Ragù cucina italiana — Restaurant in Palmetto

Disappointing Experience—Wouldn’t Recommend

Unfortunately, Ragu’s cucina italiana was a letdown across the board.

I’ll start with the one positive: the pizza was crisp and fully cooked, which, surprisingly, isn’t as common as it should be. Beyond that, everything else was a disappointment.

The chicken parm was dry and uninspired. Their so-called Greek salad barely resembled one—and worse, they didn’t even have a proper Greek dressing. The pasta dishes were bland, with the carbonara being particularly unimpressive. The biggest offense, though, was the Linguine Pesto di Pistacchio e Gamberi—an overwhelming dirty-shrimp-water taste dominated the dish, which is ironic considering the actual shrimp in it was practically nonexistent.

But beyond the food, the service was just strange. Our waiter, Gabrielle, was fantastic—attentive, friendly, and knowledgeable. Honestly, he deserves to work somewhere better. The rest of the staff, however, was rude, disorganized, and oddly intrusive. They seemed confused by basic menu questions, and for some reason, multiple employees kept checking on us in the middle of Gabrielle taking our order, even interrupting him while he listed the specials. It was bizarre and disruptive.

And then there’s the price—which is absurd for what you get. At this price point, I expect either generous portions or outstanding food, and Ragu’s offers neither.

Bottom line? Skip it. The food is underwhelming, the service (aside from Gabrielle) is frustrating, and it’s simply not...

Amazingly fresh and satisfying We went for lunch today, fell in love, and will go there tomorrow again! The two of us shared an octopus salad, with potatoes, julienned carrots and celery (superb), then linguine pasta in chopped shrimp and pistachios sauce (so subtle yet rich), saltimbocca alla romana with mash potatoes and spinach sautéed in lemon sauce (vivid medley of flavors). We drank cool Pinot Grigio, bubbly San Pellegrino and red beer from Umbria (central Italy) and ended with espresso macchiato e cannolicchi alla ricotta e cioccolato. We did not die because the portions are moderate, Italian style, so that what you would eat in turns from a dinner plate you taste instead in separate subsequent servings. All in a quaint, luminous space with old fashion touches, fresh white linens and Jazz music playing. A true pleasure, including being able to talk in Italian with the freshly arrived amazing cook, Giulio and the cheerful serving crew. You can swear that no comparable food can be found in the Sarasota-Bradenton...

Unfortunately our dinner last night was very disappointing — from the 20 minute wait until the server took our order — without telling us that there were any specials; to the small portions that were served to us — to the below quality of the food.

Charging an additional $8 for chopped up shrimp in your Fettuccine Alfredo is excessive when it probably didn’t even equal but 3-4 shrimp at the most — that is when I could even find the little pieces of shrimp.

And 3 pieces of flat veal, less than a total of 3 oz in your Scaloppine ai funghi porcini with less than a decent helping of linguini for $31 is ridiculous.

As two local patrons that have been in the food industry, one for over 60 years and the other for over 20 years as a chef, we know and understand the restaurant business and were less than impressed with your establishment. We are always looking for local restaurants to support and boost; yours will not be one of them.

In good conscience, we can not and will not recommend your...