Sal's Italian Deli — Restaurant in Lake City

We are passing through, and stopped at a local hotel. The girl at the desk said that Sal's was the best food in town. So, we decided to try it. So disappointed.

Let me preface with the fact that this is Sal's 'Italian Deli', not Sal's Italian 'Restaurant'. Which I understand before I write this, but DO NOT sell Italian entrees if you cannot make them properly. We have been eating subs and sandwiches for the past 1400+ miles, so we wanted a 'fork and knife' style meal (note: you do not get utensils or plates with a delivery meal).

We ordered an appetizer, entree to split with two add-on sides, and a dessert.

The App: Rice Ball. The rice ball from here is only about 5% rice and not fried. It is a meatball with some rice in it, covered in a plain tomato gravy with mozz melted over it. Neither of us were able to stomach splitting one.

The Entree: Cheese Ravioli. Ravioli is meant to be about how the filling mixes with the sauce, and the pasta is meant to keep them separated until you eat them. Also, ravioli pasta is meant to be light and fluffy - not heavy, thick, and dense. The pasta dough was good, just made way too thick and not properly cooked. The cheese filling was boring, combined with the same underwhelming and unseasoned tomato gravy, that was on everything else, makes it worse. On a side note we ordered a side of meatballs (which did not arrive with our order - it was redelivered well after we ate - we threw the meatballs out with the rest of the food.we did not eat).

The Dessert: Salted Caramel Cheesecake. My wife asked if any of the desserts were made in house, and the girl said "No". She told my wife that the cheesecake was excellent. For what you pay for a slice from here, you can go to the local grocery store and get an entire pie of the same quality for the same price.

The fact that our order was over $30, and had to come in two deliveries since a side salad and meatballs were missing from our first order adds to the disappointment that the food was just 'edible' at best. Our delivery driver was not wearing a mask or gloves at all, maybe Sal's is an IDGAF type restaurant about COVID.

We would never order from here again, nor would we ever dine-in. In our opinion - the food was not good, if the delivery driver is not masked or gloved then the staff probably is not either. In addition, it is very pricey for what you get - NYC prices in...

Sal's Italian Deli is by far one of the spots you must try if you are a lover of fresh and delicious dishes of the Italian variety. Ever since we moved to Lake City, Sal's is our go-to ristorante to satisfy craving for meatballs seasoned just right smothered by savory tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella!

The only problem we have had was during our last visit. We ordered dinner to-go and the website states that closing time is 10pm on Friday and so we we were confused by the message we received from the staff working that evening that closing time was at 9pm, but they were waiting for us to arrive to grab our food. We appreciated the fact that they were waiting for us but we didnt know we were holding her up from leaving because the website shows a conflicting time than what was shared with us via text that evening. We hussled to Sal's to pick up our food feeling like complete jerks, and when we did make it in to grab our food and pay the tab we were met with yet another bout of confusion at the total amount of our bill. We had ordered 2 Salads (Cobb)= $8.99 each A half a sandwich (The Boss) = $8.99 A Half a sandwich (Chicken Parm) =$7.99 1 Entre ( Stuffed Shells) =$10.95 without tax and tip this should have come to a total of $45.91 We were charged $76.00 We left that night completely confused and the salads were not the ones we had ordered. We really love Sal's Italian Deli and are sure that the upcharge was a simple oversight, but we are kind of wondering if we were charged extra because we were late picking up our order. We paid cash so we are not sure if we would be able to rectify the bill with the owner at all. Overall the food is fantastic but we probably won't be visiting again anytime soon because of what happened on our last visit. We are...

So a few things about this place. The food was good. But the place has some major issues.

Their online menu is different from their in store menu. Online, they list pastrami and corned beef on their menu, but in store they don’t sell it. I don’t know how you call your place a deli without those items.

Next is their pricing. Their TV’s where their menu would be shown were off. So they had printed menus, but the prices on the printed menus are lower than what they ring up at the register. They have some small little sign off to the side handwritten saying that prices are increasing because of inflation.

This should be reported to the better business bureau. Whoever owns the place is being lazy by not updating the menu on the website and getting menus printed with accurate pricing. There’s no excuse. They’re not even open everyday so they have ample time to fix the issues. They just aren’t doing it.

Next, the prices on some of the stuff are insane. A calzone rings up at $18.99. My wife added chicken, bacon and pepperoni into it which added another $10. So after tax, one calzone was over $30. While they are big calzones, they’re made of dough and cheese plus toppings. It was good, but just way too high in price.

I’m not criticizing the taste of the food, it was good. All of it was good, but the problems with advertising and pricing overshadow it. Won’t consider going back until they fix...