Pazzo On Orange — Restaurant in Sarasota

Utter disappointment. First time and was looking forward to it. Had a reservation and spent 20 minutes at the table before the server took our order. She was very hurried and we had to ask her to repeat herself a couple times to hear the specials. Salads for 2 of the people arrived quickly and were good (caesar and burrata). Main course took forever to get. We were told they had a party of 30 people in the back room. If you are going to take a private party, then be sure you have the staff to cook for them and wait on them, the other patrons should not have to suffer poor service because of that. The dining room and outside patio were not full but the service was non existent and took over 40 minutes to get a salad and 2 chicken dishes. The one chicken dish was the "special" of the evening and consisted of a paper thin pounded out piece of chicken that was over fried and covered in a pound of arugula with 3 pieces of cherry tomato. No sauce, no cheese. Dry as a bone. The meatball salad consisted of iceberg lettuce, a few strands of carrot and shaved parm with a meatball tossed on top. The menu stated it was the "house salad" with a meatball - I guess the house salad consists of lettuce and nothing else. I had requested the meatball be put on the side (it was not) and requested an Italian dressing (even spoke to the server about it being made in house with olive oil) and the salad arrived completely dry. The server never came back with the dressing - didn't see her again to ask (probably because she was in the room with 30 people). No cheese was offered for the chicken dishes. No offer of bread with the meals. The waters were filled only when the plates were cleared at the end of the meal. Only after the plates were cleared did the service appear again - in the hopes of offering dessert. But that would probably have taken until midnight to get so we all declined. We spent over 2 hours in this restaurant for meals that were not worthy of a 30 minute visit. And don't bother to use a restroom there - disgusting!!! I had to rummage thru a closet to find toilet paper. Paper towels and such tossed in the sink, all over the floor. Utter disarray. Sarasota has many good Italian restaurants - this is NOT...

Will return.

Dark wood and granite (?) decor on a lovely street. It has indoor and outdoor sections. A big fireplace outside.

Love their thin stems and water tumblers. … but then the server gave us different glasses the second run: dull and thick. If I knew I would not have ordered another drink. Ok, I went to the bar and asked for a thin stem.

Like their spicy olive oil a lot.

We’ve arugula salad w/ Shiitake mushrooms eggplant rollatini clams in white mussels in red with raw garlic and pungent wine sauce… and I took the sauce home - can’t take me anywhere.

Are they New York Italian? No sure: is it Little Italy Italian or Arthur Avenue in Bronx Italian? In any case, their food is delicious.

Thanks for deciding the salad. When they brought the hot food, they warned us that the plates are hot … in fact, non of the three are hot, not even warm.

I thought the eggplant rollatini would be thin and small that I can finish it all as an appetizer. Wrong: three large and fat piece: a little too ‘meaty’. After one I felt I’m full.

We’re too full to try their dessert. Next time.

The busy girl (?) is pleasant, warm and cute.

Rushing home to watch the rest...

Bravo Pazzo on Orange! Last night was so beautiful. The sky and stars and moon were in perfect alignment. We sat outside under the stars by the roaring fireplace. Perfection. Our waiter, Zach, greeted us with his handsome smile and warm hello. We started with Clams Casino (Baked Clams Oreganata) seasoned and cooked to perfection. Each clam a delicacy with perfect toppings The Italian Way. And of course we took our perfect slices of bread and dipped it into the sauce. Can it get any better? And then the Halibut with lemon and capers delicately placed on top of whipped mashed potatoes - heaven. We also ordered the Chicken Francese served over fresh sauteed spinach. The lemon sauce was out of this world. The chicken tender was oh so flavorful. And then the "pezzo forte" piece de resistance the dolce ~ dessert! We call it Tartufo - ice cream coated with a hard chocolate shell. Sinfully divine. The entire evening was perfection. Are there 6 stars? Pazzo on Orange deserves the best. Grazie con affetto - Thank...