Santora's Pizza Pub & Grill - Transit — Restaurant in Town of Amherst

We have been to Santora’s numerous time on our trips to Buffalo. My wife changes it up on what she eats but I get the Chicken Milanese 9/10. This time my dish was not the way it normally was. I asked for extra balsamic glaze on the side, I received oil with no balsamic. The broccoli was cold and was suppose to be seasoned but it was plain, no seasoning at all. There was no honey lemon dressing on the greens. The waitress was friendly and when I asked for the broccoli to be seasoned, she went to the kitchen and brought a side order of broccoli. It wasn’t seasoned again, they just but butter on it. Butter isn’t seasoning. I asked for the balsamic glaze and she brought that and it was good. I didn’t want to complain about the honey lemon because I just wanted to get out of there and go home. As for my wife’s dinner, she had nachos with steak. The steak was shaved steak like you would use for a Philly cheesesteak. Not nacho worthy. The nachos were luck warm and by the time I got to try them, they were stone cold.

We paid the bill, $69 with tip for 1/2 price nachos, onion soup (which was very good) Chicken Milanese and a high noon drink. I did the very quick survey, thumbs down, poor food quality, that was it. Wife was finishing her drink, then the manager came over and said he received the survey. He asked what was wrong, we started to tell him how our experience was. He then started to tell us how we should have asked for a manager, that he would have fixed it, that the thumbs down survey gets out into the internet world for everyone to see. I said I was sorry, I thought it was just an internal review. He kept going on about how we should have said something. My wife and I felt he wasn’t listening to what issues we had, it literally felt like we were being lectured about not asking for a manager. We really just didn’t want to deal with it, we just wanted to get back to Rochester. Normally a great experience, this time it was a waste of time and money.

Love your response, did you even read anything I wrote? My selective taste buds? How is it me being selective? You designed the menu, came up with cooking specs and procedures. Your menu states seasoned, not steamed. When I said something to the waitress, your cooks prepared it again but just put butter on it, butter isn't a seasoning. Maybe they need more training. Obviously, they were unaware on the cooking procedures for the dish. Also, the broccoli wasn't the only issue, but you don't acknowledge anything else other than the broccoli, which makes me feel you didn't read and or absorb what I was saying. Food aside, my review is more about how that manager made my wife and I feel while speaking to us. That is the whole reasoning for leaving this review. Maybe you should review your process before leaving your reply. Once again, you have come a crossed like a parent scolding their child. I'm not a regular type of customer, I was a Food & Beverage Director at a Marriott for 35 years and if I ever made a customer feel this way, I would be spoken to by my General Manager and or owner. Love how you try to advertise/plug your restaurant, saying that you're working hard every day to get the best food out possible, with a hard-working thankless job of cooking multiple meals in a day. Preparing the freshest and all-natural food we produce. Either way, we will no longer be coming to your restaurant and with how you made us feel, again, we will no longer tell friends and family about your establishment in a good light. I'm sure that doesn't matter to you, as I'm just an extremely small part of...

Atmosphere good upon first walk in. Food and Service is the worst. Music is excruciatingly loud to an intensely painful degree it caused ripples in our drinks, all "during the noon lunch time hours". Server was clueless and did not know what Italian Wine Vinegar or Extra Virgin Olive Oil is, as requested for our salad. Instead we received cooking oil and cheap dyed pink vinegar in placement of the better choice. No freshly grated cheese also. I asked my daughter who accompanied us, to never bring us back to this place again. If you're looking for an Italian Restaurant as this place suggests they are, go elsewhere.

07/10/2024 IMPORTANT UPDATE- Unsatisfactory response from management- Thank you for responding to our review. What I stated in my review, was in fact the ‘truth’. I refuse to be forced into an argument made public, for your business’s sake. I’m responding again to set things straight with actual facts of what occurred, and do not accept a cover up. Your band music was 'too loud' and at a point later, it was ‘lowered down'. The cheese was in a typical glass, fine grid, shaker and may not have been the fresh grated we expected. The oil was Not Pure Virgin Olive Oil and there is a distinctive difference between over blended and actual. When questioned, your server advised us that there was no other cheese for our salad and, no response to the oil issue. I’m sure your server did not report the issue. If she did, any ‘good manager’ would have handled the situation and ‘explained’, before it reached a bad review. We do not have an ulterior motive except to help your business and bring unsatisfactory issues to your attention. We are adults and love the Italian and other Restaurants in Buffalo, NY. When we give a review, it’s truthful of how we were made to feel. We do not expect anything in return, so please do not offer. Your response to this review is a typical cover up and everything you say is right, and we as customers are so very wrong. If you were ‘actually there’ at the time we were served, I'm sure a ‘good manager’ would have made things right. Please consider this review an learn from it. There is a chance you did not witness what had happened and consider the possibility that your good paying customers are truthful and want to help you better your business. There is no remorse on this update. By your circumventing the facts as reported, and uncaring response to the original review, we will never go back again due to ‘management problems’. So good luck...

I travel for work, which means that I patron many restaurants and often get take out. Last night I placed a phone order for pick up at this restaurant and when I went in to pay and pick up my order I handed the hostess my credit card. The hostess asked for my drivers license which I thought was odd but I handed it to her anyway. At that point, without explanation she quickly jotted my DL number down on the restaurant copy of my receipt. I asked her what she was doing and she explained to me that they take down DL numbers because they were getting a lot of chargebacks for online orders. I told the hostess that I had an issue with them taking down my DL number at which point she invited the restaurant GM into the conversation. The GM gave me the same explanation that people were placing orders, picking up the orders then calling back and claiming that they never got their food and demanding a refund. I can understand that could be a challenge to restaurants.

My scenario however didn't fit the same scenario that the GM was explaining. I came into the restaurant to pay at the time of pickup, so who would they refund if someone called to complain? That scenario would look like, "We're sorry, someone came in and paid for and picked up you order. We can place a new order for you".

There are a handful of things that could have been done differently here, and two stand out for me: when I handed the hostess my DL she could have explained that she was taking down my DL number. At that point I could have decided whether providing my personal data was worth the order. at the time that I placed the order over the phone they could have told me to make sure to bring my DL in so they can take the number down, inviting the discussion where I could have decided whether providing my personal data was worth the order.

Neither happened.

I understand that restaurants face many challenges including being subjected to fraud. That however, doesn't mean that they should collect unnecessary data subjecting their...