH wait, they have one! Guess what I'm trying next! Also, it seems like Everytime we go, it gets a little louder and hard to talk, which makes people talk louder to hear, which makes it harder to hear, so you talk louder......