Pia’s Veranda — Restaurant in Saint Petersburg

We heard about Pia's from connections online. The Trattoria and Veranda have the same menu but are physically separated, so I'm assuming they have different kitchens as well. This review is about Veranda.

This review and scoring are relative to other Italian restaurants.

We arrived and were told 30-45 minutes wait. We waited about 30 ft from the host stand and at 45 minutes my daughter checked in. They had removed us(claiming they texted, which was inaccurate) and then had seats for us. Our service was very slow and ordered items were forgotten(a salad, a round of drinks, etc). I believe our server might have been alone, so her only fault was not writing down orders because she looked overwhelmed.

There is no bread or group starter. So we ordered the calamari. It is seared and that was a good appetizer(7/10).

My daughter had pasta and liked it a lot - 9/10 I had the Mahi, which was fully cooked but the sauce tasted like a bottle of wine and was not very good. The risotto was my least favorite of any restaurant I've reviewed. The asparagus was good, but I got 4 tiny spears. My wife got less asparagus and ordered chicken marsala. Her sauce also tasted only like wine. She said it was the worst marsala she's had.

On a good note, the drinks we ordered were perfectly made - 10/10. The food was plated nicely. The pasta seemed to be really good, so i think I'd prefer that if I went back.

Unfortunately, I have several Italian options that are much more appealing...

Went here for my birthday. The atmosphere was nice. Sat outside and was nice out, so there no issues there. Ordered the $20 special appetizer of sausage, toast, buratta cheese, arugula, and grilled peaches. Came with NO sausage on the plate, and the way it was described on the menu was really well like it was special sausage and I was excited to eat it. After realizing it was missing I asked the waitress and she tried to say that the very thin spread (as thin as butter spread) on the toast is the sausage. I asked what she meant and she could not elaborate. I still don't know what she was talking about. It wasn't like a paste or anything that could have possibly been sausage. It just seemed like a sauce. Spread thin. Disappointed to say the least. I ordered the pesto pasta with homemade linguini and it was ok. Others ordered the gorganzola gnocchi and spaghetti. Nothing was great. Disappointing birthday...

I have been coming to Pias Trattoria a long time. Unfortunately the food in my opinion has gone downhill.We came Saturday at 445pm..great atmosphere and our server was excellent. Unfortunately the food did not match the service. There were 5 of us. The lasagna was way too salty, the noodles did not taste homemade and the presentation was awful. My friends said they liked my lasagna better and I am not Italian! We also tried a cheese and knochi dish... ( not sure I am spelling it right)..it was so bad we just ate the cheese. Our bill was over $200 before the tip so not having great food this made it worse. The drinks however were excellent and the birthday canolli was good. Not sure if I will go back again. Not a good value for the quality of food we were served...and this was not the first time we had an issue with the food. This review was for Pias Trattoria not...