Cafe Gabbiano — Restaurant in Siesta Key

Great Italian is hard to find where I live in Parrish so I spent most of the morning researching based on feedback and reviews. Found this restaurant which was 45 minutes away but how could we go wrong right? I've seen suspicious 5 star review restaurants before and even Yelp identifies them. After eating here last night, I thought how could I be the only person that was totally displeased with our experience?

The hostess was great , took us right at 7:45, apologetic for having to go get our table set. She was back in no time . Unlike , the server we would soon have once seated.

We sat at our table around 10 minutes waiting for her to come, she kept pulling her mask down to talk. A very strong accent, couldn't really understand her. We told her we were not having wine or alcoholic drinks with dinner, yet she showed us each of the wine books.

My friend and I were seated in a very tiny area and table . Only one other couple was there We put our wine glasses at the edge of table hoping she'd take them once filling our water glasses and my one soda because the table was so small. They sat there awhile so we just moved them to a table behind us. She probably should have taken them to be washed being we touched them but they set the table using the glasses for the next guests.

We asked for bread , she had a helper bring some. Must of been another 10 minutes before she came back, asked us if we were ready to order. I said yes we've been waiting for you to come back.

Looking at the menu , this needs to be a $$$ not a $$ restaurant on Google. $11 for a Caesar salad? I saw they charge $4.95 for a sharing plate on their menu very few dishes under $20. Most chicken dishes were around $25. Used to that being cheapest item on a menu at an Italian restaurant. Not sure if the really tall guy was the manager but he stopped by and asked if everything was great so far this evening as we were munching on our second bread basket 30 minutes into waiting for our meal. I dont think he heard my response.

Our server was hardly present. I sat there with empty soda glass for quite some time, finally filled it up towards end.

Our food finally came an hour after our reservation began..the couple next to us had a different server which she was back and forth several times. Our side of restaurant was not busy when we sat down . It was luke warm at best .Risotto very bland and the chicken Marsala didn't taste like much Marsala was in it. Didn't want to ask to warm it up because who knew how long that would take . She was missing again for awhile , so we waited for her next visit to our table to box our food up. My friend had worked all day and was tired it was now almost 9:30 pm I realize they say food is all made to order ( and can take some time) isn't that how most "fine dining " restaurants are? When she brought our check, I asked her if they were backed up , short staffed etc because our meal took a really long time and we didn't see her much. We only got entrees , no appetizers and salads so to sit there almost two hours. She tells us oh sorry , I had to help at tables with 50 people . Well that would have been nice had she communicated, or maybe she could have asked the manager for help. It definitely was not the experience that I had read about.

And it was a very long drive home , we were both disappointed. Our meals , chicken parmesan, and the chicken marsala, with one soda and a side dish of pasta, came to $80 . Plus gas. Never again. It reminded me of the poor service and food we...

I cannot say I was as blown away as the 4.6 star reviews show here. The wait staff are kind and the management is as well, the service is good, however I found the food immensely mid.

I ordered the market price dish "Gnocchi ala vodka" aka Gnocchi with a vodka sauce which is supposed to be a red sauce with good notes or garlic and robust flavor of the tomatoes as well as normally accent by basil or parsley. The only thing that has flavor was the few cherry tomatoes which managed to concentrate in the sauce and I assume was added into make the sauce, as it tasted neither like garlic, or basil, or had any parsley or any seasoning or ingredient in it that would make it ala vodka. It also clearly wasn't actually a vodka sauce being it didn't have the cooked off taste of the vodka which is added giving it its name sake also making it have a more robust flavor. Ive had better sauce from the publix canned sauce isle, its like they went at it with cream and old tomatoes sauce or base which had lost all its flavor and they depended on the fresh tomatoes they added in to make up for it, well it didn't. It needed salt, that just made it so it wasn't just a repeat of nothing in taste. Also their Gnocci is not fresh or hand made nor commands the 20-30 dollar charge I paid with chicken, they where stuck together cuz they where from a package clearly as hand made and rolled ones wouldn't look like square pillows attached end on end if they are hand made.

The Bruschetta however was very good and I did enjoy a bite of my friends meal which was their chicken Milanese. However their parmesan risotto, was again completely lacking in any strong cheese flavor and I couldn't pick up a hint of chicken from the broth they claimed to cook it in, but to their credit it was actually properly cooked.

Also my drink a "strawberry basil" martini was jet fuel, there's a difference between strong and made poorly, this was made poorly, didnt even fill half the martini glass, has 0 basil flavor and had 0 basil muddled into it or accented, just a strawberry. It was basically vodka straight with strawberry bits kinda in it.

Cannot say Id go back or recommend, I think it has such a high rating cuz tourist go here, and sorry but more tourist are fools, the olive garden in time square has a 4.6 rating by 6k people if that helps explain things.

Great people, nice staff, parking sucks, location isnt any where on the water, food probably the most meh thing I've...

On a scale of 1-10 this place is an 11!!! The service!!! Om-goodness! From the hostess who seated us, the young woman who poured our water, the gentleman that discreetly scouted the table continuously for empty glasses, and offered us WONDERFUL bread each time the basket was empty. At first, we were genuinely confused as to whom our waiter was, as we were waiting for the typical and informal "Hello, my name is _ and I will be your waiter tonight. Rico, our waiter engaged us in such warm banter that we really weren't sure if he was our waiter. The other staff members treated us like family visiting, so it was really hard to tell. Ok, now on to the DRINKS. My husband orders a mojito everywhere we go. His favorite drink. We make it at home from time to time. It is so hard to get a good one. Well, our mojitos and red sangrias were PERFECT!! Yes plural! We had several! Next, the FOOD! Uggh!! We are foodies...particularly Italian foodies. My husband ordered the 24 day aged filet Mignon with chicken parm and pasta. His steak was cooked to absolute medium rare perfection and seasoned to perfection!!! His chicken was sitting in so much wonderful sauce we could hardly believe the crisp on it!!! I ordered (per Rico's recommendation) the creamy tortellini with prosciutto ham and peas. I added jumbo shrimp as well. The shrimp were GINORMOUS and I believe the shrimp was flambe!! My goodness, our palates were indulged in a world of flavors!!! We witnessed how they treat their regulars. Like royalty, just as they did us. I think this staff is even trained to wipe the tables with guests seated. We dropped a few crumbs, I asked for napkins and the gentleman wiped the table with such care as to not drop a crumb on the floor or on our laps. Sounds anything like what you'd expect form a "fine dining" experience??? Well, this is what they boast! With just cause to do so! So don't hesitate. We will be back to sample the menu and cannot wait for our next experience. Rico recommended the chocolate tartufo for dessert! My husband and I had a sword/spoon fight for the last bit!!! LOL! THANK YOU CAFE...