Sugo Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Tuscaloosa

I’m an easy person to please. I’m very low maintenance as a customer and tend to be nice and forgiving to a fault. Where to begin with this place. We tried Sugo when they were having a $50 dinner special. The caprese was in fact not caprese. It was a giant bowl of spring mix with balsamic, a handful of cherry tomatoes (not cut), and four wedges of a mozzarella ball. It was fine but not anything to write home about and not authentic caprese. We had the shrimp scampi and alfredo with chicken. It’s an understatement to say the scampi was flavorless. It tasted like nothing. There was no garlic flavor, no butter flavor. The $8 frozen shrimp scampi at Trader Joe’s is leaps and bounds better than this scampi, which outside of this dinner special would be $26. The alfredo tasted like the lean cuisine alfredo sauce, and I would be willing to bet it came out of a jar. The chicken was dry and had breading on it that was way too thick and separated from the chicken when cut. I would not be in the slightest bit surprised if this was a frozen breaded chicken filet. The cannoli shells were the exact same as the ones sold at Publix grocery stores. When it came time to check out, there was an additional charge on the bill for choosing the chicken, despite the advertisement that the deal included a pasta with a protein of choice. When we inquired about this, the waitress gave us attitude and told us the sign out front about the deal was incorrect and that Instagram also said something different, as if that’s an us problem that we should be charged for (and also apparently inherently know since she didn’t mention anything about the upcharge when we placed the order). She did have it removed from the bill after speaking with a manager but continued to give attitude. The wine (included in the special) WAS good, so if you need something to drown out your disappointment, try the Riesling. After tip, this meal ended up being over $80, and again that was with a dinner special. This was not an $80 quality meal. Not to mention, the door to the restaurant was wide open in the dead of summer, letting in all of the heat and humidity and flies. We were sweating by the end of the evening. There was no ambiance. It feels like an empty room serving up the most subpar Italian food. I would eat at Olive Garden for half the price before I ever came back here. You can get an incredible meal for the same, if not cheaper, price about a block up the road. Curiosity- killed! Before the owner tries to tell me I like Americanized Italian, I spent two weeks in Italy, including taking a few cooking classes while there, and I know authentic Italian. Also, I had no desire to be comp’d for my meal- I got what I ordered, it just wasn’t good. Other people deserve to have a heads up before they spend money here as well. While I’m all about supporting a small business as a resident of this community, I scanned these comments after posting my own review, and all I see in these comments are excuses from the owner, most in regards to the same...

Dinner night with friends and the suggestion was made, “Let’s try the new Italian place”. It was with great anticipation the evening arrived and the five of us were seated at our table. Conversation was had, water was provided and drink orders taken. The restaurant was adequately let with a nice ambiance, though we had to speak loudly to be heard by one another.

We all looked over the menus and our friendly waitress asked for appetizers. A side house salad and Caesar salad were ordered. When they arrived at the table they presented well, and were large for a side. Our waitress took our orders, spaghetti with meatballs, fettuccine, Pork Chops, Chicken Parmesan, and I had the House Salad with grilled chicken topped with the Peach vinaigrette. When the meals arrived I was pleased with the presentation of the Pork Chop and with my salad. The pasta dishes had an average appearance and the Chicken Parmesan seemed overly coated and dry.

My salad was good, the vinaigrette had a pleasant taste but a bit sugary. The chicken was cold and lacked flavor. We discussed the food and I even had a taste of the fettuccine and the pasta from the Chicken Parmesan. The fettuccini was all texture without the flavor. The sauce from the Parmesan cheese was sweet, it reminded me of Spaghetti-Os.

We discussed our meals and we all drew the same conclusion. The meal was adequate in portion, the Pork Chop was average, the Parm over crusted and tough, and all the food bland and without flavor.

For the price DePalmas is still king. I would even recommend Olive Garden over Sugo for taste. I will try them again in a few months and will adjust my review if I feel improvements are made. I do commend Sugo on the training of their wait staff as the service was...

Found this on the way to Ave. Pub, and decided to try it for a change of pace. What we didn't know was that on 6/15/24, they were suffering from the perfect storm of absences in the kitchen, with 3 of their key players being out due to vacation or illness. The result? About a 2-hour wait for the entrees to arrive. To their credit, the appetizers and drinks were brought out in a decent amount of time, and were very good. From there, though, things started to drag on. Tables that arrived after us got up and left. Tables that were seated before us got up and left. We had nothing else better to do, so we made the most of it, talked, and just sat back and watched the drama. When the entrees eventually did show up, they were very good. Much better than DePalma's. The server, assistant manager, and manager/owner all made the rounds of apologizing for the delays and explained the situation. They offered a free desert for our troubles (and probably because we didn't give them a hard time about any of it), so we picked the Tiramisu. Absolutely the best Tiramisu we've ever had. When the kitchen staff gets back from vacation and/or the hospital, things should run a lot smoother for this establishment. Near-term, I'd recommend phoning first, and asking if they're fully staffed. If not, maybe give it a few days/weeks. While a little loud, we could still carry on a conversation, unlike our experience at DePalma's which was ridiculously loud. Prices were not unexpected, but people paying those prices are going to expect their food to be brought out a lot sooner. I'm sure the owner realizes this, so hopefully they'll get the kitchen situation...