Salvatore's of Elmont Pizzeria & Restaurant — Restaurant in Town of Hempstead

THE MOST STRESSFUL DINING EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE I have dined in excellent restaurants, and some not so good, but last night at Salvatore‘s of Elmont was the worst dining experience I’ve ever had. Let me start off by saying there are 3 tents outside of the actual pizzeria. It appears that they do not adequately staff with waitstaff, just a bunch of table runners. We had a reservation and could not find somebody to seat us. We were going to leave, but I went into the pizzeria section of the restaurant and spoke with the owner Anna who seated us. We were put at a table towards the back of one of the tents… bad location. You are completely forgotten about. We were celebrating birthdays, and had my 85-year-old mother with us. We were there about 40 minutes without anyone coming over with bottled water and my mother was dying of thirst. We asked several times for water and were told some would be brought out but nobody came back. It was only when we stood up to leave someone came over with water. After a while, when we were unable to order, we stood up to leave again when a young man appeared and said he would take our order. The restaurant provides “complementary” wine which I guess is the big draw, but believe me you work for that freebie. Three of us at the table had no silverware. They brought out two sets of silverware but after 45 minutes and numerous requests, I had to go into the pizzeria to get silverware for myself. The food did not come out for well over an hour. Amazingly again, when we stood up to leave, the food started coming out. There was a huge wait before the entire table received their order. They got 3 orders wrong, but everyone was so hungry they just accepted the incorrect order. My dish was seafood fra diavolo, but the sauce was like a marinara with no spice at all. I was not provided with a dish for the shells so we had to improvise with the bread plates. My daughter ordered rigatoni with pasta which had no flavor at all even after adding salt and pepper to it. My mother ordered lasagna with no cheese on top but received extra cheese. My brother-in-law ordered Veal Saltimbocca which is two thin veal cutlets with prosciutto spinach, and mozzarella on top. He received one cutlet made correctly, the other one had no veal, just the cheese and the spinach. We requested “to go” plates and the check because at this point it was after 10 o’clock and we were seated at about 620. Was definitely time to go . My brother in law asked to speak to the owner, Vito, to tell him of our poor experience and that his order was missing a veal cutlet. Vito was very defensive and responded I don’t appreciate you coming at me like that. Mind you, my brother in law complimented him on what he does for the community and was very respectful, but Vito obviously didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t even deduct the entire cost of my brother-in-law’s meal, just a portion of it. We were supposed to go to my sisters house for cake and coffee after we ate, but at that point it was too late.. it’s obvious these owners are in it for the money and not for the dining experience of their customers. The fact that they have no wait staff, one bathroom, and their kitchen is the size of a small bedroom says it all. I would never recommend this restaurant, especially if you go with the older folk or children. The owners should perhaps hire a consultant to tell them how to streamline their business. The free wine will only take them so far before people stop coming...

2025 EDIT Unfortunately, I have to downgrade the service to 2 stars from 3. A take-out order, made through the slice app, went totally sideways. Order for a VEGAN BRUSCHETTA pizza was placed at 6:30pm for 7:00 pickup on a Saturday evening. I walked down to the restaurant and at 6:55 mentioned my order at the counter. They said they didn't have an order for me, and at that moment the slice app printed out right in front of me (ok, so this is NOT their fault). They apologized, and said 'give us 10 minutes' and your pizza will be ready. at 7:10 I went back in and got my pizza and left. I got home, opened the box, and there was a pizza with chicken and cheese on it (not a vegan pizza). The box even had "bruschetta" written on it. I called up the restaurant at 7:40, and explained the situation. The owner apologized, said a new pizza would be made for me.

I walked back and double checked my order to made sure the error was not on my end, and I had a confirmation from Slice for a vegan bruschetta pizza. At about 8:00pm or so I got to the counter, and received my pizza. I opened the box at the counter, and it was a bruschetta pizza with cheese (still not vegan).

At that point, I gave up, walked back home with the wrong pizza still made.

I'll say it again: delicious food, great staff, but...I just can't do this with them any more.

end of 2025 edit

The overall rating of 3.0 is based on several factors, some unfortunate ones offset by others. This review is for a Saturday evening dine in experience.

6:40pm: We arrived, and were quickly seated, especially given how overloaded the staff seemed to be from waiting about 5 minutes and observing them. 6:55pm: we flagged someone down to ask for menus to be brought to us. 7:15pm: complementary garlic knots are brought over 7:30pm: dinner order is taken. 7:45pm: complementary glass of wine is brought over. 8:00pm: complementary salad is brought over 8:15pm: water is brought to the table 8:20: a shared entree and sides are brought to the table. Risotto was ordered with no shrimp, waitress came back to take and confirmed at about 7:45. Entree arrived with shrimp in it and was sent back before it hit the table. I'm pretty sure they just picked it out and sent back the same dish because it was back in 5 minutes., but i can't say for certain. 8:30: staff came to check on the table. We asked for to-go containers, and asked that the original salad we ordered which never arrived to be brought in a to go container. Check was requested as well. 8:45: salad arrived on a plate, and then they quickly came back and put it in a to-go container. 8:45-9:00: other swings by all tables, apologizes for the chaos. Bill came with avocado salad comp'd and we insisted that we pay for it. Settled the bill, and left.

Food: as probably non meat eaters, the options were very slim. The food tasted good but not "omg you have to try this". I would not recommend this place for vegetarians, at least not as a destination.

Staff: aside from the insanely long waits, the staff was amazing. We truly felt bad for them. They are all totally overloaded. Everyone was super nice, profusely apologetic.

In summary: i will definitely continue to get take out from here, as i have been doing for many years. The take out experience (food, service, speed) is amazing. All 5 stars. Dining in: i probably wouldn't do it again. Sorry Salvatore's. Maybe it was just unfortunate alignment of circumstances for my first experience...

I finally tried this place last night that everyone in franklin square raves about. My wife, son and I waited 25 mins to get our orders taken. Not a problem, it was friday and dinner time, a wait is understandable but i feel 25-30 mins was a tad too long when theres only like 8 tables there anyway. We placed our orders. After contemplating I figured let me play it safe and try their basic staples first. I got two slices, one regular and one sicilian. My son got the Rigatoni bolognese and my wife got the lobster ravioli.

We waited another bit till my food arrived, the two slices. Wow they cant even time it to bring our food out at the same time? Oh well i was starving. The regular slice was decent but the dough on the sicilian slice felt a little heavy. I tried making a slice in high school once and left out yeast and the rising of the dough part. It felt like that, heavy dense and chewy, and missing heart and soul. No air pockets it seemed like. I took a look at my bite and dough looked solid.

Damn it, oh well. I look over to my sons plate and its the 20 dollar rigatoni bolognese with not too much meat. Can i try it i ask? He said you can actually eat it i dont like it. Really? Ok lemme try. Pasta was cooked perfectly aldente, but flavor was missing and the sauce was wayyyy too sweet. Where the hell is the flavor, the aroma of some meat and onions? Why do i just taste sweet and underwhelming?

Hun can I try your lobster ravioli please? Sure she said, its meh, knew I probably shoulda got the shrimp scampi, this is flavorless. Doesnt even taste like lobster or fresh. I go in for the kill, god please let me get some flavor and aroma of lobster. True to her words, it lacked anything lobster and was overwhelmed by the cream sauce that i found balanced my pizza dough from my slices. We were dissapointed.

I dont get it, why does everyone rave about this place? Did we order the crappiest things? Maybe we shoulda asked the waiter? As we looked around for clues to all the hype, the wine glasses at everyones tables around us reminded me of the complimentary wine. AH HA! Who doesnt like complimentary wine with italian food? Well, it doesnt help a family that doesnt drink.

Check please. Do you want anything wrapped? No thanks. My wife says lets get the rigatoni wrapped and give it to someine back at the house, he barely touched it. Theres a reason he didnt touch it hun, the carbs aint worth the flavor.

They bring out zeppoles which was room temperature and no crisp, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. We each took a bite and said damn, even that sucked?

We left, lesson learned. I really wanted to like the place, and am sure ill give it another chance for takeout, seeing what their real specialty is. Only time will tell.

The servers were polite at least. Place felt cozy. Just flavor...