Mediterraneo — Restaurant in Sarasota

July 26, 2025 - Two for dinner before a play @ Florida Studio Theatre.

A little far from walkable to FST so an incredible and fantastic THANK YOU to the merchants in the building and Mediterraneo for the ample and free parking so we are not paying the thieves of the City or Sarasota for parking nonsense and another $350 predatory towing bill!!!

This is a fantastic looking establishment!!! The layout is efficient but felt family friendly and the clientele was all smiles!! The main dining area was packed and was turning during our meal in the back dining area (we requested) how it too was packed when we were leaving at 7:30 pm! This felt special......

And it was!!! Service by Ralph was some of the best in my 45 years of business/global travel. Of note my dad (deceased for now 30 years) must have been smiling that night as one of my measures for a great restaurant HE told me about from his college days in the 1940s was from the Tally-Ho restaurant in Chicago. The wait staff was drilled on NEVER letting the water glass get below half filled for even 1 minute!!! THIS was the case here at Mediterraneo. Not just the water glass but the tables were cleared and bused swiftly and efficiently. AWESOME zone defense and service!!!

We had a little bread and some chopped olives and olive oil. A little bruschetta made and appearance as well. The mixed drinks were very good according to the "boss" and I had a Stella N/A that was served properly in a chilled glass. Not crazy expensive.

My wife ordered the Tropicale salad which was arugula w/heart of palms and avocado and some very nice large slices of parmesan. I had some after her gleeful report of freshness and nice palm pieces and the cheese was fantastic!! 10/10

I ordered the pinto bean soup de jour (cup) that was also excellent. Nice full bodied broth and beautifully flavored. A touch saltier than I like, but this was a winner. 9/10

Ralph highly recommended the Veal Chop and that was an absolutely fantastic suggestion. My wife enjoyed it whole-heartedly. I had a bite and it was truly awesome product and wonderfully prepared, seasoned, and cooked!!! She commented and I agreed also a bit heavy on the salt. 9/10

I went with the Capellini Primavera a angel-hair pasta with a variety of vegetables in an oil and garlic sauce. First of this was a perfectly made and spot on TEXTBOOK cooked al dente (first cooked firm to the tooth) pasta. This was GREAT!!! The zucchini and other vegetables were also firm and not mushy boiled wet filler!!! A great job!!! Only quip is the oil and garlic was very tasty but the dish was very oily and also a little heavy handed on the salt as well. 9/10

We know we are coming back here! As a matter of fact my wife is changing a birthday celebration "with the girls" from XXXXXXXX (smile) around the corner Italian spot to here at Mediterraneo !!!

Always glad to have an experience like this......and also enjoy giving back to my dining-out warriors lookin' for good food and service.

I FOUND...

This establishment represents the antithesis of good Italian food. From the cafeteria like setting to the criminally pretentious wine list this "restaurant" misses on all marks. Italian food is all about the quality of the ingredients and then taking the time to respect those ingredients in both preparation as well as creating an environment conducive to the enjoyment of those ingredients - these guys supply little of that and are only here to "churn and burn" their customers. Bruschetta served with unripe/under-seasoned/flavorless tomatoes - Buffalo Mozarella that was stringy, chewy and flavorless - balsamic vinegar that you can find better quality at Whole Foods for $3 - EVOO that tasted of chemicals and rubber - carbonara that was so dry you could not twirl it on your fork - risotto (grrrrrrrrr!!!!) risotto that was pre-prepared and plated like so much rice-a-roni - actually I would have preferred the rice-a-roni at least that is seasoned. The only saving grace of the entire meal (and hence the 2 star rating and not 1) was the veal osso bucco a perfectly prepared sphere of gelatinously succulent and unctuous fetlock - so good, and maybe just in comparison to the rest of the meal, that I found myself going back to the marrow bone 4-5 times scraping for the last clinging bits. The first hints of a meal disaster was the wine list stocked heavily with undrinkable Barolo and Barberesco - I don't mind a young Barolo or Barberesco once or twice a year (and there are some Langhe nebiollo wines that drink quite well young - mostly blends) but I never pair it with food and it has to breathe 5-6 hours before drinking. This wine list didn't have 1 or 2 young Barolo and Barberesco as an option for the wine adventurer willing to blow their palates up with tannins but fully stocked with no less then 50 bottles. Piemonte makes some of the best red wines in the world but NONE of them drink well young they need at least 12 years of aging and in some cases closer to 20. I don't find the customer at fault if they order a wine that will literally destroy their meal I blame the restaurant for serving it. A good restaurant should be a kind of guide - a guide to how food should and can be - the right ambience - the right pairings to highlight the food - anything other then that and it is not a...

I see a lot of very positive reviews here, but something must be very wrong here. The food was ok - it is Italian, normally one of my favorites!

But the people here are crooked and dishonest. We added rucola to the Pizza for which we were charged 6$ for a pizza, that is 33% surcharge from the original price. But worse than that, the pizza we ordered had Prosciutto on it. At least it said that in the menu. However that "luxury" pizza came without it and the waiter in an unfriendly and rude manner, made us believe that we were wrong and that it were our fault. When it came to the cheque we found no extra charge for the prosciutto we ordered (extra as the waiter said that's the only way to have one) which surprised us. Until our friend realized that the wine price had magically doubled. When we remarked this he said well that's the only way the system could add the price for the extra ham.

Just for who is still keeping track: the pizza that was originally 18$ now with just extra rucola was billed for 30$ + service charge + 20% tip = 6$

We are not some random people. We have eaten here from time to time in the past 2 years since we came and even held business lunches here. This was totally unacceptable today and we are never coming back.

We had to go to the counter to pay as it took the waiter forever. He didn't even leave a choice for us to select the percentage of tip as if we were some foreigners who don't know how tipping works – at an Italian place - how ironic.

It took us another 7 minutes to pay and he just left us without even asking us to sign and we had to order and return the bill. And then he tried to scam us once more by issuing a new tip receipt for the amount which already included the tip, so he would have later filled in some more money and charge our cards. This behavior would have actually deserved a tip rounded to the next dollar amount.

I can't really change the average rating here, but what I know is that they lost a lot of good customers today as nobody we know here, will go there again. Just thought you should all know this. And if you read this, don't complain...