SaZa Serious Italian — Restaurant in Madison

This was a tricky place to review. We've been twice now, and I still wasn't sure about posting a review. I think part of the issue is how we ate there, and I'll get into that.

On paper, the food and experience we had wasn't as good as other Italian places in Huntsville. You could go to Terranova's and have a better experience on most fronts other than service. The food is better and the dining experience and atmosphere is better.

What was intriguing about this place was SaZa has this air of authenticity in its approach to Italian food. Both times we went to SaZa, I ordered different pasta dishes and each of them had these minor issues that kinda urked me. The Penne Vodka had these huge chunks of smokey-tasting pancetta. If you've ever gotten penne alla vodka right before, you know the pancetta needs to be thin and melt into the sauce, and the sauce needs to have some spice. This is something that, surprisingly, Cheesecake factory gets right, so it's kind of a shock that this place makes that mistake. I got the Sunday Sauce the second time. The meats were very well cooked, and it was very authentic. At the same time, it was a little bland. It just didn't have the flavor I would expect from a sauce that's been slow cooked for that amount of time, especially since it's one of the most expensive pastas on the menu. My family also got some dishes they didn't enjoy, like the Chicken Marsala.

The other thing that makes SaZa not quite worth the price is the atmosphere. If I'm being honest, it feels like a downtown pizza shop. There's very little decorations, and there's tons of steel beams with brick walls and open lighting. That wouldn't be a big deal if it also didn't have the price point and expectations of a high end Italian restaurant instead of Mellow Mushroom.

The reasons why I feel like it's hard to review is because it is more of a pizza place disguised as a higher end Italian restaurant. Most of the dining room was empty when we've gone, and when people come in for pick up orders it's almost always for a pizza. I just have to wonder if they'd do better having a take-out focus with a smaller location, closer to a Mellow Mushroom but with other dishes too. If people want to sit and eat they can, but you don't need all that dining space.

I was really excited for this place. I love good quality Italian food, and seeing how they advertised themselves as such hyped me up. It's not that big of a disappointment, but unless you want some pizza there's better spots in Huntsville for expensive pasta. Maybe I'll return someday and see if anything...

After mentioning I had had poor service before and had to call the manager when $70 had "accidentally" been added to my debit card after the fact, the party I was with wanted to try SaZa anyhow. We were seated outside under the overhang facing the Renaissance Hotel.

First of all, it took quite a while to place any kind of order, but we were finally able to order drinks. At one point, the sun began blinding us and we asked our server if the blinds could be lowered. He said he didn't know, and that it would depend on what the customers sitting at the tables by the blinds would allow.

We finally ordered food--still blinded (we never saw him inquire about the blinds to ANYONE). And we waited. Once the couple at one table left, the blind was finally lowered, but by that time, the sun had set enough it didn't matter.

Two salads were delivered to those in my party who had ordered them. Then I ordered a second martini for myself and another of our party ordered her second glass of wine--fairly promptly delivered by another wait staff. At this point, we had been sitting at the restaurant for more than an hour-and-a-half before two of our people got their food, while the couple who had been seated for only about 20 minutes managed to place their order and get their food BEFORE a third person in our party got theirs.

By this time, it was closing in on two hours, with only three people of our five having their food. And, again, I and another friend waited. And waited. The couple at the other table, ate their food and left. Two of us still didn't have our food. It made no sense to us since we had had the same waiter as that couple.

At the two-and-a-half hours of waiting mark, a storm with thunder and lightning had started getting closer and we were worried about being out in it, or trying to get to the hotel across the street before the rain hit.

For two of us, food STILL hadn't arrived. So, one of our party asked for ours to be placed in to-go containers, which we got almost immediately.

I paid in cash because I didn't want a repeat of the accidental extra tipping again, and we left. Thankfully, we made it in time, because the rain started as soon as I got to my room, where I sat, by myself, and ate.

To sum up, I paid $50 to sit and drink two drinks and NOT get to eat with my friends, then wound up eating alone. I will not recommend SaZa to anyone, and if asked, I will HIGHLY discourage them from...

I have been to SaZa three times now I wanted to wait to formulate a review. One, the food is good. There is no other way to state that. The food is good y'all. Two, the portion size is terrific, the location of the restaurant is good. Three, parking is available but can be limited. My issue with SaZa is the service. I was greeted by a hostess who was talking to the other hostess and looking at her phone and NOT smiling to greet me. She looked disheveled, her hair, clothes appearance, all untidy. Not a great first impression. We were sat at a table with a hard wood bench seat, no cushion just the wood bench. There are tables with chairs you don't have to sit on the hard wood bench. The food is good y'all. The server brought our food with their finger in our plate. Not on the side of the plate as would be expected but literally, "Finger in plate" but the food was good. On my third occasion we sat at the bar. Ordered two of the special. The food was hot, the portions were good the flavor was nice. The price for the special was $28. Now that's fine, I will pay $28 for a plate of pasta, however the $28 plate of pasta was not made in house. Meaning the "pasta" they do not make their own rigatoni for instance. The issue yet again was the service. The bartender was slow, did not refill our water, did not offer coffee after our meals or an after dinner drink. Then there is the dress...hand to god...our bartender on this night was a female in toms shoes, loose fitting linen like shorts which may have been pajamas and a sleeveless tank top. It wasn't sexy, it wasn't hip, it certainly wasn't Italian...I just didn't get it. If you want thirty bucks for a plate of pasta...do better, give your patrons more, be better than toms and pajama bottoms. The food is good however, and it comes out fast. The level of service or rather professional service, Italian service is not there and that...