Casa Santo Stefano — Restaurant in Tampa

Let's talk about the good.

The rooftop bar is beautiful. Lots of seating, perfectly socially distanced. Great place to relax before or after your meal. Great for grabbing a cigar and a nightcap.

The restaurant itself is breathtaking. Stunning architecture, georgous staircases. Love the open kitchen and the 2 separate chief's tables.

The service is impeccable. I can't remember ever feeling so special and taken care of. The restaurant was packed and our server, Gordon, made us feel like we were his only table.

The fresh baked bread served with herbs and oil was outstanding! Amazing quality and taste.

Now for the not so good. Our table of 10 ordered several appetizers along with our dinners. No one was particularly impressed. The sauces we were presented had no distinctive flavor and would be characterized as bland. My husband ordered Bracioluni the dish came out looking and tasting like Boliche, a Cuban dish that uses a cheap piece of beef that he dislikes very much.

We were there to celebrate a birthday and I was having a particular craving. I called ahead to see if ordering Chicken Parmesan would be Ok. I was told it wouldn't be a problem at all, and it wasn't. Our server Gordon didn't bat an eye when I said that I'd called ahead about ordering off menu. When my dish arrived it looked appetizing but the chicken was dry and the red sauce had no flavor, no garlic, oregano, no zest, just a basic tomato flavor.

Our table also ordered a few glasses of sangria, that turned out to be a huge disappointment. The sangria served was simply wine with a few slices of fruit. The cocktail had clearly not been allowed to set up the minimal 3 hours prior to serving.

Overall, our experience as far as atmosphere, ambiance and service was absolutely outstanding. As far as food, flavor was clearly an issue. Some members of our party are from Sicily, not far from Santo Stefano and they were our most let down party members.

As the price per plate was rather high and our almost unanimous feelings on food quality and flavor was poor, I do not see a return to Casa Santo Stefano in our future.

However, I must give HIGH praise for the exceptional service both Gordon in the dining room and (I believe) Brandon on the rooftop bar, are Tampa's best...

The true measure of a sit-down restaurant experience is the spirit of value that is expressed toward you from the moment you enter to the moment you are seated to the time you engage with the wait staff, the cooks, the chef, management, and even other patrons. The mutual feeling of value is what we took away the most from our experience at Casa Santo Stefano. When we arrived on a busy Friday evening without reservations, we were expecting the hostess to say there would be a lengthy wait. Yet she gave us alternative seating options at the bar or the chef's table, so we chose the chef's table. Additionally it was a very hot day in Tampa, and I had not changed out of my sleeveless shirt, which was a No-No as it was against the restaurant's dress code, which we were not prior aware. When I stated I didn't have a sweater or alternate shirt, they said they would provide a shirt that I could wear while in the restaurant and then I could keep it! Wow. This was the first positive part of this amazing journey.

So we ended up ordering an appetizer, spicy honey Pizza, which was delicious, the sea bass, and a clam pasta. At least five other staff members including one of the primary line cooks and the sous chef asked if everything was okay and of course it was fantastic. Randy, one of the staff in charge of prepping the plates prior to delivery, was exceptionally knowledgeable about the kitchen structure which I asked about all the roles of the cooks and he proceeded to explain the complexities of all the roles which left my head spinning a bit, as I only recalled a bit, from the line cooks, prep chefs, head line cook to lead cook to sous chef to head chef. I stated to him "this is just like Hell's Kitchen without all of the cursing!" He laughed and said "sometimes there is cursing."

The food was very good but the experience was spectacular, exceptional, phenomenal. It's what it feels like being a celebrity or VIP without having the same level of wealth financially but being treated with the same value, the same respect. Casa Santo Stefano is a must visit for us when in Tampa, and currently tops on our restaurant choices for the area. May the owner and all the staff be blessed for bringing such joy to its patrons with such a...

I tried the Arancini from Casa Santo Stefano for the first time during an Italian Festival in Tampa and made it a mission to go to the official Ybor City restaurant whenever possible (I live in Tarpon Springs). We visited today for lunch, and the experience was good. The ambiance and decor is beautiful and welcoming. The staff is great and very attentive. When it comes to food these are my small critiques and observations: The focaccia bread they serve at the start is delicious, but should come with some olive oil and Parmesan for dipping. The cocktails were okay. The Apperol Spritz was definitely a letdown and will not be ordering again if we go back to visit. The Tiramisu Espresso Martini was delicious but tasted like a Puerto Rican “Coquito” with no taste of either tiramisu or espresso. The arancini was as fabulous as it was during the festival and I highly recommend this appetizer. They are perfectly crispy on the outside and ooey gooey on the inside with the perfect filing of bolognese, melted cheese and peas. For entrees we had the bolognese pasta, which was a generous portion and the red sauce was very tasty, not too sweet or acidic and cooked Al dente. Fiancé gave it a 8 out of 10. We also had the Rinaldi Casarecce pasta dish and that was a bit of a disappointment. What sounded to be a creamy white sauce pasta dish turned out to be a very garlicky pasta dish with Al dente noodles but in a sauce that was extremely watery and oily and not creamy at all and did not coat most of the noodles in the sauce. The taste was okay, lots of sausage and peas, but it needed more flavor and thickness in the cream, maybe some red pepper, and for the light cream sauce to be much creamier and thick/different consistency and to coat all noodles into the “cream sauce” instead of leaving them in this basic watery oily garlicky sauce. We were sort of full from the appetizer and entrees, so we did not get to order any dessert, but if we do drive an hour back to Tampa we will definitely try the tiramisu or cannoli. Overall a solid Italian restaurant. And having an Italian mother I am very picky with my Italian restaurants, so I’ll definitely come back and try...