Sammy's Authentic Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Harrisburg

I've never felt the urge to write as much of a negative review as I have after eating here. My fiancé and I had the unfortunate pleasure of dining here tonight and how this restaurant has an average of 4.4 stars is beyond my comprehension. The most impressive part of our dining experience was the waiter and waitresses' ability to remember the extensive "specials" menu without looking at the list. To claim "authentic Italian" is an insult to Italy. This place is as authentic Italian as Olive Garden, but at least with Olive Garden you know the food is going to be consistent with decent portion sizes. I don't understand the reason why they do not give out menus when you are seated. A restaurant should have enough menus for all of the customers in the restaurant. We waited 5-10 min to get an actual menu. But once we got a menu we ordered the following food: Fried Calamari w/ hot marinara - they should be embarrassed. Not only was the portion size tiny (15 rings), the rings were thin, overcooked (chewy) and the "hot" marinara was no different than the regular marinara (served with the garlic bread) except with the addition of a few red chili flakes. Garlic Bread - basic garlic bread, nothing special, no complaints. House/Caesar Salad - this is a free salad, so I won't complain about the small portion size. However, the salad plates weren't chilled and the lettuce was warm (room temperature). A salad should be cold and refreshing. Also the salad was overdressed and in my whole caesar salad I had 1 tiny crouton and no shaved or shredded parm on top (what caesar comes without that?). Eggplant Parmesan - this might be the most underwhelming item I have seen come out of a kitchen. Eggplant parm is a staple. When you think of eggplant parm, you think crispy, either fried or shallow fried breaded eggplant. This eggplant was stewed in tomato sauce then melted cheese was put on top(?). And to top it off, it was served with likely boxed penne pasta that wasn't even mixed with the sauce but laid on the plate and the sauce was poured over it. And to add insult to injury, the pasta wasn't even cooked in salted water. How can you be an "authentic" Italian restaurant and not use fresh pasta cooked in salted water. Oh, and it was $24. Lobster Ravioli - this was also disappointing. For $30 I expect actual lobster pieces within the ravioli. However, its hard to control what goes into the pasta when its likely premade pasta. The filling was mushy and underwhelming. Oh, and it only came with 4 little ravioli.

For the price and by the name of the restaurant (authentic Italian) I expect FRESH, homemade pasta, cooked properly with homemade and flavorful sauces. This place was a...

The place has pros and cons.

Pros.

1. Ambiance is very cozy. It reminds me of a restaurant in NYC or Philadelphia. Small and cozy. You can tell the chef/family owns the place and works there daily. It also has the most beautiful view of the capital in nearly every seat, which adds to the ambiance.
2. Sauce is homemade and it was very tasty.
3. Tiramisu also is homemade. And it goes into the top 3 category of any tiramisu I have ever had.
4. It is BYOB, which kind of balances out the higher price points of the food.
5. Service was very good. Friendly and quick. I even talked to the owner/chef a little who is Italian.
6. Parking is quick, easy and free after 5PM. No need to worry about that anymore. Plentiful parking all nearby.

Cons.

1. Pasta was not homemade. At this price point I except the pasta to be homemade. It really should be to be honest. The dishes are not cheap, and I have no problem paying for quality, but the pasta itself is definitely coming from a box. NOT OK.
2. Portion was decent. Not oversized and not small. It satisfied me. I ordered the seafood pasta dish, I had two clams, two oysters, one shrimp, one small piece of fish and three calamari (which had to be frozen). Maybe having one extra shrimp and one extra clam I would of understood the price point a little more. OR if the dish had homemade pasta and the same seafood portion. The dish was $35.
3. Pasta was not homemade. Again it is hard for me to want to order pasta here again at this price point if its not homemade pasta. The expectation from Philadelphia is if you pay more you get more. So for $35 dollar for the dish I should be getting homemade pasta and the seafood portion in its current form would seem appropriate. I just make a big fuss about this, because if the pasta was homemade I would rate this from 4 to 5. At this price point, in Philadelphia I order pasta and it is always homemade.

General overview: The prices are a premium but if you like BYOB it does balance out when you think about it. I ordered one seafood pasta dish ($35) which includes a micro salad and a little bread, and for dessert I ordered a tiramisu ($11) and double shot of espresso ($8). The bill was $57.

With that, I did bring my own mini bottle of wine, which saved me about $15 if I had ordered two glasses of wine at the restaurant. So if you remind yourself it is BYOB and you utilize it, then the prices will balance out and be the same as if you went to a lesser quality restaurant and ordered wine by the glass.

I will be back to try some other dishes. Check it out if you like the BYOB experience with friends and flavorful food in a...

Usually avoid leaving negative reviews, but sadly, considering what we paid for this meal.... it's warranted. Upon entering, our first impression was... it's cramped and crowded. Where would they seat our table of 4? Our friends made reservations. Well... it's downstairs for us...to their basement level seating. No music playing. No other patrons. Shhhh. Menus under glass on the table. Had one person serve water, another took drink order, (no alcohol served/BYOB), he also brought us their regular menu & specials menu. 3 menus? No prices on specials menu. Our server finally arrived. Friendly & helpful enough. The food? Expensive & mediocre at best. We ordered the sausage & peppers app. Sausage, cut very thin on the bias, was charred (aka burned) & drowning in oil. Our "dinner salads" consisted of a sparse pile of greens & a few pepper slices. Server said they didn't have tomatoes? My salad had 1 crouton! Bread basket... oh my... 1 stiff steak roll cut into quarters; appeared to be microwaved. :( Our dinners were the biggest disappointment. $27 Fettuccine chicken Alfredo... small portion, oily, not cheesy... not buttery. Dry, overcooked chicken. The $27 lasagna was like no lasagna we've ever seen. About 1 inch deep by 4 inches wide. Mostly mushrooms and sauce... scant amount of meat & again, oily sauce. Sigh $100 for 2 people. No dessert. 2 sodas. Our friends meals were similar. The only highlight was the Brulee style dessert my friend ordered. Decent presentation & portion & she liked it. Based upon good reviews, maybe this place used to be better? Quality & quantity of ingredients not equal to cost. Needless to say, we will not...